Tips for Brewfest keg runs

Brewfest is in full swing, and there's on aspect that most participants dread: Keg running. It's not terribly hard once you know how it goes, but figuring it out can be a real pain. Let's see if we can ease the learning process, shall we? Here are some things that worked for me:
- Take a walk (or run) up and down the course before you start the race. Find out where all of the apple barrels are on the course. There should be one at the beginning, one at the end, and two spaced out in the middle. You don't need all four of them, but knowing where they are is the important part.
- Let's pick which ones you want to use. Let's number them: The barrel at the beginning is #1, and they're in numerical order from there, #4 at the end. Ignore #1 and #3. Pretend they don't exist. They aren't there. There are only two apple buckets, #2 and #4.
- Put your ram reins on your action bar somewhere, don't try to click it in your bags. You want to steer with your mouse, and use your other hand to mash the hotkey is much as possible. You can do this entire race full speed in the red. If you hit barrel #2 and #4 every time you pass them, you'll never need to slow down.
- Get a feel for how close/far you need to be from the NPCs to get a barrel and/or turn in the barrel. You don't need to get all up in their face, so you can save a few seconds each time getting a feel for this.
- Why am I using barrels 2 and 4 and not 1 and 3? Because on the Alliance side, barrel 1 is inside some stupid tent that doesn't let my ram get back out without getting stuck and I waste a ton of time.
- Finally, steady wins the race here, and in the barking quests as well. Don't panic about the time; just get into a rhythm and try to stay there.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Biff Sep 23rd 2008 7:58PM
What I read was "I almost never PvP."
Aaron Sep 23rd 2008 9:26PM
i saw that and immediately made the "whaaa?" sound.
Ilnara Sep 24th 2008 11:24AM
Even if he doesn't PvP.. Strafe is faster than keyboard turning period. That is helpful in any situation. Strafe + mouse turn FTW.
Milhojas Sep 24th 2008 12:26PM
Well, savvy players use the right mouse button to move around.
Moy Sep 23rd 2008 6:52PM
I sorta disagree with your #2 & #4 strat for a start this causes you to travel in a curve, aswell as having to travel past the keg pickup point to get to the 4th barrel.
#1 & #3 is a far better course as its a straight line aswell as been able to turn around as soon as you pick up the keg, also barrel #1 is far closer to the keg drop off than barrel 4 is to the keg pickup.
While yes there is a problem with the barrel in the back of the tent and getting stuck in there a solution is available aim for the left side on the outside of the tent and "ram" the fence you'll drop off the keg and feed the ram without getting stuck.
Improbable Sep 23rd 2008 6:28PM
Alliance-side it's ridiculously easy. Gallop the whole way, hit the barrel by the bridge and the one by the engineer's house, turn around once you hit the short stone wall before the keg guy.
My best so far is 17 deliveries (34 tickets), and I've had moments where I've missed a barrel due to lag and had to drop back to a canter for a little bit. I'm not sure if 18 runs is possible or not, but I'm still trying for it.
Imoo Sep 23rd 2008 6:52PM
Two things, during the initial keg run quest, you CAN cancel the ram buff and run it on your mount - you'll still receive kegs and complete quest. You must ride the ram on the repeats though.
Secondly, for the barker quest, don't forget that you can cancel the ram after the last required 'bark' ans run back to turn in on your mount. Bottoms up!
Amaxe Sep 23rd 2008 7:19PM
In response to:
"Let's pick which ones you want to use. Let's number them: The barrel at the beginning is #1, and they're in numerical order from there, #4 at the end. Ignore #1 and #3. Pretend they don't exist. They aren't there. There are only two apple buckets, #2 and #4."
If you want to use full gallop non stop you need 3 of the 4 and preferably all 4.
At IF, the barrels are
1) At the start
2) just after the bridge (you can arguably skip this one)
3) by the gnome house
4) just past the barrel pickup point
Hit all 4 and you can ride full gallop the whole way.
Lemons Sep 23rd 2008 7:31PM
What's so important about only choosing 2 barrels to hit? I can hit all 4 and still make it in time on Alliance side.
Here's another tip, make sure you see that red powerup light when passing the apple barrels! You can end up loosing a lot of time from assuming the ram ate then looking up at your Fatigue debuff only to see that you didn't get it.
Improbable Sep 23rd 2008 7:56PM
The problem isn't just making it in time, the problem is making it as fast as possible. By running to hit every apple barrel, you're wasting time. If you only hit the middle two, you can get a lot more runs in and earn lots more tokens.
Xeren Sep 23rd 2008 7:58PM
The reason you don't want to hit all four, and only 2 and 3 is because it wastes time going the extra distance to the #1 and #4 barrels- you can turn around WELL before the keg thrower (around the 2nd pillar of the house to the right, before the keg thrower, depending on latency), and he will still toss you the keg- sometimes I don't catch the keg animation (though it already shows in my inventory) until i'm almost touching the #3 barrel on my way back.
Also, from your post, it sounds like maybe you're not aware that every time you turn in a keg, you get more time to do more kegs- so the faster you can do it, the more time you can rack up for more keg runs.
Aigarius Sep 23rd 2008 9:12PM
After doing the initial quest, a hidden daily quest opens up (talk to the ram guy). You have to deliver the barrels as fast as possible and each time you do, he adds a bit of time to the duration of your ram and gives you two tokens. This allows you to get 40+ extra tokens every day, if you are good.
Lemons Sep 23rd 2008 10:30PM
Ahh ic now. 40 extra marks! awesome! If only I close to my PC and could play >.
Jyuu Sep 23rd 2008 7:52PM
I don't know if maybe my connection isn't awesome enough, but I seem to have an issue with passing right beside or even -over- the barrels and still not getting the debuff removed. I still manage to get a bunch of deliveries done, but it's highly annoying knowing I could do more if not for my ram getting exhausted because I can't seem to ping the barrels.
xeren Sep 23rd 2008 8:00PM
I have the same problem sometimes- it's a little inefficient, but I bump directly into the barrel, and then a half second later, i'll hit jump to hop right over it. The extra time is wastes is less than getting the exhausted debuff.
Improbable Sep 23rd 2008 8:01PM
The best trick I've found for dealing with the lag is to stop hitting your hotkey shortly before you reach the barrel. If you see the red flash and get refreshed, start hitting it again and you'll keep a gallop the whole time. If you don't get refreshed, lay off, and you'll drop down to a slower pace. This should be enough to let you hit the next barrel without having to slow to a walk.
The important thing is to stop before you reach the barrel, not after you've realized you've lagged past it.
xeren Sep 23rd 2008 8:10PM
"...there's on aspect that most participants dread: Keg running"
WHAT?!
I love keg running- it's easily my favorite seasonal event- years from now when i'm not playing this game anymore, and our children's children are running around with level 240 characters, I will still reactivate my account every year for the keg running.
IMO, Blizzard needs to add even more games inside of this game. I think the mini steam tonks have so much potential to be a huge subgame if they expanded on the abilities and created mini arenas for them.
Armath Sep 23rd 2008 10:14PM
Since they don't have mounts for sale, what are people going to do with all the extra tickets they get?
I figure if I do the other two dailies (throwing and barking), and maybe the keg run once or twice, I can easily get 2-300 tickets, which will be enough for me to get the BOTM and maybe something else for all of my way-too-many alts.
On the other hand, ram racing is a whole lotta fun, and the tips in this thread will help me get 10+ kegs in a run on a regular basis, so maybe I'll do it more than a couple of times... :-)
Anteia Sep 23rd 2008 11:06PM
If people didn't get the brewfest clothing from last year, it's needed for an achievement in Wrath, as is the brew of the month. So people are trying to get it now.
jurandr Sep 23rd 2008 10:16PM
Horde side;
Start at the beginning, and head straight down the path. Use the terrain and jump over the apple barrel if your paranoid about the distance, or right right past the left side of it if you are comfortable with the distance. Then run straight to the apple barrel behind the keg-thrower. The thrower has an excellent range, and you should make the apples your prioirty. Then head back to the center barrel, and back to the quest giver to get your two tokens. At this point, I either:
a) Head out to the middle barrel
b) Swing around the barrel in the fence behind the quest giver
Depending on my ram's fatigue, I try to head back out to the middle barrel. It's not at all hard for a horde to get many turnins.