Lunar Festival Guide 2012

Another year, another chance to finish those big achievements you didn't manage last year. Lunar Festival 2011 was pre-blog (so pre-motivation for me) but it's been taunting me ever since. Damn my laziness.

Lunar Festival is a celebration of our (virtual) ancestors, held by the druids in Moonglade. This year it will be running from 22nd January - 11th February. You can collect Coins of Ancestry by visiting the 84 Elders scattered throughout the lands of Azeroth, then use these to buy festive outfits, engineering schematics, tailoring patterns and two new companion pets (thanks to commenters Shoryl and Esdala for the correction!) - Lunar Lantern for Alliance and Festival Lantern for Horde. The coins don't disappear when the festival ends so check your banks for stragglers that you might have held onto from last year, and keep any spares for next year if you don't get everything you want!

If you're looking to complete this meta, it would be a lot easier at level 80 or above as there are 9 Elders within the Cataclysm 80-85 zones and some of the dungeon Elders are hidden away in Northrend dungeons. Those with friends and guildmates happy to summon/help them will be able to complete these at a lower level though!

Currency earned: Coins of Ancestry
Maximum possible this year: 84
Number required to complete meta: 5

Achievements needed for the meta:

• 50 Coins of Ancestry
• Frenzied Firecracker
• The Rocket's Red Glare
• Lunar Festival Finery
• Elune's Blessing
• Elders of the Alliance
• Elders of the Horde
• Elders of Eastern Kingdoms
• Elders of Kalimdor
• Elders of Northrend
• Elders of Cataclysm
• Elders of the Dungeons

Total achievement points up for grabs: 160

So, let's get onto the good bit - snagging a title, 160 a/p, some snappy clothes and a new pet!

50 Coins of Ancestry

The only way to get the coins is to honour those ancestors! You'll get this whilst visiting Elders for the other achievements.

Frenzied Firecracker

Set off 10 Festival Firecrackers in 30 seconds or less! You can buy these for 3 silver each from Lunar Festival Vendors. Bind them to a hotkey, find a place for your server that's low/no lag and face your camera downwards. Firing each one sets off the GCD, which is why it's best to go to a low lag area. An easy way to make sure you're doing it right is to track the achievement in your Objectives list - find it in the achievements interface under World Events, click the box marked 'Track' and boom. Literally.

The Rocket's Red Glare

Very similar to Frenzied Firecracker, set off 10 Red Rocket Clusters in 25 seconds or less. You can buy these for 1 silver each from Lunar Festival Vendors. Bind them to a hotkey but this time, you'll have to be in the festival area of a major city to find the cluster launchers for firing them. You can track this in the same way as the Firecrackers, so just stand next to a launcher and play with pyrotechnics until you get it.

Lunar Festival Finery

Buy yourself a lovely Festive Dress or Pant Suit to wear for 5 Coins of Ancestry. Job done (and looking snappy, I must say)!

Elune's Blessing

Pick up the quest Elune's Blessing from Valadar Starsong in Nighthaven, Moonglade. You must summon Omen, defeat him and receive Elune's Blessing to complete this quest.

Summoning Omen is simple. Throw some cluster rockets into the launchers near the Stormrage Barrow Dens at the southeast edge of Lake Elune'Ara. A giant, two-headed dog appears!

There were many reports of level 85s soloing him last year but if you're going as a group, taking a 'tank' and healing capable class along is probably helpful. He cleaves and does a regular Starfall AoE but shouldn't present any more of a challenge than holiday bosses like Frost Lord Ahune do.
If you don't fancy soloing Omen, it's quiet in Moonglade when you have time at 4am or you just can't get a group, don't panic! Actually engaging him in combat is unnecessary, if you catch him upto 5 minutes after defeat. This is because Elune's Blessing is received by walking into the pool of moonlight falling on his corpse, so if he's there and already defeated, just hop under the moonlight and go hand the quest in.

Elders

I'm going to split all the Elders into blocks based on location - Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northrend, and new Cataclysm locations. Dungeon Elders are in the list for the continent they're on - so you don't miss an Elder in a zone and have to go back for it - as are Elders of the Alliance/Horde.

Some of the dungeon Elders can be hard to find. If you're struggling to find them, you're more than welcome to tweet or email me and I will help as much as I can. You can also try their Wowhead comments for help - as the holiday progresses people are likely to put their tips and tricks up for others!

Eastern Kingdoms

Morndeep	Blackrock Mountain, Blackrock Depths, Ring of Law
Stonefort	Blackrock Mountain, Blackrock Spire, near Hordemar City
Bellowrage	Blasted Lands, Dark Portal
Rumblerock	Burning Steppes, Dreadmaul Rock
Dawnstrider	Burning Steppes, Flame Crest
Goldwell	Dun Morogh, Kharanos
Windrun	Eastern Plaguelands, Crown Guard Tower
Snowcrown	Eastern Plaguelands, Light’s Hope Chapel
Farwhisper	Eastern Plaguelands, Stratholme, enter through main gate, in Festival Lane
Stormbrow	Elwynn Forest, Goldshire, behind Blacksmith shop
Highpeak	Hinterlands, Creeping Ruins, north of Altar of Zul
Bronzebeard	Ironforge, Mystic Ward
Silvervein	Loch Modan, Thelsamar
Starglade	Northern Stranglethorn, Zul’Gurub entrance
Ironband	Searing Gorge, far SW corner, outside Blackchar Cave
Obsidian	Silverpine Forest, The Sepulcher
Hammershout	Stormwind, outside the front gates
Starsong	Swamp of Sorrows, Sunken Temple, inside entrance to the left
Graveborn	Tirisfal Glades, Brill
Darkcore	Undercity/Ruins of Lordaeron, old throne room
Winterhoof	Vale of Stranglethorn, Booty Bay, on top of the bank/AH
Meadowrun	Western Plaguelands, off road into EPL, inside Weeping Cave
Moonstrike	Western Plaguelands, Scholomance buildings
Skychaser	Westfall, Sentinel Hill, top of tower

Kalimdor

Riversong	Ashenvale, Astranaar
Skygleam	Azshara, Ravencrest Monument
Starweave	Darkshore, Lor’danel
Bladeswift	Darnassus, Cenarion Enclave
Splitrock	Desolace, Maraudon, Zaetar’s Grave area
Runetotem	Durotar, Razor Hill
Nightwind	Felwood, pillars east of Bloodvenom Post
Mistwalker	Feralas, Dire Maul, in arena area
Grimtotem	Feralas, Lariss Pavillion, north of Camp Mojache
Bloodhoof	Mulgore, Bloodhoof Village
Windtotem	Northern Barrens, Ratchet
Moonwarden	Northern Barrens, The Crossroads
Darkhorn	Orgrimmar, near zeppelin docks
Bladesing	Silithus, Cenarion Hold
Primestone	Silithus, The Crystal Vale
High Mountain	Southern Barrens, Vendetta Point
Dreamseer	Tanaris, Gadgetzan
Wildmane	Tanaris, inside Zul’Farrak by Gahz’rilla pool
Ragetotem	Tanaris, Valley of the Watchers
Bladeleaf	Teldrassil, Dolanaar
Morningdew	Thousand Needles, F & P Speedbarge
Skyseer	Thousand Needles, Freewind Post
Wheathoof	Thunder Bluff, Elder Rise
Thunderhorn	Un’Goro Crater, middle of the Slithering Scar
Stonespire	Winterspring, Everlook
Brightspear	Winterspring, Lake Kel’theril

Northrend

Pamuya	Borean Tundra, cliff north of Warsong Hold
Arp	Borean Tundra, D.E.H.T.A
Igasho	Borean Tundra, The Nexus, in Singing Grove before Ormorok
Northal	Borean Tundra, Transitus Shield, Coldarra
Sardis	Borean Tundra, Valiance Keep
Skywarden	Dragonblight, Agmar’s Hammer
Nurgen	Dragonblight, Azjol-Nerub, down long drop after Hadronox
Thoim	Dragonblight, Moa’ki Harbor
Morthie	Dragonblight, Star’s Rest
Whurain	Grizzly Hills, Camp Oneqwah
Kilias	Grizzly Hills, Drak’Tharon Keep, near King Dred
Lunaro	Grizzly Hills, Ruins of Tethys
Beldak	Grizzly Hills, Westfall Brigade Encampment
Jarten	Howling Fjord, Utgarde Keep, near Njorn Stair
Chogan’gada	Howling Fjord, Utgarde Pinnacle, under stairs after Skadi
Sandrene	Sholazar Basin, Lakeside Landing
Wanikaya	Sholazar Basin, Rainspeaker Rapids
Stonebeard	Storm Peaks, Bouldercrag’s Refuge, base of hills north of Snowdrift Plains
Muraco	Storm Peaks, Camp Tunka’lo
Fargal	Storm Peaks, Frosthold
Yurauk	Storm Peaks, Halls of Stone, in Crystalline Quarry before Krystallus
Graymane	Storm Peaks, K3
Bluewolf	Wintergrasp, in the Keep
Ohanzee	Zul’Drak, Gundrak, by Drakkari Colossus at Tomb of the Ancients
Tauros	Zul’Drak, Zim’Torga

Cataclysm

Deepforge	Deepholm, Stonehearth
Stonebrand	Deepholm, The Temple of Earth
Evershade	Mount Hyjal, Nordrassil, by the Stormwind portal
Windsong	Mount Hyjal, Sanctuary of Malorne
Darkfeather	Twilight Highlands, between Thundermar and the river
Firebeard	Twilight Highlands, Dunwald Ruins
Sekhemi	Uldum, The Ruins of Ammon, in front of west statue
Menkhaf	Uldum, Khartut's Tomb, to the east of the statue
Moonlance	Vashj’ir, Biel'Aran Ridge

I'll be taking pictures and making notes as I run through it for myself and will share anything useful I find on my travels. Are you going for it this year as well? Let me know how you're getting on in the comments!

Thanks to Anne Stickney over at WoW Insider for linking this guide! I hope new readers found something useful in there - feel free to leave any feedback/comments below!