Brewfest '15

This is one of those holidays that have been around forever and I just haven't put in the time to write up a guide for it. Coming this week is Brewfest! Based around the ever popular real event Oktoberfest. It's about drinking, eating, and having an all around good time.

http://jenasu.deviantart.com/art/WoW-It-s-Brewfest-bitches-138068965

The in-game festival lines up, almost, every year with the real Bavarian fair Oktoberfest, so even through a drunken haze, you shouldn't forget that either of them are happening! Brewfest this year starts on September 20th and runs through till October 6th. Plenty of time for mount and trinket farming. Brewfest operates mostly around daily quests and farming a daily boss, all in the aim to acquiesce more Brewfest Prize Token so that you can pick up some fancy brew-related vanity and cosmetic items.

Like many of the other holidays, Brewfest comes with its own holiday boss; Coren Direbrew. With the release of Warlords of Draenor, he has been updated to the new level cap of 100. I will include all of his odds-and-ends when we get to that particular section of the guide, but for now, it's time to start at the beginning: Quests.

As with most holidays, if not all, the Commoners in the capital city always offer up a quick bread crumb quest to get you aimed in the correct direction to start enjoying all of the holiday festivities.

• Brewfest!/Brewfest!: The true bread crumb quest. All capital cities will have commoners who will send you on your way to the Brewfest Organizers, Ipfelkofer Ironkeg outside of Ironforge and Tapper Swindlekeg outside of Orgrimmar. You get your choice of three alcoholic beverages as your reward
• For Alliance: Barleybrew Clear, Thunder 45, Gordok Grog
• For Horde: Small Step Brew, Jungle River Water, Gordok Grog
• Chug and Chuck!/Chug and Chuck!: Offered up by Boxey Boltspinner for you Alliance folks and Bizzle Quicklift for you Horde chaps, you're tasked with snatching up some Alcohol-Free Brewfest Sampler and lobbing empty mugs at the S.T.O.U.T. (Self-Turning and Oscillating Utility Target) a few times.
• 10 Brewfest Prize Token

Only Available on US Servers. Goldark Snipehunter and Glodrak Huntsniper offer up a pair of quests that will reward you with one of the available pets for this holiday. One can be taken care of at the Brewfest camp, while the other requires a bit of running around to complete. Both of them are very easy to complete for characters of any level, but these quests do require you to be smashed, or under the effects of the Synthbrew Goggles.

1. Catch the Wild Wolpertinger/Catch the Wild Wolpertinger: Once you're under the desired effect, aka "smashed", it is time to take up your magnificent Wolpertinger Net and wander around the Brewfest camp looking for Wild Wolpertinger. Your mission is to capture five Stunned Wolpertinger, at least you get to keep one when it's all over.
• Wolpertinger's Tankard
2. Pink Elekks On Parade/Pink Elekks On Parade: Take up your mighty Elekk Dispersion Ray and set out on your inebriated adventure!
• The Alliance are going after the Azuremyst Pink Elekk around the entrance of Exodar, the Elwynn Pink Elekk around the gates of Stormwind, and the Teldrassil Pink Elekk just past the Warrior's Terrace in Darnassus. Three (3) of each.
• The Horde are aiming for the Eversong Pink Elekk just outside the Silvermoon City gates, the Mulgore Pink Elekk near the western lift of Thunder Bluff, and the Tirisfal Pink Elekk in the Ruins of Lordaeron. Also three (3) of each.
• 40 Brewfest Prize Token

Before we continue on to the next set of available dailies, we need to have a small interlude here to talk about the ram-racing "mini-game" of Brewfest. To unlock these dailies, you have to do a simple tutorial quest to make sure you get the idea of how the ram-racing works, then demonstrate your abilities by actually doing some keg-tossing. Then you unlock some dailies and a repeatable that is on an 18 hour reset. The repeatable is going to end up being your breadwinner for Brewfest Prize Token. Head just outside of the Brewfest camp and speak to Neill Ramstein if you're Alliance or Ram Master Ray if you're Horde.

1. Only available if you did not complete it during a previous year. Now This is Ram Racing... Almost/Now This is Ram Racing... Almost: This is your tutorial quest for ram-racing. Utilizing the Ram-Racing Reins, simply maintain a trot for eight (8) seconds, then maintain a canter for eight (8) seconds, and finally maintain a gallop for eight (8) seconds. Here's a quick rundown of the ram effects:
• Ram Level - Neutral: Starting speed. 50% reduced run speed. Lose 4 Ram Fatigue every two (2) seconds.
• Ram - Trot: Attain this speed by activating the reins every few steps. 25% increased mount run speed. Lose 2 Ram Fatigue every two (2) seconds.
• Ram - Canter: Maintain this speed by activating the reins every second. 100% increased mount run speed. Gain 1 Ram Fatigue every second.
• Ram - Gallop: Achieve this speed by spamming the reins. 185% increased mount run speed. Gain 5 Ram Fatigue every second.
• Exhausted Ram: If your Ram Fatigue ever hits 100, then you will gain this debuff for 15 seconds. You will be going as slow as your unmounted walk until it wears off.
• Ram Fatigue: This buff fluctuates based upon your movement speed increase. You can drop it to 0 by using one of the apple barrels located around on the path for the keg run. If you have Exhausted Ram, it will still drop your Ram Fatigue to 0, but it will not reset the debuff.
• A New Supplier of Souvenirs/A New Supplier of Souvenirs: Use the Brewfest Stein Voucher for from the tutorial ram-racing quest to pick up an Overflowing Purple Brewfest Stein, but only if you haven't already picked this item up in a previous year. This will be updated if we actually get a new stein this year.
2. There and Back Again/There and Back Again: Time to step it up a notch. You've been tasked with collecting three Portable Brewfest Kegs. Get your Ram Racing Reins and (following the picture guides below) head to Flynn Firebrew or Bok Dropcertain, then return to Neill Ramstein or Ram Master Ray. Rinse and repeat three (3) times, while utilizing the apple barrels to lower your Ram Fatigue.
• 10 Brewfest Prize Token
3. "Do you still need some help moving kegs from the crash site... ?"
• 2 Brewfest Prize Token per keg (Do your best! You're going to need a serious amount of those tokens!)

1. [A] Bark for the Barleybrews!/Bark for the Thunderbrews!: You get to pick which one of these vendors gets some advertisement. For Barleybrew, speak with Becan Barleybrew. For Thunderbrew, speak with Daran Thunderbrew. Using your Ram Racing Reins, you need to run through Ironforge and stop at the Bank, the Military Ward, the Hall of Explorers, and the Mystic Ward, all in under four (4) minutes time. Head back to your desired brewery, even if the time expires after completing the four locations, for your reward.
• 15 Brewfest Prize Token
2. [H] Bark for Drohn's Distillery!/Bark for Tchali's Voodoo Brewery!: You get to pick which one of these vendors gets some advertisement. For Drohn's Distillery, speak with Cort Gorestein. For Tcahli's Voodoo Brewery, speak with Ja'ron. Using your Ram Racing Reins, you need to run through Orgrimmar and stop at the Auction House, the Valley of Honor, the Valley of Wisdom, and the Valley of Spirits, all in under four (4) minutes. Return to the Brewfest brewer of your choice once you've done your barking, even if the time expires after completion, for your reward.
• 15 Brewfest Prize Token

The Brewfest festival camps also have an event at 6:15 AM and 6:15 PM (server time) where High Tinker Mekkatorque for Alliance, or Vol'jin, if you're Horde, will shop up at the festival center and give out speeches before tapping the key on the stage between some of the booths. This little event offers up a two (2) hour long buff that increases experience gain by 10% and persists through death. If you're not already at level map, make sure to pick up your Brewfest Enthusiast buff at every opportunity.

1. This One Time, When I Was Drunk.../This One Time, When I Was Drunk...: I decided to place this last daily here instead of with the rest of the dailies before it was more intertwined with defeating Core Direbrew. So where else to put it, but right before the Coren section of the guide. The Dark Irons attack the Brewfest camps every thirty (30) minutes. You have to use your chug-and-chuck training to defeat them, while also picking up the Superbrews to stun multiple Dark Irons at once; Drunken Master. If a single large keg is left standing, the Dark Irons will retreat and leave behind some Dark Iron Mole Machine Wreckage/Dark Iron Mole Machine Wreckage, which is how you get this daily.
• 10 Brewfest Prize Token

With all of those rambunctious drunken antics taken care of, you should now have your sights set on taking down the Dark Iron brew master; Coren Direbrew. Before you we go any further, please note that you need to be level 100 to access this boss. You have the option using the LFD to queue for him by selecting Coren Direbrew, or you can speak with the the dungeonmaster in Ironforge or Orgrimmar to gain access to the special phased version of Blackrock Depths. Making a trip out to the Grim Guzzler through the normal Blackrock Depths instance portal or by using the Direbrew's Remote will not gain you access to the boss.

1. To initiate the fight, you have to speak to Coren Direbrew. He'll have two dialogue options to choose from. If you apologize, you're not going to get anywhere. If you insult him, he'll throw down fisticuffs.
• Coren Direbrew - This is a basic tank-and-spank fight, especially if you use the hints below on simplifying some of the mechanics. If not, it's still pretty straight forward. If your tank is undergeared or your healer is not healing, you might have some issues with this fight.
• Direbrew's Disarm: This ability has a four (4) second cast time that cannot be interrupted. Be sure to move out of melee range to avoid getting hit by it, because it's more than just a disarm.
• Paralyzed: The side-effect of getting hit by his disarm and it lasts for four (4) seconds.
• Dark Iron Antagonist - Coren has three of these surrounding him when you first initiate the encounter. They are so weak, you won't even notice when they aren't there anymore.
• Ilsa Direbrew - Will continue to respawn after being struck down.
• Chuck Mug: Chucks a Dark Brewmaiden's Brew at a random party member. If they don't drink it up before another one gets thrown, they will get stunned.
• Dark Brewmaiden's Stun: The consequences of not drinking your first Dark Brewmaiden's Brew. If you enter this fight with a full inventory, you won't be able to receive the chucked brews, so you can ignore this mechanic altogether.
• Ursula Direbrew - Most annoying add. Will continue to respawn after being struck down.
• Chuck Mug: Chucks a Dark Brewmaiden's Brew at a random party member. If they don't drink it up before another one gets thrown, they will get stunned.
• Dark Brewmaiden's Stun: The consequences of not drinking your first Dark Brewmaiden's Brew. If you enter this fight with a full inventory, you won't be able to receive the chucked brews, so you can ignore this mechanic altogether.
• Barreled!: The most annoying mechanic of this fight. Roughly sixteen (16) seconds after Ursula spawns, she starts throwing kegs at whoever is the highest on her threat list. Said kegged target loses all aggro and is incapacitated for eight (8) seconds, so make sure that someone other than the tank or a healer is the highest on the threat table. To ignore this mechanic altogether, you could have a Warlock Demon or a Hunter Pet with taunting abilities hold aggro on her and completely ignore her otherwise.
• Direbrew Minion - They will start spawning quicker as Coren loses more health, ignore their presence at the 20% marker and burn Coren down.
• Mole Machine Emerge: You will be knocked up and away if a mole machine starts to emerge underneath you.
• Direbrew Charge: Insignificant one (1) second charge.
2. Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest - Only available on your first kill per day.
• 10-15 Brewfest Prize Token
• Direbrew's Remote: One of the most common drops. It's a free "teleport" to the Grim Guzzler in Blackrock Depths. Sure makes farming Molten Core easier.
• Direbrew's Bloodied Shanker: A pretty unique broken bottle model shared by previous versions of the weapon from Coren Direbrew, as well as Plugger Spazzring inside the Grim Guzzler.
• Tremendous Tankard O'Terror: Unique mug weapon model only shared by other Coren Direbrew tankards from previous years. Pretty awesome weapon transmogrify for dwarves or monks, especially if you dual-wield.
• Great Brewfest Kodo: The only kodo mount acquirable by the Alliance.
• Swift Brewfest Ram: The only ram mount acquirable by the Horde.
3. Boss Loot
• Direbrew's Dire Brew: Alliance version to start the quest Direbrew's Dire Brew, obtainable by all party members that haven't already completed the quest.
• Direbrew's Dire Brew: Horde version to start the quest Direbrew's Dire Brew, obtainable by all party members that haven't already completed the quest.
• Bubbliest Brightbrew Charm: Summons The Brewmaiden.
• Bitterest Balebrew Charm: Summons The Black Brewmaiden.
• Brawler's Statue
• Coren's Cold Chromium Coaster
• Mithril Wristwatch
• Thousand-Year Pickled Egg

Once you've drunk your fill(Blasphemous!) and got into plenty of bar fights(Fisticuffs!), you're going to have pockets full of tokens(Shinies!) that you're just itching to spend on random items that won't make any sense to you once the festival is all over(Wolpertingers?!). Head over to Belbi Quikswitch, if you're of the Alliance variety, or Blix Fixwidget, if you're of the Horde persuasion, to check out the list of available wares. The Brew of the Month club vendors in Ironforge(Larkin Thunderbrew) and Orgrimmar(Ray'ma) will also have a list of purchasable items. To acquire every single item, you are going to need 2129 Brewfest Prize Token (2329 Brewfest Prize Token for EU servers).

• Brewhelm - 2 Brewfest Prize Token [Requires Brewfest]
• Fresh Brewfest Hops - 2 Brewfest Prize Token [Requires Brewfest]
• [A] Fresh Goblin Brewfest Hops - 5 Brewfest Prize Token [Requires Brewfest]
• [H] Fresh Dwarven Brewfest Hops - 5 Brewfest Prize Token [Requires Brewfest]
• Preserved Brewfest Hops - 20 Brewfest Prize Token
• Blue Brewfest Hat - 50 Brewfest Prize Token
• Green Brewfest Hat - 50 Brewfest Prize Token
• Brown Brewfest Hat - 50 Brewfest Prize Token
• Purple Brewfest Hat - 50 Brewfest Prize Token
• Brewfest Slippers - 100 Brewfest Prize Token
• Brewfest Boots - 100 Brewfest Prize Token
• Brewfest Pony Keg - 100 Brewfest Prize Token
• Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm - 100 Brewfest Prize Token
• [A] Belbi's Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles - 100 Brewfest Prize Token
• [H] Blix's Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles - 100 Brewfest Prize Token
• Pandaren Brewpack - 100 Brewfest Prize Token
• Brewfest Dress - 200 Brewfest Prize Token
• Brewfest Regalia - 200 Brewfest Prize Token
• [A] "Brew of the Month" Club Membership Form - 200 Brewfest Prize Token
• [H] "Brew of the Month" Club Membership Form - 200 Brewfest Prize Token
• Brewfest Keg Pony - 200 Brewfest Prize Token
• -NEW- Angry Brewfest Letter - 50 Brewfest Prize Token
• -NEW- Brewfest Banner - 100 Brewfest Prize Token
• -NEW- Steamworks Sausage Grill - 200 Brewfest Prize Token
• -NEW- Stout Alemental - 200 Brewfest Prize Token
• -NEW- Ancient Heirloom Scabbard - 300 Brewfest Prize Token
• -NEW- Timeworn Heirloom Scabbard - 500 Brewfest Prize Token

With all that behind us, you're probably not looking at a very hefty list of achievements left to complete, especially the ones actually required for the meta achievement, but we're going to take a quick look at the achievement list to make sure we don't miss out on anything.

Completing all of the achievements listed below will net you the meta achievement: Brewmaster!

• The Brewfest Diet: You must be at least level 65 to complete this achievement due to the level restrictions on some of the required food items. Chow down on some The Essential Brewfest Pretzel, Spiced Onion Cheese, Dried Sausage, Succulent Sausage, Savory Sausage, Pickled Sausage, Spicy Smoked Sausage, and The Golden Link from the vendors around the camp. Be stuffed, be one achievement down.
• Brew of the Month: Acquire the "Brew of the Month" Club Membership Form/"Brew of the Month" Club Membership Form, accept and complete the quest. No need for actually sampling, that's for an entirely different achievement, just make sure that you sign up and you're golden.
• Does Your Wolpertinger Linger?: Complete the Wolpertinger quest of your faction and get your hands on the mythical Wolpertinger's Tankard.
• Down With The Dark Iron: Defend the Brewfest camp of one of the multiple Dark Iron attacks and complete the daily quest that comes off of a successful defense.
• Direbrewfest: To complete this, all you need to do is take out Coren Direbrew. As mentioned above, you need to be level 100 to be able to access the holiday dungeon.
• Brew of the Year: Complete an entire year's worth of "Brew of the Month" club samples. This was originally required for the meta achievement, but they removed it pretty quickly because of the part of the player-base obsessed with instant-gratification.
• Strange Brew/Strange Brew: After stuffing your face full of delicious carnival food, you're going to need something to wash that all down with. Why not beer?! Again, level 65 is required. No longer required for the meta.
• Alliance: Barleybrew Clear, Barleybrew Light, Barleybrew Dark, Thunder 45, Thunderbrew Ale, Thunderbrew Stout, Gordok Grog, Ogre Mead, Mudder's Milk.
• Horde: Small Step Brew, Long Stride Brew, Path of Brew, Jungle River Water, Brewdoo Magic, Stout Shrunken Head, Gordok Grog, Ogre Mead, Mudder's Milk.
• Almost Blind Luck: Don your trusty Synthebrew Goggles and throw yourself off of something tall. Make sure to survive, otherwise it was a waste of a good time. This was also once a requirement for the meta, but has since been removed, possibly due to the negative connotations of drunken sky diving.
• Disturbing the Peace: Don the Brewfest set and dance around Dalaran, while completely smashed. Also no longer required for the meta achievement, because public intoxication puts Brewfest in a bad light.
• Have Keg, Will Travel: There are a few ways to accomplish this achievement. The -best- way is to get one of the epic mounts to drop off of Coren, because who doesn't love more mounts. The other possible ways to complete it are to simply purchase some of the available hops from one of the vendors and use them on your mount.
• A Brew-FAST Mount: Acquire the Swift Brewfest Ram or the Great Brewfest Kodo. None of the Holiday mount achievements are ever required for the meta achievement, but it sure does feel good to get the achievement anyway.

And now for the special bit at the end that needs to be added to appease the pet battlers among you.

• Wolpertinger - Critter, Uncommon, Breed 7; H/P
• Level 1: Scratch, Level 2: Flyby, Level 4: Headbutt, Level 10: Horn Attack, Level 15: Sleeping Gas, Level 20: Rampage
• Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm - Critter, Uncommon, Breed 7; H/P
• Level 1: Smash, Level 2: Trumpet Strike, Level 4: Headbutt, Level 10: Trample, Level 15: Survival, Level 20: Stampede
• Stout Alemental - Elemental, Rare, Breed 3; B/B
• Level 1: Brew Bolt, Level 2: Inebriate, Level 4: Dive, Level 10: Barrel Toss, Level 15: Explosive Brew, Level 20: Bubble

Pirate's Day '15

Pirate's Day was originally introduced into the game back in 2008, to commemorate International Talk Like  A Pirate Day, or ITLAPD. This holiday always lands on September 19th, as that's the real date of the real life "holiday".

The holiday itself is short and sweet. It only lasts a day, it only has one achievement, and you really only have to do a single thing. Since there is so little to do for this holiday, I'm going to fill this post with other trivial information so that it lasts longer than a couple paragraphs.

First off, no. I'm not going to type this up in Pirate-ese. That's not happening. I don't celebrate this parodic holiday, so I'm not going to participate, even with the written word. Now that that's done..

Your one and only destination for this holiday is quite obvious.. We're going to Booty Bay!

When you enter Booty Bay, point yourself toward the building housing the bank and land on the roof. During Pirate's Day, the roof will be covered in Dread Crew who will be launching fireworks, but they aren't your target. You're looking for Dread Captain DeMeza, the Scourge of the South Seas.

When you speak with DeMeza, you have the option to have a drink with her. Once selected, you'll receive the Dread Corsair buff and be transformed into a pirate. This buff persists through death, mounting up, and while logged out, but it does not persist through shapeshifting.. Sorry druids. Even with Glyph of Stars. Again, sorry druids. If you lose the buff at any time, you can just talk to the commoners in capital cities for a 1 hour replacement. No need to head back to Booty Bay. But who needs a reason, amirite?!

-NEW- Big Bag of Booty is a new addition to Pirate's Day. You can purchase this item off of Dread Captain DeMeza for 300 gold.

There are three other named NPCs nearby. Let's talk about them before I throw the only achievement for this holiday up here and bring this guide to a close..

First Mate Hapana is DeMeza's first mate, as his name suggests, with his assault parrot, Nyuni. He can be interacted with, but he only shoos you away to talk to DeMeza, so he's not very social. He offers no other dialogue options or buffs. An interesting thing to note is that he apparently has a tattoo on one arm with the word "MAGATHA" in a heart. Hapana Grimtotem? A past love of Magatha Grimtotem? The world will never know..

Cap'n Slappy is the in-game representation of one of the men behind the ITLAPD, Mark Summers. The date for ITLAPD was picked so that Summers could easily remember the date, which was his ex-wife's birthday. He informs you of how he and Chumbucket created the holiday, but DeMeza took off with it.

Ol' Chumbucket is the in-game representation of the other man behind ITALPD, John Baur. Baur has appeared on the television show Wife Swap, as well as an episode of Jeopardy!. He tells that today belongs to DeMeza and her crew and looking like a pirate is only half the celebration, talking like one is the other.

As of now, there is currently no plans to implement anything new to this holiday, so here's your one and only achievement!

The Captain's Booty: Head to Booty Bay and share a drink with Dread Captain DeMeza during the Pirate's Day celebration.

Follow-Up GamesCom Dev Talk 2015 + Interviews

We have been getting a steady flow of continuous information after the initial announcement at GamesCom from both the Q&A recap at the end of GamesCom and some fan-site interviews that have followed up the announcement and event. We have gathered all that information together and we are going to throw it down right here. As we get closer and closer to Blizzcon, I am sure we will continue to get more information, but with less frequency, and hopefully beta invites, so we can see the expansion for what it is.

I would throw out the spoilers note, but if you are here, you already know what you are getting yourself in to, so what is the point of trying to deter you!?