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The OverAchiever: Guide to Brewfest 2012

Allison Robert
Updated ·15 min read
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Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, Azeroth has acquired another race of happy drunks.

An early warning: Brewfest has definitely been updated for Mists of Pandaria. We don't have solid information on all of the changes yet, but in the hours after the holiday goes live, I'll be around to make sure that everything in the guide is updated and corrected for the new expansion.

This year, Brewfest runs from Friday, Sept. 28 to Sunday, Oct. 14 (check your in-game calendar for your server's exact start and end times: Different time zones mean your Brewfest may end late on Saturday, Oct. 13). Why so late and so long this year? Because Coren Direbrew's been jacked to level 90, and you can't queue for him until level 89 at the earliest. Blizzard's planned around the awkwardness of having Brewfest go live so close to the Mists launch by bumping the holiday back by a week and extending the amount of time you'll have to get everything done if you're starting from scratch.

So don't worry about leveling at a breakneck pace! If you really want to kill Coren this year -- and I'd advise doing it, because he drops ilevel 470 stuff this year -- you've got until mid-October to reach level 89.

The Brewfest meta Brewmaster is required for the year-long What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so you'll want to get this done if you're working toward a Violet Proto-Drake.



As usual, the holiday's achievements are organized in the rough order I feel they should be completed, as one is dependent on having help from other players. With most holidays, there's high participation at the start, which dwindles as folks get their drops and complete achievements, so I prioritize getting Down With The Dark Iron done as quickly as possible. This year, that's probably not as much of a concern because servers are packed to the scuppers with players eager to level through Mists. Assuming you get Down With the Dark Iron out of the way, Brewfest achievements aren't generally difficult, though they'll require a little elbow grease if you're starting from scratch.

I've included all of the achievements attached to the holiday, but you'll only need six for the meta, and they've been marked as such. As the holiday goes live, I'll be up to check out the changes and update the guide. As we've already observed in the introduction, Coren Direbrew and his nuisance of a level update are probably the most significant change, but he'll make it worth your time. I can't recall another expansion launch that's had a holiday boss dropping such immediately useful stuff so quickly.


A quick note for achievement hunters

Each year's edition of the Brewfest Stein (e.g., Yellow Brewfest Stein, Green Brewfest Stein, Blue Brewfest Stein) tends to become an achievement down the road. That said, this did not happen in 2010, so it's not 100% certain to occur, and we're not guaranteed to get a new stein each year.

Down with the Dark Iron (required for the meta)

Down with the Dark Iron is the achievement to get out of the way as early as you can in the holiday, as it's significantly harder if there aren't a lot of players around to help fight off the Dark Iron attacks. If you can't get this done within the first few days of the holiday, keep checking back at server high times, or enlist help from friends and guildies.

Every half-hour, Dark Iron Dwarves attack both the Alliance and Horde Brewfest areas (which are located outside of Ironforge and Orgrimmar's main gates respectively). If a sufficient number of people help defend the camp, the attack is thwarted, and the Dark Irons will leave a large cog on the ground. Right-clicking the cog will give you the daily quest This One Time, When I was Drunk. Turn this in, and you've got your achievement. Incidentally, the quest also rewards 10 Brewfest Prize Tokens (the holiday's currency), so even if you don't need the achievement anymore, it's extremely helpful if you're saving toward Brewfest clothing and/or the Brew of the Month Club achievement.

So how does one help defend? On tables around the central festival area, you'll find Complimentary Brewfest Samplers. Pick one of these up, and hotkey it somewhere convenient. When the Dark Irons attack, keep tab-targeting through them while spamming the hotkey. Nearby brewery NPCs will keep tossing you filled mugs, so you'll keep drinking and tossing with an endless supply of beer-fueled ammunition. Ideally, the end result is that the Dark Irons get beaten back at the same time you get hopelessly sloshed, and if enough people are defending alongside you, your faction's kegs will be saved. It's only necessary to save one of your kegs in order to successfully "defend" against the attacks, but there are so many Dark Iron Dwarves attacking at once that this is almost impossible to do without help. Get it done early, folks.

All set? Time to start saving more Brewfest Prize Tokens ...

Brew of the Month (required for the meta)

Brew of the Month was once one of the most controversial achievements in the game. In order to complete it, you had to have tasted each of the 12 brews sent to you monthly -- which, yes, meant you spent an entire year getting this one achievement. Blizzard changed this heading into patch 3.1, after players complained that no death knight would be able to get What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been for almost two years. Wrath of the Lich King (and thus the death knight class) launched in November 2008, two months after Brewfest 2008, which left death knights (and anyone who hadn't done Brewfest) up the proverbial creek.

So now, Brew of the Month simply requires you to join the club, and the original version was changed to Brew of the Year, which is its own achievement now (see below) and not required for the meta.

Joining the Brew of the Month Club will run you 200 Brewfest Prize Tokens for the membership form. Afterwards, you'll need to make a trip to Orgrimmar or Ironforge to turn in the membership to Ray'ma or Larkin Thunderbrew, respectively, and that should nab you the achievement.

If you start amassing tokens relatively early, you should be fine getting the 550 you'll need for both Brew of the Month and Disturbing the Peace (below). Once you're on track, you can worry about the less time-sensitive achievements.

Disturbing the Peace (not required for the meta)

I can't stress this enough -- you do not need to do Disturbing the Peace for your Brewmaster title, and you may want to ignore it on a character that's new to the holiday who still needs Brew of the Month. I've listed it third here because you'll need to get an early start on Brewfest if you want both achievements.

You'll have to save 350 Brewfest Prize Tokens in order to purchase the clothing you'll need, and you can choose from among the following in the chest, feet, and helm slots:

All are available from Brewfest token redeemers located in the central festival area (Belbi Quikswitch for the Alliance and Blix Fixwidget for the Horde). After you buy them, travel to Dalaran, put on your new duds, get "completely smashed" (the type of alcohol doesn't matter, as long as you're stinking drunk) and /dance. Voilà, achievement.

It used to be possible to sell the clothes back to a holiday vendor in return for your 350 Prize Tokens, but Blizzard has eliminated this method of making the currency (and other holiday currencies) go further. Bottom line? Once you spend your tokens, they're gone for good, and anyone who wants all of the Brewfest achievements won't have a lot of extra tokens knocking around for fun purchases like Blix's Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles. Plan accordingly!

Does Your Wolpertinger Linger? (required for the meta)

Does Your Wolpertinger Linger? is extremely easy. The cute but somewhat vicious-looking wolpertinger pet is a reward for the one-time quest Catch the Wild Wolpertinger! (Alliance) or Catch the Wild Wolpertinger! (Horde) on all non-EU servers. (EU players have to buy the wolpertinger from the holiday quartermaster as these quests don't exist on their servers.) Each starts from the factions' central festival areas outside Ironforge or Orgrimmar respectively, with Goldark Snipehunter for the Alliance and Glodrak Huntsniper for the Horde.

In contrast to Down With The Dark Iron, this is slightly harder to do early in the holiday with lots of people getting their quests and achievements, as there are only so many wild wolpertingers needed for the quest running around the festival area at a given moment. Keep at it. They respawn quickly, so a little persistence is all you need.

For die-hard pet collectors, this is one of the more interesting pets in that other players will be unable to see your wolpertinger unless they're drunk.

The Brewfest Diet (required for the meta)

The Brewfest Diet is one of the less time-consuming (but more filling) achievements, The Brewfest Diet requires you to purchase and eat eight specific foods sold by Brewfest vendors. None of the items sold are very expensive, and doing the achievement will only cost you 20 silver and 68 copper. All of the vendors will be found in the central festival areas outside Orgrimmar and Ironforge.

For low-level players, please note that there are level restrictions on many of these foods, and unless you're at least level 65, you will not be able to complete this achievement.

Not provided: cardiologist.

Direbrewfest (required for the meta)

Right. Here's the aspect of the holiday that we know for sure has changed.

Coren Direbrew is arguably the poster child for Blizzard's decision to link holiday bosses to the Dungeon Finder. It used to take ages for Direbrewfest groups to get moving because nobody wanted to make the long trek to Blackrock Depths. Horde groups were particularly notorious for this, as people were usually traveling from Orgrimmar, and BRD is not one of the more convenient dungeons coming from that city.

Ah well -- that's all in the past. Pull up your Dungeon Finder (the default hotkey for this is I), and in addition to the new Mists of Pandaria dungeons, you'll find a Coren Direbrew option for the duration of Brewfest. If you're already in a group, you can queue for everyone to go (or have someone else do it for you); if not, you can kill Coren with random players. If you've never done the Coren fight before, here's a rundown, with more information available on his Wowpedia page. He's a very easy fight, although I don't doubt he might be a bit tougher this year if players consistently queue for him at level 89.

His 2012 loot table should be as follows. Experienced players will recognize them as ilevel 470 versions of Coren's previous stuff:

These are in addition to the items that you will only find in the Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest awarded for your first Coren Direbrew kill each day:

  • Direbrew's Bloodied Shanker Unfortunately, I cannot find an updated listing for this item on Wowhead.

  • Tremendous Tankard O'Terror Ditto. Coren has also traditionally dropped a one-handed BOE mace that, like the Shanker, I can't find an ilevel 470 version of on Wowhead. I don't know if this means that Coren won't have a chance to drop weapons at all, but I've combed through Wowhead's item lists of all weapons and can't find any dagger or mace at 470 or otherwise that could possibly be a Coren drop as I write this. Stay tuned, folks. The weapons might well exist but just not be a part of Wowhead's system yet.

  • Great Brewfest Kodo

  • Swift Brewfest Ram

  • Direbrew's Remote This is one of the most interesting holiday drops in the game and can teleport you once per hour to the Grim Guzzler (the BRD bar). For classes without a lot of travel options, this provides you with an easy way to reach the Eastern Kingdoms. As an added bonus, you can get a performance from The Artists Formerly Known as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain each time you take the Remote. Just speak to the goblin roadies at the drum set.

Have Keg, Will Travel (required for the meta)

Fortunately for anyone with terrible luck, Have Keg, Will Travel is no longer dependent on getting lucky with a mount drop off the holiday boss. If you don't already have a Brewfest mount and can't coax Coren Direbrew into dropping one (which is rare these days with the daily loot bag), just buy some Fresh Brewfest Hops from the token redeemer for the measly sum of 2 tokens, pull out whatever mount you like, and /use the Hops. You can also buy the Preserved Brewfest Hops for 20 tokens, but even the cheap version will get you the achievement.

A Brew-FAST Mount (not required for the meta)

Assuming you manage to get either the Great Brewfest Kodo or the Swift Brewfest Ram (and you should if you're religious about killing Coren Direbrew once a day), you should automatically nab A Brew-FAST Mount, a feat of strength.

Drunken Stupor (not required for the meta)

Paladins, rogues, druids and mages won't have any more difficulty with Drunken Stupor than they had with Going Down? due to immunity effects or less fall damage taken, but it's easy to do if you know where to go. Get "completely smashed" -- as with Disturbing the Peace, the type of liquor you use doesn't matter -- and head for Shattrath. Jump (don't step) off the bridge at this location. The distance to the ground from the bridge is slightly less than 65 yards (which is why you have to jump), and you should get the achievement without dying.

For added fun, bring a bandage with you, and you can get Ultimate Triage directly afterwards, if you don't have it already.

Strange Brew (Alliance) or Strange Brew (Horde) (not required for the meta)

The Horde and the Alliance versions of Strange Brew are slightly different, as each faction has different competing breweries, but it's still pretty straightforward. You'll find the NPCs you need in the festival areas:

Alliance

Horde

Brew of the Year (not required for the meta)

Brew of the Year is actually not something you can do during Brewfest itself. Assuming you've joined the Brew of the Month Club, once a month, you'll be sent a bottle of booze in the mail. Open your mail, chug the bottle, throw the bottle to smash on the nearby pavement, and if you drink all 12 monthly brews over the course of the year, you've got your achievement.

Most of the brews have funny secondary effects. So far, the most interesting has been the Lord of Frost's Private Label, which can turn you into an ice block. Given that ice blocks play a prominent, lifesaving role on some raid encounters, it's not surprising that players have had some fun with this. I'll let a video titled "How to Wipe in Naxxramas Using Beer" speak for itself.

Enjoy working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on patch 4.3 achievements, our guide to Mountain O' Mounts, and a good, hard look at what's wrong with archaeology and how Blizzard could fix it.