Sunday, June 19, 2011

Achievement Hunter: Drown Your Sorrows (Horde Guide)

Want to start achievement hunting? Not sure where to begin? Not a problem! Each Fortnight Phoenixsting will go over some achievement hunting, with tips on where to begin.

This week we are out to sample some of the fine (and not so fine) drinks that the cataclysm has brought us.

I’m going to show you how to complete this achievement from start to finish without using the auction house. It is possible to complete it by just buying the drinks on the auction house, however people aren’t always selling the drinks you need.

To complete this achievement first you are going to need a few things:
  • Max cooking skill (525/525)
  • 12 chef’s awards (the issue here is that there is a soft cap of 10 awards at a time so you might have to complete this over a day or two.)
  • Completed the majority of Vashj’ir.


1.       Start in Silvermoon city. You will need to visit Innkeeper Velandra and Vinemaster Suntouched. From them you will need to purchase two Skins of Dwarven Stout, a jug of Bourbon, 5 refreshing spring water, one Sparkling Oasis Water, one Fresh Water and a Highlands Spring Water. You can drink the Sparkling Oasis water, Fresh Water and the highland spring water straight away, but hold on to the others as you will need them later.


2.       Head to the Twilight Highlands next. You will need to speak to Lizzy Lemons to purchase a Highland pomegranate and a Tropical Sunfruit. Again hold onto these as you will need them later.


3.       Now head back to Orgrimmar. You will need to find the Shazdar and purchase the recipes for; Highland Spirits, South Island Iced Tea and Starfire Espresso. You will also need to buy a bag of imported goods to obtain the Cocoa Beans. Learn all of those recipes and using the items you have already bought you will be able to make one of each of those drinks. Feel free to drink them straight away. Head inside and speak to Arugi to learn how to make Darkbrew Lager (if you don’t already know it). You can then brew that lager using the items you have already picked up.


4.       Take the portal to Vashj’ir. Once there you should see a vendor called Zan’zata. You can purchase the Greasy Whale Milk from him.


5.       There are a few ways to get the last few drinks, Fungus Squeezings and murky water. If you haven’t completed the Hyjal quests you can pick them both up from a vendor called Grunka when you are doing the quests that require you to infiltrate the cultists. Otherwise you will have to buy them from an NPC in the Zul’Aman instance before you free him. Lastly you can get fungus Squeezings from a few mobs. The highest drop rate is the Horrorguards at Hyjal. The Murky Water is the hardest of them to get especially if you have finished Hyjal but are not geared enough for Zul’Aman. You might have some luck on the AH if you are out of options.


6.       Once you have managed to get those last few you can down them and get your achievement!


Saturday, June 18, 2011

Achievement Hunter: You’ll Feel Right as Rain

Want to start achievement hunting? Not sure where to begin? Not a problem! Each Fortnight Phoenixsting will go over some achievement hunting, with tips on where to begin.

This week we get to be a little unhealthy and gorge ourselves on chocolate cookies.
1.       There are two ways to do this achievement, you can go and buy the chocolate cookies off the auction house or you can make them yourselves. If you are planning on buying them on the auction house you will need 100 of them and you can skip to step 6. If you are planning on making them yourselves just follow these simple steps.
2.       The first thing you will need is the reciepe to make the cookies. You can buy this off the cooking vendors in each of the capitol cities. They are usually standing right next to the cooking trainers. The recipe will cost you 3 cooking tokens which you can receive from doing the daily cooking quests.

3.       The next thing you will need is the Imported Supplies. They also cost cooking tokens. These contain the cocoa beans you need to make the chocolate cookies. The amount contained in the bags varies so my advice is to buy them one at a time and open them before you buy the next one. I had to buy three bags as the first one contained 40 beans, the second one 35 beans and the last one 51 beans. 


4.       Next you will need to pickup 100 simple flour. You can grab this from the cooking vendor.



5.       Now to bake up your 100 cookies. Just hit create all and go grab a drink as this will take a little while...

6.       Now comes to the fun part. Time to stuff your face with chocolate cookies! Find them in your bag and start to right click like crazy. Every time you eat a cookie you get a buff that lasts for 60 seconds, this countdown is reset every time you eat a cookie so as long as you eat another cookie within 60 seconds you will be fine. The goal of course is to eat 91 cookies so the buff stacks up to 91.

7.       Once you hit that magic 91 number you will get your achievement!


8.       Now time to go run a few laps around Azshara to work off all of those cookies.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Achievement Hunter: Pest Control


Want to start achievement hunting? Not sure where to begin? Not a problem! Each Fortnight Phoenixsting will go over some achievement hunting, with tips on where to begin.



This week I’ve gone on a vermin hunting spree to remove some of the pests that plague Azeroth.
1.     Ok so we start in Dalaran. Head to the well and kill the Squirrel next to it.

2.     Then jump down the well into the underbelly and knock off one the underbelly rats down there.


3.     Next we are heading to Howling Fjord where you can knock off a lot of this achievement. Starting at Gjalerbron in the north you can slay the roach and the spider. Heading further south to just west of Utgarde Keep slay the snake and the maggot. Heading east from there in the village just south of Utgarde Keep is the Fjord Rat. Now turn north and face Utgarde keep. You will see a cave entrance that looks like a skull. Head inside and right down to the bottom to get the Devouring Maggot. Make your way back up to the surface and head south to the very bottom point of Howling Fjord where you can knock off the Rat.


4.     Fly North into Zul’Drak where you can kill the Zul’Drak Rat. You will be able to find these running around in the water in the center of the map.


5.     Next stop is a bit of a hike away. You’ll need to head to the Ghostlands for this one. Just outside of Tranquillien you will be able to spot the Larva. They are all over of the zone so if you are alliance I’d suggest looking for one a bit further away from the horde town.


6.     Fly south into the Eastern Plaguelands. In the North West corner there is tunnel. Inside this tunnel you will find the Scorpian.


7.     Heading south again, aim for the wetlands where you will be able to pick up the mouse. The mouse is the alliance town here so its best if your Horde to just fly down to the docks and quickly knock it off. You should be able to re-mount here before the guards spot you.


8.     Keep heading south until you get to the Badlands where you will be able to pick up the gold Beetle.


9.     Still Heading south, you will come across the Moccasin in the Swamp of Sorrows.


10.   South once more into the Blasted Lands where you can smite the Adder and the Fire Beetle.


11.   Lastly you need to head all the way over to Winterspring to grab the Crystal Spider. This spider is hiding in a cave to the south east of Everlook.


And that’s it folks. Let me know how you go with your quest to remove the vermin from this world and get an achievement while you are at it!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Achievement Hunter : To All The Squirrels Who Cared for Me

 Achievement Hunter : To All The Squirrels Who Cared for Me

Want to start achievement hunting? Not sure where to begin? Not a problem! Each Fortnight Phoenixsting will go over some achievement hunting, with tips on where to begin.

This week I’ve gone hunting for the newest critters to the game. It’s time to show them some /love and welcome them to a shattered world.

 
Head to the twilight Highlands for the first part of this achievement. Head to the river running through the centre of the map and you should be able to spot a few Rattlesnakes. After you have tagged one of them head up to just south of the Vermillion Redoubt where you can grab the Highlands Turkey and Yellow-Bellied Marmot.


2.       Head back to your capital city and grab the portal to Tol Barad, you do have to be 85 to use this unfortunately, but its the only way to grab the next 3 critters.
3.       Once you arrive in Tol Barad head up to Rustberg Village where you can grab the Wharf Rat and Sassy Cat.
4.       Now for the next part there can’t be a Tol Barad battle taking place or you might have some trouble getting across the bridge. You have to head south into southern Tol Barad. Once there you can find the Baradin Fox Kit just east of the bridge. Grab it and head back to your capital.
5.       Next take the Portal to Hyjal. Here you can grab the Alpine Chipmunk from just north of where you enter. Next head east and grab the Grotto Vole. He will be located inside the tunnel. You should just be able to walk in and out without too much trouble. Now head south east and grab the Rock Viper.
6.       Head back to your capital again. If you are horde I recommend flying back to Org and save your hearthstone.
7.       Next up take the portal to Uldum. This one is easy as both critters are right next to where you port in. So /love the Oasis Moth and Mac Frog and head back to your capital again.
8.       Lastly head to Vashj’ir. The best spot here is the Shimmering Expanse. Both the Rockchewer Whelk and the Sea Cucumber and right next to each other here. Show them some /love and you are done!

As a side note, if you are having trouble locating a specific critter you can always write yourself a macro.

Just use /tar “crittername”
                /love
For example:
/tar Mac Frog
/love

 Let me know how you go giving the critters the love they deserve!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Achievement Hunter : To All The Squirrels Who Shared My Life

 Achievement Hunter : To All The Squirrels Who Shared My Life

Want to start achievement hunting? Not sure where to begin? Not a problem! Each Fortnight TheDr will go over some achievement hunting, with tips on where to begin.

Ah critters, the little ones that run around and look cute, you can love them, you can hug them and you can fry them with a fireball. However this week we are looking to show them some love.



This is a guide to get you to all of the critters as fast as possible and it is from a Hordes perspective but it could be modified for Alliance without too much trouble. We are going to start in Dalaran and use the portals available in your capital city.


From Dalaran we are going to follow the route below around Northrend and then around the Eastern Kingdoms.
1.       Start in Dalaran and head north into Icecrown. Here you can grab the Glacier Penguin.
2.       From Icecrown head southwest into Sholazar Basin. Grab the Tickbird here. They are generally found riding on the horns of other animals.
3.       Head south into Borean Tundra. You can /love the Tundra Penguin, Borean Marmot and Arctic Hare here.
4.       Next fly east, all the way over to Grizzly Hills. You are looking for the Mountain Skunk here. Be careful if you are Horde though as the highest concentration of them is near the Alliance camp.
5.       Mount up and head south into Howling Fjord for the last of the Northrend critters. Grab the Fjord Penguin, Scalawag Frog and Fjord Turkey here.
6.       Next up is Twilight Highlands, I found the easiest way to get there is to head back to your capital city and take the portal to the Highlands. You can grab the Grizzly Squirrel and Huge Toad in the northwest corner of this zone.
7.       Now fly South West to the Searing Gorge for the last part of the achievement. You are looking for the Lava Crab here. Now these guys are quite tiny so it might help to hit ‘v’ to turn on name plates to see them.
8.       And that’s it! You should now have shown your love to all the squirrels that shared your life.
As a side note, if you are having trouble locating a specific critter you can always write yourself a macro.
Just use /tar “crittername”
                /love
For example:
/tar huge toad
/love


Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Achievement Hunter : Well Read

Achievement Hunter : Well Read
Want to start achievement hunting? Not sure where to begin? Not a problem! Each Fortnight TheDr will go over some achievement hunting, with tips on where to begin.
Well Read is all about the books! Though it may seem daunting at first, I assure with just a little time and this guide you can fly right though it.



I will be going over the quickest way to get all of the books needed for this achievement, its going to go a lot quicker if you are a mage or have a mage friend that can port you around and there are certain parts of this I wouldn’t attempt until you are at least 80 or have a friend that can run you through. Without further ado lets get into those books!
1.       Start in Silvermoon City and pickup your first two books.


2.       Next port down to Undercity and grab [Exile of the High Elves]
3.       From Undercity you will want to fly to Scholomance in the Western Plaguelands. Once you get inside just follow the maps below:

4.       Next up is Scarlet Monastry, once you head in you will need to go to the Libaray wing and follow the map below:
5.       Once you are done there head back to a Capital City and see if you can get a port to Stonard otherwise you can use the portal to the blasted lands and fly up one zone.
6.       Once you arrive at Stonard grab the two books on the top floor of the main building:
7.       From Stonard head west to westfall. I stronly urge a flying mount for this one, you will need to drop into the main allience town, run into the Inn, click on the book (which will be hovering over a bed) and run out the back door.
8.       Mount up and fly south to Booty Bay.
9.       When you arrive at booty bay you will need to keep an eye out for the building behind the up-turned boat on the dock.
10.   This building contains most of the books for Booty Bay, There are 3 books on the bottom level and one book on the top floor.

Bottom Floor

Top Floor
11.   The other book is upstairs in the Tavern
12.   Head down to the end of the dock and grab the boat to Ratchet
13.   There are two books in Ratchet, the first one is in the Tavern at the south end:

The Second one is North of the Town in Gazlows building
14.   From Ratchet you will need to fly South to Southern Barrens and Northwatch Hold
15.   There is one book here and it is in the bottom of the tower next to the flight master

Once you get inside you will find it next to a chair:
16.   Mount up and fly West to Mulgore.
17.   When you arrive you are looking for the old dwarven digsite. This is the only place to get some of these books apart from Ironforge.
18.   Now for a bit of real travel. You will need to head to Dalaran for the next one, easy if you are a mage, otherwise catch a zepplin to Northrend.
19.   When you arrive in Dalaran you will need to head to the Horde District and upstairs in the Inn.

20.   Lastly you will need to head to the Caverns of Time, so in Dalaran head to the Violet Citadel and take the portal to Caverns of Time.
21.   When you arrive, jump on your own mount, not the free ride. And fly about half way down the tunnel, you should see an Inn on your right, inside is the last book you need:
22.   Congradulations, you are now Well Read.

Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions and I look forward to hearing how you all go!