Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsUPDATED: Brew of the Year removed from Brewmaster achievement on PTR
by Michael Sacco 
Mar 6th 2009 at 3:32PM
EDIT: Bornakk says that the achievement will be replaced in the meta achievement with one that requires you to simply sign up for the Brew of the Month Club. And for those who doubted my psychic powers: Noblegarden achievements are being added to Long, Strange Trip.
Following the pattern of removing achievements that take a while to complete from the holiday meta-achievements, Blizzard yanked Brew of the Year from Brewmaster on the current 3.1 PTR. This means that anyone who was missing it now has yet another fair shake at getting their Violet Proto-Drake for completing all of the other holiday achievements for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been.
I'm pleased that players who missed that one achievement can still have a shot at the big prize, but man, there seems to be an awful lot of meta-achievement caving lately. It just creates the impression that complaining about something will get it changed, and I don't think that's what Blizzard wants players to believe.
To be fair, it was physically impossible for Death Knights to get this achievement until sometime in 2010. This is a good change for them and I'm okay with that. And no, I'm not against Blizzard removing unfair achievements from reward-bearing metas. This was also the only achievement which was impossible to complete during the event itself.
We'll see if the pattern holds after people miss another impossible-to-miss achievement in the Noblegarden set.
Grats to those for whom this achievement change will make a difference, and early props for your purple dragon.
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 8)
Pseudononymous Mar 6th 2009 4:16PM
Meh.
In that time period (1.5 years combined effort) I'll likely have several other proto-drakes, including the green, plagued, blue, and possibly even the red.
Not so sure I really mind at this point, just bugs me that (as I'm sure others have) I skipped the meta-achievement on the strength that the time investment involved to try again will likely outlast the duration of my subscription to WoW.
Rational Mar 6th 2009 3:55PM
It drives me nuts how people will QQ about any change that helps other players but doesn't benefit them. I'm putting this wowinsider entry into that category.
Kalerender Mar 6th 2009 3:58PM
Well, this sets a good precedent for them folding on the black/plagued proto-drake controversy too!
Wonder if they do laundry too..
Gessilea Mar 6th 2009 3:59PM
Surprised at the people irritated about this. This particular requirement really stood out as much more annoying and difficult than the standard holiday requirements. Makes sense to me that it was taken out.
Plus as someone said, achievements weren't out yet for last Brewfest (though I believe they had been announced). If you weren't following out of game news, you wouldn't know you needed to do it.
Two thumbs up from me!
Jason Mar 6th 2009 4:25PM
Annoying? Difficult? Really? I wasn't annoyed to do the Brewfest event. I quite enjoyed it. And it certainly wasn't difficult to click the vendor and buy the membership.
But then, I enjoy the holiday events, and was pleasantly surprised when I saw Blizz would be rewarding those of us who take time out to participate in them.
But now it's just all about the drake. Anything that stands in the way of every player having a drake by October must be removed. No one should have to wait longer than anyone else to have their drake.
Gessilea Mar 6th 2009 4:31PM
@Jason: So difficult was a poor choice (is anything in WoW really THAT difficult though?), but annoying I'll stand by. So I wasn't paying attention to achievements until they went in. I figure that the holiday achievements are all stuff that can be achieved during the holiday. Sounds like fun, right?
Only for one single solitary achievement, getting the title (and yeah the drake, but I don't care about the drake as much as the title) isn't reliant on stuff that you do during the holiday, it's reliant on something you did a year ago, when maybe you didn't even know it was going to count. It's inconsistent and annoying. Thus, I think it makes sense to remove it.
Jason Mar 6th 2009 4:48PM
But that's just it. I didn't know about the achievement either. But I bought it because it was unique and looked like fun. The monthly brews are a kick. That, I feel, is the spirit in which the holiday achievements were meant to be rewarded.
But now it's just one more notch in the belt of the achievement whores. Just seems a little sad. Everyone's going to get their holiday drake, even though they couldn't be bothered to participate in the holiday events until there were achievements involved. Not saying this is you personally, but you know the vast majority of QQ about this was from people who couldn't be bothered to do the holiday events otherwise.
Gessilea Mar 6th 2009 4:02PM
I don't buy the "Blizzard caving to whines" thing, by the way. People will whine about absolutely everything. I would be willing to bet that for every single change in the game ever, someone whined about the issue beforehand. Blizzard has just gotten a lot better at communicating when changes go through and why.
A fun example of a lose/lose situation: People complain that Blizzard doesn't pay attention to player feedback. Blizzard changes something that a lot of people didn't like. People complain that Blizzard caves to whiners.
Tridus Mar 6th 2009 4:02PM
While it might look like "caving", some of these changes are good ones. This is Blizzard's first attempt at achievements, they didn't get them all right.
Ronjoi Mar 6th 2009 4:08PM
One step too far Imo. I have done everything I was asked up to this point thinking that the Violet Drake would be unusual (hopefully rare) but now I think every qq'er in the game will have one. Why not make The Imortal most of the group got through alive but that one guy who spilled his drink during the Saftey Dance. I hated the grind from Elder into Love Fool back to back but I did it and felt good when I completed it. Now I feel cheated, that I spent all the time on them and all the other holiday events. What did you do buy the see naked people glasses instead of the Brewmaster. Worse did you just blow it off when others were racing every day for the coins.
lightningjynx Mar 6th 2009 4:18PM
So let me get this straight. The removing of this portion of the meta-achievement has invalidated all of your hard work on every other Holiday? o.O WTF? Yeah, so you were kick ass enough to work for the Brew of the Month Club, kudos to you. But I don't get what bringing the grind on all the other holidays into it has to do with it?
Jezebel Mar 6th 2009 4:05PM
Even though I didn't get to experience Brewmaster last year (was on hiatus from WoW), I was resigned to the fact that I'd just have to wait another year to get my Violet Proto-Drake. Hell, I even came ONE candy shy of the meta for The Love Fool, and even though I was really aggravated, it was okay, because I still had to get Brew of the Year so I could just get one candy next year.
It honestly didn't bother me that I'd have to wait. It seemed reasonable enough (though I'm not sure I agreed wholeheartedly with the RNG achievements -- I'm looking at YOU, Bag of Candies!), and I was accepting of my wait. I think it makes the achievement that much sweeter when you've actually worked hard to get it. I am proud of my Elder title. I am proud of my Merrymaker title.
While I'm not complaining they've changed it (because I do think it's fair to the DKs who didn't get a shot because they came into existence what, a week after Brewfest?), I also think Blizzard shouldn't be afraid to make players wait.
It makes me wonder why they're catering to the "here and now" players as opposed to their bread and butter, "here for the long run" players. Seems silly to me.
But hey, I'll take my titles and Proto-Drake. It's just a game and I'll look fabulous on it.
zappo Mar 6th 2009 4:48PM
You seem to have this strange notion that this is just a game or something.
Jezebel Mar 6th 2009 5:14PM
Clearly, I'm delusional.
This is SRS BIZNEZ!
Darkrav Mar 6th 2009 4:05PM
Its about time they removed it. It was not completable during the event itself. It would require an extra year of doing nothing but drinking the monthly brews. It was implemented after the event took place. It just didnt make any sense to keep it in. I have had no issues with some of the other "hard" achievements, but this one was just dumb.
I went through the last Brewfest on my shammy alt collecting her lots of clothes and things like that instead of my main. I participated heavily in the event yet didnt see any reason to get the Brew of the Month, only to find out later that ... oops! ... it would be required for a shot at the VPD.
Im definately glad to hear they took it out, the rest of it I dont really mind, but that one has been bugging me since it came out.
Caustik Mar 6th 2009 4:06PM
You're not prepared...... for the Violet Proto-Drake Invasion !
*fear*
tresser Mar 6th 2009 4:09PM
HA
HA
HA
Psy Mar 6th 2009 4:09PM
This is more proof that Blizzard are turning World of Warcraft into a game that a toddler can play. They're making it pathetically easy.
I can understand caving into people QQing once in a while, but seriously, people have been QQing about one thing or another on an MMO for years. There is always one QQer for a game, and that one QQer has at least one follower. This has been the case for years and I highly doubt it'll stop now.
The best method is to ignore those people. This not our game, we just play it. This is Blizzard's game. At one point in my life I wanted to go out of my way to make a game where the players would decide what happens. But now, I see where I was wrong and am totally glad I never started doing that shit.
Grow some goddamn balls Blizzard.
Rat Mar 6th 2009 4:12PM
I completely support this change, and frankly expected that it would happen. It's not fair to implement something, not publicize it very well, and then punish people because they didn't go out and do internet research to find out about it. I don't think they should have implemented the Achievement system until after Wrath went live (and no, I don't have a DK as my main).
I don't mind if holiday achievements require effort and dedication to get. I don't care if they run me all over the world, make me go into instances for drops, force me to check in every hour to get a particular item (though I think they should adjust the drop rate so those who *do* check in nearly every hour are more likely to get the drop--the candy bag thing was ridiculous. I got mine (barely) but others in my guild were checking in ever hour they were awake and still not getting all 10 candies). I don't think they should be *easy*, but I do think they should be attainable during the holiday in question. No more of this "you have to have had the foresight to do something that wasn't well publicized, or do it for a year before you get credit for it." Do the achievements during the holiday period, get credit for that holiday's meta.
This is a game. It's supposed to be fun. Challenging is great (and desirable). Frustrating is not.
for Squirrels Mar 6th 2009 4:12PM
Still want them to remove the bags of candies from love is in the air... those stupid things screwed up my whole year now I have to wait till after next Christmas for my drake... and for the record I had gotten the brew of the year started last Brewfest.