Artwair complains over on the forums that there is cooking required for the
What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been achievement (that some of you have done -- grats! -- and others of you are deciding to do in the next year), saying that something as significant as leveling up Cooking all the way shouldn't be required for what is basically an optional achievement. But Kisirani replies with as good an answer as you'll find: the achievement is designed to send you all over the world, including to some professions and abilities that you wouldn't be leveling otherwise. Especially
because the achievement is optional, it's not out-of-place to ask for some cooking to happen. And I'll add that
cooking is worth leveling anyway -- not only does it get you some nice buffs, let you use up some of the trash collecting in you bags, and hook up your guild or raid with some excellent items, but it's pretty easy to do, especially if you
do it with fishing (which is also very useful by itself).
While she's at it, Kisirani also provides a nice tease at Pilgrim's Bounty, which isn't a part of the big meta-achievement anyway, but will have
some extra recipes to find and cook, as well as
a new Thanksgiving-style celebration (two words: "Turkey shooter"). Can't wait to see it.
Tags: achievement, cm, cookies, cooking, fishing, guides, kisirani, meta-achievement, pilgrims-bounty, quests, recipes, turkey-shooter, what-a-long-strange-trip-its-been
Filed under: Patches, Events, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Lore, Achievements
Sep 27th 2009 at 2:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Dragundam Sep 27th 2009 2:16PM
Even without the threat of a meta-achievement hanging overhead, I took two days to level cooking from 175-385 when I saw that the buffs coming from cooked food were WAY WAY better than what they used to be (whoo. 2 spirit. hot damn). Though I wish they would add in more drinks; the only craftable drink I know of is tea, and you can buy that. Where's my milkshakes (mmm... yeti milk. *gak*)? Where's the herbal tisanes? Where's getting the recipe for Kungaloosh after doing the quest in Sholazar? I know a lot of foods give mana too, but I find myself running low on mana much more and don't want to waste a buff food when I'm already well fed and high on health. :/
That and early morning fishing in Wintergrasp brings auction house bounties.
Jenny Sep 27th 2009 2:29PM
You actually can learn to make Kungaloosh by talking to the Washed-Up Mage in the Dalaran Sewers:
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=32516
He'll have you complete a quest, which has a prerequisite of The Taste Test (the Sholazar quest).
Jade Sep 27th 2009 2:30PM
"Where's getting the recipe for Kungaloosh after doing the quest in Sholazar?"
Tattooed on the arm of the Washed-up mage in the Dalaran sewers. Where's it's been since 3.0.8.
You might pick it up.
MasterAsh Sep 27th 2009 2:27PM
The Kungaloosh recipe comes from an NPC in the Dalaran Sewer after you've done the Sholazar quest. :P
So someone complained that an OPTIONAL profession is required for an OPTIONAL achievement. . .These are the kind of things that drive me to drink.
Tethra Sep 27th 2009 2:33PM
People QQ about everything. Cooking isn't that hard to power level. I did it last year for Winter Veil and it only took me a couple hours. Besides, it's worth it in the long run when you can provide your raid group with fish feasts and other buff foods.
impurezero Sep 27th 2009 2:51PM
In a way, I wish there were a way to gain achievements just by clicking a button, so people like this could shut up. There are too many people out there who think the thrill of a shiny flash across their screen is more important than the fun of actually playing the game.
Example: I recently found myself in a Serpentshrine Cavern raid, excited to be seeing that content for the first time. Instead, the group skipped everything, rushed to the last boss, wiped because they thought level 80s were invincible, and when asked why said, "Because last boss gives achievement. That's all you need."
Think about that for a minute. Need.
I'm sick of people referring to some achievements as "optional." They're ALL optional. All the dungeons are optional. Every damn thing in the game is optional. Do things that you actually enjoy. If an achievement sounds appealing to you, wonderful! Do it! If not...shut up. If you're doing anything in this game just so a pixelated number can be slightly higher, you need to re-evaluate your life.
swampsquatch Sep 27th 2009 3:46PM
I have to agree. There will always be one person complaining about something in the game. It is statistically impossible for every player to be happy with everything. This person's QQ is just so ridiculous though and I am glad The Blue gave them the cold hard truth. Some of them rely on RNG, some you have to PvP for, some you have to be max level for, and some you have to run dungeons for. So if you want the achievement, do all those things and put 110% effort in and then if RNG really screws you in the end, THEN, you can have a little valid QQ.
Kylenne Sep 27th 2009 5:42PM
Amen. Achievements can be fun but I swear to god they have ruined this game in a lot of ways.
justlikehoneybaby Sep 27th 2009 2:56PM
This post talks about a forum chain with a blue yet doesn't link over to it? The MMO Champ blue tracker isn't listing one, so it would be great to see this post updated to reference the source.
Kyol Sep 27th 2009 3:10PM
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/1/20136594563-now-were-cookin.html
Kyol Sep 27th 2009 3:10PM
Yeah, I worked out how to powerlevel Horde cooking last year with as few random mob drops as possible, and managed it in pretty short order. Mystery Meat from the horde-only vendor in Howling Fjord was a lynchpin at some point - but it ends up something like this:
Simple Flour bread thing->40
Smoked Bear meat->80
Crunchy Spider Surprise (buy at vendor) 75->100 (bat bites also, since they overlap a lot)
Dig Rat Stew 90->110
Big Bear Steak 110->150
Heavy Crocolisk Stew 150->175
Carrion Surprise 175->225 (buy mystery meat from vendor in Howling Fjord)
Burn through carrion surprises until you stop getting skillups (250-ish)
Tender Wolf Steak 225->250
Juicy Bear Burger 250->285
Smoked Dessert Dumplings 285->300
Once you're to 300, you're in TBC skillups, which are relatively easy to get without having to kill random scattered mobs. I think everything on this list is pretty densely populated, and didn't (at the time) require all the weird spices and stuff that other vanilla food items needed. But a lot of that crud has been streamlined away, anyway.
Sinthar Sep 28th 2009 6:47AM
For TBC (and imo Vanilla), you are better off leveling fishing at the same time. Yes it will take a far bit longer, but then you also have the fishing skill.
My advice is to grab a pole, a shed load of lures, and sit in your factions main city (like Ogri or IF), i suggest those two as there are additional achievements you could possibly pick up while leveling.
Next get a good book/movie on another screen etc. And start to fish. Target your float, and turn the sound up all the way. You will notice when you get a bite, as the noise should be loud enough.
You will level very quickly to start with, until you dont use lures anymore.
(oh there are addons to help, fishing helper etc can be useful). Once you are finding it hard to lvl fishing there (it is possible to go all the way to 450 but will take a long time), goto STV. Sit on the pier near the fishing guy, and repeat (the guy also sells good lures and poles AND the fishing book needed to lvl up your skill).
The reason you goto STV? The fish. The fish you get from your main city are very low lvl. The fish from STV are higher.
Now remember you are lvling cooking too. Pick up the fishy recipes, and start roasting fish.
Rinse n repeat this method in various locations, all the way to northrend and 450 on both. Please note however, once you get high enough to catch in northrend, STOP fishing for skill. That will come with the daily.
Why level fishing i hear a few people ask (usually derisively). I just smile and ask em how much they pay for food buffs when noone puts a fish feast down. Quite simply a stack of 20 fish (about 10 mins work for a particular type when you know where to go) goes for upwards of 60g on my server. That means for one hours fishing, i make 360g+. On heavy raid nights, you can gouge raiders without fishing too, one night i made nearly 1000g from 150 fish. I also provide a lot of my co-raiders with food buffs, for which they return the favour giving me free gems, pots, flasks etc.
Anyhow sorry for the wall of text. GL and have fun everyone
justlikehoneybaby Sep 27th 2009 3:36PM
thanks for the link!
Lemming Sep 27th 2009 3:46PM
Wow, what a thing to whine about. Cooking is the easiest things to level next to First Aid. A lot less hassle than the rest of the achievement's requirements.
Kyol Sep 27th 2009 4:00PM
Well, it used to be if not actually hard, at least sort of annoying because you had to have the right spices, and find the right random mobs, and hope they dropped the random body part you're leveling with, and you only had maybe 2 recipes that were orange or yellow at a time anyway, so you were always running back to the trainer or hunting down the vendor who sold it in some far off bunker, and then just when you got your stride you had to do the omelet cooking quest... But I gather a lot of that has been wiped clean in recent updates.
Microtonal Sep 27th 2009 4:02PM
What a stupid complaint. I think my main had all three secondary professions languishing somewhere in the 200s when Wrath dropped, because they're all just so damn boring. Achievements are the only reason I bothered to max them out.
Croe Sep 27th 2009 5:13PM
I've found cooking (and fishing) to be both very useful and profitable. Even fun. It also helped me get spots in raids early on because fish feasts were rare, but sought after.
You get out of the game what you put in. Just a bit like life, really.
One of the reasons why WoW remains so popular and addictive to me and friends of mine is because you can't cheat. (Or rather, there is no cheat codes to enter. Any scum bucket can find a way to hack the system.)
I like it that way. Getting something that takes some effort gives a sense of satisfaction. I remember getting my first flying epic. I did it before there were daily quests. It took a month of grinding every day and using every gold making trick I had, but the feeling of accomplishment was wonderful.
If you want a god mode, go play quake or something. :)
Kylenne Sep 27th 2009 5:39PM
What the hell? It takes exactly ZERO effort to level Cooking now, and the buffs are insanely good considering a monkey could do it in its sleep. You should be leveling it anyway, regardless of chasing e-peen.
Who are these people still whining about it? Oh, I know, the same people who always mooch off other people's Fish Feasts, always beg for hit/crit/haste food before raids without having the decency to even provide mats, etc.
Croe Sep 27th 2009 5:46PM
I tried getting a monkey to do it. He had to be awake and he was only able to get to level 237.
Drago Dracini Sep 27th 2009 8:35PM
>.> So... um... most important question in this stream of comments... what kind of cookies are those in the picture and where can i get the recepe.