Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Love Is In The Air '15

With the release of Warlords of Draenor, we are finally getting some updates to the in-game Holidays. While this isn't the first Holiday that has happened since the release of Warlords, it is the first one that is going to be covered by this blog with the new changes made to all of the holidays. (We all have to start somewhere, right?)
Love Is in The Air by Aketan

Love Is In The Air is a week-long Holiday event that is based upon the real-life holiday of Valentine's Day. The original version of this in-game Holiday event is lot different than its current incarnation, but the main idea still remains the same: Gather Love Tokens from farming up Lovely Charm Bracelet, snagging a couple Heart-Shaped Boxes, and doing the dailies.

And with that, we are going to start off with the traditional time-wasting questlines that are packaged with all holidays! (As always, links to Alliance content always come first.)
  1. Uncommon Scents/Uncommon Scents: A Junior Inspector/Junior Detective suspects foul play of the Crown Chemical Co. for their shady activities and a representative has been sent to Stormwind City and Orgrimmar to fill you in on the investigation. A Junior Detective is waiting near the initial Crown Chemical Co. camps to point you toward Inspector Snip Snagglebolt/Detective Snap Snagglebolt.
  2. Something Stinks/Something Stinks: Your respective Snagglebolt will hand you a Snagglebolt's Air Analyzer to run around town and use on six (6) guards that are covered in purple fumes.
  3. Pilfering Perfume/Pilfering Perfume: Snagglebolt wants supplies. The Crown Chemical Co. stockpile for both factions are just outside the main gates of Stormwind and Orgrimmar and to the left. You will receive a goblin disguise (Snagglebolt's Cloaking Device) to cover your tracks so you can get Crown Chemical Co. Supplies before they notice you're not part of the company. While disguised, you will be unable to mount or transform, you are only able to run there in less than two (2) minutes. Return to your Snagglebolt to move on to the next step of the investigation.
  4. Fireworks At The Gilded Rose/Snivel's Sweetheart: The Crown Chemical Co. Supplies contained chemical-filled rockets that Snagglebolt recognizes the design as being one created by Snivel Rustrocket. To locate his whereabouts, you're sent to his "girlfriend" for more information. Alliance players are sent to the Gilded Rose to speak with Marion Sutton, while Horde players are sent down into the Drag to talk to Roka at Gotri's Traveling Goods.
  5. Hot On The Trail/Hot On The Trail: Snivel is apparently a liar. The annoyed ladies send you on a chase around either city to try and locate Snivel. Stop in at the bank, the auction house, and the barber shop of Stormwind or Orgrimmar to catch him fleeing the scene at each turn. Return to the ladies to discover that they think Snivel is trying to run out on them to the South Seas!
  6. A Friendly Chat.../A Friendly Chat...: Alliance players need to head straight to the docks and catch Snivel waiting for his boat. Horde players need to head to the eastern zeppelin tower in town. Once you've caught up to Snivel, he'll pass over Snivel's Ledger,which Snagglebolt wants to look at for his investigation. With the information within, he decides that it's time to take on the big boys.
While you just completed the holiday questline, you probably also noticed during your time spent in your capital city of choice, that there were some daily quests that you could also be doing. Aside from the farming, these daily quests are the only other way of receiving the holiday currency of Love Tokens. You're going to need more than a few for your first rodeo.

Find your friendly, neighborhood Public Relations Agent and be prepared to feel like one of those perfume ladies at the mall. While performing the three following dailies, if at any point you attempt to use one of the items on a target that has the debuff Sample Satisfaction, you will not receive credit for the item use. Each of these dailies also rewards 5 Love Tokens. 
Also, speak with Inspector Snip Snagglebolt/Detective Snap Snagglebolt for another style of daily. The following quests are determined based upon your current level and the bracket that corresponds with that particular level. Each quest does require a bit of travel, so be prepared to go somewhere "exotic" to kill these Crown Chemical Co. employees and destroy their wagons with Snagglebolt's Khorium Bombs. As with the sampler dailies, you will be rewarded with 5 Love Tokens and a sum of gold. There is NOT a new quest for the level bracket of 91+, so you will still be heading to Uldum at level 100.
There is one more set of dailies that we need to cover before we talk about the Apothecary Trio boss fight and the holiday goodies that you can purchase during this event. Before we get into those dailies though, we need to discuss the farming aspect of this event. First off, you're going to need to speak with Kwee Q. Peddlefeet. There is a clone of this NPC standing at various locations in each capital city. 
  • Peddlefeet. Outside of the Trade District Bank in Stormwind
  • Peddlefeet. Between Auction House and Inn in Valley of Strength in Orgrimmar.
  • Peddlefeet. Marble Island South of the Bank in Darnassus.
  • Peddlefeet. Near the Auction House in the Bazaar of Silvermoon City.
  • Peddlefeet. Commons Area near the Bank in Ironforge.
  • Peddlefeet. Center Totem Pole on Lower Rise in Thunder Bluff.
  • Peddlefeet. Outside Eastern Exit of Exodar.
  • Peddlefeet. Throne Room of the Ruins of Lordaeron in Undercity.
Kwee will give you a Lovely Charm Collector's Kit that needs to remain in your inventory for you to be able to collect Lovely Charms off of level appropriate mobs to create Lovely Charm Bracelets with every ten (10) Lovely Charms. Here's a small list of some farming locations to try and maximize charm gains:
As you create the Lovely Charm Bracelets, you have two options. You can turn a single Lovely Charm Bracelet into the Kwee at each respective city for the dailies below (and buff card reward!), or you can save the Lovely Charm Bracelets up to sell them on the Auction House, or a trade in at the holiday vendor for Love Tokens at a 1:1 rate. You also have the opportunity to wear them on lower level twinks or bank toons.
Ready to find out who's actually behind this diabolical plot and was hiring Snivel Rustrocket to pump the not-so-innocent "love potion" into his rockets? Apothecary Hummel, Apothecary Baxter, and Apothecary Frye are located inside a special instanced version of Shadowfang Keep. Before you we go any further, please note that you need to be level 100 to even access this boss. Blizzard has confirmed that all Holiday event bosses will be max level content only. You can queue through the LFD UI by selecting the Crown Chemical Co. in the drop-down menu, or you can speak with any Steamwheedle Shyster to be queued up as well. Unlike previous years, you will spawn in directly on the stairs leading down to the courtyard. All three must be defeated before Hummel's corpse can be looted.
  1. The Monologue: After Apothecary Hummel's little monologue, the fight will start. For the first eight seconds of the encounter, you will only be dealing with Hummel alone.
    • Apothecary Hummel
      • Alluring Perfume: This is a constant aura around Hummel for anyone in melee range. This can be easily negated by using the Perfume Neutralizer available on the table next to where the fight takes place.
      • Alluring Perfume Spray: This is Hummel's main attack and it is a melee-range frontal-cone attack that is aimed at his highest threat target, try and aim it away from the group. Or anyone that isn't wearing the correct neutralizer.
      • Chain Reaction: Hummel will spawn a small alchemy table and after 3 seconds, it will explode and damage anyone near it.
  2. The Next Eight Seconds: After eight seconds of dealing with Hummel, he demands that Baxter assist him in trying to kill you. He, of courses, listens.
    • Apothecary Baxter
      • Irresistible Cologne: Much like Hummel's Perfume aura, Baxter has a constant melee range aura as well. Also like Hummel's, this can be easily negated by utilizing the Cologne Neutralizer on the same table as the Perfume Neutralizer. Only one can be active at a time.
      • Irresistible Cologne Spray: This is Baxter's main attack and it is a melee-range frontal-cone attack that is aimed at his highest threat target, try and aim it away from the group. Or anyone that isn't wearing the correct neutralizer.
      • Chain Reaction: Just like Hummel, he will spawn a small alchemy table that will explode after 3 seconds, damaging everyone in the immediate vicinity.
  3. Again With the Eight Seconds?: After dealing with those two for eight more seconds, Hummel yells at Apothecary Frye to quit dilly-dallying and get to work on killing us. I'm not entirely sure if he listens or not.
    • Apothecary Frye
      • Lingering Fumes: The most annoying part of this entire fight is Frye's inability to be controlled. He has no aggro table and he is constantly throwing out either vials of perfume or cologne that burst into damaging clouds of either. The neutralizers only work on one or the other type, so you're going to be constantly taking damage once Frye enters the fight. The only good part? He can be stunned. Rotate them.
      • Throw Perfume: Frye will thrown out a vial of perfume that will burst into a cloud on the ground, try not to stand in it if you don't have the Perfume Neutralizer.
      • Throw Cologne: Frye will thrown out a vial of cologne that will burst into a cloud on the ground, try not to stand in it if you don't have the Cologne Neutralizer.
  4. More Apothecaries?!
    • Crazed Apothecary: These are adds during the fight and should be consistently spawning throughout the entire fight. Due to how short the fight can be though, there have been reports of not a single one of these adds spawning at all. Count your blessings, I guess.
      • Unstable Reaction: If one does happen to spawn during your encounter, it is going to run around aimlessly for a bit and then explode, dealing quite a bit of damage to anyone in the immediate area. They take after Frye and have no aggro table. Avoid at all costs to limit damage.
  5. Heart-Shaped Box - Only available on your first kill per day.
    • x5-10 Love Token
    • Forever-Lovely Rose: A very simple headpiece involving a rose. For all female toons, it tucks the rose behind an ear. For all male toons, it's placed within the teeth, like a tango dancer.
    • Toxic Wasteling: Teaches the Toxic Wasteling battle pet. It still consumes critters and grows larger as it does so.
    • Vile Fumigator's Mask: A gas-mask headpiece with an attached fumigation backpack. The on-use effect is still comically useless.
    • The Heartbreaker: An interesting item originally built to explode chest cavities. Instead, you simply burst into tears. This item was turned into a Toy with the release of the Toy Box.
    • Big Love Rocket: Big Love Rocket. Do I really have to say it?
  6. Hummel's Corpse (Loot Phase)
After all that questing, farming, and boss-killing is finished, you're wondering what to do with all those (or lack there-of) Love Tokens.

Lovely Merchant: Available in a local capital city near you!
And now that you've captured Snivel, busted the Apothecary Trio, crushed their crowns all over the world, it's time to take a moment to take a second and make sure that you've finished all of your achievements.

Completing all of the necessary achievements below will bestow upon you the title of 'the Love Fool' and grant you the meta achievement: Fool For Love!
And with the achievements required for the meta-achievement out of the way, here are the rest of them for you to work towards:
And now for the special bit at the end that needs to be added to appease the pet battlers amongst you.
See you all at the end of the Love is in the Air event with my post-holiday completion post.
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2 comments:

  1. ParagonFebruary 11, 2015 at 1:23 AM

    Revisions 02-11-15
    Added Holiday specific art at the top.
    Adjusted layout of the boss information.
    Tweaked the phrasing throughout the guide.
    Added more location information for Lovely Charm farming.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ParagonFebruary 23, 2015 at 9:57 AM

    Revisions 02-23-15
    Added in title award for meta completion.
    Adjusted font style on achievements.
    Adjusted time points on Apothecary Trio fight.

    ReplyDelete

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