midsummer-fire-festival
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Design your own holiday
Crygil wants to know: if you could design a new holiday for the game, what would it be? I don't think I've ever heard the question asked before -- holidays are really just optional fun for more players, and Blizzard has always covered the basics (Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc.), and even added in some of their own by giving real-world holidays some Azerothian flavor (Midsummer Fire Festival, and of course Brewfest). Are there really any holidays they missed?I guess Labor Day and Memorial Day are the two biggest ones -- maybe all of the NPCs could take a day off, there could be giant barbeques set up in the capital cities, or players could take a day to remember those fallen in the past wars. Or you could go another route and just make up your own holiday: Grumpyfool of Azjol-Nerub recommends Gnome Appreciation Week (a whole week?), where Azeroth's shortest denizens can get some love of their own. A more recently based holiday might be fun, too -- maybe once a year we could remember Arthas' (it was Arthas, right?) zombie attack on our homeland.I doubt this is going to be used to determine actual Blizzard policy. Seems more like just a fun thought experiment. But there are definitely some interesting ideas in there -- if Blizzard ever wants to add yet another holiday to the calendar, there are plenty of ideas.
The Ice Stone has melted!
When The Love is in the Air started up this morning, a really curious bug cropped up that has even some Blizzard employees stumped. Every now and then, a server-wide emote (like the one you see when Eranikus is defeated in Moonglade) announces to the world that, 'The Ice Stone has melted!'Nobody really knows what it is, or why it's announcing that. As I mentioned, even a few Blizzard employees have no idea what it is, though they're looking into it. The only 'ice stone' that crops up when Googling or Wowwiki'ing around to find this thing is the objects from the Midsummer Festival that we interacted with last year. It's possible that the team responsible for world events was working on an update to the Midsummer Fire Festival and crossed some wires somewhere. After all, if any of the holidays need an urgent update, it would be that one.
15 Minutes of Fame: More dings, less killing
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. The diminutive subject of 15 Minutes of Fame's inaugural profile, back in January of this year, spent a good chunk of change longer than a mere quarter-hour in the limelight. The life and times of Noor the Pacifist, who levels without experience from kills, garnered widespread attention not only here at WoW Insider but in an onslaught of hits from Digg, Stumble Upon, Fark and even the very cool people at Boing Boing. It seemed like everyone wanted to talk about the guy who plays World of Warcraft without actually killing anything. Naysayers opined that Noor would give up the ghost of the tedious task of leveling without killing long before he reached level 70. But lo and behold, here we are just post-Wrath launch – and Noor's ticked right past 70, plugging steadily along toward the new max level cap of 80. 15 Minutes of Fame caught up with him to see how he was holding up on the long, slow climb to the top.
Breakfast Topic: What is your favorite holiday?
The Feast of Winter Veil is nice and Brewfest is fun (though a disappointment over last year's), but my favorite holiday this year in Azeroth is Hallow's End. The Midsummer Fire Festival is a close second, mind you. It was fun and profitable. But Hallow's End has better lore and better accessories.Sure, I love my dancing flames chickie, but my Rickety Magic Broom is the best thing ever -- and it's only temporary. The masks, the candy, the pumpkin heads -- it's just fun.
Sunday Morning Funnies: Of edible size
This week we have a new comic up for scrutiny concerning Blizzcon, a comic depicting the humorous side of the Midsummer Fire Festival, and some pretty aggressive battle strategy. A new comic has sprung up about the adventures of two 'durids' attempting to get to Blizzcon. It makes use of a bit too much lol-speak for my tastes, but what do you guys think? The fellows of Dark Legacy Comics are going to require a Plan B if they hope to reclaim their place on the top of the hierarchy. Also, I am jealous of their murloc action figure. On LFG, the gnomes are coming to save the day! This episode actually stands well on its own. When stealth goes wrong. NoObz. Episode 21 of The Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf is A Midsummer Night's Dream. Are you ready to vote?
Breakfast Topic: Farewell, Midsummer
The Midsummer Fire Festival is just about wrapped up, and all of the quests, lore and drops are going with it. It's sad to see it go, but all good things must come to an end. Daniel asked what you were doing with the time left the other day, but now that it's pretty much done for, have you gotten your hands on all you wanted?My one and only goal for the Fire Festival was to get my hands on Ahune's Frostscythe. I've wanted a scythe on my Priest ever since Warlocks got one as a quest reward back in the day. I probably have pretty much the best guild in the world, because they took turns rotating alts to summon Ahune for me throughout the festival. When the thing finally dropped, we had killed the Frostlord roughly eighty times and we got five Scorched Stones for various people. We have decided my loot luck could not possibly be worse.How about all of you? Did you get the brazier? The dress? Did you say 'forget it' and blow all of your Blossoms on Midsummer Sausage? Most importantly, did you stock up one these sweet new fireworks?
Happy Fourth of July from WoW Insider!
Yes, it's time once again for those of us in the United States to celebrate our nation's birthday with fireworks, BBQ, and hopefully a day off. From all of us here at WoW Insider to all of you, happy Fourth of July. And to everyone else outside of America -- get back to work, it's Friday!As is traditional around Midsummer Fire, the capital cities of Azeroth should have free beer and food available this evening, as well as hourly fireworks displays to watch. If you ask us, the best place to see the festivities is Booty Bay -- nothing like seeing the explosions light up the sky above the Bay, though we've also seen some good displays in Stormwind as well.No matter what you're up to this holiday, in-game or out, have a terrific and safe Fourth of July.
Breakfast Topic: How are you spending the last few days of the Midsummer Fire Festival?
The Midsummer Fire Festival officially ends on July 5th, just a few scant days away. That means no more Lord Ahune, no more chances to get the Deathfrost enchant, no more desecration, no more turning into a crab, no more Torch Tossing... Yeah, I'm a little bummed too. Still, we have a couple days left to make the best of it. Of course, the question is -- what exactly do we do with it? Myself, I'm torn. My enchanter still needs the Deathfrost enchant, so I may want to get a group together and go slay Ahune a few more times. Then again, I still haven't gotten some of the Midsummer loot on a couple of my 70s, so maybe I want to make a push to get the last few blossoms for those. But I'm also thinking that it would be nice to get my shaman to level 30 before Patch 2.4.3, and thus I'm tempted to just go out and slog through the last few levels with her, bolstered by the all the various Fire Festival buffs and the Ribbon Dance buff. I'll have to think about it some more, but in the meantime, do you have a plan for these last few days of the Midsummer Fire Festival? %Gallery-25803% The Midsummer Fire Festival is upon us! Check out WoW Insider's complete quest guide to collect those Burning Blossoms as well as our guide on how to spend them. Also, don't forget to eyeball our screenshot gallery of Midsummer events. Finally, find out how to kill Lord Ahune, and check out our break down of his loot table.
World of Warcraft's Midsummer Fire Festival ends soon
There's only a few days left before the fireworks fizzle out as the Midsummer Fire Festival comes to an end on July 4th. Why not go out with a bang, the next time you fire up World of Warcraft be sure to grab one last ribbon do-si-do, juggle a few torches, honor and steal those remaining bonfire flames, or slay Lord Ahune for that friend you promised, you do keep your promises don't you? If you have nothing else to do you could run your lower-level alts around the world to collect all the different bonfire flames for some pretty decent experience gains. If you are struggling on what to spend your burning blossoms on WoW Insider has you covered. A lot of players are saying this is the best event in a long time, thanks to some new festivities. You better celebrate the good times before its too late and back to the dailies routine again!
The best of WoW Insider: June 24-July 1, 2008
Where can the world's biggest World of Warcraft fans go to talk with Blizzard devs, hear news about upcoming games, and dress up like Murlocs? Paris' Worldwide Invitational 2008, of course -- that's where WoW Insider was last weekend, and we've got a ton of news about everything WoW from the event, including Death Knight exclusives, new talents for Wrath of the Lich King, and coverage of all the panels and ceremonies. If you've ever played World of Warcraft, now's the time to go check WoW Insider -- odds are there's something new that'll remind you why you liked the game in the first place. News Worldwide Invitational Paris: The roundupEverything we posted from and about Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational event in Paris this last weekend. If you weren't there, read this, and you'll feel like you were (and it's a lot cheaper than a plane ticket). Hands on with WWI '08 Death Knight demoWe actually play, for the first time, the first new class implemented in the game since launch. WWI '08 Costume Contest galleryLet's face it, the real reason you go to these nerdy events is to see the wacky cosplayers. Here they are. Blizzard unveils Diablo 3What were you doing last Saturday morning at 4:30am? Sleeping? We were compiling information on Blizzard's newest game. Blizzard's splash screen changes for June 27thOf course now, we know it was all for Diablo 3, but last week, we were still guessing our hearts out as to what the splash screen ice meant. Features Arena Season 4: Brutal GladiatorSeason 4 started last week, and we've got the most definitive guide on the Internet for what to spend your Honor on. Midsummer Fire Festival quest guidesAll the news coming out of Paris might have distracted you, but we didn't forget: the Midsummer Fire Festival is live on the realms. The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Titan's Grip!Yes, Warriors can do in Wrath what we never though possible: wield a two-hander in one hand. Blizzard Authenticator introduced at the Worldwide InvitationalBlizzard is selling a physical key, to make sure the only person who signs into your account is you. Two talent trees for the price of one?We dip into one of the most underrated pieces of news coming out of WWI: could Blizzard be making it easier for players to respec?
All the World's a Stage: What Blizzard seems not to see
When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players.Blizzard definitely cares about roleplayers. They listen to us and there's a special place for us in their hearts -- which is natural, because in many ways, their whole world has its own story and background which means a lot to them, and while all players get to see that story unfolding through their activities in the game, roleplayers are the ones who participate in that story by making their own stories within it.The problem is that Blizzard and its roleplayers are on pretty different wavelengths when it comes to what roleplayers want to receive and what Blizzard wants to provide. Blizzard wants to give us more neat toys and perfect places to enjoy, with lots of lore and story behind them -- and while this is all very interesting and everyone enjoys it, most roleplayers are wishing they had more sandbox-like tools, spaces and items they can easily bend or shape in their own ways, to use for their own purposes.Blizzard may care, but do they really understand? Read on for insights Blizzard may be missing.
WoW Insider Show goes live (from Paris, kind of) tomorrow
Tomorrow's podcast is going to be a big one -- not only am I back on the air after being away last week, but Matthew Rossi and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli are both going to join me, Duncor the Dependable will likely be on from WoW Radio, and oh yeah -- by the podcast tomorrow, we'll know what the hell Blizzard has been hinting at for the past week. And there's more: not only will we be talking at length both about what Blizzard announces tomorrow and also what they don't announce, but we've got an ace in the hole: Turpster is live in Paris at the Worldwide Invitational right now, and if we can get our telegraph machine working correctly, we'll have a live-on-the-spot report from the T himself. He'll probably be drunk on French wine, but still, he'll give us a Turps-eye-view of what's going down in the land of croissants.We'll probably also chat a little bit about Arena Season 4, as well as what's going on with the Midsummer Fire Festival, but my guess is that whatever Blizzard announces tomorrow will pretty much dominate the conversation. Tune in over on WoW Radio at 3:30pm Eastern for the very first audio words in what's going on in Paris.And as usually, we'll be answer your questions via email (theshow@wow.com), and chatting live on IRC at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel, so you can ask Turpster what France smells like (I'm guessing frog's legs and the burning fires of the revolution, but I've never been, so who knows). Tune in tomorrow to the WoW Insider Show for all the news that's fit to talk about on WWI '08!
Know Your Lore: The Elemental Lords
Welcome to Know Your Lore, where each week Alex Ziebart brings you a tasty little morsel of lore to wrap your mind around. Sweet, sweet lore. Mmmm.In the spirit of the Midsummer Fire Festival, We're going to take a look at the Elemental Lords, one of which was the inspiration for this holiday. The Elemental Lords were originally agents of the Old Gods, and some of their most powerful ones at that. They were used to do little more than sew chaos in Azeroth and keep it in a constant state of disorder.As we know, the Old Gods didn't hold up very well against the Titans and their champion, Sargeras. When the Old Gods were beaten, bloodied, and chained far beneath the earth, their Elemental Lieutenants received similar treatment. All four of them were banished from the plane of mortals, trapped within an Elemenal Plane, where they could cause as much trouble amongst themselves as they wanted without bothering Azeroth.Of course, long after the Pantheon no longer had an active hand on Azeroth, the mortal races did catastrophically dumb things as they usually do and ruined it for everybody.
World of WarCrafts: Midsummer magnet
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.Celebrate Midsummer with this one-of-a-kind novelty. Whether you're wanting to post your grocery list on the fridge or hang a picture of your latest crush in your locker, now you can do it with style. Here is what you will need: Polymer Clay (premo! turquoise and gold) Circle Clay Cutters Xacto Knife Adhesive Magnet Scissors Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-26162%
The best of WoW Insider: June 17-24, 2008
It has been a wild week in WoW -- first, we heard about patch 2.4.3, with level 30 mounts and big changes to the talents. Then, new loot cards for us to drool over. On Saturday, the Midsummer Fire Festival started, with new quests and a new boss to fight. And this week, we're all puzzling over what Blizzard will announce at the Worldwide Invitational (and what "Icefield" means -- it's like Cloverfield, only colder). Big stuff happening at WoW Insider! Here's all the links you need to catch up. News Patch 2.4.3 patch notesLevel 30 mounts? A new bag from Haris Pilton? Cheat Death nerfed? It's the patch we never saw coming. Upper Deck announces new loot items, including an Ethereal vendor petNew items to drool over from the WoW TCG. WotLK Wiki is back in action After suffering a C&D late last week, the fan-run wiki covering all the alpha leaks is back and running. GotFrag releases videos of the MLG 3v3 Tournament What's almost as exciting as playing WoW? Watching other people play it. Blizzard's Icy splash screen changes, hints at Diablo and Wrath of the Lich King for WWIWhat's behind the icefield? WoW Insider wraps up all the rumors (here's hoping for Diablo 3, since, as you can see above, Diablo is clearly hidden in the ice. Clearly.). Features Lord Ahune strategy and walkthroughWe tell you exactly how to take down the new event boss (and nab his tabards, if you know what we mean). Azerothian Spore creatures continue to crawl inCreatures from Azeroth have invaded Spore -- here'a gallery of some of the best. Midsummer Fire Festival quest guides Everything you need to know about getting the most out of Blizzard's mid-Summer event. Patch 2.4.3 gallery of eye candy Construction in Stormwind! New TCG items! Feast your eyes on everything there is to find in the new patch. The Art of War(craft): Farewell to season 3Season 4 starts today -- before you get to all the good stuff, take a look back at what just happened. Update: Did we mention that Season 4 starts today? WoW Insider has both a roundup of Season 4 news as well as an in-depth gear guide to the new set. Go get that Arena gear!
It came from the Blog: Let's honor and desecrate fires!
It's time again for another It came from the Blog event. Come one, come all to the Zangarmarsh realm and join us in honoring the fires of the Horde and desecrating the fires of the Alliance as a part of the new and improved Midsummer Fire Festival.Here are the details: When: Sunday, June 29th 4PM Pacific (That's 5PM server time, 7PM Eastern) Where: Meet at Orgrimmar, Zangarmarsh Server (US) How: Send Robiness or anyone in It came from the Blog for an invite to the guild and the event. Last year's event was fun, but there are new things to do this year including running around defending fires and desecrating those of the Alliance and collecting Burning Blossoms. So if you're not busy earning your Arena Season 4 gear, perhaps you could take time out to join us.
The Tuesday Morning Post: Pre-World Wide Invitational edition, now with extended downtime
The second half of June has been pretty hopping in the World of Warcraft. Not only is Arena Season 4 finally going live today, but patch 2.4.3 is on the PTRs, and the Midsummer Fire Festival is on the live servers. On top of that, we're scant days away from Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational, and we have a mysterious splash screen that may herald a rather large announcement. The downtime for today's Maintenance is going to be pretty extensive as well, from 3am PDT to 11am PDT, which means you'll need some reading material while you wait for those servers to come back. Once again, I am here for you, with a round-up of all the best news from the past week here on WoW Insider, organized by category. Let's start with finding out what's going on with patch 2.4.3: You can read the patch notes right here. Find out how 2.4.3 can help that bag space problem - wealthy socialite style! Feeling like you need a new hat? Try beating up an old man and his dog. If you can't log on to the PTRs, get the next best thing with our 2.4.3 eyecandy gallery. Yes, Virgina, there are premades on the PTRs this time around (Although only on the US servers, at least for the moment). The new TCG Loot is available for testing on the PTR, and we've got video of our own testing run. Ponies at level 30? You heard right. So you've read about the Cheat Death nerf, but aren't sure what it means? Let us enlighten you.
Tip: Run Midsummer as a lowbie
Here's a great tip from Darthkurai on LJ: doing the Midsummer Fire quests as a lowbie will net you a ton of nice XP. He grabbed almost two levels' worth of XP at level 40, just for running around to all the different bonfires throughout Azeroth. Bewarned that some of the quests have various level requirements on them (Undercity and all of the capital flames, as he finds out, are level 50 and above only, and of course Lord Ahune is only for level 70s), but doing all of the quests at low levels will net you a good 6-7k XP, which around level 40 will give you at least a ding or two.Pretty good for just running around the world once or twice. Everyone's excited about Ahune and what you can get from him, but don't forget your old alts, either -- logging them on during the festival and showing them the world (while killing on the way with those buffs) can grab you a nice chunk of free XP for them as well. The Midsummer Fire Festival is upon us! Check out WoW Insider's complete quest guide to collect those Burning Blossoms as well as our guide on how to spend them. Also, don't forget to eyeball our screenshot gallery of Midsummer events. Finally, find out how to kill Lord Ahune, and check out our break down of his loot table.
Midsummer Festival Quest - Shards of Ahune
We love to give here at WoW Insider. We're just givers. We provided a guide to the Midsummer Fire Festival, including a level guide, instructions on how to steal the opposite faction's fire, a walkthrough and a loot table for conquering Lord Ahune, and a guide to most of the other festival quests. Now we present a quick guide to getting your very own Tabard of Summer by completing the Shards of Ahune quest.After you've taken down Lord Ahune in the Slave Pens, loot the Ice Chest he drops. If you get an item called Shards of Alune, you can right-click it to start the quest. Um, then the rest is ever so tough. You just trot yourself over to Luma Skymother, a female Tauren in the Slave Pens and complete the quest with her. She'll give you 20 Burning Blossoms and your choice of tabards -- either with Flames or Skies. Note that you need to be at least Level 66 to obtain and complete this quest.That's all there is to it! Well, except for making it through the Slave Pens alive and defeating Lord Ahune and some junk. But hey, who knows, maybe when you get yours, it will show this elusive mystery tooltip when you inspect it. A prize inside, just like Cracker Jacks!
Midsummer Fire Festival level guide
You don't have to be level 70 to get in on most of the fun for this year's Midsummer Fire Festival. Here is a guide to the minimum levels required (as stated by Kisirani) and recommended for each of the quests: Torch Tossing and Torch Catching have no minimum level requirement. Because you complete these quests in the safety of a capital city, any level is appropriate. Honoring the flames has no minimum level requirement. Unless you are 50+, however, the recommended level is the same as the level of the area you can comfortably hunt in. Desecrating flames also has no minimum level requirement, but considering it flags you for PvP even on a PvE server, do so at your own risk if you are low level. Incense for the Festival Scorchlings also has no minimum level and any level is recommended. Unusual Activitiy requires level 16, but I wouldn't recommend lower than 20 given that you have to fight level 20 and 21 cultists and the area is rotten with level 20 Naga. A Thief's Reward or stealing the flames in the other faction's capital cities required a minimum level of 50, but if the flame is at all defended, it's best to be level 70. Lord Ahune requires a minimum level of 65. Slave Pens is where he resides, so any level above the minimum that you feel comfortable in that instance is recommended. Edited to add: Upon further review, the recommended level to complete this quest is 70 and it is easier if the 70s in your group are well-geared. These quests give a lot of experience if you are below 70 and a lot of money if you aren't. Regardless of the rewards, however, these quests are a fresh infusion of fun during this period of pre-expansion blahs. So if you haven't tried them yet, what are you waiting for? The Midsummer Fire Festival is upon us! Check out WoW Insider's complete quest guide to collect those Burning Blossoms as well as our guide on how to spend them. Also, don't forget to eyeball our screenshot gallery of Midsummer events. Finally, find out how to kill Lord Ahune, and check out our break down of his loot table.
