Valentines Event, or "I'll Pay You 1 Silver for a Guard's Card"

Non-Gamers' Guide to This Post

Warcraft usually has events that correspond with holidays. You can get details on these events by visiting the official Event Calendar.

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It seems as if love isn't all that's in the air this holiday season. Greed has shown its ugly green face in the form of people trying to trade Valentines items for cash.

I myself was approached by a guy in the Auction House who opened a trade window and gave me a heart candy. I thanked him, thinking "This is the holiday spirit!"

Then he tried to give me more but wouldn't trade until I greased his palm a little. ("Pay me," he said. Really, it was so romantic I almost swooned.)

Truth be told, I already had candy from my adorable sister-in-law, who had mailed it to me the evening before. So I cancelled the trade and bought a new dagger to cheer myself up, horrified at the amount of people peppering Stormwind, just waiting to accost gullible players with extra cash.

It's a good strategy, really. Tons of people are invading the major cities of Warcraft in order to take on the holiday quests. The two reigning comments in the chat box are "Will someone fix my broken heart?!" and "Will buy guard's card for 1s."

I went myself for the decorations, and to get my picture taken against the beautiful candle-lit fountain outside of the bank (it was begging to be photographed). The biggest problem was just waiting for all the people jumping on it to get down. Especially a Draenai on his elephant-like mount, who obscured the whole upper half of the screen.

But I do think that the spirit of the season pervades in spite of the money-mongers. I sent some cologne to my husband, perfume to my sister-in-law, and made myself a nice white woolen dress to celebrate in. I saw people healing broken hearts, casting confetti from high places, and giving gifts to strangers (my husband realized someone had blessed him with a Peddlefoot and freaked out because he thought it was creepy -- I had to assure him it would fade away in time).

If you have a sweetheart to celebrate with this season, grab her some flowers or chocolate covered cherries (if she likes chocolate -- don't just grab the first sampler you see) and have a nice day together. If you don't have a honey-dumpling, treat yourself to a decent movie, go out with friends, and feel free to wear black in honor of the anti-Valentines crowd.

There is always something to celebrate on holidays. You just have to find it.