Curse

Dragou Du Porzan · Jan 21, 2007, 12:20 AM // 00:20

**NOTE** - I still get a decent volume of in-game PMs with questions about "windows", a subject which I seem to have done a poor job explaining. Over time I've developed a rote "layman's answer" to these questions. In the interest of helping people better understand how to rapidly gain points - and to reduce the amount of in-game questions

- I'm adding a section at the end of this post that will try to explain the process in more simple terms. Please read this over before PM'ing any questions.

One irritation people chasing the Drunkard title experience is that, after working hard to gather the alcohol they need, they are forced to spend weeks or even months of slow, steady drinking before they can display their new title. There have been a few threads about a method of rapidly acquiring minutes towards the Drunkard title. The idea is that you map zone while drunk, and when you reach your destination you'll (theoretically) be credited with the minutes you would have spent drunk if you had stayed put. Unfortunately, the information I've found on this topic is either incomplete or inaccurate (including numerous claims that zoning has been "nerfed", which it certainly has not).

I recently set out to max the Drunkard title with hopes that I could use zoning to achieve my goal more quickly. Like others who have posted on this subject, I found that when zoning to and from my guild hall (Warrior's Isle) after drinking I was being credited with 0-3 minutes drunk (usually 0). At first it seemed like this was entirely random, and the pace I was progressing at was not much better than what you would achieve through normal drinking and waiting. Eventually I noticed three things that changed this from a slow, random grind into a rapid and repeatable system:

1.) There is a "window of opportunity" every minute of real time during which you can accumulate Drunkard minutes through zoning. It is only during this window that zoning can raise your minutes. You can zone as fast as your fingers can mash the buttons outside of this window and will receive not one Drunkard minute for your efforts. I made this discovery while drinking in Marhan's Grotto. In this particular location the window of opportunity was 25 seconds during afternoon testing (more on that later), lasting from :05 to :30 past the minute on my watch. Obviously your watch will be set differently than mine, so some experimentation will be needed to pinpoint your start/end times. What's important is that this window is consistent - during every single minute of afternoon testing that I ran, the window began and ended at exactly the same second. Knowing this enabled me to comfortably achieve 12 Drunkard minutes each real minute through zoning at the Grotto. That was good, but it got me wondering if I could do better elsewhere. Which leads to the second point...

2.) The window of opportunity is different in every town, outpost, and guild hall I ran tests in 20 random locations across all 3 campaigns and found that every town/outpost has its own window of opportunity. Just like in the Grotto, these windows are consistent. However, the length of the windows differs from outpost to outpost. This means that it's more advantageous to zone from one outpost than another. In all but two cases (Ascalon City and Lion's Arch) the windows were unbroken stretches of time. The majority of the locations I tested had windows in the 15-25 second range. The absolute worst place to zone from that I found was The Great Temple of Balthazar with a paltry 5 second window. On the flip side, the three best places to zone from in my experience were Dasha Vestibule, Ember Light Camp, and Hell's Precipice. Each of these places featured a window ~48 seconds in length. This was long enough for me to consistently achieve 24 Drunkard minutes per real minute, a pace that lowers the time required to achieve the title from 167 hours to 7. If you're worried that my results may be overly optimistic, be aware that a number of people have discovered zoning locations featuring unbroken 60 second windows! At places like these 30 Drunkard minutes/real minute is achievable, reducing the time needed to max your title to just over 5 1/2 hours.

It should be noted, however, that different people zoning from the same location may experience different windows. This discrepency is due to the different guild halls being used. Each GH has its own window, and it's the overlap between your GHs window and the window of the location your zoning from that determines your overall window of opportunity for Drunkard minutes. Therefore, two people zoning from the same location but to different GHs will likely encounter different windows. What this means is that the locations that featured the longest windows for me may not work as well for you. Because of this, you may need to experiment some to find your optimal zoning location. What's important is that, while the optimal zoning point may vary, you will find that each outpost does have a definitive and repeating window of opportunity for Drunkard minute acquisition. At the end of this guide is a list that may help you determine the best zoning location for your GH.

3.) Window length at a given location may flucuate between day and night. At one testing location (Marhan's Grotto) I recorded a 25 second window in the morning and afternoon. Around 6:00 P.M. EST (11:00 P.M. GMT) the window changed to just 15 seconds, then reverted to 25 seconds the next morning. This behavior has repeated over a few days of testing. A few other test sites are not exhibiting this behavior, but the effect for me in the Grotto is repeatable enough that it's worth a warning: Your window in a given location may differ from night to day! My suggestion is, if you have picked a zoning spot and discovered its window, be sure to re-time the window if you intend to zone again from that location at a different time of day.

Here's an example of how zoning works. For the purpose of this example, assume the window of opportunity starts at 5 seconds Past the Minute (PtM):
First, drink up to level 5 (for info on drunk levels, see http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Drunk). For best results, do this outside of the window so you're prepared when it arrives.
:05 PtM -- Zone from outpost to guild hall. Lose 1 drunk level, gain 1 Drunkard minute.
:07 PtM -- Zone from guild hall to outpost. Lose ALL drunk levels, gain 2 Drunkard minutes.
:09 PtM -- Drink up to level 5.
Repeat until window ends.

As you can see, the first time you zone during a window while drunk you'll lose one drunk level (there are some mitigating factors that can modify this, but in most cases this is how it works). The second time you'll lose ALL your drunk levels. This is true even if you drink between your 1st and 2nd zones. So if in the previous example you had drunk back up to level 5 before zoning back from your guild hall to the outpost, you would gain 3 Drunkard minutes and still be reduced to drunk level 0. If you're using less potent alcohol then this would help speed things up. For more potent alcohol (flasks of firewater and spiked eggnog) your best bet is to get to level 5, gain your 3 minutes from zoning and then start all over again. I should also mention that I found absolutely no benefit from switching between different stacks of alcohol.

I've quoted a rate of 24 Drunkard Minutes/Real Minute. Please be aware: Your results may vary! There are several factors that will affect the rate you can achieve with even the longest window:
1.) Type of alcohol being consumed - I was working from a pool of alcohol that was composed of 90% spiked eggnog. Spiked eggnog is by far the best choice for this method not only because of the economic ramifications (mentioned later) but for maximum speed while zoning. Using spiked nog you can drink once, zone twice, and repeat. Using regular alcohol you'd have to drink 5 times, zone once, drink once and zone again to maximize your time. That's a bunch more mouse clicks to deal with.
2.) Access to a guild hall - All of my zoning was done from an outpost to the Warrior's Isle guild hall and vice versa. Zoning to/from a guild hall is best because of the "Guild Hall" button on the guild menu that transports you with one click. Without a guild hall you'll have to map travel, which will require more mouse clicks. And again, remember that your results will be influenced by the GH you're zoning from. Use the list at the end of this guide to help locate your optimum zoning location.
3.) Computer/connection speed - If you're working with spiked nog and have a guild, this will be your biggest limiting factor. My setup allowed me to zone once every 2 seconds. If yours is slower, your rate will correspondingly decrease.
4.) Window layout - I placed my guild menu just to the left of my inventory menu. This put the stack of nog I was working from right next to the "Guild Hall" button, so I barely had to move the mouse between the two.
5.) One-click "double-click" button - My mouse software allows me to program one of my buttons to function as a "double-click". This cuts the number of clicks needed in half, which is handy considering how much clicking you'll be doing.
6.) Reflexes - I would consider myself to have average reflexes. If you are particularly fast/slow (or if you're using "alternate" means of clicking), your results will change accordingly.

Finally, in answer to some potential questions/concerns...
For those wondering about the cost impact: Zoning is best used in conjunction with economically-acquired spiked eggnog. With this setup, zoning will speed you towards your title while adding absolutely nothing to your cost. With regular alcohol, however, you'll be forced to use 67% more than you would by drinking and waiting. Still, you don't have to have an inventory full of nog to reap the benefits of this system. Even if you have just one stack of spiked nog, used in conjunction with regular alcohol you could reasonably gain 1,000 Drunkard minutes about 15 hours faster than just drinking and waiting.
For those who feel this is a waste of time/too much effort: I was able to earn Incorrigible Ale Hound in just 4 days by spending 3 hours each day in the game, and half that was time spent testing and note-taking. People able to achieve the rate I did are looking at 7 hours of boring, repetitive, fast clicking. Those who can't be bothered are free to spend 167 hours of boring, repetitive, slow clicking, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
For those who feel this is "cheating" or an "exploit": I feel the challenge of the Drunkard title is in the acquisition of alcohol. Once you've put forth the enormous outlay of time (and, most likely, money) required to get the alcohol, actually progressing through the title track is both menial and (relatively) trivial. Yet it takes a great deal of time in its own right, forcing people to wait weeks or even months between acquiring the alcohol and acquiring the title. Some people will want to be able to display the fruits of their labor in the shortest order possible; others will take pride in waiting and resent those who try to speed up the process. If you fall into the latter category, that's completely fair and I fully respect your opinion. I simply don't share it.

With Wintersday behind us and a lot of spiked eggnog out in the wild, many people will likely be looking to make strides in their Drunkard title progression. While this information will only be helpful to a subset of those working towards their title, I hope that the tips listed here will help some of you reach your goal more quickly. And if you've already made it to the top of the title, all I can say is: "I love you, man!"

Reported 45+ second windows of opporunity
Notes: Permanently open windows are marked with an (*). Also, these results do not account for time of day. If you aren't achieving long windows using these same combinations, try again at a different time of day.

Dasha's Vestibule -> Isle of Meditation / Isle of Wurms (*) / Warrior's Isle
Droknar's Forge -> Isle of Meditation
Ember Light Camp -> Frozen Isle / Hunter's Isle (*) / Warrior's Isle
Hell's Precipice -> Warrior's Isle
Iron Mines of Moladune -> Imperial Isle (*) / Isle of the Dead / Isle of Solitude
Kamadan, Jewel of Istan -> Wizard's Isle (*)
Marhan's Grotto -> Wizard's Isle
Nolani Academy -> Isle of Solitude (*)
Quarrel Falls -> Isle of Meditation (*)
Seeker's Passage -> Isle of Solitude (*)

Droknar's Forge -> Talus Chute
Kamadan, Jewel of Istan -> Consulate Docks
These last two combos could be useful for players without a GH; bring a running skill to speed zoning

**Simple answers to all your questions (I hope!)**

Q: I don't get it... what the heck are "windows"?
A: If you've read through this post and are lost about the whole concept of "windows", here's what I want you to do: Forget about 'em. Forget I ever mentioned the word "windows" at all. Instead, follow these simple steps:

1.) Choose a town/outpost to serve as the place you're going to be drinking from. Go there now.
2a.) Drink 5 of the alcoholic beverage of your choice, OR...
2b.) Drink 3 of the alcoholic beverage of your choice plus 1 Flask of Firewater, OR...
2c.) Drink 1 Spiked Eggnog
3.) Zone to your guild hall.
4.) Immediately zone back to the town/outpost you just came from and check your Drunkard minutes in the "Hero" panel.
5a.) If you gained 3 Drunkard minutes, great! Repeat from step #1.
5b.) If you did NOT gain 3 Drunkard minutes, continue to zone between your GH and your chosen town/outpost WITHOUT drinking until you do eventually gain your minutes. Then repeat from step #1.

Q: It seems like I have to zone a bunch of times just to get my 3 minutes more often than not. How often should I get my minutes after the first back-and-forth zoning attempt?
A: Under good conditions you should end up at step #5a from my example much more often than not - say between 6 to 8 times out of every 10 attempts. If your success rate is worse than that, try zoning to your guild hall from a different town/outpost.

Q: Which town/outpost will work best for me?
A: Unfortunately I can't answer this question since it all depends on the guild hall you're zoning to. I suggest you take a look at the list just above this section and read through the thread to get some tips from others using the same guild hall as you.

Q: Do I need to use Spiked Eggnog for this to work?
A: No, you can use any kind of alcohol at all. The main advantage of Spiked Eggnog is the time you'll save - you only need to drink once per 3 Drunkard minutes gained instead of 5 times with normal ale.

Q: Where can I get Spiked Eggnog?
A: During Wintersday you could farm for Spiked Eggnog (this is how I gained all the nog that I used to reach IAH). Unfortunately the only means of acquiring Spiked Eggnog at this time is to buy it from other players. A purchase price of 300-500g per Spiked Eggnog is certainly fair, but because of scarcity it's likely that asking prices may be higher than this.

Q: How much alcohol do I need to reach Drunkard/IAH?
A: If you're using Spiked Eggnog, you need 334 for Drunkard and 3,334 for IAH. If you're using regular ale, you need 1,667 for Drunkard and 16,667 for IAH.

Q: That's a [explitive deleted] huge amount of alcohol! Isn't that going to cost a fortune? How much did it cost you?
A: Yes, unfortunately acquiring all the alcohol needed for this title can cost a great deal. If you don't have the cash, your best bet is to do what I did: Wait until Wintersday and farm your fanny off. You can lessen the farming you'll need to do by spending the time between now and then looking for cheap alcohol being sold by other players.

marshy man · Jan 21, 2007, 01:08 AM // 01:08

what does ptm stand for?

Dragou Du Porzan · Jan 21, 2007, 01:10 AM // 01:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by marshy man

what does ptm stand for?

It's just the abbreviation I'm using for Past the Minute.

Taken · Jan 21, 2007, 01:13 AM // 01:13

very nice guide - thanks for the info

*Darcy* · Jan 21, 2007, 01:20 AM // 01:20

Great job of research; well-written instructions. I have no desire at this point in time to go for a drunkard title, but when I do, I will keep this post in mind. Done correctly, you can obtain the title and still have a life in the game.

Edit: Congratulations on becoming an official guru guide.

Nilator · Jan 21, 2007, 01:36 AM // 01:36

Very extensive research. My hat is off to you. I'm defienly gonna do this.

logan90 · Jan 21, 2007, 02:52 AM // 02:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragou Du Porzan

On the flip side, the three best places to zone from that I found were Dasha Vestibule, Ember Light Camp, and Hell's Precipice. Each of these places featured a window ~48 seconds in length. This was long enough for me to consistently achieve 24 Drunkard minutes per real minute, a pace that lowers the time required to achieve the title from 167 hours to 7.

Following your instructions I came to the conclusion that either your theory is incorrect, or the length of the window varies from person to person. For me, Ember Light Camp and Hells Precipice have a 5-10 second window, while Dasha Vestibule seems to have a window so small I can't use it.

Edit: What GH do you have? Maybe that can affect it?

Dragou Du Porzan · Jan 21, 2007, 03:28 AM // 03:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan90

Following your instructions I came to the conclusion that either your theory is incorrect, or the length of the window varies from person to person. For me, Ember Light Camp and Hells Precipice have a 5-10 second window, while Dasha Vestibule seems to have a window so small I can't use it.

That's very interesting, and I'm glad you brought it up because I had meant to include a warning in my original post that this might vary from person to person and forgot. I can assure you that the window in these locations were most certainly 48 seconds for me (tested over multiple days at different hours), but it is certainly possible that the windows may be different for different people. One thing that might account for the difference: I'm connecting on the American servers (eastern US, to be specific). How about you?

I'll make an edit to my post to note the possibility of different windows for different people. For now the important thing to note is that, while they may be different for each person, each outpost does have a definitive window of opportunity that can be discovered and utilized. Even if each individual has to work out their optimal zoning location, the principal still works.

logan90, could you run a few tests at some different locations and let us know the results? The guild hall I'm am zoning to is Warrior's Isle.

chessyang · Jan 21, 2007, 03:34 AM // 03:34

i sort of followed you guild but found that if you button mash the Guild hall right then the Hero screen changes to the next min you will get at lease 1 min but had 3 mins a few times.

Dragou Du Porzan · Jan 21, 2007, 04:11 AM // 04:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by chessyang

i sort of followed you guild but found that if you button mash the Guild hall right then the Hero screen changes to the next min you will get at lease 1 min but had 3 mins a few times.

Button mashing is not going to help you get minutes any faster. You need to learn the window of the locations you're zoning from and drink/zone appropriately. Otherwise you'll rack up drunk minutes during your window and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome outside of it.

Regarding sometimes getting credited with 3 minutes, you're noticing a quirk of the system. If you zone once between your outpost and guild hall during a window while not drunk, then drink and zone again, you'll instantly lose all drunk levels (so if you were at level 5 drunk, you'll be credited with 3 minutes). This works out to the same number of clicks as the system I illustrated (instead of getting credited with 1 minute and then 2, you're getting credited with 0 and then 3). It also removes the option of "topping off" with a low-power alcohol between the 1st and 2nd zone. For that reason, I prefer using the "drink / zone twice / repeat" system.

Kay84 · Jan 21, 2007, 04:17 AM // 04:17

Very nice! Thanks for taking the effort to create and post this guide!

amish lifeguard · Jan 21, 2007, 03:46 PM // 15:46

Cool, any tips for getting it in Pre searing?

Erik Fox · Jan 21, 2007, 07:39 PM // 19:39

For me Ascalon City has always been a good 'window' for this, I've never thought about it as extensively as you have in your guide (great one btw) but I've always used Ascalon to zone.

KamikazeChicken · Jan 21, 2007, 07:59 PM // 19:59

This "window" does change somehow. Maguuma Stade -> Imperial got me >2k minutes @ 3 minutes/2 zones, but the same thing the next day was 3 minutes/10 zones. I havn't tried zoning again, and that would have been toward a month ago.

Titan Chrae · Jan 22, 2007, 02:25 PM // 14:25

Intersting guide. I usually work on my title while helping guildies run with lower level misions and quests. I'm a monk and don't need to look at much other than the party menu to do this so my method is more rewarding if not as effecient. I just drink another ale whenever a minute wears off the counter. I can rack up 20 minutes to an hour depending on the length of the quest or mission.

I have noticed that when I zone back to town from an explorable area I stay drunk (Not sure if this is always consistent.) I think this works from town to explorable as well. Even though the screen effect is gone the minutes continue to count. If I drink another drink the screen effect reverts the current drunken level graphics.

Probably not information that you can use in your guide but others who drink and quest might be able to use it. I'm too lazy (and cheap) to test the window of opportunity thing. I might have just gotten lucky the times I decided to check on my minutes.

Jesse · Jan 22, 2007, 05:00 PM // 17:00

..........SO COMPLICATED.........I have lvl 1 drunkard with only 3000 min left till lvl 2 and i got most of those minutes playing the game drunk. I go on DoA runs or SF runs or even trapping the UW and just use the Mini-map. Ill set a timer on my watch so it beeps every 2 min 55 sec and just click on a spiked eggnog in my inventory. Thats mainly how i got most of my minutes. Another method is just put all the stuff you want to sell on the character that your going for your title and just sit in LA and drink and sell. This guide works good but the title is about aquireing the alcohal and PATIENCE. Another reason that this is awry is that its probably condsidered a glitch. I dont like the fact that it only works sometimes but other than that its a great find. Keep up the good work and if you have any more promising stats ill be sure to try it out and get lvl 2. Thanks again and good luck (mabey they release a lvl 3)

Stig Figger · Jan 22, 2007, 05:09 PM // 17:09

I haven't whole-heartedly participated in getting this title, but I have gathered a couple of tips that people might find useful.

1. If you zone from one area to the next by walking through a portal while drunk, the drunk effects disappear (for me at least) for the first minute but then come back if you're above level 3. Example: while in town drink to maximum level (lvl5) visual effects, walk out of town, effects disappear, wait up to one full minute, lvl4 effects turn on, check title track to see that you've gained 1 minute. Therefore, just because you don't see the effects after zoning doesn't necessarily mean you've dropped to lvl 0...check your title track to be sure (if you've gained 3 minutes then you likely did drop to lvl 0)...so be careful of wasting your alcohol!

2. In the graphics options tab, uncheck "Enable Post-Processing Effects" so you can be drunk and play the game without the distracting visual effects. But then you have to be very conscious of what drunk level you're at by monitoring your title track.

Jetdoc · Jan 22, 2007, 05:28 PM // 17:28

Interesting guide. Like the others, I have gotten the level 1 title on each of my characters simply by leaving the game running during the day and clicking on a spiked eggnog whenever I happen to pass by the computer.

Level 2 is another story - it seems that following this method is probably the most efficient way to get the title on all of your characters.

Jesse · Jan 22, 2007, 05:54 PM // 17:54

You know what they should do......they should have it be an effect like Icy or a condition or sugar rush, stuff like that only it should say what level you are drunk. That honestly would put an end to all the problems

Carinae · Jan 22, 2007, 06:49 PM // 18:49

Wait, I don't understand. You are saying that there is a time window to rezone and earn drunk points right? So, it works like this?

Zone into Town (Timer begins)
Wait for Window to begin
Zone to GH, drink, Zone back
Repeat until Window expires

Now what? Does the window reset every minute?