Duct Tape and a Prayer

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As I’m sure we all know at this point, torch juggling in WOW can be a pain in the ass. There are two components to it this year: the Torch Catching quest and the Torch Juggler achievement. Torch Juggler is largely dependent on your lag and finger speed for success; the faster your speed and the lower your lag, the more likely you are to get 40 torches in 15 seconds. (That’s a little faster than 3 torches per second.) Torch Catching makes you run all over the walkways near your chosen city’s bonfire, chasing shadows – and if you’re even a little off, the torch falls and you have to start over. It’s the real pain in the ass.

Fortunately, there are tricks to each.

Torch Juggler

Getting the Torch Juggler is a matter of clicking as fast as you can, in an area where you can avoid having lots of objects rendered on your screen. The best area that I’ve found for this (thanks to an Aetherial Circle guildmate for this tip) is the plaza commemorating Archmage Antonidas just to the northwest of the “Horde” bank, marked with a red star on the map to your right. Stand there, with your back to the bank, and your visual lag should be significantly reduced.

Once you’re in a good position, assign your Juggling Torch to one of your hotkeys (1,2,3…0,-,= in the default interface). It is almost impossible to get this achievement by right-clicking the torch’s icon to activate it. If you absolutely must click the icon instead of using hotkeys, the rest of this section will do you no good. Press the hotkey to activate the juggling torch; a green circle will appear under your cursor. Place the circle directly under your character and prepare to click like the wind. What you need to do is alternate between pressing the hotkey and clicking the mouse (without moving the mouse cursor at all) as fast as you possibly can; ideally you’ll be using one hand on the hotkey and the other on the mouse. The torches do not have a cooldown, and you need to get as many clicks into each second as you can, so speed is absolutely of the essence.

One thing to keep in mind: although you have to catch 40 torches, catching a torch replenishes your stock, so you actually only need about 10 torches to complete the achievement.

Torch Catching

Torch Catching is one quest where it pays to be sneaky. See, the trick to completing this quest with a minimum of effort is that you can catch the torches that other characters throw. Apparently, the quest is set up so that if you click on a torch to toss it, if that torch falls to the ground, your count resets. However, any torch that you catch counts toward the quest – and if you didn’t throw the torch initially, it doesn’t count against you if it lands on the ground after you’ve tossed it.

Let me illustrate: You right-click a torch to toss it, and catch it three times. Then the torch lands on me; I catch your torch and automatically toss it again. The torch hits the ground. Since you were the one who initially threw the torch, your count is reset to 0 when the torch hits the ground. However, my count stays at 1 torch in a row caught. If this happens again – you throw the torch, I catch it and re-toss it, it hits the ground – my count increases to 2 in a row.

You can see where I’m going with this, I think.

If you want to be sneaky about Torch Catching and not have to run around the city chasing torches, simply come to your chosen city when there are bunches of people there, get on your mount (you have a larger surface area, so you’re more likely to catch torches that land near you), stand near the bonfire, and go make a sandwich. Your character will accumulate torches on her own, and you won’t have to lift a finger.

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