Project Lore

I know, I know. I gave Brewfest a hard time when it first started up. On top of my frustrations with blurry screens and fatigued rams, Blizzard was working through some bugs that prevented players from properly using their mugs to bonk dwarves attempting to steal beer kegs. Then, as if that wasn't enough, serious server stability issues set in after the unexpected release of Patch 3.2.2. But I suppose I ruled out this merry holiday a bit too soon, and have since grown to enjoy even those aspects that previously were driving me insane. Which is why I'm happy to report that Bornakk announced today the event has been extended for an additional two days:

"Brewfest is a time of year where the focus is placed squarely on the celebration of fun and food. In order to give everyone enough time to truly experience this event (and after some fine tuning on the part of the event organizers), we will be extending the event two additional days. The festivities will end on October 5th at 11:59PM, so don’t miss it."

Yes, it seems Blizzard has taken notice of our frustrations with bugged-out quests and lagged-out ram racing, and in compensation has decided to give us extra days to earn those all-important Brewfest tokens. Now that we've memorized the perfect routes for the Bark For.. quests, perfected the timing of whipping our mighty rams to go faster and learned (the hard way) that not all pugs are trustworthy when it comes to winning loot, we have the opportunity to get a little more out of the event. Personally, I got the Brewmaster title a couple of days ago by selling back my Brewfest garb before purchasing the Brew of the Month membership. But as a starting-out collector of vanity gear, I'm looking forward to getting a couple of pieces back. Plus, more chances at the ram or kodo mounts, and that mighty (and highly auction-able) BoE Tankard O' Terror. I'll drink to that!

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You may have heard of 3 Point Entertainment before. They're the creators of the official World of Warcraft beer steins. Well, they couldn't just let such a monumental (and conveniently-themed) event like Brewfest just go by without honoring it, right? Of course not. And their replica of the recently added Coren Direbrew drop, the Tankard O' Terror, does just that. This 226 iLevel BoE Mace, discovered by our very own Juggynaut, is a very rare drop in-game, but just about anybody can score the real life version of the mug for a cool $39.99. Though it's the cheapest of the company's steins by a fair margin, 3 Point didn't slouch on the craftsmanship. With all of its lo-fi angles and textures modeled after those in the game, replica isn't just a buzz word, it's a promise. You'd swear they were actually made by the finest Dwarven stoneworkers in Azeroth. While the Tankard O' Terror's authenticity is no doubt amusing, it's questionable whether or not anyone would actually want to drink out of it. Certainly, with a 2-liter capacity, it can hold a lot of brew, and the company insists that entire collection of mugs is perfectly safe to use in the act of imbibing, but this one's not very ergonomic, is it? The handle doesn't look particularly comfortable to hold and, while there are not pictures provided of the tankard from above, it looks like it might have a wide lip. Of course you could always wield it as weapon, like it's intended to be in the game. At a height of nearly 10 inches, and a weight of 4 lbs,  there's little doubt it could be used to crack a few skulls if the need should arise. Or, you could just set it out to view as a nice piece of World of Warcraft-themed ephemera. Although you can purchase them now, please note that shipping and handling is not included in the price tag, and that they will not actually be available until at least mid-November. Be sure to check out the other steins while you're at the website, most of which are a bit more ornate than the Tankard O' Terror and feature artwork by well-known names like Samwise Didier and Alex Horley.

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Which is the Dark Iron Dwarf, and which is the keg? They're both short and fat - your guess is as good as mine!

As iTZKooPA already pointed out in his detailed Brewfest guide, the onset of this merriest of holidays brings with it a host of achievements and quests to keep us amused while chugging enough beer to dizzy even the stoutest of dwarves. I didn't get too into Brewfest last year, since I was low-level and focused on changing that. So this year I was excited to dive right in from the start. So why am I already hungover from all the content we have to do for the event? I think it's because two of the repeating themes of the holiday revolve around two of my least favorite antics: performing actions when not being able to see anything (in this case, because of drunken blurriness), and controlling a mount (for Brewfest, a ram) that has built-in limitations. For some of you, these may be your most favorite in-game tricks ever! But for me, not so much. I like the concept of Brewfest, and of course, knocking back some drinks should have some side effects on the drinker. Usually, I think the in-game drunk effect of blurred vision and the inability to walk straight is pretty funny. And I still enjoyed it the first couple of times around. But then I had to get smashed over and over again to catch Wolpertingers, find pink elekks, jump off a ledge in drunken stupor and, of course, fight back Dark Iron Dwarves intent on stealing our brew. Day one of Brewfest, it took my server only a couple of tries to win the epic battle by smashing those thieves over the head repeatedly with a giant mug. There's been some debate over whether this is bug-related or just because people aren't targeting the dwarves right, but both Monday and yesterday, amidst post-patch-lag, we had absolutely no luck in winning the fight. Which means 20 less tokens so far, but that could add up to a lot more if we don't get with the program. Maybe I'm being too hard on the ram quests. They're not that horrible, once you get the right whipping rhythm down for keeping them at a steady pace without getting fatigued. Just don't make the mistake of being in a group when you complete them. I've had two separate occasions already in which only one person in a group was able to turn in the Bark For... quests, then it would automatically fail the other person. Once again, that could be a bug or it could be Blizzard's way of preventing people from having an easier time completing the quests because they could ride on the coattails of someone else. One thing I have been thoroughly enjoying is whipping up on Coren Direbrew and getting some sweet loot. If you group up right and use your alts, you can get in quite a few runs every day on this guy and keep trying for those mounts and weapons! So has anyone else been having a hard time fighting back the Dark Iron Dwarves? What other bugs have you encountered? Despite my frustrations with a couple I've come across, I'm aiming to get Brewmaster - so that's enough to keep me chugging. Cheers!

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Does His Belt Have Hearts On It? We are progressing into day four of our celebration of all things beer (hic!) and I've already come across a few scoundrels.  Not once, but twice - 66% of the time for those keeping score at home - I've been in a group where some horrible human being lied to the group.  That's right, I am complaining about people criminals lying about their ability to Insult Coren Direbrew, the Brewfest boss. The main issue isn't that a group can't figure out if someone is lying, it's that we find out too late.  Thanks to the quest starting inside BRD, we don't have any idea who's telling the truth until we are already there.  At that point we don't have an easy way to figure out who is lying, just that someone is!  You can deduce the culprit - kicking people from the group to watch the number on the quest log change, or not - but one of my groups folded to the liar because he was the tank.  Turns out that wasting additional time is of higher consequence than losing the Ram to a liar. If Direbrew was the only summonable boss, then it really wouldn't be an issue.  But he's not.  Coren is only one of three quest-based summonable bosses that I can think of off the top of my head.  Ahune of Midsummer Fire Festival fame, and the Headless Horsemen of Hallow' End being the other two bosses that we truthful people routinely get screwed on. Blizzard, if you are listening we citizens of Azeroth would love for this archaic form of treachery to be a thing of the past.  Please allow us to see who is eligible for the quest before we travel all over the lands.  Or at the very least, make deducing the liar a quick and painless process when we do arrive. In the interest of screwing these bastards out of their ninjaing opportunities please make sure to see that everyone has the quest before the first summon!  No mount drops for me yet, how about you?  Anyone lucky enough to score anything fun/useful?  Solidsamm finally managed to drop his Pocketwatch for a nice beer coaster.  Rolled a 4 on the remote, and a 22 on the barmaid trinket.  Hope you've had better luck.

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I've heard quite a few tales of players getting both the Kodo and Ram mounts from the Brewfest boss in BRD. What I haven't heard mentioned at all was a piece of loot that dropped on my 20th (and final) run for today: the Tankard O' Terror. The slow one-handed mace is not only higher item level than any other loot from Direbrew, but is also BoE. Since googling the term showed no results, I figure it must be an extremely rare drop. The stats on it are actually very good for a melee, especially an enhancement shaman. Not only that, but it looks amazing. A huge mug that is acutally useful in combat? Very nice. Almost as good as an overflowing chalice or a broken beer bottle. Anybody else seen unexpected items come off of our old friend Coren? I have yet to nab a Kodo from him so I'll likely be spending more time piling the floor with his corpses. For all of the times I've already killed the guy, this drop was quite the surprise. Maybe there is reason for people to go in there, even after they have all of the trinkets they can handle.

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It's 5 O'clock Somewhere! The closing of International Talk Like a Pirate Day ushered in another of WoW's seasonal events, the much loved Brewfest.  Ahh Brewfest.  Who could dislike two-week long celebration based upon the ancient Dwarven tradition of drinking?  No one, that's who.  Not even the Elementals, Old Gods or Titans could turn away a good brew, tall mug of ale or flagon of mead.  Each and every being in the Warcraft universe has their vice, thus we all love to celebrate the joy it brings.  Oh, except Coren Direbrew.  He probably hates the event since everyone tries to kill him for his purpalz.  Unfortunately for that Dark Iron dwarf, this year will be no different. The double-fisting dwarf has been updated to a level 80+ boss for 2009's Brewfest, and is complete with a new loot table.  Included in his table are the staples of old, the Ram and Kodo and the summoning remote, alongside some sexy new ilvl 200 trinkets (Dodge/Spell Power/Attack Power/Healing Haste) and the second successor to the dagger that almost forced me to quit the game, Direbew's Shanker 2.0.  Yes, Azerothians apparently label their daggers like we Earthlings label our software. Other than the new loot and raise in level, Direbrew's encounter is essentially the same.  To the tickets! Quests:

• Brewfest! - This is the simple starting quest to the event (Alliance/Horde).
• Now This is Ram Racing...Almost - You need to do this quest if you want to unlock the other ram racing dailies and/or grab your souvenir stein for Brewfest 2009 (Alliance/Horde).
• Say, There Wouldn't Happen to be a Souvenir This Year, Would There? - You'll be able to grab your free stein once you complete Now This is Ram Racing...Almost (see above), so be sure to do that quest first.  A very simple quest (Alliance/Horde)!
• There and Back Again (10 Tokens) - This is the most challenging, but not the most time consuming, quest.  You have to run back and forth on a temporary ram delivering kegs, while keeping your fatigue in check.  And you only have four minutes to do three runs.  If you do this quest then you can help the quest giver one more time (Alliance/Horde).
• Do you still need some help moving kegs from the crash site... (2+ Tokens) - That bit about helping the quest giver one more time refers to this.  You'll be tasked with doing the same thing as above, but you'll get 2 tokens for each trip made.  However, once your four minute timer is up you are done for the next 18 hours.  It's like a daily quest, only not a quest, or on a daily timer.  I guess it's the tuned up "Do you have additional work" from last year.
• Catch the Wild Wolpertinger! - One of the quests where you need to be completely smashed on booze or wearing the Synthebrew Goggles, available from the quest giver, to complete.  If you can't see any Wolpertinger's at the Brewfest camp grounds it is because you aren't inebriated enough (Alliance/Horde).
• Pinks Elekks On Parade (40 Tokens) - Another 'be smashed (or goggles) to complete' quest.  Only this also happens to be our token traveling quest for the event as well.  Alliance have to hoof it to Azuremyst Isle, Elwynn Forest and Teldrassil, while Horde will have to head to Eversong Woods, Mulgore and Tirisfal Glades to slay the figments of drunken imagination.  Please, no drinking while driving (Alliance/Horde)!

Daily Quests:

• Bark for a brewery! (15 Tokens) - You have to chose which brewery you bark for per day.  You can swap between the two available beer makers for your faction though.  You'll mount another ram, and then run amok in your capital city screaming about how awesome the chosen brewery's bubbly is.  Pretty simple  way to score some tokens (Horde - Drohn's Distillery/T'chali's Voodoo Brewery; Alliance - Barleybrews/Thunderbrews).
• This One Time, When I Was Drunk... (10 Tokens) - The beginning to all good stories...You can only start this quest after a Dark Iron invasion.  They happen every 30 minutes, so you should be able to find a keg to strike a Dark Iron baddie pretty easily.  Once they've aborted the mission pick up the Dark Iron Mole Machine Wreckage on the ground to start the quest.

In addition to the quests and the loot we also have Brewfest's achievements.  Most of them remain the same, so I won't bother running through them all.  The important one is the new Brewmaster (Alliance/Horde), which forces you to complete all the Achievements except Brew of the Year.  For many people, the completion of Brewmaster means they will have completed the monster meta-Achievement of What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, earning themselves a Violet Proto-Drake.  Congrats to those who do. I'll be wondering around "completely smashed" later today to finish off my token collecting for my very own pink elephant elekk.  Already snagged my wolpertinger.  Once that's complete, it's off to BRD for farming of the non-shattered dagger from Direbrew.

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The annual celebration of Oktoberfest began over the weekend.  Brewfest, as it is known in Azeroth, is another fun filled seasonal celebration like the earlier Harvest Festival.  Those of you that may have been disappointed by the lack of stuff to do at this year's Harvest Festival definitely need to check out Brewfest. The Brewfest offers much more than paying your respect.  The latest seasonal even even gives players a reason to venture back to Black Rock Depths.  Those of you who participated in the Brewfest last year likely have the old 2007 tickets.  Fear not, for those tickets can be turned into the 2008 tokens via one of two NPCs, Belbi Quikswitch for the Alliance or Crest Blix Fixwidget for the Horde.  Be aware though, this year's tokens are not savable for the 2009 Brewfest so use them all.  For all of those out their who fancy Achievements, you should purchase the "Brew of the Month" Club Membership Form.  By the time the form runs its course, you will unlock an achievement for the 2009 Brewfest. Probably the biggest change to the Brewfest this year is the removal of a purchasable item. Previously, players who saved up 600 tickets could purchase the Brewfest-exclusive mount, but that ability has been removed for the 2008 celebration.  Players who wish to score the mounts will now have to return to Black Rock Depths with a daily quest called [Insult Coren Direbrew].  The drop percentage has been reported to be as low as 2-3% and as high as 15%, so good luck.  Regardless, Direbrew has some pretty good loot – especially his trinkets - for characters that don't regularly run Karazhan or own Season 2 PvP gear or better. Direbrew has proven to be a fairly easy boss and very farmable.  For starters, you need to complete [Welcome to Brewfest!] and then [Save Brewfest!] before you can get the daily.  Once everyone has the daily quest, your group can summon him five times without having to switch up the line-up.  Then, have someone switch to an alt with the quest or look around for a new player entirely.  Naturally, having a Warlock around would make the whole process go faster.  You only need to be level 65 to start the quest, although tanks and melee should be 70. Brewfest 2008 will end October 4.  See you in BRD!

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