World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Will you be my Valentine?

Story by Rene “Aemilius” Fideau

Valentines Day. A time of peace, tranquility and Love. As Valentines Day approaches, signs of the event can be seen scattered around the World of Azeroth. In every major city, everyone has been plagued with Love and Broken hearts. So grab your Valentines Cards, your box of Chocolates, put on some cologne and spend some time with the one you love.

Just like every other event, Blizzard has gone out of their way to add story based and quest content based on this Valentines Day event. This article will cover some of the standard things to expect with the addition of this Valentines day Event.

To start off, citizens are introduced to quest content centered around "A strange 'love sickness' which is infecting guards and townsfolk all across Azeroth. Players should speak to the concerned citizens around the major cities if they would like to help solve this dilemma. As part of the event, all the major cities will receive festive decorations such as ribbons, flowers, and heart streamers, and players may even see a few NPCs sharing thoughts of love..."

In order to make and progression in the event, players will need to stock up on "Love Tokens" from Innkeepers, which apparently constitutes the currency of love during the event. Blizzard states, specifically, that "In each capital, most of the guards and a couple dozen townsfolk are infected with amore. Periodically, they will become "Amorous" – The amore can only be seen by wearing cologne or perfume. While wearing this you'll know the amore by seeing the floating hearts above their head. An Amorous NPC is receptive to gifts of love, specifically Love Tokens (purchased from innkeepers). In return for a Love Token, they will reward the player with their own gifts. Some of these gifts are toys for players to play with, while others are "quest" items used to create Gift Collections." Don’t forget though, that even with all this love in the air Hearts can still be broken. Each guard and citizen also has the chance of showing rejecting to you. If this happens then you will enter the state of being heart broken and can not use any love tokens for the duration of this state. Have no fear however for this can be cured. Also scattered throughout the world are friendship rings, if this is used on a heart broken player, not only will you fix there broken heart but you will also be given the power of friendship.

A Hero is Born.

As always you can expect a more substantial quest at work then just running around aimlessly like you were shot by a cupid. One with worthwhile rewards and a greater overall impact on both the Horde and Alliance sides. To initiate the gift collecting and popularity contest, "as players give Love Tokens to NPCs, they collect various "quest"-like items. If they get enough, they can then combine them to create Gift Collections. There is one Gift Collection for each capital, and most of the items needed for a capital's Gift Collection can only be gained from NPCs at that capital. If players get a Gift Collection from each of their side's cities, they can combine them into a Horde or Alliance Gift Collection. They can then turn this in to cast a vote for their favorite Azeroth hero."

The heroes players can vote for are: Bolvar Fordragon (Stormwind), King Magni Bronzebeard (Ironforge), Tyrande Whisperwind (Darnassus), Cairne Bloodhoof (Thunder Bluff), Thrall (Orgrimmar) and Lady Sylvanas Windrunner (Undercity). Naturally, every match made in Heaven usually has Cupid to thank, but in Azeroth's case it's slightly different. A slightly disturbing goblin in a diaper named Kwee Q. Peddlefeet can be found floating near each hero. He'll accept your Horde and Alliance Gift Collections (he's good like that). Every collection you hand in casts a vote for that specific hero. If you talk to Kwee, he'll fill you in on the status of each hero's current standings.

At the end of the holiday/event, whichever hero gets the most votes, his area will be decorated with objét d'amoré, and Kwee will hang around for an additional week. If players /kiss Kwee (guys, this means you too!), he'll shoot them, in true Cupid style, with an arrow of goblin love that grants a special little bonus to the player. The Valentine's Day event actually begins a couple days ahead of time on Saturday February 11th, and ends on Thursday, February 16th, giving players plenty of time to corral public sympathy to their hero of choice.