Cooking

What changed in Forever

Food that levels you. Wowhead says every cooked food now gives Well Fed XP Boost: 5% more experience from kills. Icy Veins and Wowhead's own Fishing guide say "most" foods instead. Icy Veins notes that the bonus counts kill experience only, not quest rewards. You get a food buff after eating for 10 seconds, and most last 15 minutes. Even simple food now gives a small buff: ForeverDB notes Roasted Boar Meat grants 1 Strength, although Charred Wolf Meat gives nothing.

New and rebalanced recipes. Wowhead says older recipes were rebalanced so more of them are worth eating. Trainers teach only about a dozen recipes; the rest come from vendors, drops, quests and the new trade camps. The new ones include:

• Teas, such as Peace Tea, which restores mana and adds Healing Power when you're well fed.
• Smoothies, sold for Merchant's Favor by Kalsey Sanden (Alliance) or Aza'bek (Horde).
• Raptor, bear and stag dishes at the top end.

Many sources were still unknown in the beta. Icy Veins adds Savory Whimsyfin Delight, a transformation food made from a new Redridge fish. It also lists the top combat foods: +20 primary-stat dishes at 275, Sage's Tea for healing power, and fish dishes for Attack Power, spell damage, crit and armour.

The campfire. Every cook knows the Basic Campfire from skill 1. You craft kits from Simple Wood with a Flint and Tinder in your bags, then place them from your bags, so you can carry a stack (wow-professions.com, Icy Veins). Icy Veins adds three rules:

• Camps can't be placed in dungeons or raids.
• Campfire kits share a 5-minute cooldown.
• Camp features share a 1-hour cooldown.

The bigger fires need blueprints. The Journeyman one drops from Lord Serpentis in Wailing Caverns, and Cookie's Feast drops from Cookie in the Deadmines.

The Iron Oven. Icy Veins lists many top foods as needing an Iron Oven, including Grilled Squid, Baked Salmon, Poached Sunscale Salmon and Mightfish Steak. You can cook at another player's oven if you know the recipe. Placing your own needs Cooking 300 and its blueprint.

Gear and perks. Cookie's Stirring Rod, a wand from Cookie in the Deadmines, now speeds up cooking by 25% (Wowhead, Icy Veins). Two Legacy perks help (Icy Veins):

• Master Chef: a chance for each recipe to make an extra serving.
• Gourmand: up to twice as long on food buffs.

Levelling, in brief

wow-professions.com says Cooking kept every skill range from Classic. The guides differ mostly on whether to cook fish or meat.

Ranks:

• Apprentice and Journeyman: from Cooking trainers.
• Expert: from the Expert Cookbook, sold by Shandrina in Ashenvale (Alliance) or Wulan in Shadowprey Village, Desolace (Horde). The book can be traded, so it also turns up on the Auction House.
• Artisan: from the quest Clamlette Surprise, from Dirge Quikcleave in Gadgetzan. You need level 35 and Cooking 225, and you hand in Giant Eggs, Zesty Clam Meat and Alterac Swiss (Wowhead, wow-professions.com).

Why food sells

Wowhead expects big demand at every level: the Well Fed buff lasts only 15 minutes, and players want it for questing, dungeons and raids. Icy Veins suggests cooking for yourself, for friends or for the Auction House.

Where guides disagree

• Experience food: whether every food gives the experience buff (Wowhead) or most (Icy Veins, Wowhead's Fishing guide).
• Bigger campfires: Wowhead lists the Journeyman and Expert Campfires at skill 90 and 200, while ForeverDB and Icy Veins give 140 and 220. wow-professions.com explains the gap: you learn each recipe at the lower skill but need the higher one to use the kit, which it suspects is a bug.
• Poached Sunscale Salmon: Icy Veins lists it as an Iron Oven recipe; wow-professions.com's untested Artisan route doesn't mention an oven.