World of Warcraft’s Midsummer Festival is arriving soon, starting today (June 21st) through July 4th occurring all through out Azeroth and Outland.
“Brilliant bonfires” have been lit throughout the land in honor of the festival. The choosen FlameKeepers are setting warriors to delve into dungeons and other perils in hopes of appeasing their Gods and will reward players with items and “enlightenment.”
Every major city also has a Fire Festival camp where players can pick up quests for both high and low level characters. “By doing the quests and visiting the flames around the world, characters will earn gold, experience, and perhaps participate in some World PvP and exploration. In addition, groups of maximum level characters can summon a new boss with epic rewards for the duration of the event. Characters of all levels can turn in Burning Blossoms for unique Fire Festival rewards.”
The Burning Blossom is the currency used for the Fire Festival. Turn these in for rewards, use them for a buff around the bonfires, or re-ignite an extinguished bonfire with one of these flowers.
As for special events, players at level 70 and above can travel to the Slave Pens to seek out and defeat Ahune, the Frost Lord. Ahune is a summonable boss like Halloween’s Headless Horsemen, only available during the Fire Festival. Luma Cloudsister, located right inside the Slave Pens, ushers you to the boss which drops special Fire Festival rewards including a selection of epic items and a new Scorchling pet.
Another in-game activity to participate in is dancing around the ribbon pole. At every festival camp site, a traditional decoration of a large pole will be erected. By picking up one of the streamers and circling the pole, players will get a 10% XP buff.
Torch juggling is another event players can indulge in. Pick up a special Fire Festival torch, and with the right timing, you can toss them into one of the special pyres. By completing this quest you unlock the second in the torch juggling chain and open it up for daily repeats.
The next quest has you picking up torches, tossing and catching them for 5 Burning Blossoms. This becomes a repeatable daily quest and grants the ability to toss torches with other players.
Another aspect of the Fire Festival takes place in Ashenvale. Go to the camp just south of Blackfathom Deeps entrance and talk to the cultists in the ruins. They will give you a quest that has you kill a particular enemy NPC for 10 Burning Blossoms – again becoming repeatable once finished.
Honoring and desecrating fires is another key element to the festival dealing with PvP. By honoring your fires (lighting them with torches) you receive 5 Burning Blossoms. By desecrating enemy fires (stomping them out) you will receive 10 Burning Blossoms. There are about 30 fires in all. Added to this, if you sneak into an enemy capital city to descecrate their flame, you will be rewarded with gold, a choice of consumable items, and 25 Burning Blossoms. You must be level 50 or above to capture the flame of a capital city. If you manage to capture all 4 flames at all 4 major cities, you will be rewarded with the special Crown of the Fire Festival. This won’t be easy however, as the flame adds a fire damage buff to all opposing players surrounding it, and oh yeah, you’re in the enemies capital city!
The MidSummer Fire Festival will conclude on July 4th with, “the sky itself being set alight. The goblins of Undermine have lent their considerable skill (and copious amounts of gunpowder) to the task, resulting in a tremendous fireworks show! Take up a festival mug and raise a toast to the season as the multicolored explosions dance across the sky above you!”
Looks like WoW has put a lot of effort into the Midsummer Fire Festival. For the official announcement, click here.