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WoW Moviewatch: ANN: Midsummer Fire Festival
Nobody reports on the hijinks of in-game holidays like the Azeroth News Network, and it's time to take a long, hard look at the Midsummer Fire Festival. Shedding the harsh light of day on the spectacle and insane fires of the festival, Slightly Impressive's faux-news cast tackles the bizarre habit of standing by campfires during the hottest months of the year. We all know that there's a little surreality to all of the holidays, but the Midsummer festival has already made the least sense to me. Fire everywhere, in wooden cities, in the hottest days of summer. It just doesn't add up. But, still, who doesn't want to wear fiery braziers on their shoulders? Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
New Midsummer Fire Festival item: Helm of the Fire Festival
I know what you've been thinking. You want something to wear on your head that your friends can use for cooking. Well, now your wish has come true! The Helm of the Fire Festival is not only a fashionable hat for the style-conscious player, it also allows your friends to cook on your head. You have to kneel, of course, but this functionality is already included in the helm. Be the life of the party and the envy of your friends! It is reportedly available to be purchased for the low, low price of 350 Burning Blossoms, but this is not confirmed. Burning Blossoms are of course earned for performing certain tasks during the Midsummer Fire Festival, which began today. Check out this handy guide and start the path to having your very own Helm of the Fire Festival. Available from June 21 to July 4 only. Some restrictions apply. [Image courtesy of Wowhead]
Breakfast Topic: What are your Midsummer Fire Festival goals?
The Midsummer Fire Festival begins today. Pyromaniacs, activate! The Fire Festival is a full-featured holiday complete with dailies that mostly involve torches, achievements that mostly involve setting fire to things, and a title that has the word Flame. Ahune The Frost Lord is the boss to kill for this holiday (since he's not so big on fire). You have to ice him if you want to get the meta for the Fire Festival, which is part of What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. What the Midsummer Fire Festival also involves: traveling, more traveling, world PvP, and traveling. I highly recommend celebrating the holiday with friends, though maybe not quite so many as that one time. My goal is for my druid to finally complete it, to be one step closer to the Violet Proto-Drake. The It came from the Blog family of guilds will also be hosting a Fire Festival event, like we do every year. Stay tuned for an announcement soon™. What are your goals for the Midsummer Fire Festival? Are you going to go for the meta? Is there a particular item you are trying to get? Or are you going to ignore it completely? (Bah, humbug!)
Breakfast Topic: Did you accomplish your Fire Festival goals?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. The coming and going of the Midsummer Fire Festival was overshadowed by the arrival of patch 4.2 and the Firelands, but now all the assorted bonfires scattered far and wide have been extinguished, and the flaming torches have all come clattering to the ground. We've danced 'round poles and taken care of danger in Zangarmarsh. Heck, the Ice Stone has melted so many times it's hard to keep track! It was a time for celebration and a time for fun, but like all good holidays, it had to come to an end. Did you get your hands on that new pet you wanted? Some sweet gear for strutting around town? Did you finished your holiday achievements? If you didn't get what you were seeking, what held you back? Have you ever wanted to write for WoW Insider? Your chance may be right around the corner. Watch for our next call for submissions, and be sure to sign up for Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider. The next byline you see here may be yours!
Bashiok comments on Fire Festival; new Hallow's End surprises
Blizzard has been getting hit with a few complaints since the Midsummer Fire Festival began -- that the holiday was just a stat-bump for the items and was relatively the same event as last year. Even the highlight item, the Frostscythe of Lord Ahune, was part of the controversy. Bashiok took to the forums to discuss the changes that had to happen for the Midsummer Fire Festival to even happen and gave players a clue to confirm the widely held belief that Hallow's End this year will play into the larger story between the Forsaken and the worgen. The Midsummer Fire Festival remained largely the same due to the amount of work that had to go into rearranging fire locations due to the cataclysm, changing around all of the decorations, and generally spending a lot of time switching over from the old world. Bashiok does cop to the fact that the event is more or less the same as last year's, but reminds us that the Midsummer Fire Festival has already had its major overhaul back a few years ago. The more interesting news, however, is that Bashiok says we've got some surprises coming our way with respect to Hallow's End, WoW's take on Halloween. We've been long speculating, based on data-mined items and story cues, that Hallow's End will deal with the continuing story of Sylvanas' march into the kingdom of Gilneas and the worgen's fight to take back their homeland. Plus, who doesn't love the classic Halloween monster movie tropes of zombies and werewolves? Bashiok confirmed that there are changes in store for Hallow's End. To what extent, we do not know. However, I will be looking forward to surprises because, really, I love surprises. I'm a giant sucker for surprises. Bring on the surprises!
Instance servers busted, Lord Ahune to blame
In between the weather knocking out my power here in Milwaukee, WI, I managed to sit in the dungeon queues long enough to discover that ... they're broken! Thanks to Lord Ahune, instance servers are overall stressed beyond capacity despite Blizzard's constant upgrades over the years. Vrakthris It looks like overall it is due to the influx of everyone running the Fire Festival encounter, plus arenas, and normal dungeons. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2712201373 Our Realm Technicians are looking into it and making what adjustments they can to improve connectivity and performance. If more information becomes available we'll be certain to pass it along. source We have no ETA on when the situation will be resolved, but the most recent post in the above-linked thread was a mere 5 minutes ago as of this writing, so it continues to be an ongoing issue.
Midsummer Fire Festival: Frostscythe of Ahune stats to remain uncool
Things are heating up all over Azeroth for the Midsummer Fire Festival. Well, everything except the Frostscythe of Lore Ahune, that is. Blizzard updated the holiday Ahune cloaks to ilevel 353 for players to grab, but Ahune's trademark staff just got the "scale" upgrade -- it's not really ideal for the classes it is intended for. In fact, it's fairly worthless for intellect-reliant classes. Bashiok responded on the official forums that to make Ahune's Frostscythe an ideal weapon stat-wise would be to dissuade players from getting their weapon upgrade in ZA or ZG. Many players were concerned with the Frostscythe's stats because of its inflated +700 stamina instead of plus intellect, which casters obviously prefer, since stamina has been normalized across gear. To be fair, I think it is completely fine to have this holiday fluff item be a non-ideal, cosmetic item that players can wear for it's on-use effect and prestige-luck. Not every item that drops has to be the ideal, especially during a holiday that is coinciding (potentially) with patch 4.2 dropping. That staff you want to be ideal so badly isn't going to be exactly ideal in week if the patch hits June 28. For now, it was an easier alternative to just scale the item opposed to tinkering around and making something perfect. I'd say just leave it as a fun, unique item.
Breakfast Topic: The Midsummer Fire Festival has begun!
The Midsummer Fire Festival begins today all across Azeroth. The celebration runs from June 21 through July 2. This year, however, the celebration of all things fire has a somewhat different meaning for players. Soon, the tenuous alliance we all have with fire is set on its head, as the very essence of fire himself launches his final attack on Hyjal and the world tree Nordrassil. This is the last Fire Festival that Ragnaros will exist in -- we will most likely defeat him in the Firelands during this festival. For me, the Fire Festival is the final holiday achievement I need for the mega meta-achievement What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been on my warrior, who was created around this time last year when I decided to change classes. The warrior went from orc to goblin to blood elf and finally night elf when I moved over to Alliance to raid with a new group. He's had a shaky year, but every challenge has been met with resolve. The Fire Festival represents my new beginning into a different class, and it is interesting to see how much has changed in a year. But for Ragnaros, King Fire himself, this will be his last. Little fire elementals all across the land who aspire to greatness like Ragnaros will have their hopes dashed and dreams crushed -- the Firelord's end will begin, ironically, while we celebrate fire. What are you looking forward to most about the Midsummer Fire Festival? Are you going to queue up for Ahune right away when the servers come up? If you're not sure what you're doing this holiday, check out WoW Insider's guide to the Midsummer Fire Festival achievements.
Midsummer Festival items get patch 4.1 updates
If you're a fan of the in-game holiday events, rejoice as we're now seeing updated loot for the Midsummer Festival. It appears that in addition to the infamous Frostscythe, all the cloaks from the event have been updated to iLevel 353 epics on par with the new Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman instance drops. That means we have the following items available: Frostscythe of Lord Ahune The Frost Lord's War Cloak The Frost Lord's Battle Shroud Cloak of the Frigid Winds Shroud of Winter's Chill Icebound Cloak Thanks to the folks at Wowhead, you can see these items and others new to patch 4.1. WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you. From previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new Valor point mechanics to the new Archaeology items.
Reminder: Midsummer Fire Festival ends today
Just before midnight (realm time) tonight, the Midsummer Fire Festival comes to a close. So today is your last day to desecrate fires, pole dance and flame up the countryside. The Fireworks Spectacular begins just after sunset ... wait. Since when does the sun set at 6 a.m.? Well, according to the in-game calendar, fireworks will be going off hourly in all capital cities and Booty Bay, starting at 6 a.m. realm time or sunset. Apparently. So go forth and get all of your Midsummer achievements done. Or just soak up the massive XP, gold and buffs. After all, the next official in-game holiday isn't until September. Shameless plug: <It came from the Blog> will continue to run events at least once a month, whether there is an official holiday or not.
Reminder: It came from the Blog server maintenance party tonight
Is your server down today? Join us tonight for the Server Maintenance Party! We will be stealing the fires in the Alliance capitals for Midsummer Fire Festival. This will be an all-levels event, so don't worry if you don't have a character already in <It came from the Blog>. Here are the particulars: When: Tuesday, June 29 at 10:15 p.m. EDT (7:15 p.m. PDT, 8:15 p.m. realm time) Where: Meet at Splintertree Post in Ashenvale on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) Who: Your highest Horde character, even if that means level 1 What: Hopefully, a Thief's Reward hat for all How: Ask Robinator or any <It came from the Blog> guildie to join the guild; ranks of Lurker or higher can invite. Get to Splintertree Post by 10:15 p.m. so you will be ready to leave right at 10:30 p.m. Summons are for sissies, so log on early to make sure you're there on time. Expect to die many deaths. Expect to not be rezzed. Expect to pick up your bod and catch up. Expect to have to run a lot. Expect it all to be fun anyway. If you are unable to make it, but would like to watch it streaming and listen to me be chatty, we've embedded the stream along with the chat after the break. If you will be joining us, there are also tips after the break and you may want to listen to at least the audio stream.
Midsummer Fire Festival: Need help juggling?
The Midsummer Fire Festival is pretty decent for a WoW holiday -- good experience and gold from extinguishing and honoring fires, fun cosmetic rewards and occasionally mind-numbing achievements. Wait, what was that last one? Torch Juggler has become notorious this year, as the achievement is not only difficult for people who are unable to click their mouses and buttons fast enough, but it is also part of the meta-achievement for completing the Midsummer Fire Festival and gaining the title "Flame Keeper." So, here's how to get Torch Juggler in three easy steps. Get about 15 Juggling Torches. For five Burning Blossoms, the holiday's currency gained through honoring fires, desecrating fires and dailies, you can purchase five Juggling Torches. Go to Dalaran. A common mistake is that many players attempt this achievement in other capital cities. You need to be in Dalaran! Download and install the mod Juggler. Juggler is a simple addon that you activate with /juggle or /juggler. The addon replaces your mouse wheel with a series of actions that select a torch and then selects where to throw the torch. Download Juggler at [Curse]. Activate Juggler, aim your mouse underneath your character and spin your mouse wheel faster than you've ever spun it before. Is this cheesing the achievement? You bet it is. But frankly, the achievement requires dexterity that might not be possible for many people, and factoring in other variables like lag time in Dalaran makes this addon worthwhile. And there you have it. The worst part of the Midsummer Fire Festival is now put to rest, so you can go on having fun.
WoW.com's guide to Ahune
Lord Ahune, the Frost Lord, hates fire. We, however, love fire! We're celebrating fire for two weeks, and this party pooper needs to go. The great Kinaesthesia, who created the excellent Marrowgar hard mode and Lich King tutorial videos for WoW.com, has made an excellent video guiding players through the Ahune fight. The Ahune fight isn't terribly complicated, but for newer players, players experiencing the Midsummer Fire Festival for the first time, or just people who love Kinesthesia's boss tutorials, the video is definitely worth a watch. Check it out!
It came from the Blog: Join us for the Midsummer Flamefest
The Midsummer Fire Festival is here and so it's time for <It came from the Blog> to pick a continent and flame it. Day: Saturday, June 26 Time: The Pre-Event Mixer will be at 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT, 3 p.m. realm time) and the flaming starts at 5:30 p.m. EDT Meet at: The fountain in front of the Court of the Sun in Silvermoon City on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H) We'll have our usual get together before we embark on the Flamefest. The first half of the event will be for all levels and the second half will be for epic mounted characters that have all the flightpaths. If you want to participate in the entire event, you have plenty of time to make a DK before Saturday. We've had a ton of fun when we did this before and I can't wait to do it again. Hope to see you Saturday! Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H) in <It came from the Blog>. Ask Robiness, Robinemia or any member online for an invite. Guild ranks of Lurker or above have the ability to invite. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules, that can be summed up with "Don't be a Funsucker!" Also, please see the guild FAQ for the most common questions.
Breakfast Topic: Holiday boss in the dungeon finder is the best thing ever
Ah, summer in Azeroth. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and blood elf rogues are camping the poor Alliance at the Orgrimmar Midsummer bonfire. Truly, the greatest holiday. However, something is amiss! Mean old Lord Ahune is out to stop summer forever! Whatever shall we do?! (Actually, I live in New York. Please, take the humidity, Ahune.) With 2010's Midsummer Fire Festival, Blizzard has introduced a new avenue to enjoy the holiday bosses that creep up for most special events. This year, for the first time, Frost Lord Ahune is queue-able in the random dungeon finder. Have you tried it yet? Because it is amazing. Spectacular. Mind-blowingly awesome. Hands down, the addition of the holiday bosses to the random dungeon finder is the single best thing to happen to WoW since the dungeon finder itself. All of the petty crap that came along with finding people to summon the holiday boss, people demanding item reservations and a million other hurdles are gone. Years have been added on to my life because I never have to put together that perfect group again for maximum summons of the holiday boss. What do you think about the inclusion of the holiday bosses to the random dungeon finder? Do you miss the old days of the rolling boss summons, or do you cherish the new days of one-chance-bag-per-day? You know how I feel, so let's hear from you!
Scorchling not available in this year's Midsummer Fire Festival
Looks like mini-pet collectors are going to be unable to get the Scorchling this year. Aredek posted in the official forums that the Scorched Stone is no longer on the Ice Chest's drop table from Ahune. Aredek I'm afraid that the Scorchling does not appear to be available this year, folks. I cannot say for certain whether or not it will be made available in the future; however, we encourage you to share your thoughts on the Suggestions forum if you would like to see the Scorched Stone be obtainable in some other way. source It's unclear why they elected to leave it out this year, however it almost looks like it might have been a simple error rather than a design decision. Either way, the historical drop rates for this were so low that most players won't be able to tell the difference. Also, despite this, the Lil' Game Hunter achievement is much more easily obtainable now than it was this time last year, with the introduction of many new sources for non-combat pets. Still, that's a very cute fireball.
Breakfast Topic: What are your plans for the Fire Festival?
The 2010 Midsummer Fire Festival began earlier this morning, and this year some of the holiday's mechanics have been changed to reflect the dungeon finder's impact on the game. With the Crown Chemical Company apothecaries introduced to Love Is In the Air, we saw the last gasp of extensive holiday boss-farming for special drops. These days, you'll only get one crack a day per character at the mounts, pets, or unique drops off a boss (although you can continue to farm for the boss' normal drops). Truthfully, I'm happy about the change; spending ages waiting for alt after alt to make its way to an instance for another shot at a boss drop wasn't really anyone's idea of a good time. Apart from that, what are your plans for the holiday? Does your toon still need the Flame Keeper/Flame Warden meta? Are you looking forward to Lord Ahune's updated loot table, or are you just hoping for a Scorchling pet?
Did you finish the Fire Festival?
That hot time of the year, the Midsummer Fire Festival, has now ended. Once again the denizens of Azeroth go about their humdrum lives without any brilliant fires and spirited naked flame-ladies dancing to and fro on the bridges of Ironforge. Life is boring. The Ice Stone Has Melted.But alas, not for I and my tabard! After a good half day of solid grinding I trekked my Paladin throughout the dunes of Kalimdor and the lush forests of the Eastern Kingdom, extinguishing the flames of the bastard Horde and honoring those of the blessed Alliance. All was done well, so say we all.It didn't take long though for me to realize that I didn't want to do this on more than my main. However I found myself exerting as much discipline as possible to finish the dailies every day on my dual boxing Recruit a Friend alts, pulling in about 50% of a level each day just from the daily quests alone. It was quite a nice XP bump.All in all I accomplished with the Fire Festival I wanted to, and it wasn't too bad of a time. Although I can definitely wait a year to extinguish another flame.Did you accomplish everything you wanted to with the Fire Festival? Are you satisfied?%Poll-31583%
It came from the Blog: We flamed the Eastern Kingdoms
The Eastern Kingdoms were flamed and we had fun doing it. Our It came from the Blog event last Saturday was actually two events: an all levels event followed by a mounted/flightpathed event. Many players took my advice and created Death Knights, giving the lowbies plenty of protection for the run through dangerous territories. Mike Schramm, Allison Robert and Daniel Whitcomb all joined in on the fun.The lowbie event honored all of the flames from Falconwing Square to Hammerfall, with a couple of desecrations on the side. The mounted event took to the flightpaths and completed the Flame Keeper of Eastern Kingdoms achievement. I also got the unofficial achievement for running into every fence along the way. Running + typing = hard.A pictorial journal of our fun is in the gallery below. And I used the wow.com addon to upload my activity for the event. I wish I had used the in-game blog feature to annotate it, but I will next time. If you use the addon to upload your It came from the Blog activity, it will show up in the guild log as well. I'm thinking of trying video for future events. Maybe Turpster can give me some pointers. Allison does a good job with her videos, too. Would you watch It came from the Blog videos? %Gallery-67276%
Fix for the Midsummer Fire Festival being rolled out
Bornakk has just announced that they're currently rolling out a fix to our Midsummer woes that will reset all of the associated Midsummer quests. If you've been following along so far this holiday, it turned out that if you did all of your fire honoring/desecrating last year, you wouldn't be able to do it again this year. That meant you weren't able to get enough Burning Blossoms to purchase what you needed for the various achievements.We expected a fix from the beginning, and we're all glad to see it happen. It didn't take them long to do it, and that's a huge plus. The more time we have to get the Flame Keeper/Warden achievements done, the better.
