The Darkmoon Faire (DMF) is receiving a major overhaul in World of Warcraft’s patch 4.3. We’re all in for a huge surprise when we all zone into the new island especially for the faire and find the plethora of mini-games, daily quests, and other fun activities to take away the idle boredom waiting on raids and dungeon queues. Best of all there is no need to even participate if you don’t want to – this isn’t the Molten Front and there isn’t but one item in the entire faire that isn’t cosmetic.

Looking for some awesome screenshots of the new fairgrounds? Check out our Darkmoon Faire Gallery today!

There are ten tons of changes in the new faire and the biggest yet is the addition of achievements (a much needed feature) that adds up to 150 points along with a new type of weekly quest that grants profession skill-ups to help aspiring adventurers as they progress through the levels. That’s not all of course, a new free for all deathmatch arena, a great fishing spot, and mini-games are all rolled into one astonishing package for this upcoming patch.

Follow the arrows into the land of fun and mystery.

A big reminder: there is no need to worry about this new daily zone. The quests are for cosmetic and fun purposes only and the prize tokens only reward pets, mounts, transmogrification gear, and heirlooms. So if you’re not into this kind of thing you can safely skip it.

Ten Ton Hammer’s Darkmoon Faire Guide

The first things first, you’ll need to get to the faire. You may be asking yourself: “How do I get to the new Darkmoon Faire?” Well, worry not, because while the Faire has actually moved locations, it hasn’t moved from its anchor spots. You’ll find a portal to the faire where the faire usually would be (Goldshire / Shattrath / Mulgore).

The map is easy to follow. To the right of the entrance is tokens, left is your adventurer's guide. The various rides are down the main stretch and the boardwalk is at the very end.

Once in the faire the first thing you’ll want to do is buy a pack of tokens (to the right of where you enter) and pick up your Darkmoon Faire Adventurer’s Guide (to the left of where you enter from Selina Dourman). The tokens will allow you to play the minigames while the Adventurer’s Guide gets you the various artifacts and is needed for a few of the quests.

Darkmoon Faire Achievement Guide

There is 150 total points up for grabs in the new Darkmoon Faire and most of the achievements (outside of the PvP related ones) are rather easy.

Come One, Come All! (5 Points)

This achievement simply requires you to zone into the DMF and you’ll automatically get it.

Step Right Up (10 Points)

Play five of the Darkmoon games available and you’ll automatically get this achievement. Basically do one daily run and this one and its 10 points are yours.

Ponies we were promised and, well, urm ponies we have received!

I Was Promised a Pony (5 Points)

Towards the rear of the DMF is the petting zone and in the back of the petting zoo is where there are a few ponies sitting around. Just jump on a pony and you’ll get this achievement.

Quick Shot (10 Points)

In the Shooting Gallery you’ll need to obtain a “Quick Shot” which I got my first time by mashing the firing button while aiming a target.

Blastenheimer Bullseye (10 Points

This is entirely luck based, you’ll want to fire yourself out of the cannon and somewhere around the boardwalk and hope you land in the target’s bullseye.

Darkmoon Duelist (10 Points)

Win the Darkmoon Deathmatch and receive a Pit Fighter trinket. That’s the achievement description, but basically you’ll need to loot the chest when it spawns which requires everyone else to either be dead or not to interrupt you.

Fairegoer’s Feast (10 Points)

This one is easy, go around collecting food and drink from the vendors and feast!

Darkmoon Dungeoneer (10 Points) / Darkmoon Defender (10 Points) / Darkmoon Despoiler (10 Points)

This one is time consuming. There are nine Darkmoon Artifacts that you can obtain when you are out in dungeons (Dungeoneer) and battlegrounds (Defender) by having your Darkmoon Adventurer’s Guide with you. Turn in the quests that the artifacts give you and this achievement will be all yours.

Taking the Show on the Road (10 Points)

Launch the Darkmoon Fireworks (the one that makes the Darkmoon symbol appear in the air) in your four racial capitals along with Shattrath City and Dalaran.

Faire Favors (10 Points)

Complete six profession-based quests in the Faire. This is easier than it sounds because you have two primary professions plus Archeology, Cooking, First Aid, and Fishing.

Darkmoon Faire Quest Guide / Mini-Game Guide

There are currently five mini-games each with a daily quest that awards 5 Prize Tickets (25 Tickets per day) along with profession quests that award 4 Prize Tickets, 1 Token, and 5 Profession Skill Points which reset weekly instead of daily. Then there are Darkmoon Artifacts which are obtained in dungeons and battlegrounds randomly while you have the Darkmoon Adventurer’s Guide on your persons.

Darkmoon Faire Mini-Game / Daily Quest Guide

If you do not complete any of these quests in one go then simply restart the quest and the counter continues from where you left off. So say you got 15 Gnolls the first game then just play the game again and get 15 more Gnolls to finish the quest. Each mini-game costs 1 Darkmoon Game Token.

Watch out for the non-Gnolls. These tricky things will stun you and throw your rhythm out of whack!

Whack-A-Gnoll (It’s Hammer Time)

This quest requires you to whack 30 Gnolls in the Whack-A-Gnoll arena. You’ll have a hammer and will be able to run around whacking them to your heart’s content until time runs out. The only difficulty with this quest is the random friendly stuffed animal that pops up and stuns you if you hit it.

Ring Toss (Target: Turtle)

This one is a bit luck based. You’ll need to throw the rings at the moving turtle and it seems that they have a bit of variance in where they will land. The best thing is to just spam all ten of your rings at the turtle and hope for the best, and if you don’t get it just restart.

Don't stop here, find out all about the Darkmoon Faire with part two of our Darkmoon Faire guide!

Return to the previous page for more awesome Darkmoon Faire guide information.

Human Cannonball (The Humanoid Cannonball)

This one is a bit difficult, you’ll need to fire yourself out of the cannon five times (five tokens) and land in the target five times. You can land anywhere in its general vicinity and you’ll get credit. The best thing to do is just drop out of the sky near the boardwalk.

Aim for the targets in Tonk Battle in order to win and get your quest done.

Tonk Battle (Tonk Commander)

This one is fun and easy. Drive your Tonk around and destroy 30 targets (the bullseye looking things). If you don’t get it the first time around then just repeat the mini-game again.

Shooting Gallery (He Shoots, He Scores)

Hit the target 25 times (the one with the arrow pointing down at it). You can move yourself around with the arrow keys or the right mouse button, so just try to aim at it and spam the fire button. You have unlimited ammo but limited duration.

Test Your Strength (Weekly Quest)

Another weekly quest for more Prize Tickets, you’ll need to slay 250 different enemies (obtain the killing blow) like in the Valentine’s Day quest. The best way to do this is to just go to the Molten Front and do your dailies, you’ll get this in not time. Not max level? Just keep questing and you’ll get it eventually throughout the week.

Darkmoon Faire Profession Quest Guide

Profession quests are weekly quests that grant 4 Prize Tickets, 5 Profession Skillpoints, and 1 Token. They can be repeated once a week, so if you’re still leveling a profession then hold off completing it until later in the week.

  • A Fizzy Fusion (Alchemy):  Go and obtain some Moonberry Juice and buy some Fizzy Faire Drink then use the quest item.

  • Fun for the Little Ones (Archaeology): Go and dig 15 times throughout the world and you’ll get your 15 Fossil Fragments for this quest.
  • Baby Needs Two Pairs of Shoes (Blacksmithing): Craft four Horse Shoes (you can find an Anvil/Forge at the faire grounds).
  • Putting the Crunch in the Frog (Cooking): Use Simple Flour to bread five frogs and then use the caludron to cook ‘em.
  • Putting Trash to Good use (Enchanting): Disenchant the Discarded Weapons laying around the grounds.
  • Talking’ Tonks (Engineering): Right click five Damaged Steam Tonks.
  • Putting the Carnies Back Together Again (First Aid): Use the bandages to heal the injured carnies laying around the faire.
  • Spoilin’ For Salty Sea Dogs (Fishing): Catch 5 Great Sea Herrings near the ocean on the Darkmoon Faire Island.
  • Herbs for Healing (Herbalism): Gather the Darkblossoms laying all around the DMF grounds.
  • Writing the Future (Inscription): Use the Bundle of Exotic Herbs to make Prophetic Ink and then combine the ink with Light Parchment to make the fortunes.
  • Keeping the Faire Sparkling (Jewelcrafting): Loot bits of glass around the fiare grounds to make 5 Sparkling Gemstones.
  • Eyes on the Prizes (Leatherworking): Use the Darkmoon Craftsman’s Kit to make 5 prizes with Coarse Thread, Shiny Baubles, and Blue Dye
  • Rearm, Reuse, Recycle (Mining): Loot six pieces of Tonk Scrap off the DMF grounds.
  • Tan My Hide (Skinning): Pick up 5 Staked Skins around the DMF grounds.
  • Banners, Banners Everywhere! (Tailoring): Use Coarse Thread, Red Dye, and Blue Dye with the Darkmoon Banner Kit to make the banner and then put it on the pile lof Loose Stones on the grounds at the DMF.

Artifacts

Artifacts are random drops from dungeons and battlegrounds associated with your level as long as you have the Darkmoon Adventurer’s Guide in your inventory. The only way to collect them is to just play as you normally do and then use the item which will give you a quest to turn in the artifact (they give 10~15 Prize Tokens each and 250 Reputation).

Darkmoon Deathmatch

The corpses will pile up when the faire is released, be ready for some lag and hardcore AoE action.

The Deathmatch hosts a free for all battle and every three hours starting at midnight a chest appears in the middle begging players to fight over it. Should you be successful, you’ll gain the Pit Fighter trinket and should you fail – well, you had a ton of fun. Anyone who zones into the Deathmatch will be flagged for PvP, so be ready to fight as soon as you enter.

Darkmoon Faire Rewards

So you’ve gone through all of the effort to turn in those prize tickets and are wondering what is it worth? Well, not a lot. The various vendors sale one of three things: transmogrification gear (currently tier 1 sets), vanity items (pets and mounts), and finally heirlooms. Interestingly enough, a new player on a server could earn heirlooms rather quickly.

The vanity items break down into two mounts, the Dancing Bear and Swift Foreststrider for 180 Prize Tickets and the non-combat pets (Monkey, Cub, Turtle, Balloon, Tonk, and Zeppalin) are 80 Tickets each. You can count on at least 25 Tickets a day (175/wk) and 24 for your profession quests (4/quest 6 quests). You’ll gain 10 more for the kill quest, netting you 209 Prize Tickets a week, meaning you can have the mount the first week or upwards to two heirlooms.

Heirlooms are about 110~160 Prize Tickets each (there is a bit of give and take there depending on the slot). So if you’re leveling up a new toon then don’t forget the Darkmoon Faire, in four days you could have your first heirloom even if you’re just starting the game.

A few vanity items are for sale like the Darkmoon “Sword” (the Styrofoam sword) and Darkmoon Hammer, along with the Darkmoon “Tiger” which is the Sandbox Tiger you can summon.

Lvl90ETC and Petting Zoo

The last few remaining bits about the DMF are that LVL90ETC shows up every hour on the hour. There is a petting zoo with various critters in it, pony rides, and a boardwalk for fishing.

That’s pretty much the new Darkmoon Faire. So what do you think? A waste of Blizzad’s resources or something fun to do while we wait on Mists of Pandaria?


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

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