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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Mo' Money, Mo' Problems features tips and tricks to striking it rich in World of Warcraft.  If you need some extra gold to cover those costly repair bills, are working on an epic flyer for your umpteenth alt, or are attempting to hit the gold cap, Mo' Money, Mo' Problems is for you.  Have ideas or tips you'd like to submit?  Then @iTZKooPA or leave a detailed comment. Ahh, gold, I collect it even though I have little use for it these days.  Due to that fact I am willing to share my gold making ways with you, free of charge!  No longer will you have to drop real money on some random gold making guide seen on Google Ads panes.  You can just come to your friendly ProjectLore were we, and the community, will collect, refine and categorize ways to turn a buck in our favorite MMORPG.  We've already given out a few basic tips in the past, but now I will pull out all the stops, and go so far as to tell you my biggest money makers. On this second edition of Mo' Money, Mo' Problems we will cover ways to turn Brewfest into a beer drinking and money making seasonal event.  Okay, ways may be stretching it, as I have only found one surefire scheme to turn a tidy profit from the seasonal event.  The quests generally reward nothing but steins and tokens, and the loot from Coren Direbrew is unvendorable and not disenchantable.  All of it except the Tankard O' Terror.  The gnome-sized tankard is truly a money maker. For starters, the tankard is the only BoE weapon above ilvl 200.  That makes it worth at least 1000 gold right there.  The mug isn't exactly rare, I've already seen a few, but it's highly limited availability, only drops during Brewfest of course, will also impact the price.  The non-unique status means that a moneymaker like yourself can have on in the AH, and continue to farm for another.  Oh, and people may want to dual wield them, driving up the demand, thus the price, further.  A perfect storm of potential profit in my mind. That's all pretty basic stuff, but here's the real tip, hold out on putting your tankard on the AH.  As mentioned, the supply is limited by the presence of Brewfest.  If you don't need the money right now, then you'll be able to raise your profit to stupid levels if you can hold out until a few weeks after Brewfest is complete.  Just be sure to play the AH before Blizzard decides to release another high ilvl weapon for the next seasonal event! Tankard O' Terror is running around 1500 gold on my server at the moment.  What it's priced at on yours?  Have you already cashed in?

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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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