World of Warcraft Brewfest

Alliance Brewfest Camp at Ironforge

It's that time of year again. Personally, my favorite WoW holiday, Brewfest is here. The festival runs from September 20 until October 5 which mostly coincides with Oktoberfest (9/17-10/3) this year. As with the real celebration, beers and games abound. I mostly play Alliance therefore most of my tips will be directed to that faction. You can check out the full guide to everything Brewfest over at Wowhead.

Horde Brewfest Camp at Orgrimmar

There are prizes that you can buy with Brewfest Prize Tokens. The first day you can earn over 100 Brewfest Tokens easily by doing all available quests.  Each day after that you should be able to earn at least 30 Tokens by doing the Brewfest Dailies.  A few of items you'll want to make sure to buy over others, so that you will be able to complete the Brewmaster Achievement, if your into that sort of thing. Just keep in mind that Brewfest is required for the What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been Achievement that awards the dragon mount granted by the Reins of the Violet Proto-Drake.

The component Achievements required for Brewmaster

• The Brewfest Diet - You can buy all of these food from vendors at the Brewfest camp.
• Does Your Wolpertinger Linger? - Get drunk, or wear the beer goggles, and throw your net on the Wolpertingers.  This is easily done near the Brewfest camp. If you collect companion pets then you'll definitely want to do this one because you get the Wolpertinger's Tankard as a reward.
• Brew of the Month - costs 200 Tokens, bought at either Blix Fixwidget (Horde) or Belbi Quikswitch (Alliance)
• Down With The Dark Iron -  You get this for completing This One Time, When I Was Drunk... (see below)
• Have Keg, Will Travel - You can either buy hops (get the 2 token cheap ones) from the token vendor or win a Brewfest mount from the boss Coren Direbrew.

• Direbrewfest - This is a quest to kill the boss of Brewfest, Coren Direbrew (Lvl 85 Elite).  He is in Blackrock Depths but after flying there and spending a while in the actual instance I couldn't find him.  You can simply join the battle in the Dungeon Finder however. He was very easy in my opinion and awards one of 8 ilevel 365 items, mostly trinkets.  I fought him about 6 times in a random party.  Luckily, I won both his Bitterer Balebrew Charm and the Brawler's Trophy for my Pally. There was a guy there that said he fought 40 times before he finally won the Coren's Chilled Chromium Coaster.  I saw it drop twice.  The first time you kill him each day, Coren also drops a Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest which may contain rarer drops like the Swift Brewfest Ram and the Great Brewfest Kodo.

The Dailies

• Brew For Brewfest: Awards 2 Tokens per turn-in. This is a continuation quest.
• Horde There and Back Again
• Alliance There and Back Again

I like to think of these quests as ram racing. Just remember to run close to the apple barrels, located to the left of the path heading towards Kharanos and also directly behind the quest giver and the barrel thrower, so that your mount fatigue stays low.

• Horde Bark for Drohn's Distillery! or Bark for T'chali's Voodoo Brewery!
• Alliance Bark for the Barleybrews! or Bark for the Thunderbrews!

You get to pick one per day; it really doesn't matter which. You basically run in a circuit through your given faction's city advertising the brewers' beer.  All you have to do is run the circuit on the ram mount and return in the allotted 4 minutes.  I like to do Thunderbrew simply because I can jump down from the road pretty much straight onto their tent on the return trip.

• Horde This One Time, When I Was Drunk...
• Alliance This One Time, When I Was Drunk...

This is the "main" battle of Brewfest. It is the Dark Iron invasion of the Brewfest camp which occurs every 30 minutes during the festival. Pretty easy really; you just pick up beer mugs from the nearby table and chunk them at the baddie. You don't actually need to participate in the battle. Afterwards, a big gear will remain on the ground in the center of the Brewfest tents. Just click it and enjoy a painless quest reward at others' expense.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Exciting news guys! The next Zelda (or as some people call it, Link) game is coming out soon. Of course it will be released on Nintendo's main console, the Wii.

Super Mario 64

GoldenEye 007

As a matter of fact, many gamers believe this will be the last major game for this console. {Warning: Tangent Bitch Rant} Nintendo high ups have been quoted as saying that they want to focus development more on their handheld platforms, the Nintendo 3DS and the new Wii U. This is disappointing news for me. I don't feel like there have been any real groundbreaking games released on the Wii. Sure they integrated the motion control remote but I don't need all that. I'm a true gamer who is perfectly fine being fat and lazy, thanks. I just seem to pick the wrong systems again and again; the Wii over the Xbox360: FAIL, the Xbox360 over the PS3: FAIL. There's just a vast lack of really great games on these systems. Sure they get a hit every now and then, think Call of Duty, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. At least Xbox finally got a Final Fantasy game. Stupid Sony agreements. I miss the days of GoldenEye 007 and Super Mario 64. Now those were truly great games.

Anyway, back to Zelda. I loved Twilight Princess. I would even venture as far as saying that it is the best game on the Wii. I'm talking call in sick to work love. Therefore I have high hopes for Skyward Sword. So far reactions have been mixed. Some old complaints are still there; Link still gets fatigued if he sprints too far, and shields can still break. Not biggies though. Here's a kicker though, no Ganon. Yep, that's right, the third piece of the tri-force will be absent this time. I have a friend who named his computer Ganon. He will be crushed. Oh well. Another negative is that Skyward Sword will require the Wii MotionPlus expansion device that improves the accelerometer and allows the controller to more accurately capture complex motion. This is needed because apparently the swordplay in Skyward Sword is going to blow our minds. Hopefully, it's better than Red Steel, which to be honest, sucked.

In the grand story line Skyward Sword is a prequel to Ocarina of Time. Ocarina of Time may have been the best Zelda so far. Not surprisingly it came out for the Nintendo64 (see Bitch Rant above). In Skyward Sword, Link is born and raised in Skyloft, a group of islands floating above the clouds. Using the Skyward Sword, which later becomes the Master Sword, Link travels back and forth between the sky world and the land world. He eventually learns why the two worlds are separated. Once the sword transforms into the Master Sword it assumes the form of a female figure who gives Link advice. Hopefully she is more like Navi and less like Midna, who I wanted to drown and/or throw into a volcano. In this game, Zelda is not a princess but a childhood friend of Link. She has been kidnapped by the baddie Lord Ghirahim and Link is searching for her. Sound familiar? *cough* Mario and Peach *cough*

Lord Ghirahim doesn't quite strike fear in your heart like Ganon does.

Skyward Sword is due out November 20, 2011 in the U.S. It will be able either as a stand alone game ($49.99) or as part of a bundle that includes a gold controller with built-in WiiMotion Plus ($69.99). As my eyes glaze over it's evident that I must have the new shiny controller with the Hyrulian decal. Regardless of whether you buy the stand alone or the bundled version, you will also receive the 25th anniversary soundtrack which features "select orchestral arrangements of iconic music spanning the history of the franchise which will be performed at The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony Concert performances in October 2011." Currently I have Saria's Song as my ringtone.  With this new CD I feel like that could change.

Dragon*Con 2011

Where's the one place that geeks and nerds can come together for four days every year and feel completely normal? Dragon*Con of course! Dragon*Con for the uninitiated is "the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the world" Yeah, yeah, Comic-Con is bigger but Dragon*Con is more diverse. Dragon*Con is held every year on Labor Day weekend. Which means...get your cosplay on and get down to Atlanta, GA because the party's about to start!! I can't really express the chaotic, crowded, sometimes drunken camaraderie that is Dragon*Con in words. There is so much to do; gaming, vendors, cosplay, contests, speaker panels, workshops, demos, concerts. You really just have to be there.

Here are just a few of the almost 400 Guests that will be there this year:

Terry Brooks
Laura Hickman
Tracy Hickman
William Shatner
Felicia Day (from The Guild)
Wil Wheaton
Nicholas Brendon (Xander from Buffy)
Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)
Lou Ferrigno (Hulk)
Martin Landau
Peter Mayhew (played the Wookiee Chewbacca)
Mary McDonnell (President Laura Roslin in the Sci-Fi channel's hit series Battlestar Galactica)
Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh, Executive Officer of the Battlestar Galactica)
Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy)
Beau Bridges
Stan Lee
Boris Vallejo

If you can only afford to go one day things won't ramp up until Saturday, September 3, so I'd go then. I, unfortunately, won't be able to go at all this year; recession and all. Last time I went, my husband and I spent about $500, including hotel. If you stayed in one of the five host hotels, particularly the Hilton, and bought autographs you could easily spend over $1000 in 4 days.

Here are a few tips for saving money:

1. Stay outside the Downtown area. We stayed near the airport and rode the Marta Rail in. Yeah, it added 40 minutes travel time or so to our day but we saved something like $100/night on hotel. A Marta Pass for 4 days is $15. Plus, I liked riding the train.

2. Pack your own breakfast and lunch. We saved big money by only eating one meal/day at a restaurant.

3. Buy your tickets ahead of time. Little late for that now but maybe something to keep in mind for next year. Pre-registration 4-day passes tend to run about $75. Tickets at the door are always more expensive. Good thing is you can buy one day at a time if you so desire. Be prepared to wait in long ticket lines though. Go very early, first thing in the morning. Seriously.

Dragon*Con 2011 September 2 - 5 Memberships (aka tickets)
$120 Friday to Monday 4-day (available for purchase on Thursday and Friday only)
$90 Saturday to Monday 3-day (available for purchase on Saturday only)
$60 Sunday to Monday 2-day (available for purchase on Sunday only)
$40 Friday only (available for purchase on Friday only)
$50 Saturday only (available for purchase on Saturday only)
$40 Sunday only (available for purchase on Sunday only)
$30 Monday only (available for purchase on Monday only)

Registration hours are as follows:
Thu 9/1 - 10am - 10pm
Fri 9/2 - 8am - 10pm
Sat 9/3 - 8am - 10pm
Sun 9/4 - 8am - 10pm
Mon 9/5 - 8am - 5pm

4. Buy your souvenirs on Sunday or Monday. Vendors will often reduce their prices as the convention wears on so that they don't have to pack all that stuff back up.

If you've never been it's definitely something to look into, especially if you're into sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, and/or hot, barely clothed chicks. They used to allow non-convention people into the hotel lobbies to view the cosplay. Recently I've heard that they have locked up security a bit and no longer allow that. If you wanted to see the costumes though but don't want to pay for admission, definitely check out the parade on Saturday, September 3, at 10:00 AM. Just be aware that if it looks like rain the extravagant costumes won't be there.  I mean would you want to get your $2000 Darth Vader costume wet?  You can also view Dragon*Con TV, which is broadcast to all guest rooms in the host hotels, online.

World of Warcraft 4.3 Patch

It's all over the Trade channel because, you know, it's really more of a gossip/troll channel than a trading one.  OK, admittedly there is also an element of LFM (looking for member, for the uninitiated) for raids too.  But before I get off on a tangent, back to the subject at hand.

Patch 4.3, rumored to be the final Cataclysm content patch and contain the means with which to kill Deathwing.  As with all patches, rumors and hunches are being thrown around like set in stone certainty.  You can't blame them too much.  End game 85s really do need something to do after all.  The best I can decipher, it's due out in the next couple of months.  I would be very surprised if it wasn't released by the end of the year.

There are several very exciting prospects with the new patch.  The most anticipated is, of course, Transmogrification which will allow you to change the appearance of an item while retaining its original stats.  Why does anyone care?  Well, say you play a Feral Druid (you know, a completely random example, ahem) who happened to really like look of the Embrace of the Viper set from Wailing Caverns.  Now, that set is really only good until at best level 30.  But, what if you could re-engineer it with level 85 equivalent stats?  Ahh, the heavens would open up and all would be right with the world.  OK, maybe not, but you could kick ass while looking sexy.  Many players are looking forward to wearing Deathknight and Warrior specific gear as Priests or Rogues.  Best of all the moggs, as it's affectionately being called, are not permanent but work more like gem slots so you can change your appearance whenever you like.

So where do you store all of the extra equipment you're holding onto for mogging?  I most definitely do not have space in my bank.  Good thing we have Blizzard to think of everything for us. Void Storage, due out with the new patch, is a new type of bank where players will be able to store their old armors in order to free up space in their regular bank.  I've heard storage estimates between 80-150 items and that anything stored there will lose all gems and enchantments.  That's kind of crazy actually considering the regular bank only has 28 slots.  Even if you bought all 7 additional slots and outfitted them with 16 slot bags you'd only have 140 slots.  I'm excited.

Something else that excites me is Darkmoon Island.  Yeah, yeah, 4.3 will have 3 new 5-man instances, including one in the Caverns of Time and there's a new Raid Finder, similar to the Dungeon Finder, but while I have an 85 Pally I don't raid.  I know, blasphemy.  I much more enjoy professions (epic gems are of great interest) and world events, like Darkmoon Faire which has been completely overhauled.  The Faire will run the first week of every month and there will be portals outside the capital cities to take you to the new Island.  Rumored are new heirlooms, new armor sets, deathmatches (think Gurubashi Arena), new companion pets, new recipes...ugh, I'm so excited!

Another much, much needed change in the works is decreasing the experience needed for levels 71-80 because right now Northrend is where alts go to die.

And for all of you who just read this post and are like, "What the Hell is she talking about?" Blizzard is planning more tutorials and walk-throughs for the first 30 minutes and five levels of the game.  Thank God you can turn those off.  Get in while you can because Patch 4.4 will bring a world changing event before the next expansion but you probably have at least until the middle of next year.