The Darkmoon Faire comes to Azeroth the first full week of each and every month (check your in-game calendar for specific dates) with games and fun for characters of all levels!  A sanctuary zone frequented by both Alliance and Horde, the portal to and from Darkmoon Island for Alliance characters is in the field adjacent to Goldshire in Elwynn Forest.

It’s a long and winding path from the entry portal down to the Darkmoon Faire proper, but never fear!  Dusty Brandom stands at the ready with a stable of tallstriders to lend out to visitors – particularly handy for characters too low-level (or too poor) to have mounts of their own.  If this is your character’s first time visiting Darkmoon Aisle, they’ll receive the Come One, Come All! (10pt) achievement just for making it this far.

Near the center of the Faire are the equipment vendors who sell basic Heirloom gear (along with first upgrades) and Replica Gear (for transmogs) in exchange for Darkmoon Prize Tickets.  A great option for those wanting to stock up on Heirlooms but don’t have much gold to spare.

The Carousel

Of perhaps greatest benefit is the Darkmoon Carousel.  Darkmoon Ride Tickets are sold in booklets of five by Kae Ti, who stands at the entrance to the ride.  The Tickets inside are not BoP, so you can save a bit of coin by using a lower-level alt to buy the Tickets to send to a higher-level one.  While there are several rideable figures, one merely needs to stand upon the ride’s platform to receive the WHEE! buff – increases five minutes per tick to a maximum of one hour – which increases all experience and reputation gains by 10%.

TIP!  Due to how this feature is coded, you can recharge the buff for free by simply returning to the Carousel before the buff expires completely.  You do, however, need to have at least one Darkmoon Ride Ticket in your inventory to get onto the platform (even if not used to pay for the ride).  Definitely your first stop on Darkmoon Island so as to apply the +10% bonus to your gains from the festivities.

The Midway

Scattered throughout the Midway are the Faire’s assorted games, each of which features a Daily Quest which will award a BoP Darkmoon Game Prize.  The prize will always contain at least one Darkmoon Prize Ticket (the event’s non-expiring currency) though also has a chance to include additional tickets, companion pets, mounts, or other prizes.  Completing all six games will earn the Step Right Up (10pt) achievement.

Darkmoon Game Tokens are sold by dedicated vendors scattered about the Faire in Pouches of five or Sacks of twenty.  Tokens are also awarded for completing profession-related quests about the Faire – once per week.   Characters must spend one Token per game per play, and the proprietors will oust anyone who break the rules of their game or try to play without paying.

TIP!  The Tokens are bound to each character, cannot be transferred, and the price increases based upon the purchaser’s level.  However, they never expire and stack to 200.  Since the Darkmoon Faire happens every month, you can save some coin by loading up on cheap tokens at lower levels to spend later on.

Whack-A-Gnoll

The first game along the Midway is Whack-a-Gnoll, overseen by a mallet-wielding orc named Mola.  Once the game begins, you’ll have sixty seconds to scurry about the game area, pressing 1 to swing your mallet and whack whatever is popping out of the barrel directly in front of you.  The three kinds of targets include:

• Gnoll ~ a smaller tan padded target resembling common gnolls; worth 1 point each
• Hogger ~ a larger brown padded target resembling Hogger; worth 3 points each
• Kewpie ~ a smiling innocent doll; worth zero points and will stun you if you hit one

In order to win a Darkmoon Game Prize, you need to score 30+ points.  If you can manage to score 45+ points in a single game, you will earn a That’s Whack! (10pt) achievement and Hogs’ Studded Collar (a unique Hogger-like companion pet).

TIP!  It simply isn’t possible to whack every Gnoll and/or Hogger that pops up so you need to strategize and prioritize.  If a particular target has had three additional targets (of whatever kind) pop up since it did, it will drop back into its barrel before you can whack it.  When the infrequent Hogger pops up, abandon whatever else you’re doing and focus on it instead.  If surrounded by Kewpies, stay near the center barrel so you’re best prepared to whack the next available target.

Humanoid Cannonball

Second game to the right is the Humanoid Cannonball Challenge, where gnome Maxima Blastenheimer is more than a little eager to show off the payload capacity of her Blastenheimer 5000 Ultra Cannon.  Slip her a Token and she’ll launch you across the Faire‘s grounds with a dispellable Wings buff – press 1 to dismiss the wings at any time.

Just offshore is the game’s target, which you must dispel your Wings to land on – awards 1 point for landing within the area, 3 points for within the ring itself, and 5 points (plus the Blastenheimer Bullseye 10pt achievement) for the exact center of the ring.  Any combination of landings which accumulate five (or more) points will win a Darkmoon Game Prize.

TIP!  This one is tricky to perfect, but releasing exactly when 1.9 seconds of your Wings buff remains (vis Deadly Boss Mods) will score a bullseye every time.

He Shoots, He Scores!

Just past the Carousel, troll barker Rinling runs a shooting gallery.  Pay him a Token to grab an Ultrasafe Target Blunderbuss and press 1 to blast away for sixty seconds at whichever target is activated by the ghostly green icon.  Awards 1 point for hitting the right target, with 1 additional bonus point (plus the Quick Shot! 10pt achievement) for doing it within half a second of the icon lighting up the target – scoring 25 points wins a Darkmoon Game Prize.

TIP!  While the recoil rightly deserves respect, it’s manageable enough to fire off three shots within the time any particular target is flagged.  Earns up to four points per target, making this the quickest and easiest game to win.

Tonk Commander

Next game along the Midway is Tonk Commander, run by a cantankerous dwarf named Finlay Coolshot.  Once the game begins, you’ll have sixty seconds to zip about the arena, pressing 1 to blast the closest target within your forward arc and pressing 2 for a temporary speed boost.  Watch out for the Zeppelin puttering about the arena – it randomly drops a bomb a short distance ahead of itself with a good-sized blast radius.  The Enemy Tonks will agro if you get too close but won’t hit you if you keep moving.

In order to win a Darkmoon Game Prize, you need to score 30+ points.  If you can manage to score 45+ points in a single game, you will earn the Ace Tonk Commander (10pt) achievement and your own Darkmoon Tonk Controller.

TIP!  This is (IMHO) the toughest bonus achievement to bag as it is only possible to fire roughly fifty shots within the time allotted.  As soon as you’ve blasted one target, use the cooldown time to move to the nearest next target.  Plan ahead, minimizing the distances from one target to the next.

Firebird’s Challenge

Joining her pyrotechnic brother Boomie at the Darkmoon Faire, goblin engineer Ziggie Sparks challenges passerbys to try out her Blazing Wings.  Playing along will launch you into the sky, where you can loop and soar to your heart’s content… at least as long as the wings last.  They’ll expire within ten seconds (after which you’ll float safely to the ground – great for the Going Down? 10pt achievement) unless you recharge them by flying through one of the many flaming hoops scattered across Darkmoon Isle.

Winning a Darkmoon Faire Prize only requires passing through fifteen hoops, with achievements for how many hoops you fly through during a single game – Flying High (10pt) for ten hoops, Ringmaster (+10pt) for twenty-five hoops, and Brood of Alysrazor (+10pt plus your own set of Blazing Wings) for fifty hoops in one game.

TIP!  Here’s the route I’ve worked out which will fly through all 58 flaming hoops (done from memory, so I know I overlooked a hoop or two along the way), which makes it super-easy to get the 50 hoops needed for the Brood of Alysrazor achievement.

Turtle Tossing

The last game on the midway is Turtle Tossing, where Jessica Rogers plies you to try tossing rings at a surprisingly agile turtle.  One Token gets you ten rings to toss, though you only need to land three to win a Darkmoon Faire Prize.  If you can land all ten rings in a single game, you’ll earn the Triumphant Turtle Tossing (10pt) achievement along with a Sonic-inspired Darkmoon Ring Flinger toy.

TIP!  While turtle Dubenko’s movements can otherwise be erratic and unpredictable, there are three aspects which are entirely predictable:

• He always returns to the exact same spot (near the center) before plodding off in a random direction
• He always pauses for just a moment before turning around and racing back to his starting position
• He always takes the same amount of time to return, no matter how far or near he has roamed since

Press 1 to set your target in the center and wait for Dubenko to reach the end of his ‘leash’.  The very instant he pauses, click to begin your throw of the ring – it will arrive at exactly the same time he does.

More to come….

Twyla Fox

http://Twyla.Rocks

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