Tuesday, June 21, 2016

[WoW] Midsummer Fire Festival '16

The Midsummer Fire Festival starts on the real world date of the Northern Summer Solstice and also pertains to St. John's Day. This year the in-game event runs from June 21st through July 5th. With Legion so close to being released, nothing new has been added to this year's version of the Holiday. With the launch of Legion, I'm sure we are going to get be receiving more content for this Holiday next year, but for now.. We're looking at only the most recent additions from 2015 as the "new and exciting" collectible rewards.

Side note: Looking for some new customized artwork if any artists are interested.

Much Like the Lunar Festival back in January, the Midsummer Fire Festival necessitates tons of travel time to get through all of the achievements, as you travel around the multiple continents to honor your faction's fires and desecrate those of the opposite faction. All the while gaining Burning Blossom, which is this Holiday's currency.

The Burning Blossom also have a secondary function that we should go over here before we really get into anything else, since you're going to have a ton of them by the end of your adventure. Especially if you run this Holiday on multiple characters. If you use a Burning Blossom near a festival fire, all surrounding players will gain the Fire Festival Fury buff, which scales with your level. And if you happen upon a bonfire that's been desecrated and use a Burning Blossom on it, you will activate the zone-wide buff of Bonfire's Blessing, which scales the damage by ten per level.

The Midsummer Fire Festival also comes with a Holiday boss; The Frost Lord, Ahune. Since the next expansion isn't out yet, Ahune is still for level 100. No buffs for the loot table this time around. He also has a handful of other drops that we'll get into when we get to the boss fight section of the guide. Until then, we're going to start with the holiday quests!

There are some bread crumb quests that will lead you to some of the festival camps outside of the capital cities, as well as bread crumbs that lead to camps located inside the capitals. We'll start off with the quests located outside of the cities.

  1. The Master of Summer Lore/The Spinner of Summer Tales: The true bread crumb quest. All capital cities will have commoners who will send you on your way to the Fire Festival Camps outside of the capital cities. These quests are mostly for flavor to announce the beginning of the Festival, but you get a Burning Blossom for knocking it out.
  2. Incense for the Summer Scorchlings/Incense for the Festival Scorchlings: You will be given some Summer Incense and told to drop it off at the nearby Summer Scorchling. Be sure to stick around for a bit after turning it in and collecting your Burning Blossom. There is small scene involving the Scorchling.
    • Now that you're done with the quests at the Festival Camps outside of the city, it's time to speed on inside of the capital city itself an head to the Festival Bonfire:
      • Stormwind: To left of Stormwind Stockades and past the cooking daily.
      • Ironforge: At the entrance of the Hall of Explorers.
      • Darnassus: Inside the Warrior's Terrace on the way inside from Teldrassil.
      • Exodar: On the right side of the Crystal Halls.
      • Orgrimmar: Up past the flight master on the Valley of Wisdom.
      • Thunder Bluff: On the edge of the Spirit Rise, near the zeppelin dock.
      • Undercity: Just inside the Ruins if Lordaeron.
      • Silvermoon City: Inside the Court of the Sun, near the fountain before the Sunfury Spire.
  1. Torch Tossing/Torch Tossing: The Master Fire Eater/Master Flame Eater of your respective faction will offer up this quest near the bonfire. You will need to use the Practice Torches and throw them at the target brazier nearby. It is very simple and you don't always have to land the torch directly on the brazier, either, which makes it slightly easier for those with slower reaction times.
  2. Torch Catching/Torch Catching: The Master Fire Eater/Master Flame Eater of your respective faction will also offer up this quest. You will need to throw one of the Unlit Torches and follow its shadow to to catch it and throw it again. This quest, and subsequent daily, can be very irritating due to other people, lag, or having some of your graphic settings on lower values. Adjust accordingly and even switch cities if necessary to complete. Knocking out this quest will open up its daily, as well as reward you with five Juggling Torch which will come in handy later.
With the little quests knocked out of the way and the dailies unlocked, it's time to complete the other daily, as well as delve into the holiday boss fight information. First off, since you're still in your capital city near a bonfire, I think it's time to mention the ribbon pole. At every bonfire, you will find the ribbon pole, which your character will twirl around. Doing so grants you the Ribbon Dance buff, which stacks every 3 seconds to a total of a one hour buff. This buff stacks with rested experience and heirloom bonuses as well.

Now it's time to speak to the Earthen Ring Elder! (If you're tracking Low Level Quests, you'll see this bad boy, if you aren't tracking it.. Well.. Surprise?!)
  1. Unusual Activity: Pick up your Totemic Beacon from the Elder and head out for Ashenvale. You're going to head up to the Zoram Strand, in the very north-western corner of Ashenvale Your mission is to kill the Twilight Cultists until you get your hands on the Twilight Correspondence. With it in hand, use the Totemic Beacon to summon the Earthen Ring Guide, who will continue your quest.
  2. An Innocent Disguise: Use the given Orb of the Crawler to spy on Ice Caller Briatha and company, on the banks of the Zoram Strand, further along than where you killed cultists for the correspondence.
  3. Inform the Elder: 
With all of those quests finished, it's time to throw down against the holiday boss; The Frost Lord, Ahune. Before we go any further, please note that you need to be level 100 to even access this boss. Blizzard has confirmed that all Holiday event bosses will be max level content only. You can either queue through the LFD UI by selecting Frost Lord Ahune in the drop-down menu option, or you can speak with any Earthen Ring Elder to be queued up as well. Making a trip out to the Slave Pens will not spawn the boss.
  1. Emerged Phase (Phase 1): When delaing with this stage (hopefully not too many times), you are not abnle to directly assault Ahune. You have to deal with his adds and dodge the ice spikes. He spawns three adds each submerged phase, two of which constantly spawn.
    • Ahune
      • Ahune's Shield: This cannot be broken through by any means by the player.
      • Cold Slap: When a player gets too close to Ahune, he will use this ability, launching them back away from him, dealing damage and fall damage. Stay off the ice and you should be fine, his hit box is larger enough. Amusingly, you will receive a Snowball in your bags every time you get hit by this ability.
      • Ice Spear: Ahune will cast this under the feet of a random player. If they don't move in time, they will get launched into the air and sustain fall damage, unless they prevent that damage through abilities.
    • Ahunite Hailstone - Focus this add.
      • Chilling Aura: This ability can cause upwards of 60% of the total damage done for the fight. These adds need to be focused immediately once the tank has aggro.
      • Pulverize: As long as the tank has aggro, this ability should not be an issue.
    • Ahunite Coldwave - Requires little attention.
      • Bitter Blast: Let the tank get aggro to avoid taking damage from this, or simply burn them as soon as they spawn.
    • Ahunite Frostwind - Requires little attention.
      • Lightning Shield: Works the same way as a Shaman's own ability. Let the tank take the hits to avoid taking extra damage, or burn it down as soon as it spawns.
      • Wind Buffet: One of the most annoying spells in existence for anyone with a cast bar.
  2. Core Phase (Phase 2)
    • Frozen Core - Ahune submerges into this state.
      • Ahune's Shield fades, Cold Slap and Ice Spear are disabled, and there are no adds that spawn. Ignore the ones that are up, if there are any, when he submerges. Blow your cooldowns and burn him. If you don't strike him down in one attempt, he will re-emerged after 30 seconds and you will have to repeat Phase 1.
  3. Ice Chest (Loot Phase)
    1. Shards of Ahune: You get to pick between one of the two available tabards.
      • Tabard of Summer Skies
      • Tabard of Summer Flames
      • If you wish to acquire both tabards, there is a simple method in which to do so. Simply place the tabard of your choice into your Void Storage. Speak with a Tabard Vendor and select the opposite choice as the one you lost to have both.
  4. Satchel of Chilled Goods - Only available on your first kill per day.
Now that we've gone over the basic quests, the dailies, and tore apart Ahune and his minions, it's time to dig into the real meat of this holiday. Much like the Lunar Festival, the Midsummer Fire Festival requires quite a bit of traveling to make sure you get your hands on enough Burning Blossom to be able to purchase all the necessities to complete all of the achievements and get the vanity item. Your job is to traverse the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northrend, Outlands, and Pandaria to honor and desecrate the bonfires.

There are a total of 110 Bonfires to locate and collect and honor/desecrate. Please note that most of these are not in any order for fastest completion or ease of travel.

EASTERN KINGDOMS
Silvermoon City: Court of the Sun (70, 43) [Alliance]
Eversong Woods: North Sanctum (46, 50)
Ghostlands: Tranquillien (46, 26)
Western Plaguelands: Chillwind Camp (43, 82)
Western Plaguelands: The Bulwark (29, 57)
Tirisfal Glades: Brill (57, 52)
The Undercity: Ruins of Lordaeron (68, 9) [Alliance]
Silverpine Forest: The Sepulcher (50, 38)
Hillsbrad Foothills: Tarren Mill (55, 50)
The Hinterlands: Aerie Peak (14, 50)
The Hinterlands: Revantusk Village (76, 74)
Arathi Highlands: Hammerfall (69, 42)
Arathi Highlands: Refuge Pointe (44, 46)
Wetlands: Menethil Harbor (13, 47)
Twilight Highlands: Thundermar (47, 28)
Twilight Highlands: Bloodgulch (53, 46)
Loch Modan: Thelsamar (32, 40)
Dun Morogh: Kharanos (54, 45)
Ironforge: Hall of Explorers (64, 25) [Horde]
Badlands: New Kargath (24, 37)
Badlands: Dragon's Mouth (19, 56)
Burning Steppes: Flame Crest (51, 29)
Burning Steppes: Morgan's Vigil (68, 60)
Redridge Mountains: Lakeshire (24, 53)
Swamp of Sorrows: Bogpaddle (76, 14)
Swamp of Sorrows: Bogpaddle (76, 14)
Blasted Lands: Dreadmaul Hold (46, 14)
Blasted Lands: Nethergarde Keep (58, 17)
The Cape of Stranglethorn: East of Booty Bay (501 70)
The Cape of Stranglethorn: East Booty Bay (50, 70)
Northern Stranglethorn: Fort Livingston (51, 63)
Northern Stranglethorn: Grom'gol Base Camp (40, 51)
Westfall: Moonbrook (45, 62)
Duskwood: Darkshire (73, 55)
Elwynn Forest: Goldshire (43, 65)
Stormwind City: The Canals (49, 72) [Horde]

KALIMDOR
Azuremyst Isle: Azure Watch (44, 53)
The Exodar: The Crystal Hall (41, 26) [Horde]
Bloodmyst Isle: Blood Watch (55, 69)
Teldrassil: Dolanaar (54.8, 52.9)
Darnassus: Warrior's Terrace (63, 47) [Horde]
Darkshore: Lor'danel (49, 23)
Winterspring: Everlook (59, 35)
Winterspring: Everlook (62. 35)
Mount Hyjal: Nordrassil (63, 23)
Azshara: Bilgewater Harbor (60, 53)
Orgrimmar: Valley of Wisdom (47, 38) [Alliance]
Durotar: Razor Hill (52, 47)
Ashenvale: Forest Song (87, 42)
Ashenvale: Silverwing Refuge (51, 66)
Northern Barrens: The Crossroads (50, 55)
Stonetalon Mountains: Sun Rock Retreat (53, 62)
Stonetalon Mountains: Mirkfallon Lake (49.5, 51.1)
Desolace: Nijel's Point (65, 17)
Desolace: Shadowprey Village (26, 76)
Thunder Bluff: Spirit Rise (21, 26) [Alliance]
Mulgore: Bloodhoof Village (51, 59)
Feralas: Camp Mojache (72, 47)
Feralas: Feathermoon Stronghold (47, 44)
Silithus: Cenarion Hold (60, 33)
Silithus: Cenarion Hold (51, 41)
Un'Goro Crater: Marshal's Stand (59.8, 62.9)
Un'Goro Crater: Marshal's Stand (56, 66)
Uldum: Vir'naal Oasis (53.4, 31.9)
Uldum: Vir'naal Oasis (53, 34)
Tanaris: Gadgetzan (49, 27)
Tanaris: Gadgetzan (52, 29)
Southern Barrens: Desolation Hold (41, 68)
Southern Barrens: Fort Triumph (48, 72)
Dustwallow Marsh: Brackenwall Village (33, 30)
Dustwallow Marsh: Theramore Isle (62, 40)

OUTLANDS
Hellfire Peninsula: Honor Hold (62, 58)
Hellfire Peninsula: Thrallmar (55, 40)
Terokkar Forest: Allerian Stronghold (55, 55)
Terokkar Forest: Stonebreaker Hold (52, 45)
Shadowmoon Valley: Wildhammer Stronghold (40, 55)
Shadowmoon Valley: Shadowmoon Village (33, 30)
Nagrand: Telaar (50, 70)
Nagrand: Garadar (51, 34)
Zangarmarsh: Telredor (69, 52)
Zangarmarsh: Zabra'Jin (36, 52)
Blade's Edge Mountains: Sylvanaar (42, 66)
Blade's Edge Mountains: Thunderlord Stronghold (50, 59)
Netherstorm: Area 52 (31, 63)
Netherstorm: Area 52 (32, 68)

NORTHREND
Borean Tundra: Fizzcrank Airstrip (55, 20)
Borean Tundra: Bor'gorok Outpost (51, 12)
Sholazar Basin: River's Heart (47, 66)
Sholazar Basin: River's Heart (47, 62)
Dragonblight: Wintergarde Keep (75, 44)
Dragonblight: Agmar's Hammer (39, 48)
Grizzly Hills: Amberpine Lodge (34, 61)
Grizzly Hills: Conquest Hold (19, 61)
Howling Fjord: Fort Wildervar (58, 16)
Howling Fjord: Camp Winterhoof (48, 13)
Zul'Drak: The Argent Stand (41, 61)
Zul'Drak: The Argent Stand (43, 71)
The Storm Peaks: K3 (42, 87)
The Storm Peaks: K3 (40, 86)
Crystalsong Forest: Windrunner's Overlook (78, 75)
Crystalsong Forest: Sunreaver's Command (80, 53)

CATACLYSM
Vashj'ir: Shimmering Expanse, Silver Tide Hollow (49, 42)
Deepholm: Temple of Earth (49, 51)

PANDARIA
Jade Forest: Dawn's Blossom (47.2, 47.2)
Valley of the Four Winds: Halfhill (51.8, 51.4)
Krasarang Wilds: Zhu's Watch (74, 9.49)
Dread Wastes: Soggy's Gamble (56.1, 69.5)
Townlong Steppes: Longying Outpost (71.5, 56.3)
Kun-Lai Summit: Binan Village (71.1, 90.9)
Vale of Eternal Blossoms: Mogu'shan Palace (77.8, 33.9) - Both Horde and Alliance bonfires.

Once you've gone out and collected all of your blossoms, you're going to need something to spend them on. Head back to your capital city of choice and speak with a Midsummer Supplier/Midsummer Merchant.
And now that we've gone over ALL of the questlines, for both Alliance and Horde, it's time to lock at getting those achievements. Hopefully you still have some time left after traversing multiple continents and separate worlds to get some of them. You will gain the title of 'Flame Warden/Flame Keeper' for completing The Flame Warden/The Flame Keeper.
And we end as we normally do, with a brief rundown of the pets that are available during the Midsummer First Festival.
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