While everyone knows the classic World of Warcraft is getting a lot of hype around Wrath of the Lich King, there are good reasons to be excited too, wine festival Now is the perfect opportunity for loot and laughter. However, it’s also an opportunity for the cheeky to try and swindle some extra loot from under the noses of their fellow adventurers. That’s the fun of classic World of Warcraft.
But first, what is a wine festival. For those unaware, Brewfest is an annual limited-time event where players can buy some drinks, get smashed, and earn some exclusive rewards. It’s unabashedly based on the German festival of October, and features a variety of activities and quests for players to complete as needed.
It also has a special boss fight in Blackrock Depths – Corren Direbrew, which in turn can provide some truly outstanding loot. These could be powerful trinkets, special toys that can be quickly transported to dungeons, or even two very rare mounts that have a drop rate of about 1% of Corren’s. As players are now preparing their characters for the next expansion, more players than usual are taking part in this already busy event for some convenient flashes.
So, to get the gear, players will go to Blackrock Depths in groups of 5 (after they complete the short mandatory quest chain that unlocks the boss fight) and fight Coron. Each player needs daily quests they can complete in the dungeon, which has them talking to Corren to make him hostile. In a regular group, each player will take turns switching quests, triggering a Coron fight, and killing Coron results in five back-to-back fights and five loot drops.
This is where scammers come in. Since each player has to talk to Corren one by one, unsuspecting parties can team up with dubious guys who can pretend they have a mission, roll gear that has fallen from other players’ hands, and then pretend to be ignorant Or act as if they haven’t completed the prerequisite quests needed to get daily in the dungeon. This way, the morally sketchy can jump from group to group, rolling gear and robbing players of extra loot opportunities.
The reason they do this is clear. While some loot drops like trinkets are fairly common, it’s these mounts that lure some into cunning practices, such as taking nourishment from the Corren dungeon colony. The two individual mounts only have a 1% drop chance, and you’ll need to be very lucky to claim both before the event ends early next month. Of course you can wait, or you can sneak in a few parties to try your luck.
It’s annoying, obviously. This leads to this paranoid confrontation, with five strangers standing together waiting for each other to hand over their mission, unsure if they’ll lose on the loot roll. Instead of running content with random strangers, it led to more and more players forming groups they could trust. It’s of course good and always preferred to play with friends, but due to the general mistrust it sucks.
However, there are some ways to fix it. Some level-headed players have figured out their own way to sniff out Brewfest crooks. “Always have everyone pick up the quest and check if they have it in your quest log, when leeches are painful,” Itunda said via an in-game whisper. They hosted Brewfest last year and were more than happy to share their approach to weeding out bad actors.
A similar strategy was shared with me by Sovpally, a paladin of the highest level who has been managing the Corren team since Brewfest began: “It’s easy to stop. Just put them all in place and make sure everyone takes the quest. Check Your mission log, if it doesn’t have 4 other people on it. Don’t do it until then.”
So if you’re looking to try your luck on some booze rewards this September, make sure you don’t have any sketchy characters around!
For more classic WoW content, check out our article on farmers in Alterac Valley and 8 must-have addons to get into Wrath of the Lich King.
