Posts with tag wow-cooking

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, we're running a special holiday guide for all those interested in stuffing themselves on turkey.

The Pilgrim's Bounty holiday was introduced to World of Warcraft just last year, so it's still fairly new. This year, the event will run from Sunday, November 21st through Saturday, November 27th. On my EST server, the start and end times on both dates will be 4:00 am, but you'll want to check the times on your own realm.

Pilgrim's Bounty is not part of the yearlong meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. That's not to say that the holiday's without its share of rewards, though; doing the Pilgrim meta will grant both the Pilgrim title and the plump turkey pet. However, the holiday has an unbeatable side benefit; it's the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to level cooking to 350. Pilgrim's Bounty is tailor-made for anyone who needs to level cooking on a bunch of alts, or anyone who never got around to doing it on his/her main.

Pilgrim's Bounty hasn't appeared at any point on WoW's PTR or beta since last year, so we're assuming for the moment that the holiday hasn't changed from its 2009 incarnation beyond a few bug fixes (that and the developers are probably working at breakneck speed on Cataclysm still). I've updated and clarified our 2009 guide past the cut, and will also be around as the event goes live to ensure all the information here is accurate.

With so many players now sitting on high Cooking skill after Pilgrim's Bounty, I thought it might be cool to do Cooking's meta-achievement, Hail to the Chef. If you've leveled Cooking solely through the Pilgrim holiday, your character's probably sitting on around 350-ish Cooking, give or take, and completing the meta is well within your grasp with some hard work and perseverance.

Grand Master Cook

You'll need at least 350 Cooking Skill to train up the last rank, but as soon as you do, achievement -- simple as that.

The Cake Is Not A Lie

For better or for worse, getting the Delicious Chocolate Cake recipe is pure RNG (and until recently a buddy couldn't complete the meta purely because she hadn't gotten it to drop after more than a year). It's a random reward from any of the Outland or Northrend Cooking dailies, so you can increase the odds of getting the recipe by doing both every day and just hoping it eventually shows up.

Once you've learned it, you'll need the following:

• 8 Simple Flour: Purchased from any Cooking vendor.
• 4 Ice Cold Milk: Purchased from most innkeepers and lots of food vendors across classic Azeroth.
• 4 Mild Spices: Purchased from any Cooking vendor.
• 8 Small Egg: For Alliance, the most convenient place to farm these is off the moonkin in the caves east of Auberdine (Darkshore). For Horde, the most convenient place is off the dragonhawks in Eversong (outside Silvermoon).
• 1 Flask of Port: Purchased from most bartenders or alcohol vendors -- hit the closest tavern.
• 3 Mageroyal: Herbalists can get these on their own, but otherwise, just hit the auction house.

All set? Bake it up, and you've got your achievement.

We can't believe it either – Turpster has been let loose on WoW.com to bring you videos from in and around the World of Warcraft! You've heard him on the WoW Insider Show, and now see him on TurpsterVision right here on WoW.com.

By the time you read this I'm already on my plane to BlizzCon, but I couldn't leave you guys without showing you the greatest addition to my gear since I fought off Arthas and forged the Argent Crusade in an alternate Warcraft time line. It is most certainly worth saving up your Dalaran Cooking Awards (all 100 of them!) since it will save you countless seconds in the heat of battle the kitchen.

Make sure you stay tuned to the site over this week to follow the adventures of myself, an Englishman, Scotsman and an Irishman on our way to BlizzCon - that is assuming that we manage to survive the night of hard rocking on Guitar Hero!

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The Northrend Gourmet has been a hot topic achievement since Northrend hit live realms, because it simply wasn't possible. Four of the required recipes were completely missing. As of the current PTR build, that's no longer true. Two of the recipes have been re-added to the game, and two recipes have been wiped out of existence. Not added to the game, but no longer an achievement requirement either.

Shoveltusk Soup and Succulent Orca Stew were the two that didn't make it back into the game, which makes one of 3.0.8's patch notes make a lot more sense. You know, the one about Shoveltusk Meat being converted to quest items? And orcas are just Chilled Meat fodder now, it seems.

Cooking is a secondary tradeskill that most players should strongly consider learning, and maximizing. The buffs that many of the foods award can be quite helpful, and aside from damage buffs, there are also healing buffs, tank buffs, and food for hunter and warlock pets, among other yummy treats. If you rely on purchasing the foods from the auction house, you'll find your consumables bill soaring upward.

You can also make a profit from cooking, especially regarding pet food. Because many players are stubborn and won't learn any of the secondary skills, you can sell your dishes for a hefty price.

Still, if you don't fall madly in love with cooking, searching high and low for the latest recipe and farming to your favorite tunes, then you might have some trouble and confusion when trying to reach 375. This week, Insider Trader will take an in-depth look at the easiest path to cooking 375, avoiding fishing altogether. Although they go hand-in-hand, they can be done separately, and many cooks do not want to become fishermen.

The Royal Photographic Society of Azeroth has hereby declared that they are in need of top notch screenshots featuring your WoW holiday celebrations. If you would like to brush up on the fundamentals and technicalities of in-game photography, check out our tips for taking screenshots, or read through Blizzard's guidelines.

If cooking and baking are more your style, then whip up a batch of something delicious and festive, take a photograph (or have a friend do it for you) and submit it.

As I will be preparing holiday goodies this year, I would send in my own photographs, except that the contest is only open to (most of) the United States. I will have to settle for merely munching on them, and perhaps posting one or two Well Fed Buffs, instead. Make the jump to learn about the prizes you could win, and what sorts of entries are likely to be picked.

Congratulations! You've hit level 70 and you're peering around Outland with hungry eyes. A multitude of new things have opened up for you, from soaring to new heights, to searching the world over for keys and epics. One of the most common activities that you'll want to begin are the daily quests, available mainly to level 70s, and often requiring certain prerequisite quests or even a certain riding skill.

While the cooking quests do not award as much money as other dailies (only 7g 59s), and therefore may not be high on your list of priorities, there are several non-monetary benefits to completing them. First of all, they are fun. Currently, there are four separate quests, and they rotate, so you are not completing the same monotonous tasks day after day.

Secondly, they award your choice of fish or meat, which not only helps if you're an avid cook, but also gives you a daily crate of food for your pet, if you are a hunter. In addition, you can acquire random recipes, some of which are quite nice, including the hunter pet food buff [Recipe: Kibler's Bits]. Many of the reward meats and fish can be cooked up and/or sold for a tidy profit as well. All quests are given by, and handed in to, The Rokk in Lower City.

While several of the quests will require the use of a flying mount, this can easily be avoided by doing the quests in a party with a warlock willing to summon you. In addition, although the dailies often require a very high cooking skill level, this can be circumvented by purchasing the cooked meats on the Auction House, or by having your companion cook your meats for you. You will, however, require 275 cooking skill to gain access to the quests. Should you be in need of leveling your cooking skill, Lisa Poisso's got the inside scoop on the most effective ways to grind it up.