Thursday, October 1, 2015

Harvest Festival '15

Here's another holiday that I've never actually written about in the many years that I've (barely) been running this blog. The Harvest Festival! This holiday was originally the anniversary of the US stress test in 2004. It was not implemented for 2005, but it returned in 2006 as the in-game representation of Canada's Thanksgiving, the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, or the Korean Chuseok. The 2015 Harvest Festival falls between September 21st through the 28th.

Unique to the Harvest Festival is the exclusion of any achievements. There is no other in-game holiday event that has no achievements. Even the holidays that are a day, or two days, long have achievements associated with them.

The Harvest Festival only has a single quest to do, for either faction.
  1. Honoring A Hero: Speak to Wagner Hammerstrike outside of the gates of Ironforge. The point of this quest is to head north to the Western Plaguelands and place Uther's Tribute (different for each race) at Uther's Tomb, west of Chillwind Camp. The immediate quest reward is For the Light!. This item is not soulbound, so it can be traded among your alts, to the Horde side, or even traded on the Auction House.
  1. Honoring A Hero: Speak to Javnir Nashak outside of the gates of Orgrimmar. The point of this quest is to head north into Ashenvale and place Grom's Tribute (different for each race) at the Monument to Grom Hellscream, inside Demonfall Canyon. The immediate quest reward is The Horde's Hellscream. This item is not soulbound, so it can be traded among your alts, to the Alliance side, or even traded on the Auction House.
      • Bounty of the Harvest: This reward will come in the mail a few days following your completion of the quest. This item conjures up 4 Harvest Bread on a 12 hour cooldown. I have yet to find an exact time frame for its delivery, but I will continue to look and update with that information.
      • Alongside the book, you also have a choice of 3x of one of the following items. These are purely cosmetic and are NOT Toys. So use them wisely.
      • -NEW- Anxious Spiritshard: Gives your character a ghostly, neon green appearance.
      • -NEW- Forlorn Spiritshard: Gives your character a ghostly, neon purple appearance.
      • -NEW- Peaceful Spiritshard: Gives your character a ghostly, neon blue appearance.
      • -NEW- Vengeful Spiritshard: Gives your character a ghostly, neon red appearance.
    With that simple quest out of the way, the only other things to keep your interest in this holiday comes from the multiple banquet tables laid out in front of both Ironforge and Orgrimmar. These tables have four different items on them that the player has the opportunity to react with to gain consumables; Harvest Boar, Harvest Fish, Harvest Fruit, and Harvest Nectar.
    1. The boar yields Harvest Boar.
    2. The fish-platter yields Harvest Fish.
    3. The fruit bowl yields Harvest Fruit.
    4. The mug yields Harvest Nectar.
    Once you've collected your mass amounts of good and paid your tributes to your faction's hero, there's only one thing left to do. Buy fireworks! Wagner and Javnir are your vendors, and their prices are susceptible to faction discounts.
    Since there are no bosses, mounts, pets, or achievements to be had from the Harvest Festival, that's the end of this guide. Hope you have fun and enjoy your time stuffing your face on all of the bounties of the harvest. Also, there will be no follow-up to this holiday like there normally is, as I have nothing to follow-up on. Do you REALLY want to know whether I went out and collected a book a bunch of times and got a cornucopia on a bunch of toons? Come on now, be serious.

    I apologize for how poorly done this particular guide ended up. I wrote it back in 2013, but never posted it and didn't do any real revisions to it this year. Plus, it being published late, doesn't help the situation. Next year, I promise (and hold me to this), I will type up a completely new version of this guide to go with the holiday. Even if nothing changes. Again.
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    Sunday, September 20, 2015

    Brewfest '15

    This is one of those holidays that have been around forever and I just haven't put in the time to write up a guide for it. Coming this week is Brewfest! Based around the ever popular real event Oktoberfest. It's about drinking, eating, and having an all around good time.
    http://jenasu.deviantart.com/art/WoW-It-s-Brewfest-bitches-138068965

    The in-game festival lines up, almost, every year with the real Bavarian fair Oktoberfest, so even through a drunken haze, you shouldn't forget that either of them are happening! Brewfest this year starts on September 20th and runs through till October 6th. Plenty of time for mount and trinket farming. Brewfest operates mostly around daily quests and farming a daily boss, all in the aim to acquiesce more Brewfest Prize Token so that you can pick up some fancy brew-related vanity and cosmetic items.

    Like many of the other holidays, Brewfest comes with its own holiday boss; Coren Direbrew. With the release of Warlords of Draenor, he has been updated to the new level cap of 100. I will include all of his odds-and-ends when we get to that particular section of the guide, but for now, it's time to start at the beginning: Quests.

    As with most holidays, if not all, the Commoners in the capital city always offer up a quick bread crumb quest to get you aimed in the correct direction to start enjoying all of the holiday festivities.
    Only Available on US Servers. Goldark Snipehunter and Glodrak Huntsniper offer up a pair of quests that will reward you with one of the available pets for this holiday. One can be taken care of at the Brewfest camp, while the other requires a bit of running around to complete. Both of them are very easy to complete for characters of any level, but these quests do require you to be smashed, or under the effects of the Synthbrew Goggles.
    1. Catch the Wild Wolpertinger/Catch the Wild Wolpertinger: Once you're under the desired effect, aka "smashed", it is time to take up your magnificent Wolpertinger Net and wander around the Brewfest camp looking for Wild Wolpertinger. Your mission is to capture five Stunned Wolpertinger, at least you get to keep one when it's all over.
    2. Pink Elekks On Parade/Pink Elekks On Parade: Take up your mighty Elekk Dispersion Ray and set out on your inebriated adventure!
    Before we continue on to the next set of available dailies, we need to have a small interlude here to talk about the ram-racing "mini-game" of Brewfest. To unlock these dailies, you have to do a simple tutorial quest to make sure you get the idea of how the ram-racing works, then demonstrate your abilities by actually doing some keg-tossing. Then you unlock some dailies and a repeatable that is on an 18 hour reset. The repeatable is going to end up being your breadwinner for Brewfest Prize Token. Head just outside of the Brewfest camp and speak to Neill Ramstein if you're Alliance or Ram Master Ray if you're Horde.
    1. Only available if you did not complete it during a previous year. Now This is Ram Racing... Almost/Now This is Ram Racing... Almost: This is your tutorial quest for ram-racing. Utilizing the Ram-Racing Reins, simply maintain a trot for eight (8) seconds, then maintain a canter for eight (8) seconds, and finally maintain a gallop for eight (8) seconds. Here's a quick rundown of the ram effects:
    2. There and Back Again/There and Back Again: Time to step it up a notch. You've been tasked with collecting three Portable Brewfest Kegs. Get your Ram Racing Reins and (following the picture guides below) head to Flynn Firebrew or Bok Dropcertain, then return to Neill Ramstein or Ram Master Ray. Rinse and repeat three (3) times, while utilizing the apple barrels to lower your Ram Fatigue.
    3. "Do you still need some help moving kegs from the crash site... ?"
      • 2 Brewfest Prize Token per keg (Do your best! You're going to need a serious amount of those tokens!)
    1. [A] Bark for the Barleybrews!/Bark for the Thunderbrews!: You get to pick which one of these vendors gets some advertisement. For Barleybrew, speak with Becan Barleybrew. For Thunderbrew, speak with Daran Thunderbrew. Using your Ram Racing Reins, you need to run through Ironforge and stop at the Bank, the Military Ward, the Hall of Explorers, and the Mystic Ward, all in under four (4) minutes time. Head back to your desired brewery, even if the time expires after completing the four locations, for your reward.
    2. [H] Bark for Drohn's Distillery!/Bark for Tchali's Voodoo Brewery!: You get to pick which one of these vendors gets some advertisement. For Drohn's Distillery, speak with Cort Gorestein. For Tcahli's Voodoo Brewery, speak with Ja'ron. Using your Ram Racing Reins, you need to run through Orgrimmar and stop at the Auction House, the Valley of Honor, the Valley of Wisdom, and the Valley of Spirits, all in under four (4) minutes. Return to the Brewfest brewer of your choice once you've done your barking, even if the time expires after completion, for your reward.
    The Brewfest festival camps also have an event at 6:15 AM and 6:15 PM (server time) where High Tinker Mekkatorque for Alliance, or Vol'jin, if you're Horde, will shop up at the festival center and give out speeches before tapping the key on the stage between some of the booths. This little event offers up a two (2) hour long buff that increases experience gain by 10% and persists through death. If you're not already at level map, make sure to pick up your Brewfest Enthusiast buff at every opportunity.
    1. This One Time, When I Was Drunk.../This One Time, When I Was Drunk...: I decided to place this last daily here instead of with the rest of the dailies before it was more intertwined with defeating Core Direbrew. So where else to put it, but right before the Coren section of the guide. The Dark Irons attack the Brewfest camps every thirty (30) minutes. You have to use your chug-and-chuck training to defeat them, while also picking up the Superbrews to stun multiple Dark Irons at once; Drunken Master. If a single large keg is left standing, the Dark Irons will retreat and leave behind some Dark Iron Mole Machine Wreckage/Dark Iron Mole Machine Wreckage, which is how you get this daily.
    With all of those rambunctious drunken antics taken care of, you should now have your sights set on taking down the Dark Iron brew master; Coren Direbrew. Before you we go any further, please note that you need to be level 100 to access this boss. You have the option using the LFD to queue for him by selecting Coren Direbrew, or you can speak with the the dungeonmaster in Ironforge or Orgrimmar to gain access to the special phased version of Blackrock Depths. Making a trip out to the Grim Guzzler through the normal Blackrock Depths instance portal or by using the Direbrew's Remote will not gain you access to the boss.
    1. To initiate the fight, you have to speak to Coren Direbrew. He'll have two dialogue options to choose from. If you apologize, you're not going to get anywhere. If you insult him, he'll throw down fisticuffs.
      • Coren Direbrew - This is a basic tank-and-spank fight, especially if you use the hints below on simplifying some of the mechanics. If not, it's still pretty straight forward. If your tank is undergeared or your healer is not healing, you might have some issues with this fight.
        • Direbrew's Disarm: This ability has a four (4) second cast time that cannot be interrupted. Be sure to move out of melee range to avoid getting hit by it, because it's more than just a disarm.
        • Paralyzed: The side-effect of getting hit by his disarm and it lasts for four (4) seconds.
      • Dark Iron Antagonist - Coren has three of these surrounding him when you first initiate the encounter. They are so weak, you won't even notice when they aren't there anymore.
      • Ilsa Direbrew - Will continue to respawn after being struck down.
        • Chuck Mug: Chucks a Dark Brewmaiden's Brew at a random party member. If they don't drink it up before another one gets thrown, they will get stunned.
        • Dark Brewmaiden's Stun: The consequences of not drinking your first Dark Brewmaiden's Brew. If you enter this fight with a full inventory, you won't be able to receive the chucked brews, so you can ignore this mechanic altogether.
      • Ursula Direbrew - Most annoying add. Will continue to respawn after being struck down.
        • Chuck Mug: Chucks a Dark Brewmaiden's Brew at a random party member. If they don't drink it up before another one gets thrown, they will get stunned.
        • Dark Brewmaiden's Stun: The consequences of not drinking your first Dark Brewmaiden's Brew. If you enter this fight with a full inventory, you won't be able to receive the chucked brews, so you can ignore this mechanic altogether.
        • Barreled!: The most annoying mechanic of this fight. Roughly sixteen (16) seconds after Ursula spawns, she starts throwing kegs at whoever is the highest on her threat list. Said kegged target loses all aggro and is incapacitated for eight (8) seconds, so make sure that someone other than the tank or a healer is the highest on the threat table. To ignore this mechanic altogether, you could have a Warlock Demon or a Hunter Pet with taunting abilities hold aggro on her and completely ignore her otherwise.
      • Direbrew Minion - They will start spawning quicker as Coren loses more health, ignore their presence at the 20% marker and burn Coren down.
    2. Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest - Only available on your first kill per day.
    3. Boss Loot
    Once you've drunk your fill(Blasphemous!) and got into plenty of bar fights(Fisticuffs!), you're going to have pockets full of tokens(Shinies!) that you're just itching to spend on random items that won't make any sense to you once the festival is all over(Wolpertingers?!). Head over to Belbi Quikswitch, if you're of the Alliance variety, or Blix Fixwidget, if you're of the Horde persuasion, to check out the list of available wares. The Brew of the Month club vendors in Ironforge(Larkin Thunderbrew) and Orgrimmar(Ray'ma) will also have a list of purchasable items. To acquire every single item, you are going to need 2129 Brewfest Prize Token (2329 Brewfest Prize Token for EU servers).
        With all that behind us, you're probably not looking at a very hefty list of achievements left to complete, especially the ones actually required for the meta achievement, but we're going to take a quick look at the achievement list to make sure we don't miss out on anything.

        Completing all of the achievements listed below will net you the meta achievement: Brewmaster!
          And now for the special bit at the end that needs to be added to appease the pet battlers among you.
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          Saturday, September 19, 2015

          Pirate's Day '15


          Pirate's Day was originally introduced into the game back in 2008, to commemorate International Talk Like  A Pirate Day, or ITLAPD. This holiday always lands on September 19th, as that's the real date of the real life "holiday".

          The holiday itself is short and sweet. It only lasts a day, it only has one achievement, and you really only have to do a single thing. Since there is so little to do for this holiday, I'm going to fill this post with other trivial information so that it lasts longer than a couple paragraphs.

          First off, no. I'm not going to type this up in Pirate-ese. That's not happening. I don't celebrate this parodic holiday, so I'm not going to participate, even with the written word. Now that that's done..

          Your one and only destination for this holiday is quite obvious.. We're going to Booty Bay!
          When you enter Booty Bay, point yourself toward the building housing the bank and land on the roof. During Pirate's Day, the roof will be covered in Dread Crew who will be launching fireworks, but they aren't your target. You're looking for Dread Captain DeMeza, the Scourge of the South Seas.

          When you speak with DeMeza, you have the option to have a drink with her. Once selected, you'll receive the Dread Corsair buff and be transformed into a pirate. This buff persists through death, mounting up, and while logged out, but it does not persist through shapeshifting.. Sorry druids. Even with Glyph of Stars. Again, sorry druids. If you lose the buff at any time, you can just talk to the commoners in capital cities for a 1 hour replacement. No need to head back to Booty Bay. But who needs a reason, amirite?!

          -NEW- Big Bag of Booty is a new addition to Pirate's Day. You can purchase this item off of Dread Captain DeMeza for 300 gold.

          There are three other named NPCs nearby. Let's talk about them before I throw the only achievement for this holiday up here and bring this guide to a close..

          First Mate Hapana is DeMeza's first mate, as his name suggests, with his assault parrot, Nyuni. He can be interacted with, but he only shoos you away to talk to DeMeza, so he's not very social. He offers no other dialogue options or buffs. An interesting thing to note is that he apparently has a tattoo on one arm with the word "MAGATHA" in a heart. Hapana Grimtotem? A past love of Magatha Grimtotem? The world will never know..

          Cap'n Slappy is the in-game representation of one of the men behind the ITLAPD, Mark Summers. The date for ITLAPD was picked so that Summers could easily remember the date, which was his ex-wife's birthday. He informs you of how he and Chumbucket created the holiday, but DeMeza took off with it.

          Ol' Chumbucket is the in-game representation of the other man behind ITALPD, John Baur. Baur has appeared on the television show Wife Swap, as well as an episode of Jeopardy!. He tells that today belongs to DeMeza and her crew and looking like a pirate is only half the celebration, talking like one is the other.

          As of now, there is currently no plans to implement anything new to this holiday, so here's your one and only achievement!

          The Captain's Booty: Head to Booty Bay and share a drink with Dread Captain DeMeza during the Pirate's Day celebration.
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          Tuesday, September 1, 2015

          Follow-Up GamesCom Dev Talk 2015 + Interviews

          We have been getting a steady flow of continuous information after the initial announcement at GamesCom from both the Q&A recap at the end of GamesCom and some fan-site interviews that have followed up the announcement and event. We have gathered all that information together and we are going to throw it down right here. As we get closer and closer to Blizzcon, I am sure we will continue to get more information, but with less frequency, and hopefully beta invites, so we can see the expansion for what it is.

          I would throw out the spoilers note, but if you are here, you already know what you are getting yourself in to, so what is the point of trying to deter you!?


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          Thursday, August 6, 2015

          New Expansion Reveal GamesCom 2015

          So Blizzard went to GamesCom this year in Cologne, Germany and actually had a booth set up for the event and everything because they were going to have a presentation for their catalog of games. What no one was expecting out of this was Blizzard doing an expansion reveal. That's what Blizzcon is for, right? Not this time!

          With the reveal going down today, we're going to throw this post up as soon as the announcement is over with all the information revealed about the expansion posted right here. Because that's what we do around here.

          Due to time constraints, I will have to update and polish this post later, but that's most of the specifics and information that was given at the panel and presentation.

          Spoilers ahoy!

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          Sunday, July 5, 2015

          Post-Midsummer Fire Festival '15

          I was prepared (you saw me post this on time) for this Holiday and ready to get my hands on all of the new Toys and the new Pet, and then I just didn't have enough time to get as much done as I would have liked. I barely took the fight to Ahune, so none of those fancy ilvl 670 cloaks have my name on them, and no level ilvl 670 scythe, but it's okay. On the final day of the Holiday, I threw down and knocked out all of the bonfires on my Rogue and picked up the two new Toys.

          Paragon the Warrior: Flame Warden of '09.
          Railene the Paladin: Flame Warden of '09.
          Xardion the Death Knight: Flame Warden of '11. Did not Honor or Desecrate Pandaria.
          Laviana the Mage: Flame Warden of '11. Did not Honor or Desecrate Pandaria.
          Sollexi the Rogue: Flame Warden of '12. Honored and Desecrated Pandaria. Acquired Cozy Bonfire and Burning Defender's Medallion.
          Arcia the Druid: Flame Warden '10. Did not Honor or Desecrate Pandaria.

          Ferenan the Monk: Unofficial Flame Warden of '09. No progress made on any achievements. 100% possibility of completion in '16.

          Shaman: Unofficial Flame Warden of '09. No progress made on any achievements. 75-80% possibility of completion in '16.

          Hunter: Unofficial Flame Warden of '09. No progress made on any achievements. 25-50% possibility of completion in '16.

          Warrior: Unofficial Flame Warden of '09. No progress made on any achievements. 85-90% possibility of completion in '16.

          Warlock: Unofficial Flame Warden of '09. No progress made on any achievements. 100% possibility of completion in '16.

          Warrior II: Unofficial Flame Warden of '09. No progress made on any achievements. 0% possibility of completion in '16.

          Paladin: Unofficial Flame Warden of '09. No progress made on any achievements. 0% possibility of completion in '16.

          Horde Paladin: Unofficial Flame Keeper of '09. No progress made on any achievements. 75-80% possibility of completion in '16.

          Horde Warrior: Unofficial Flame Keeper of '09. No progress made on any achievements. 75-80% possibility of completion in '16.
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          Tuesday, June 23, 2015

          Midsummer Fire Festival '15

          The Midsummer Fire Festival starts on the real world date of the northern summer solstice. This year the events runs from June 21st through July 5th. 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 flags 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 I'd like to go over here before we get into anything else. 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 by 10 per level.

          The Midsummer Fire Festival also comes with a holiday boss; The Frost Lord, Ahune. Since we're now up to level 100, his loot tables have been adjusted accordingly, dropping 670 cloaks. He also has some other drops that we will get into later on when we get to the Ahune 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 festival camps outside of the capital cities, as well as bread crumbs that lead to the 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 do get a Burning Blossom out of it.
          2. Incense for the Summer Scorchlings/Incense for the Summer 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, as there is a small little 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 itself and head to the Festival Bonfire.
              • Stormwind: To the left of Stormwind Stockades and past the cooking daily.
              • Ironforge: At the entrance to 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 of Lordaeron.
              • Silvermoon City: Inside the Court of the Sun, near the fountain before the Sunfury Spire.
          1. Torch Tossing/Torch Tossing: The Master Flame Eater of your respective faction will offer up this quest near the bonfire. You will need to use Practice Torches and throw them at the targeted 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 Flame Eater of your respective faction will also offer up this quest. You will need to throw one of the Unlit Torches and follow it's shadow to toss it up 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 according and even switch cities if necessary to complete. Knocking out this quest will open up its daily, as well as reward you with x5 Juggling Torch which will come in handy later.
          With the little quests unlocked and those two dailies unlocked, it's time to complete and unlock the other daily, as well as delve into the holiday boss fight information. First off, since you're still in your capital city near the 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 1 hour buff. This buff stacks with rested experience 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: Get your Totemic Beacon from the Elder and head out for Ashenvale. You're going to the Zoram Strand, in the very north-western corner of the Ashenvale map. Your mission is to kill 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 Twilight Correspondence.
          3. Inform the Elder: Head back to an Earthen Ring Elder at a capital city to complete the questline. There used to be a few more quests, but they were removed with the introduction of the LFD and queue system. Finishing this series of quests opens another set of dailies which all reward x10 Burning Blossom  these will depend on your level, much like the Love is in the Air dailies:
          With all of those quests finished, it's time to throw down against the holiday boss; The Frost Lord Ahune. Before you 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 dealing with this stage (hopefully not too many times), you are not able to directly assault Ahune. You have to deal with his adds and dodge ice spikes. He spawns three separate adds each emerged phase, two of which constantly spawn.
            • Lord Ahune
              • Ahune's Shield: This cannot be broken through 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. Amusingly, you will receive a Snowball in your bags every time you get hit by this ability.
              • Ice Spear: Ahune casts 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 move or prevent the 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-emerge after 30 seconds and you will have to repeat Phase 1.
          3. Satchel of Chilled Goods - Only available on your first kill per day.
          4. 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.
          Now that we've gone over the basic quests 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 items. Your job is to traverse the Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northrend, the 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 an 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)
              OUTLAND
              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 look at getting those achievements. Hopefully you still have some time left after traversing multiple continents and separate worlds to get some of these in.

                        Completing all of the achievements listed below will net you the meta achievement: The Flame Warden/The Flame Keeper!
                          And now for the special bit at the end that needs to be added to appease the pet battlers amongst you.
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