WoW, Casually: Get thee to Brewfest!
Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player who has limited playtime.
Brewfest is here and unless you are opposed to virtual beer-related events, you should get down to Ironforge or Orgrimmar and join the fun. It isn't as casual-friendly as the Midsummer Fire Festival, but it's a blast and every activity can be done by a player with very little playtime, even the boss: Coren Direbrew.
Unlike the Fire Festival, you don't get experience by the fistfuls for levelers or cash rewards to fill your coffers, but there is the Brew of the Month Club and, seriously, how can you resist that? There will be Achievements awarded for obtaining many of the Brewfest goodies, including drinking every beer you get in the club, so belly up to the bar and start Chugging and Chucking.
Join us after the break for some tips and tricks to get the most out of your Brewfest experience.
Coren Direbrew:
Location: You pick up the quest and fight Coren in the Grim Guzzler, located in Blackrock Depths.
How to get there: Unless someone in your group has Direbrew's Remote, you need to get to Blackrock Depths. Once in the instance, there is a transport to the right that takes you straight to the Grim Guzzler.
Level Recommendation: Though you can get into the instance earlier, I don't recommend attempting the boss before level 70.
The fight: It is pretty much a standard Tank and Spank fight with a few adds. The elites that spawn will just respawn if killed so just ignore them. If your gear is a mishmash of Outlands quest gear and Welfare Epics like mine is, try to tag along with the main characters of hardcore raiders, not their alts. The battle is cake if you have a good enough tank and are fast and heavy with the DPS -- barely any healing is required. With a good enough group, you can down Coren 5 times in less than half an hour, travel time included. If your group is undergeared or has inadequate DPS, the battle will require more coordination as well as more time for running back to your corpse. My group was made up of a poorly equipped Boomkin (me) and 4 hardcore ubergeared raiders: a rogue, a bear, a mage and an elemental shaman. With totems and my critical buff, we were unstoppable.
TLDR fight strategy: Hook up with some well geared raiders and make sure your group is heavy on the DPS for a quick, successful battle.
Loot: There are a lot of great items to be had that are both fun and useful. The trinkets are similar to the ones you can get from Badges. Hopefully, if your group has no warriors or paladins, you won't get 4 Coren's Lucky Coins like mine did. They can't be disenchanted or vendored and I couldn't figure out how to play Quarters with mine.
All other Brewfest Quests:
Location: Down the mountain from Ironforge if you are Alliance and outside of Orgrimmar if you are Horde.
Level Requirements: None. You can complete all of the quests at level 1.
Quest Requirements: Most of the quests must be unlocked by completing Now This is Ram Racing... Almost. You will be able to get your souvenir mug as well as all of the other Ram Racing quests after completing this.
Rewards: You receive Tokens this year instead of Tickets. You can exchange your Tickets from last year for this year's Tokens by talking to the Token Redemption person -- a female gnome for Alliance and a male goblin for the Horde. They are easily found because they are loudly sexually harassing everyone who walks by. Tokens have a duration on them this year, so spend away!
Dark Iron Dwarves: You can actually just stand there and wait for the Dwarves to leave and then click on the gear they leave behind to complete the daily Dark Iron quest. But that is boring. If you want to actually participate, you need to pick up a Complimentary Brewfest Sampler mug from any of the tables near the attack. Put the mug on your action bar, highlight a Dark Iron Dwarf (they go quickly) [edited for accuracy] and click on your mug. You can only pick up one mug at a time. Complete the Chug and Chuck quest to practice for this and get some tokens.
Ram Racing: Find the locations of all of the apple barrels before attempting any of the Ram Racing quests. These are important for keeping your Ram from becoming exhausted after too much Galloping. Put the Reins on a hotkey so that you can easily adjust your speed.
Barking: There are no apple barrels along the barking route, but they have made the quest easier this year. All you have to do is bark in all of the locations of the quest before time runs out. You no longer have to make it back to the quest giver in 4 minutes.
What's missing from last year:
Pink Elekks: There are no Pink Elekk quests this year, which is a sad, sad loss.
Wolpertinger quest: You can buy Wolpertinger's Tankard from the Token vendor for 50 silver, but the quest has been removed.
Mounts for purchase: Don't even get me started. You can buy one-use hops from the Token Vendor to change your current mount temporarily into either a Ram or a Kodo. The buff does not last if you have to dismount, so I don't recommend wasting your tokens on these unless you have just a couple leftover at the end of the event. The mounts do drop from Coren Direbrew, but they are rare.
Bugs: Last year was very frustrating due to many issues that plagued Brewfest. Happily, they ironed out all of the bugs this year before the event started.
If you are looking forward to Achievements in Wrath of the Lich King, get a head start by getting all the Brewfest goodies. If you are looking for a break from your current boring daily grind, do your Brewfest dailies instead. And if you want to have some of the fun of boozing it up without the expense, hangovers or embarrassing incidents that will be office gossip the next day, then get your Blue Brewfest Stein and fill 'er up.
WoW, Casually is a column for those of us who are playtime-challenged and proud Welfare Epic wearers. If you have questions or tips about how to get the most out of your limited playtime, please send them to Robin.Torres AT weblogsinc DOT com for a possible future column.
