You don’t think THAT is scary?!? A gnome with a night elf mask?!?! Maybe it’s an undead mask. Almost the same thing, I think. Scary nonetheless!

This week, World of Warcraft patched in the Hallow’s End stuff, which I guess is the politically correct name for Halloween. It’s one thing to offend the Fundamentalists, quite another to offend Satanists or pagans or whoever is sponsoring the mid-autumnal holiday known as Hallow-whatever.

And really, how much of a tightass do you have to be to get offended by Halloween? Ya. Exactly. But don’t get me started.

Where was I? Oh yes, the Hallow’s End stuff in Warcraft.

In a phrase, the decor, the quests, the atmosphere, all of it is incredibly well done. Superb even.

See for yerself.

This is Auberdine, the not-so-noob Night Elf village (click for larger image):

And this is Ironforge, the Auction House area specifically. Most of the bridges throughout Ironforge have huge jack-o-lanterns planted on each side. Must have cost the Ironforge city council quite a bundle to buy such primo decorations. (click for larger image)

Here’s Katrina’s corner, near the main bank area of Ironforge. She’s a vendor with seasonal treats that are of marginal benefit (to a greedy player such as myself) … it adds to the atmosphere, so that’s ok. (again, click for larger)

But, here’s the best part of the Hallow’s End mini-patch: the quest lines, in particular, the noob line of seasonal quests. I won’t spoilzorz here, but the noob line couldn’t be easier once you find the starting point, and if you use your hearthstone wisely, we’re talking 30 minutes max to finish it. You’ll receive a stack of self-cast illusions … all sorts and varieties. (How cool is that!)

There is a rot period on these, so don’t think you can bank these until July and trot it out to amaze the new batch of summer noobs. Ain’t gonna happen.

But that’s not all! Oh no, there’s more! You can continue to visit the major city innkeepers to trick or treat (only once an hour, you treat ho’s!) and either receive a random treat or you’ll be tricked for 30 seconds … by an illusion that the innkeeper casts on you. You can’t cast or attack during the trick, but it’s much better than having eggs hurled at your door by the neighborhood middle school thugs.

From what I’ve seen of the treats — which you receive in a trick bag — the best of them is a limited-charge wand that casts random illusions on your party members.

Yes, I’ve already identified the potential problem with that and there WILL be DKP penalties for anyone using that during the week’s raids.

DKP penalty be damned, I’ve got to hustle to an inn and get one of those wands before the raid. It’ll be worth it.