From The Feast of Winter Veil: “The later seasons of Azeroth are marked as a time of change in many cultures. The dwarves and the tauren especially look to a legend of the coming Winter Veil – the blanketing of the land in snow, thus heralding a time of renewal – as a time for celebration.”

As a new opening to the season this year, Greatfather Winter sends out Winter Veil greetings in the mail. Artisan or Master tailors (skill > 225) will receive a recipe for either [250] Red or Green Holiday Clothes; Horde characters get the green recipe, Alliance get red. Expect lots of activity on the neutral auction houses this year. Artisan or Master leather workers (skill > 225) will receive a recipe for [285] Winter Boots. Master cooks (skill > 300) will receive a recipe for [325] Hot Apple Cider (MinLvl: 65, Use: Restores 7200 mana/30 sec, +20 Stamina and Spirit). You may also purchase these recipes from the Smokywood Pastures vendors in Ironforge and Orgrimmar. Note that the vendors are neutral, so it’s possible for an Alliance character to buy the Green Winter Clothes recipe (and for the Horde to get Red).

In the inns across Azeroth, you may find Winter Revelers standing under the mistletoe. Blowing a /kiss at a reveler will earn you 5 of one of the following:

• Mistletoe (+20 spirit to another player for 30 min)
• Handful of Snowflakes (create a snow shower that falls on a target mob for a short time, item expires in 10 days)
• Fresh Holly (change your mount into a reindeer, requires Winter Veil).

You may receive the reward once per (real-time) hour. You can keep /kiss-ing the reveler for no reward if you want.

Around the snowy places of Azeroth (in particular, the Alterac Mountains), you may find piles of Holiday Snow which can be harvested for Snowballs. You may also purchase Snowballs from the Smokywood Pastures’ vendors. Snowballs are required to use the Winter Veil Disguise Kit and non-combat pets and may also be thrown at other players. Throwing a snowball at a player from the opposing faction does not trigger your PvP flag.

Hardpacked Snowballs which pack a harder punch may be found in Hardpacked Snowdrifts in the Alterac Valley. Hardpacked Snowballs may only be used against the opposing team. These can’t be used to activate the Disguise Kit or the pets.

Humanoids around Azeroth have all caught the holiday spirit. You may find red or green Winter Hats (a bind on pickup uncommon (green) item) as random drops. Higher level humanoid bosses have been dropping these regularly, but they’ve also been found (more rarely) on low-level humanoid mobs as well. In the lands of the Burning Crusade, the following bosses are known to drop hats:

• Red Winter Hats:
  • Captain Skarloc (Escape from Durnholde Keep)
  • Nethermancer Sepethrea (Mechanar)
  • High Botanist Freywinn (Botanica)
• Green Winter Hats:
  • Grand Warlock Nethekurse (Shattered Halls)
  • Grandmaster Vorpil (Shadow Labyrinth)
  • Exarch Maladaar (Auchenai Crypts)

And in beautiful, scenic Northrend:

• Red Winter Hats:
  • Grand Magus Telestra (The Nexus)
  • Jedoga Shadowseeker (Ahn’Kahet: The Old Kingdom)
• Green Winter Hats:
  • Mage-Lord Urom (The Oculus)

You can generally tell if a boss will drop the hat, because the boss will be wearing it!

Outside the Gates of Ironforge and Orgrimmar (and in Runeweaver Square (Dalaran), Booty Bay, Gadgetzan, the Ruins of Lordaeron, the Trade District of Stormwind, and Menethil), a Smokywood Pastures’ goblin runs the PX-238 Winter Wondervolt. The device gives you a red or green helper gnome costume that lasts 30 minutes (or until manually cancelled by right-clicking the buff icon). This is required to complete the seasonal PvP quest “With a Little Helper from My Friends”.

From 25 December through 1 January, the decorated trees in the Smokywood Pastures’ area near the banks in Ironforge and Orgrimmar will have presents free for the taking. Grab them while you can – this may be the only day goblins actually give anything away. There are six presents, each of which shows a gear cursor on mouse-over. Level-appropriate presents will be marked with a quest-giver exclamation point. Opening the present yields a quest completion which gives you a present. Opening any one grants you the “He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty” achievement. The presents are:

• Gently Shaken Gift
  contains 5 of either Winter Veil Eggnog (Use: Restores 2% of your mana per second for 30 sec) or Winter Veil Roast (Use: Restores 2% of your health per second for 25 sec)
• Carefully Wrapped Present
  contains 5 Winter Veil Cookies (Use: Restores 2% of your health per second for 24 sec. If you spend at least 10 seconds eating you will become well fed and gain Stamina and Spirit for 15 min)
• Winter Veil Gift (Obtainable at L10)
  contains a Red Rider Air Rifle, a 200-shot consumable item that shoots mostly harmless pellets. Don’t put your eye out.
• Festive Gift (Obtainable at L10)
  contains Wand of Holiday Cheer (Causes PCs in the target area to laugh, item expires in 10 days)
• Gaily Wrapped Present (Obtainable at L20)
  contains one of:
  • Red Helper Box (a tiny gnome pet)
  • Green Helper Box (a tiny gnome pet)
  • Jingling Bell (a tiny reindeer pet)
  • Snowman Kit (a tiny snowman pet)
• Ticking Present (Obtainable at L40)
  contains Mechanical Greench (a combat pet), 5 Preserved Holly, and (about half the time) one of the Winter Veil recipes described in the “A Smokywood Pastures’ Thank You!” quest below.

The non-combat pets all require a snowball to activate, so make sure to stock up on those! The Greench and the Racer controller are bind on pickup, all the other pets are bind on use – there’s already a hot AH market for these. Wondervolt operators will give the quest [1] Winter Presents during this time which just sends you to Greatfather Winter (no other rewards).

All December 31, Stormwind and Thunder Bluff (and Booty Bay) celebrate the New Year. A never-empty (for the day) mug of cheer is yours for the taking, and dancing with the revelers will earn you the “Celebrate Good Times!” buff, +10% to all stats for 30 minutes. During nighttime, fireworks displays will light the skies above the cities on the hour. Wondervolt operators will give the quest [80] New Year’s Celebrations, which has you deliver a package to Innkeeper Allison of the Gilded Rose in Stormwind’s Trade District (Alliance) or Innkeeper Pala in Thunder Bluff (Horde) for 9s and 250 Stormwind/Thunder Bluff rep (with 62.5 team spillover).

References:

• Smokywood Pastures == Hickory Farms
• All of the Smokywood Pastures’ goblins (Copperpinch and Jinglepocket) are named for stores:
  

  Penney == J.C. Penney’s	Khole == Kohl’s
  Jaycrue == J. Crew	Guchie == Gucci
  Kaymard == Kmart	Macey == Macy’s
  Nardstrum == Nordstrom’s	Wulmort == Walmart
  Seersa == Sears	Gapp == The Gap
  Whulwert == Woolworth’s	Mirvyna == Mervyn’s
  Dillord == Dillard’s	Targot == Target
  Kosco == Costco	Bessbi == Best Buy
  Morshelz == Marshall’s	Eebee == EB
  Olnayvi == Old Navy
  Hecht == Hecht’s

• The Abominable Greench == “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” + the Abominable from “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (or maybe just the Abominable Snowman == yeti)
• Metzen the Reindeer == Rudolph; the name is probably homage to Chris Metzen – producer, designer, developer, and voice actor on many Blizzard productions (including World of Warcraft)

Vendor Items

The Smokywood Pastures’ goblin vendors are happy to sell you seasonal fare, including:

• Snowball (10c)
• An assortment of wrapping paper (green ribboned, blue ribboned, or purple ribboned)
• Holiday Spices (10c, Reagent for Winter Veil recipes)
• Candy Cane (25c, Use: Restores 61 health/18 sec)
• Holiday Cheesewheel (1.25s, MinLvl: 5, Use: Restores 243 health/21 sec)
• Blended Bean Brew (1.25s, MinLvl: 5, Use: Restores 436 mana/21 sec)
• Graccu’s Homemade Meat Pie (10s, MinLvl: 25, Use: Restores 874 health/27 sec)
• Green Garden Tea (10s, MinLvl: 25, Use: Restores 1344 mana/27 sec)
• Spicy Beefstick (20s, MinLvl: 35, Use: Restores 1392 health/30 sec)
• Sparkling Apple Cider (10s, MinLvl: 35, Use: Restores 1992 mana/30 sec, +12 Stamina and Spirit for 15 min)
• Honeyed Holiday Ham (40s, MinLvl: 65, Use: Restores 7500 health/30 sec. +20 Stamina and Spirit for 30 min)
• Holiday Spirits (50c, weak alcoholic beverage, used in various seasonal cooking recipes)
• Steamwheedle Fizzy Spirits (1.5s, alcoholic beverage)
• Greatfather’s Winter Ale (50s, strong alcoholic beverage)

Many of these items may also be found in samplers provided as quest rewards. The vendors also sell the cooking recipes for [1] Gingerbread Cookie and [35] Egg Nog (Both have use: Restores 61 health/18 sec, +2 Stamina and Spirit for 15 min). Some have reported that drinking too much Egg Nog can have strange properties like making you think you’re a reindeer.

Quests

The main quest chains for Winter Veil all start in Ironforge or Orgrimmar. The quests yield a variable amount of experience based on level, so xp values shown are for reference only. Higher-level characters gain more experience. For instance, the starter quests yield from 85 xp (L10) to 1175 xp (L69).

The singleton quests get you , to Greatfather Winter to get you into the holiday mood:

Quest	Given By	Description	Reward
Greeting Greatfather Winter
[-1] Greatfather Winter is Here! Obtainable at L10	Wulmort Jinglepocket, Ironforge Khole Jinglepocket, Stormwind Kaymard Copperpinch, Orgrimmar Nardstrum Copperpinch, Undercity	Speak with Greatfather Winter in Ironforge/Orgrimmar	1000 xp
[-1] Treats for Greatfather Winter Obtainable at L10	Greatfather Winter, Ironforge/Orgrimmar	Bring 5 Gingerbread Cookies and 1 Ice Cold Milk to Greatfather Winter	1650 xp, 25 Steamwheedle rep, Smokywood Pastures Gift Pack.
	Ice Cold Milk can be purchased from the innkeeper. The Gingerbread Cookie recipe is sold by the nearby Jinglepocket or Copperpinch goblins, as are the holiday spices required. The nearest source of Small Eggs are the birds in southeast Loch Modan near the Farstrider Lodge (for Alliance) or the Plainstriders near the Crossroads in the Barrens for Horde. The best drop rates by far for the eggs are the dragonhawks in Eversong Woods just outside Silvermoon or the striders and owlbeasts on Azuremyst Isle near the Exodar. The Smokywood Pastures Gift Pack contains 10 copper bars, 10 light leather, 4 linen bolts, or 10 mageroyal. A letter containing a Smokywood Pastures’ food sampler comes in the mail shortly.

The Reason for the Season
You can tell that this has become a commercial holiday, since most quests yield Steamwheedle reputation, rather than Alliance or Horde. However, at least one citizen is attempting to remind everyone about the Reason for the Season, standing near the bank. Be sure to buy a snowball from the seasonal vendor so you can complete the “Scrooge” achievement at the end of this quest line.
[-1] The Reason for the Season Obtainable at L10	Goli Krumn, Ironforge Furmund, Orgrimmar	Speak with Historian Karnik at the Explorer’s League in Ironforge/Sagorne Crestrider in the Valley of Wisdom in Orgrimmar about the Feast of Winter Veil	1000 xp, chains to “The Feast of Winter Veil”
[-1] The Feast of Winter Veil Obtainable at L10	Historian Karnik, Ironforge Sagorne Crestrider, Orgrimmar	Read “The Feast of Winter Veil” and deliver it to King Magni Bronzebeard in Ironforge/Cairne Bloodhoof in Thunder Bluff	1000 xp, 500 Ironforge/Thunder Bluff rep (125 team spillover)

The Abominable Greench
For more experienced characters, Smokywood Pastures would like your help with a missing shipment…
[-1] Stolen Winter Veil Treats Obtainable at L30	Wulmort Jinglepocket, Ironforge Kaymard Copperpinch, Orgrimmar	Find the Smokywood Pastures investigator in the Alterac Mountains	1850 xp, chains to “You’re a Mean One”
	Sacks, the investigator, has been frozen into a Strange Snowman. He’s southwest of the Growless Cave (35.5,72.4 – outside the Ruins of Alterac, east of Dalaran).
[-1] You’re a Mean One	Strange Snowman, Alterac Mountains	Kill The Abominable Greench and retrieve the Stolen Treats	3700 xp, chains to “A Smokywood Pastures’ Thank You!”
	Greench (a greenish-gray L36 elite yeti) spawns randomly in several spots around the Alterac Mountains, including northwest outside the wall of the ruins, west on a flat hilltop area, south on either side of the Growless cave, and east along the road from Gallow’s Corner. The Greench has a rapid respawn rate, so just keep riding around the perimeter of the Alterac ruins until you find him.
[60] A Smokywood Pastures’ Thank You!	Wulmort Jinglepocket, Ironforge Kaymard Copperpinch, Orgrimmar	Speak with Greatfather Winter	5500 xp, 250 Steamwheedle rep, Smokywood Pastures Special Gift
	The Special Gift is a random recipe (not correlated to your character’s trade skills): Alchemy: Recipe: Elixir of Frost Power Blacksmithing: Plans: Edge of Winter Enchanting: Formula: Enchant Weapon: Winter’s Might Engineering: Schematic: Snowmaster 9000 Leatherworking: Pattern: Gloves of the Greatfather Tailoring: Pattern: Green Holiday Shirt This completes the “Simply Abominable” achievement. Also, in about a day, you will receive a Winter Veil Disguise Kit in the mail which will allow you to turn into a snowman. Use this near another snowman in Dalaran and /dance with them to earn the “A Frosty Shake” achievement. Note that you can’t move while you’re a snowman.

Ransoming Metzen
And for even more experienced folks, Smokywood Pastures has a ransom demand to investigate:
[-1] Metzen the Reindeer Obtainable at L40	Wulmort Jinglepocket, Ironforge Kaymard Copperpinch, Orgrimmar	Rescue Metzen the Reindeer	5500 xp, 500 Steamwheedle rep, 5 Preserved Holly (like Fresh Holly, but no expiration date), chains to “The Hero of the Day” if you have 300 Cooking
	There are 2 spots for Metzen, one on each continent. Either one can be used by characters of both teams, although the intent is probably for Alliance to use the Eastern site. On the Eastern Continent, Metzen is held by Dark Iron Kidnappers in eastern Searing Gorge, at the intersection of the road from Thorium Point and the road leading north from the Badlands/Burning Steppes to the gates (near 68, 35). On Kalimdor, Metzen is held by Southsea Kidnappers in a stable at the south end of the pirate compound in Lost Rigger Cove, south of Steamwheedle Port in Tanaris (near 73, 48). This location is near the Caverns of Time, so if you have access to Dalaran, taking the portal to the Caverns is quick and easy. Metzen is surrounded by L43-46 non-elite mobs, those closest to him are aggro-linked. The safest way is to pick off the surrounding mobs, then send in a pet to draw aggro. Run in and right-click on Metzen to complete the quest (if you don’t have “instant quest text” selected in your interface options, this might be a good time to change that). After turning in the quest, you will receive a Smokywood Pastures’ Extra-Special Gift in the mail, containing 20 helpings of Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake. Yum. This also completes the “On Metzen!” achievement.
The Hero of the Day Requires 300 Cooking	Wulmort Jinglepocket, Ironforge Kaymard Copperpinch, Orgrimmar	Bring 5g and 1 Deeprock Salt to any Holly Preserver machine	5 Preserved Holly
	The Holly Preserver is located behind the Smokywood Pastures’ wagon.

Achievements

Name	Description	Points
On Metzen!	Save Metzen the Reindeer	10
With a Little Helper from My Friends	Earn 50 honorable kills as a Little Helper from the Winter Wondervolt machine	10
Scrooge	Throw a snowball at King Magni Bronzebeard/Cairne Bloodhoof during the Feast of Winter Veil	10
Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la	Complete the Bomb Them Again! quest while mounted on a flying reindeer during the Feast of Winter Veil	10
	This is one of the repeatable reputation quests in Ogri’la in the Blade’s Edge Mountains. You need either Fresh or Preserved Holly to turn your flying mount into a reindeer while you complete this quest. Allegedly, as long as you’re riding a reindeer when you turn in the quest, you will earn the achievement.
‘Tis the Season	During the Feast of Winter Veil, wear 3 pieces of winter clothing and eat Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake	10
	Winter Boots and Red or Green Winter Clothes are crafted items. You must also obtain a Red or Green Winter Hat, dropped from various humanoid bosses and (more rarely) from humanoid world mobs. You can mix and match colors and still get credit. The fruitcake comes from either the Smokywood Pastures’ Sampler (from completing “Treats for Greatfather Winter”) or from a thank you e-mail received after completing “Metzen the Reindeer.”
He Knows If You’ve Been Naughty	Open one of the presents underneath the Winter Veil tree once they are available	10
Simply Abominable	Complete the quest to retrieve the stolen Smokywood Pastures’ stolen treats and receive a Smokywood Pastures’ Thank You	10
Let It Snow	During the Feast of Winter Veil, use a Handful of Snowflakes on each of the race/class combinations listed below. Orc Death Knight Tauren Shaman Undead Rogue Gnome Mage Blood Elf Warlock Human Warrior Night Elf Druid Troll Hunter Dwarf Paladin Draenei Priest	10
Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s	Use Mistletoe on the “Brothers” during the Feast of Winter Veil Alliance Brother Nimetz in the Rebel Camp, northern Stranglethorn Vale Brother Anton in the inn of Nijel’s Point, Desolace Brother Wilhelm behind the blacksmith in Goldshire Brother Karman, just outside the Keep in Theramore Brother Kristoff in Cathedral Square, Stormwind Brother Joshua in the Cathedral, Stormwind Brother Crowley in the Cathedral basement, Stormwind (stairs down are on the right-hand side) Brother Benjamin in the Cathedral, Stormwind Horde Brother Malach in the War Quarter, Undercity Durkot Wolfbrother, Stable Master in Warsong Hold Brother Keltan on the Horde airship Orgrim’s Hammer in Icecrown	10
	For the Horde, Sky-Reaver Klum in Krasus’ Landing will teleport you to the airship if you have the Cold Weather Flying skill. Because you can’t summon to a moving transport, only L77+ Horde characters can easily get this achievement. However, you can also make your way to Icecrown by land via Argent Vanguard (Crystalsong Forest), and make your way into the mountains of Sindragosa’s Fall. Head around the mountains to the valley around (63, 29). Jump down and die (dying is the important part). When you die, you will get a spectral griffin to take you back to your body. Fly within rez range, but then fly up until you reach the path of the airship. Rez on the deck as it passes. Your mileage may vary…
The Winter Veil Gourmet	During the Feast of Winter Veil, use your culinary expertise to produce a Gingerbread Cookie, Egg Nog, and Hot Apple Cider	10
A Frosty Shake	During the Feast of Winter Veil, use your Winter Veil Disguise kit to become a snowman and then dance with another snowman in Dalaran	10
Merrymaker	Complete all the above Winter Veil achievements	10 Title: Merrymaker
BB King	Using your pellet gun (received as the 2009 Winter Veil gift), pelt the leaders of the opposing faction.	10