This Winter Veil there’s a speedy new way to reach The Abominable Greench (and rescue Metzen the Reindeer)

Winter Veil’s boss fight against the Abominable Greench is a little bit of an anomaly as it’s not a fight you can queue for — instead players need to trek out to the Alterac Valley section of Hillsbrad Foothills to rescue Metzen the Reindeer and reclaim the stolen treats. However, The War Within has added new taxi service NPCs to help players get to and from the fight a lot faster than before. The real beneficiaries are the Alliance for whom most of their permanent portals direct them to Stormwind instead of Ironforge, but Horde players should find it faster as well (especially on characters that are unable to use the portal at Brill due to phasing bugs).

The key NPC for getting to Hillsbrad is named Father Winter’s Helper <Express Transportation> and can be found in both Ironforge and Orgrimmar near the other Smokeywood Pastures NPCs and Greatfather Winter. The Helpers are standing in front of a fireplace flanked by a Winter Veil tree and giant candy canes, and when spoken to offer transportation to Hillsbrad Foothills. Selecting this will put you on Greatfather Winter’s sleigh, which will drop you off right on the path to Growless Cave; this is way faster than flying there manually (even with Skyriding) or using one of the various tricks the community has come up with over the years, such as the Battle for Azeroth portal to Arathi if your faction controls it. Don’t forget to grab the “You’re a Mean One…” daily quest before heading out — but if you forgot, the Strange Snowman is still present nearby to offer it to you.

Getting back to Greatfather Winter is quicker than ever now

It used to be the trek back to turn in the quest was almost as arduous as the one to the Greench — especially for Alliance players — but there’s a third Father Winter’s Helper located in Dornogal who can hasten the process considerably. You can find him just southeast of the Stonewrought Inn and the flightmaster, on the same level as the Trading Post. Talking to him will take you to your faction’s Smokeywood Pastures camp after a short animation in Greatfather Winter’s sleigh. So as long as your hearthstone is set to Dornogal and not on cooldown after you’ve completed the Greench fight, you can be back to turn in the quest in under a minute.

Of course if you’ve not yet opened up Dornogal or don’t have your hearthstone set there it’s going to take longer. Horde players still have all their standard ways of getting back to Orgrimmar: Dalaran hearthstone, Guild Teleport Cloak, portals in Valdrakken, Shattrath, etc. Alliance players will need to take a detour through Stormwind (the Sanctum of Sages in Boralus Harbor still has an Ironforge portal so you can navigate that way). Dark Iron characters have Ironforge as one of the default destinations via their Mole Machine so be sure to take advantage of that. Finally there are typically friendly mages in the vicinity willing to open a portal for other players as a quick way to get back.

While still not as expedient as a holiday boss you can queue for, the arrival of new NPCs has made farming the Abominable Greench a much better experience now. So if you’re still looking to acquire the Winter Veil Armor for your Highland Drake or want more Puntable options for your 2024 Winter Veil gift it’ll be a more convenient farm than in previous years.