How to Win at Brewfest - Part One

Okay, someone in the guild expressed that they were having trouble getting close to the maximum number of tokens for the Beer Delivery Bi-Daily Quest over at Brewfest, so here is a detailed explanation of how to do it to maximize the chance that you'll get 15 kegs delivered and 30 more Brewfest Tokens in your pocket.

We are of course assuming you've done all the other quests in the area, including the "deliver a mere three beer kegs" one that unlocks this quest as a bi-daily. ...and you did read correctly, this one can be redone every twelve hours, not only once a day.

The Mission
Basically the idea is this... There's a dwarf over outside the outfitters in Kharanos who has a lot of kegs of beer that need to be delivered to Brewfest. He can't get it there all by himself so Neill Ramstien is loaning you the use of an ultra fast Brewfest Ram and their it's special riding crop for about four minutes. That ram can run faster than any epic mount, but at a cost... He has to eat apples in order to keep his metabolism up. Luckily for you, they've got four half-barrels of apples just sitting about with no one watching them reasonably near the part of the road that goes between Kharanos and Brewfest, and the ram can (most of the time) snatch one without even slowing down.

The first two dwarves that matter to us are standing in front of a tent just down the hill from where Brewfest is being held. The one on the left is Pol Amberstill and the one on the right is Neill Ramstien.

We're not going to delve deeply into the mechanics of ram racing because basically, they don't apply to us because our Ram is either blazing along at full speed, or he's "exhausted" (which is about as good as being completely stopped) and we're losing valuable time. The one thing you need to know is that every time you get a portable brewfest keg back to Pol (the dwarf on the left) they add a extra time to how long you get to use the ram. It's not an insignificant amount of time either--it's enough to make about three-quarters of another trip.

The other dwarf we want to concern ourselves with is Flynn Firebrew--a veritable paragon for bringing a ridiculous number of kegs of brew down to Kharanos while still remaining sober enough to get them there.

Now, at the start of this Pol is useful to us for one reason and one reason only... Ask him nicely and he'll just give you a riding crop so you can bind it to a hotkey now instead of messing around with it while the clock is ticking. I'm not going to mince words here, I'm just going to tell you: Bind that riding crop to the '1' key on your keyboard. For the duration of this run you will be steering by holding your right mouse button down all the time with one hand and with the other hand you will be pressing the '1' key on your keyboard to use the riding crop to keep the ram going fast. If you attempt to do it some other way that doesn't involve using both hands--one for steering and one for making the ram go--you will continue to have a very hard time with this.

There are two final things to mention before you start your run. The first is that the ram doesn't go any faster if you beat it to death. Show a little mercy (and stop wasting packets) and don't be like "those other guys" who sound like a Chinese New Year festival when you get near them. When you first start the race the ram will be going slow and you'll need to use that crop "liberally"--to make it clear you mean for it to go FASTERER and to GO FASTERER NAO which takes about two seconds of frantic banging--but after that you only need to press the thing about once every second and a half (every second will do) to keep the ram at top speed. The other is that for the duration of the run, there is no point in stopping hitting that '1' key, either. Not even if you think you're about to accidentally stall the ram. Stopping using the riding crop doesn't make things any better, and worrying about it just stresses you out. You want to be focusing on your turns because they actually make or break this quest.

The Plan
Now that you've got your macro ready to go, you need a "plan", and the "plan" is simple. Looking at the map on the right (click on it to make it larger), the two tiny green pips at the top are Pol and Neill, and the one at the bottom is the dwarf with the kegs, Flynn. You want to go back and forth between Pol and Flynn as fast as possible. The numbered red circles (which are quite large) are where the apple barrels are. You want to hit and #2 and #3 every time if possible, and here's the first tricky part... You should ignore #1 and #4 unless you actually miss #2 or #3. Barrel #1 is fairly easy to hit, because it's right behind Pol on the far side of the tent, but using it involves getting your ram into the tent which is considerably easier than getting it back out without getting stuck on something. Remember, quickly turning with your mouse is everything, and it's not made any easier once you're inside the tent. Barrel #4 is also fairly easy to hit because it's right out in the open, and makes you think a nice, broad turn would be easy there. Easy it is, useful it is not. Both these barrels take you considerably out of you way, meaning you lose about a tenth of a lap on anyone who doesn't hit them, and this distance adds up! This having been said, either is vastly preferable to having the ram exhaust itself. Remember: You don't need these unless you miss #2 or #3. You will see the red splash on your character that lets you know your ram got an apple (messy eaters they are) so you don't have to worry about how many exhaustion points are on your ram--eating one apple resets that to zero, and you will always be able to make it to the next barrel you should hit. It's missing two barrels in a row or going blazing off in some random direction by mistake that can exhaust your ram.

Hint: When you absolutely need to hit an apple barrel, plow straight into it. Your ram will stop cold (which is bad) but you can quickly tap the spacebar and take advantage of some interface physics that make you slippery enough to get unstuck immediately by going over with a jump and the ram will take off again at top speed (which is good). At other times when you managed to hit the previous barrel, you just want to graze the thing as you go by it, and even then you want to turn at the last minute. Seriously. Try to approach the barrel so that your ram's mouth is pointing right at it and swing just to one side or the other of it just as you get there ...the idea being that he can get his head into the apples and snatch one as you steer him away.

Once you're moving, picking the right path is important. Straight lines are always shortest, remember that. Know ye that also jumping doesn't make your ram go faster and there are a few places you'll be tempted to make some great leap into the air and all that does is hurt your ankles and raise your repair bill slightly. If it does manage to accomplish anything, it's usually to throw you further off course and that's something you don't want. This run is about control and precision and jumping is basically neither of those things. The next set of screenshots will show you where you want to be pointed at each time you make a turn to change directions.

Let's begin at the beginning, with Neill (since you've already got your riding crop hotkeyed). Stand between Pol and Neill at the tent, facing south (away from the tent) so that you can see Apple Barrel #2 off in the distance and point yourself straight at it so for this one time, you don't have to turn at all (think of it as a freebie--take it). Next, click on Neill and tell him to give you the "good stuff" and then start spanking that '1' key to get your ram up to speed as quickly as possible while heading straight for that barrel. Remember you can click on the image to make it larger. In as straight a line as you can, head directly to that barrel or just barely to the right of it. Once you actually reach #2 you'll need to make about a 20 degree turn to the right to aim at #3.

The stretch from #2 to #3 is pretty easy. Go slightly to the left of the signpost and make haste for Apple Barrel #3. You shouldn't have to jump to get over the road markers unless you hit one of them head on, and if you missed #2 don't panic just keep going to #3 and hit it head on like we talked about. Once you get to #3 you'll need to make a left turn that requires a little bit of precision because there are three trees (two dark and one light) atop the hillock that you can use to aim with. If you went in a completely straight line to Flynn, that would be taking you to the right of the light-colored tree, but unfortunately the ground is too steep to climb up there! You will have to aim for the narrow space between them (it's wide enough, don't worry) that is to the left of the light-colored tree and to the right of the two dark ones.

The moment you pass between them you can either aim yourself directly at Flynn (if you hit #3) or for Apple Barrel #4 if you missed #3. If you didn't get Apple Barrel #3 follow the fainter dashed line to just go near him and then hit Apple Barrel #4 so you don't exhaust the ram and then make a sharp 180-degree turn. Note, you don't have to go all the way to Flynn! On your way to him, watch him closely and the moment you see him throw a barrel to you do your turn--it'll catch up to you, although it sometimes means having the barrel chasing you for a few moments like some low-budget homing missile. The screenshot on the right shows approximately how close you actually have to get. It's about as far as a normal ranged attack.

Once you've made your sharp turn with a keg of frothing beer in your inventory (good thing it's not real brew) you hopefully won't follow the road all the way back to #2 like some people do. If you had to hit Apple Barrel #4 there isn't much difference between following the road to get to #2 instead of going to #3. You hopefully didn't need to hit #4, which means now you definitely need to hit #3 again, and it's on the far side of a hill where you can't easily see it to aim at it. What you do is aim for an especially high part of the hill just ahead of where the road starts turning right, because on the far side of it is Apple Barrel #3, and there's a lone pale tree poking up just over the top of it that if you go just to the right of also happens to line you up perfectly to graze the right-hand side of Apple Barrel #3. I've drawn a red line and lightened an oval showing what you can see of the tree in the screenshot on the left. You want to hit #3 again even though you might not need to, to make sure if you miss #2 your ram doesn't tire out before you get to Pol (because it will almost immediately).

Going from #3 back to #2 is pretty much a cakewalk, just like it was the other way around. There's an excellent view and not much in your way, and at least in this case if you have to bounce over Apple Barrel #2 you won't go flying particularly far out of the way and you'll have a clear view of the delivery tent and Pol. Turning slightly left at #2 to go back to Pol is also a pretty mild turn to make.

Now we're finally in the home stretch. The screenshot for this final leg shows two paths for a reason. The one on the left is for people who richochet off the barrel with a tight little turn to the left, and the one on the right is for people who bounced over Apple Barrel #2 and will thus be far better off going to the right of the big annoying tree. Either way, the priority is to get yourself pointed at the tent with Pol and Neill (and more specifically Pol or at least between the two of them) the moment you hit the far side.

The moment you get to about 15 yards of Pol, you should just chuck your keg to him automatically, hear a little "ching" as you get two more tokens, and your clock gets a little more time added to it. Remember, if you missed the last barrel you will have to go into the tent a bit to hit Apple Barrel #1 behind him and need to really make a sharp 180-degree turn or get stuck in the tent. If you don't need that barrel, make the turn the moment you're throwing the barrel to Pol. Any way you slice it, this is the hardest turn of the lot because all those trees around (and the tent) are very unforgiving and it's rather easy to go running off in the wrong direction or get stuck on one of the Brewfest pennons. Just straighten up and head back to #2 as quick as you can and repeat the entire thing.

Remember: Don't worry about your clock, don't worry about how many tokens you have, just focus on what you're doing and ride and you should be on your way to 14-pass runs (15-pass runs are ridiculously close when they happen) in no time at all. To use a golf analogy, using this method 13-pass runs (26 tokens) should be considered "par".