The Big Bear himself asked people to give stories of jackassedness they encountered whilst levelling.  Quite happily, I thought to myself at the time, I had managed not to encounter this kind of behavior whilst levelling but it seems I was to be dissapointed.

This one merits mentioning only because it was so similar in spirit to B3’s tale. The following is transcribed word for word - italicised words are my own.

CluelessWarrior: why u kill him noobi?
CW: No need to kill them noob!!!! (yes, four exclamation marks!)
Me: Charming…
CW: jesuss
Me: Ever think I might be on a different quest?

After which he stopped replying…

It’s one thing to whisper someone to mention they’re doing it wrong and feeling smugly superior, it’s another to call someone a noob and continue to whine at them when you’re wrong.  Ah well, it amused me for a few minutes - would have liked to have seen his reaction when he got about two steps down the same quest chain and had to kill the same mobs he had whined to me about.  Aherm.

Besides that one example, though, I’ve found the whole server to be a generally nicer place these past few weeks - lots of people doing quests together and instancing groups where people don’t mind you messing up here or there as everyone is doing it.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their levelling or raiding in Wrath so far - normal service at /hug shall resume shortly.

I hope you’re all out there having fun enough for me, too!

/whining aside, I’ve had some very nice luck this week - a good friend and former flatmate of mine (who has incidentally started a blog so you should go there and bug her to get a move on!) offered to sell a spare copy of the Collector’s Edition for cost when she got an extra.

So, I has CE incoming.  The catch is I probably wont be able to play until Monday! Oh well, me an’ Frosty will miss all the weekend crowd and be ready to start zooming to 80 just as others are starting to wane a little /pose!

With this in mind, though, I’ve decided that I’ll likely not put up posts for the next few days whilst I’m off on holiday - there’s nothing ‘relevant’ in my mind at the moment and, even if it means failing on NaBloPoMo this month, I don’t want to rush a few posts which are totally irrelevant to what people are doing in-game at the moment.

So, enjoy Northrend and give a Tuskarr a hug from me and I’ll see you all next week!

/hug

Fim has challenged us and I shall take up that challenge! /pose

If you see a post like Fim’s and immediately think “thank goodness, another freebie post for nablopomo!” you just might be a WoW Blogger…

*cough* Cheap for today’s post but I consider my work to have been getting Khi to post.  He’s a good writer and I’d love it if he wrote a little bit more on the blog, so hop to the post before this and give him your feedback!

I’m working on a small series of roleplay-style posts for the few days where I’m going to be away.  I was writing one for Dryn just before I went to sleep last night and actually ended up dreaming about it so…

If you end up dreaming about the characters rp plots you’re concocting you just might be a WoW Blogger!

/hug

Dear Rhoelyn…

Why is she insulting my lovely red-and-gold cap?

That was the first thought through my head as I opened your letter one crisp cool morning in Darnassus. Well, to be honest, not my first thought: that would be have been me wondering what the gnome in front of me at the postbox had received to make her quite so happy. Actually, not my second thought either: that one was run for cover!, since her excited giggles were swiftly followed by a large explosion and said gnome disappearing rapidly off the side of Teldrassil… anyway, once I dragged myself out of the pond, dried off my feathers, and put out the fire that was threatening to eat my hat, that was what I thought.

So I read your letter with a bit of astonishment and a bit of early-morning owlbearish grumpiness… but as I read, everything started to make sense. I took off my cap, sat it on a treestump and stared at it for a little while. By the time that the gnome (minus hair) had reappeared through the Darnassus portal, I was convinced - I had to find myself a better hat!

And thus I began my quest. I searched high and low, from the really nice sweet shop in Stormwind to my favourite moon-cake stall in Lower City (I really can’t get enough of those moon-cakes… and besides, I always say: a heavy bear is an even more effective tank!) I visited a few underground caves (and found that blind turtles are pretty terrible headgear), mysterious hermits (I bought him beer in return for the Secret of the Hat, but all he gave me in the end was a mad giggle and the mysterious incantation “lol nub ur hat sux”), two dodgy traders (one wanted my soul in exchange for his best hat, but I said no; the other one wanted a kiss from me as a moonkin… he was really weird, so I ran away) and one distant mountaintop seven days’ hard hike from anywhere, where I found a Moondoe’s Coffee stand but no hats.

I did make a couple of hat-shaped discoveries along the way, but most of them were false starts…

Mountainlord's Sheepcap of Sagacity

Finally, after so many days of trudging around mountains with no breaks (apart from to stuff my beak with tasty moon-cake…mmm!) I happened upon the end to my quest, the ultimate prize, the headgear to end all headgear - the Hatly Grail of hats! It was both pretty and useful, with enough mana buzzing around it to make a blood elf drool and just the right combination of enchantments to make me an incredibly effective, impressively able and ultimately almighty owlbear of astrally energized incendiary … doominess! It was also hoot-inducingly expensive - especially after the gnome tinker who’d sold it to me threw in an extra-special moonkin tuning upgrade - but so, so worth it.

So, I came back to Darnassus happy that I would never again have to wear a Bad Hat. You were right. I’ve seen the light, and it is the light of the laser beams blasting things to bits ahead of me…

My Hat

Yours fluffily,

- Khi ^^

A bit of a ‘cheap’ post for today, but I have something bigger in the works which I don’t think I can pull off before the clock ticks over!

Clown Suits

I’ve been clearing out my inventory pre-Wrath and decided to shard some of the items which I no longer have a use for.  Given that I wouldn’t have the whole set together again, I put my ‘horde-style’ shaman outfit on for one last screenshot as a set. Going to miss those looks… *ahem*

I’ve also been helping Khi grab some new shinies lately - from the Argent Dawn event and various group quests.  He was off work ill today, though, and when I woke up he greeted me with the …joyous? news that he’d decided to spec boomchicken.  I’d been expecting this sooner, to be honest, as he’s a caster at heart.

Kara Runs

Around 10 minutes later a Kara run was called for.  I’d been hoping that Khi would see Kara before he went to Northrend so we jumped into the forming group.  I was going to go along with my shaman but we had no tank so I nipped onto Jhai and off we went (solo tanking Kara eep).  Once I’d had had some ‘flavourful’ words with people about using knock-back effects on 5 mobs when a single tank is trying desperately to keep aggro it was a pretty smooth run.  I’m trying to convince Khi to write a little something on how it felt to first experience Kara post-nerf.  Needless to say Khi was our feathery loot-bag for the evening, taking about half of what dropped (the rest was plate) and coming out a rather well geared resto / boomkek druid.  Of course it was all rings, offhands, necklaces etc and so he still looks lik an Argent Dawn Emissary.

Now I just need to convince him to turn off ’show helm’. *wink*

I love Azerothian holidays, especially those with associated festivities.  It’s been a little while since the last big event and my associated jaunt down into the familiar territory of replayability - the one aspect of the game which particularly intrigues me.

Wow is an addictive game, it’s also one which is intended to be played for more than a few months and then tossed aside.  How do they keep things interesting and fresh for those who’ve leveled their 8th alt to max level and are looking for a bit of fun?  How are they appealing to the new players and getting them roped into the world?

This year’s Brewfest, as predicted, has gone one (or two) better than last year.  Last year, to be frank, Brewfest had a lot of problems.  However, it also was a lot of fun and so I was looking forward to it immensely.

Brewfest this year consists of the usual quest hub featuring two dailies, one twice-per-day quest for tokens and a new boss in Blackrock Depths.  There is also a twice daily tapping of the keg and, don’t forget, the chance to have an excuse to get drunken and have a laugh with your friends.

Looking at the  ‘list’ I made when comparing the events at Midsummer there’s been some additions:

• Quests
• Daily Quests
• Non-Combat Pet
• Consumables
• Outfits
• ‘Fun’ Items
• Mounts
• High Level Items
• Dungeon Boss

These bring it up to ’standard’ with the Midsummer event - though I had forgotten to add mounts to the list before, shame on me.  Given that they are both long festivals (two weeks) I was expecting them to up the ante with Brewfest this year and was not disappointed.

Invasion!

One of the biggest issues Brewfest had last year was with the dark iron invasion event.  It was a wonderful idea but the amount of traffic it generated was horrible!  Each person could request a mob throw them a drink (by waving at them), then they would drink it and throw it at a dark iron dwarf and, if they hit, would create tickets.  This encouraged people to be at every invasion for the chance at more tickets and thus bad lag around the event - not to mention the /wave spamming macros which ended up in the servers falling over.

This year they were a bit smarter about it - the npcs automatically throw you a drink when you’ve used yours up and you do not get tokens from hitting Dark Irons (someone mentioned this is a bug but I cannot find a blue post to confirm) - rather you get them from a ‘cog’ which is left behind if you manage to save the barrels.  There are up and down sides to this, though.

Pros

• Less people at each event
• Guaranteed tickets - no need to spend too much time at the event
• Much less lag

Cons

• Less tickets
• Fewer people around at the event
• Sometimes the event ‘fails’

In all, I think the changes are for the better - the Dark Iron invasions are an integral part of the Brewfest ’story’ and not having them would be a bit sad.

The one thing they did remove, however, was the Wolpertinger quest from last year.  I was a shame as this was a pretty fun quest and it feels somewhat ‘boring’ to just be able to walk up to a vendor and purchase it.  Of course this may be an attempt to streamline the activities and keep them closer to Ironforge / Orgrimmar.  Brewfest, in fact, feels a lot more insular than the Midsummer Fire Festival - which encourages you to roam all over the world.

Coren Direbrew

Of great interest, for a lot of people, is the new boss in Blackrock Depths.  Coren drops an array of shiny trinkets, the likes of which would normally set you back around 41 badges and some stamina ones which also summon a Brewfest Maiden to fight or heal you.  For those with a lot of alts (like myself) it’s a way to get them a little gear boost without much effort - for those who simply don’t have the time or resources for lots of heroics / Kara it’s a way to get a piece of gear which might otherwise be inaccessible to them.

The addition of [Direbrew's Shanker] is a nice tribute to the old, acclaimed [Barman Shanker] - both are broken bottle ‘daggers’ which look rather cool.  In general it’s also brought people back to Blackrock Mountain who’ve not been there in quite some time.  A few of my guildies mention not having been there since their Molten Core days!  Luckily, they need not get lost in the labyrinth of the Depths as this event also features ‘mole machines’ which transport you directly to the boss from just inside the entrance.

The use of the bar room is one I approve of greatly - an old space being put to new use is an excellent idea and it brings back memories to those who have spent a lot of time running these old instances and introduces the place to those who’ve joined later and never had the opportunity.

The fight itself is a lot easier than the Ahune fight but still a little challenging - akin to the end boss of a harder level 70 normal instance.  As long as someone keeps the adds off the healer you can generally be guaranteed a good outcome and some shiny loot.  Or perhaps grubby loot, looking at the state of most of the npcs around that area…

Mounts

Of course, the most talked about part of Brewfest, at the moment, is the mounts that Coren can drop.  There are awide variety of opinions surrounding this aspect of the festival the most common ones being:

• They should be for tokens
• Alliance should not have gotten kodos
• Only level 70’s can get them
• The drop rate is too low

  

I have mixed feelings.  It would be nice to get the mounts for tokens but I like the fact I can spend my tokens on silly things (outfits, goggles, etc.) which I would not be able to do if the mount were token-based (ok, so I would have the choice but to be honest, I want that damn kodo!).

I was happy to hear they’d added the kodo for the Alliance and ram for the Horde and surprised it got as far as going live before they did.  When Brewfest was on the ptr people pointed out that they didn’t like the split but nothing was done about it until after the event started.  Blizzard could, in my opinion, have seen this one coming a mile away.

The inability of low levels to get one, though, is sort of a shame.  It would have been interesting if they had added some sort of low-level event for a non-epic mount or even a free 30-day version (like the Hallow’s End brooms).  I can understand why Blizzard cater more to the max-level crowd but I can also sympathise with those who are not - I always have a few low level alts around whom I like to get fun stuff for.

Newbie Friendly?

On the subject of low levels I have been wondering how effective the ‘tutorial’ quests are for new players.  When I first started WoW the Midsummer Fire Festival was on - I vaguely noticed it but I couldn’t do most of the quests because I was too low level and I didn’t really understand what was going on…  Now, in both the Midsummer and Brewfest events,  there have been ‘tutorial’ quests which teach you how the mechanics of a quest work before giving you the daily version.

Though these quests are nice I have found that the other quests don’t really flow very well - there are a lot of people standing around asking how to do the various quests.  I know a lot of those could be ‘fixed’ by simply reading the quest text but some of them just aren’t noticing the barrels or understanding their effect.  Should they maybe add a “and use a barrel of apples” to the first ram quest which shows you how to change speeds?

Dailies

The dailies are a welcome break from the usual dailies that are available - they involve no killing or collecting and involve either racing rams or getting very drunk - the essentials of Brewfest! However, it can be a liiiitttllle frustrating to have one which can be messed up by lag - during the ram racing (twice per) daily quest the apple barrels will sometimes not take away exhaustion if you pass by them at max speed whilst you have a little lag.  It also takes a reasonable amount of time and concentration to do the quest effectively and I find I have to ignore guild chat or lose out on tokens due to making mistakes.

Problems

Of course, it wouldn’t be Brewfest without a few hitches… Currently not everyone is able to do the ram-racing delivery quest every twelve hours - I’m one of them, which is why I’m aware there is a problem.  It seems to  be fairly isolated as the forums are quiet on the subject - though I suspect a lot of people just aren’t noticing.  So far it’s meant I’ve lost around 80 tickets…

I asked a GM about the issue and, although he wasn’t able to give me a ‘fix’ for my problem, he did give me a hug, so that’s ok! Silly GM’s and their ‘goodbye’ flavour text, hehe.

A quick poke into the general forums and I found out that they were ‘working’ on a fix and, come maintenance it did seem to be fixed… for a while.  Currently it seems a bit of a lottery for me - sometimes I will be able to do the quests once per twelve hours and sometimes only once per twenty-four hours.

Where Next?

All in all I’m enjoying the festival again and, despite the few hitches, I find that Bliz have upped the ante once again and made yet another more polished event.  I am wondering now if they will ’scale’ them for max level next year or will leave them as level 65-75 type events.  Only time can tell, I guess.

Enjoy the rest of your Brewfest!

Further Readin’

• Big Bear Butt - Tips for Coren
• Abbey to Outlands - Tips for Coren
  
• Banana Shoulders - Achievements Guide

Well, see, there’s this guy and he has some issues and he wants ye tae fix ‘em fer him.  Well, ah’m a believer o’ fixin’ things fer yerself - especially when the asker looks so shifty - so ah  wisn’t havin’ anything to do wi him but thon shaman is a bit o’ a soft touch and said he’s go do his dirty work. *grumble*  Anyways, he comes back tae me a wee while later wi’ the biggest most ridiculous hat ah’v ever seen… all proud of himself.  Well, it was all ah could do tae no laugh…

Since the patch I’ve been wanting to get my grubby mitts on [Don Carlos' Famous Hat].  I mean, come one, what could be more awesome than a full size ghost wolf pet?  Especially alongside a shaman in ghost wolf form!  After a bit of fun with Archi I grabbed a few guildies and we set off to procure our hats.

It took a little while to find him first time (he patrols the long, straight road) but when we did we unleashed all sorts of doomkin on him!  Softi tanked him whilst our enhance shammy, Az, took out his pet.  The mage (Grav) pewpew’d and I did the healzor beams thing I do.

As you can see, this pic was taken after Grav and I already grabbed our hats.  The encounter, despite being in heroic, is so easy we didn’t need our real ones.  Although killing him saves you to the instance you can zone out, set the instance to normal then heroic again, zone back in and he will have respawned.  This may be fixed in future patches so I reccomend you scoot along now to do it!  You don’t even need the quest to do this, though it will get you a basic version of the same hat (same model, no on-click wolfie).

Showing off our lineup of three gazillion wolves.  Ok, so maybe a small exaggeration but still…. can you figure out which are the shamans!? (the floaty water globes are just a small hint ;P)

Dancing with this hat cannot be beaten.  /dance

I’ve hardly had time at all this week to write - relatives visiting has meant I’ve been away and when I do get the chance to be online I get kinda embroiled in guild dorama.  It seems the plague which hit most guilds prior to Wrath has finally started to eat away at Lightwalkers. To say I’m pissed is putting it mildly.  To say I’m upset is probably closer to the point.  I think I’m in need of some /hugs…

I’d say more now but I think it’d just lead to a rant.  Anyways, I promise something more than just random woeful nothingness when it’s not 5am.

The young druid, Jhai, takes a rest in the shade whilst traversing the dry, hot desert.  I really love the looooong shadows in Tanaris.  Oh and I had nothing to do with the dead Roc in the background *wipes feathers from mouth*. Nothing at all.

“Increased the drop rate of Pristine Yeti Horns from Winterspring Ice Thistle Matriarchs and Patriarchs.”

…my druid is going to do this quest before the patch is out.  /cry