Midsummer Fire Festival 2011

A fiery halo! That makes the whole festival worth it, in my book.

There hasn’t been a post on this blog for a while now. I will apologise for the break – I’ve been powerlevelling a holy paladin for my guild and after some drama we’re back into raiding, so time has been shorter lately. The good news is that the paladin is 85 & gearing up, and we’re 7/12 in three weeks!

So the sun is out, the shops are full of summer goods and I’m drinking way too much lemonade. More importantly, the Midsummer Fire Festival is starting on 21^st June and I’m getting fired up for the bonfire bonanza! In case it’ll help you get one meta closer to What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been, here’s my guide. I’ll be updating everything as I do it, although I’m going to Glastonbury this year so I’ll have to work super hard to complete this when I get back!

Achievements needed for the meta:

• The Fires of Azeroth
• Desecration of the Horde/Alliance
• Ice the Frost Lord
• King of the Fire Festival
• Burning Hot Pole Dance
• Torch Juggler

[Burning Blossoms needed for achievements: 405-435 (see below)]

The Fires of Azeroth and Desecration of the Alliance/Horde

Update: I used the 2011 Wowhead guide co-ordinates to get me started, so the location credit goes to them. However, ~6 were wrong where updates are still being made to their data, so these co-ordinates are ones I've visited and double-checked myself! My route is from an Alliance perspective so may not be as convenient for Horde players - sorry!

Eastern Kingdoms:

Zone	A/H/N	Location	Co-ordinates
The Cape of Stranglethorn	A	East of Booty Bay	51, 67
The Cape of Stranglethorn	H	East of Booty Bay	50, 70
Northern Stranglethorn	A	Fort Livingston	51, 63
Northern Stranglethorn	H	Grom’gol Base Camp	40, 51
Westfall	A	Moonbrook	45, 62
Duskwood	A	Darkshire	73, 55
Blasted Lands	A	Nethergarde Keep	55, 15
Blasted Lands	H	Dreadmaul Hold	46, 14
Swamp of Sorrows	A	Bogpaddle	70, 14
Swamp of Sorrows	H	Bogpaddle	76, 14
Redridge Mountains	A	Lakeshire	24, 53
Burning Steppes	A	Morgan’s Vigil	68, 60
Burning Steppes	H	Flame Crest	51, 29
Badlands	A	Dragon’s Mouth	19, 56
Badlands	H	New Kargath	24, 37
Loch Modan	A	Thelsamar	32, 40
Dun Morogh	A	Kharanos	54, 45
Wetlands	A	Menethil Harbor	13, 47
Twilight Highlands	A	Thundermar	47, 28
Twilight Highlands	H	Bloodgulch	53, 46
Arathi Highlands	A	Refuge Pointe	44, 46
Arathi Highlands	H	Hammerfall	69, 42
Hinterlands	H	Revantusk Village	76, 74
Hinterlands	A	Aerie Peak	14, 50
Hillsbrad Foothills	H	Tarren Mill	55, 50
The Sepulcher	H	Silverpine Forest	50, 39
Tirisfal Glades	H	The Undercity	68, 9
Tirisfal Glades	H	Brill	57, 52
Western Plaguelands	A	Chillwind Camp	43, 82
Ghostlands	H	Tranquilien	46, 26
Eversong Woods	H	North Sanctum	46, 50
Eversong Woods	H	Silvermoon City (Court of the Sun)	70, 43

Kalimdor:

Zone	A/H/N	Location	Co-ordinates
Bloodmyst Isle	A	Blood Watch	55, 69
Azuremyst Isle	A	Azure Watch	44, 53
Teldrassil	A	Dolanaar	55, 53
Darkshore	A	Lor’danel	49, 23
Winterspring	A	Everlook	61, 47
Winterspring	H	Everlook	58, 47
Mount Hyjal	N	Nordrassil	63, 23
Azshara	H	Bilgewater Harbor	60, 53
Durotar	H	Orgrimmar (Valley of Wisdom)	47, 38
Durotar	H	Razor Hill	52, 47
Northern Barrens	H	The Crossroads	50, 55
Ashenvale	H	Silverwind Refuge	51, 66
Ashenvale	A	Forest Song	87, 42
Stonetalon Mountains	A	Mirkfallon Lake	49, 51
Stonetalon Mountains	H	Sun Rock Retreat	53, 62
Desolace	A	Nijel’s Point	65, 17
Desolace	H	Shadowprey Village	26, 76
Mulgore	H	Thunder Bluff (Spirit Rise)	21, 26
Mulgore	H	Bloodhoof Village	52, 59
Feralas	H	Camp Mojache	72, 47
Feralas	A	Feathermoon Stronghold	47, 44
Southern Barrens	A	Fort Triumph	48, 72
Southern Barrens	H	Desolation Hold	41, 68
Dustwallow Marsh	H	Brackenwell Village	33, 30
Dustwallow Marsh	A	Theramore Isle	62, 40
Tanaris	A	Gadgetzan	52, 29
Tanaris	H	Gadgetzan	49, 27
Un’Goro Crater	A	Marshal’s Stand	60, 63
Un’Goro Crater	H	Marshal’s Stand	56, 66
Silithus	A	Cenarion Hold	60, 33
Silithus	H	Cenarion Hold	51, 41

Outland:

Zone	A/H/N	Location	Co-ordinates
Hellfire Peninsula	H	Thrallmar	57, 41
Hellfire Peninsula	A	Honor Hold	62, 58
Shadowmoon Valley	A	Wildhammer Stronghold	40, 55
Shadowmoon Valley	H	Shadowmoon Village	33, 30
Terokkar Forest	A	Allerian Stronghold	55, 55
Terokkar Forest	H	Stonebreaker Hold	52, 43
Nagrand	A	Telaar	50, 70
Nagrand	H	Garadar	51, 34
Zangarmarsh	H	Zabra’jin	36, 52
Zangarmarsh	A	Telredor	69, 52
Blade’s Edge Mountains	A	Sylvanaar	42, 66
Blade’s Edge Mountains	H	Thunderlord Stronghold	50, 59
Netherstorm	A	Area 52	31, 63
Netherstorm	H	Area 52	32, 68

 

There are 3 new Earthen Ring bonfires which are neutral and award 15 Burning Blossoms. One is in Mount Hyjal and is part of the Eastern Kingdoms route above. The other two are in:
Vashj'ir, Silver Tide Hollow (49, 42)
Deepholm, Temple of Earth (49, 51)

I've found some bonfires in my travels that aren't part of the achievements but will still give the same rewards. These were in:
Elwynn Forest, Goldshire
Tirisfal Glades, The Bulwark
Uldum, Ramkahen (one for each faction)

There may be others! Let me know if you find any.

Northrend: These aren’t part of any achievements but will get you extra experience/gold/blossoms.

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

Ice the Frost Lord

You will need to be 84+ to queue for this holiday boss via the LFD finder. The first time you defeat Ahune each day you will get a Satchel of Chilled Goods, which will reward a guaranteed 24 justice points and a chance at:

Frostscythe of Lord Ahune

Ice Chip (gives you Frigid Frostling)
Some Burning Blossoms

There are 5 cloaks that could also drop. These have been upgraded to ilvl 353 (equivalent to epics from Zul’Aman/Zul’Gurub):

Cloak of the Frigid Winds

Icebound Cloak

Shroud of Winter’s Chill

The Frost Lord’s Battle Shroud

The Frost Lord’s War Cloak

Currently there’s nothing to suggest that these couldn’t drop too:

Formula: Enchant Weapon – Deathfrost

Lord of Frost’s Private Label

The first time you defeat this boss you should receive Shard of Ahune, which starts a quest rewarding one of two tabards. It seems that players who completed this quest before 2009 will not see this item drop, but you can restore the tabard at a tabard vendor if you’ve deleted it (these can be found in the Visitor’s Centre of most cities).
CONFIRMED: It is possible to choose one tabard, equip it, delete it and then restore the other option at the tabard NPC. Once you have equipped that, both will count towards the 25 Tabards achievement! I have just done this successfully :D so delete with an easy mind!

King of the Fire Festival

You get this achievement by completing the quest A Thief’s Reward. This involves (you already guessed this was coming, I’m sure) going into each of the 4 enemy capitals and stealing their flames. I know you’re too awesome to be put off by that though. Old World Flying will make this much easier than in previous years so find their fire, fly straight down and steal the flames.

You might die, it's true, but as long as you take their precious flames, it matters not! If you do I'd advise taking the rez sickness, going to find yourself some pie to eat and doing the next one later. I’ll probably do mine early in the morning (6-7am) before work. Pie is a valid breakfast food too, you know.

Burning Hot Pole Dance [requires 400 Burning Blossoms]

For this achievement you need the completed Midsummer Set. This will set you back 400 Burning Blossoms, so get honouring/desecrating those fires! Luckily you’ll be doing that anyway if you want the holiday meta. The good news is that you can collect ~800 blossoms during the holiday so it’ll definitely be possible to buy all 3 parts. Equip them and dance round a ribbon pole for 60 seconds. Voila!

Torch Juggler [requires 5-35 Burning Blossoms]

Juggle 40 torches in Dalaran. Sounds simple…but you have to complete the Torch Tossing and Torch Catching quests first.

The most sensible-sounding tip I’ve found is to set your camera distance to maximum (type /console cameraDistanceMax 50 into your chat window) and point it downwards in ‘never adjust’ mode. Follow the shadow and be underneath it when it lands. This is really hard, and took me a lot of tries (plus some generous cussing). The first torch will always go straight behind you and quite a few yards, but torches 2-4 won't go far - the trick is spotting which way they go and getting there in time!

If you're stuck on this, I'd recommend Rades' awesome guide to catching torches!
 

So, you've done the quests and you’re ready to go! A little bit of research on the interwebs has turned up the following strategy for this achievement:

Find a minimal-lag spot in Dalaran. Point the camera straight down, zoomed out. Bind the torches to a hotkey and target the ground under your feet. You should be able to alternate hotkey-click-hotkey-click, catching each torch as it lands.

UPDATE: Use the Purple Parlor! I never got below 11 torches out of 20 in my bags, so try everything with 10 first. This is down to lag, ultimately. I found that consciously alternating key-click-key-click made the process too slow. In the end, I just hit hotkey and clicked at the same time, as fast as possible! So try that first, ok? Because you don't want the air at your desk to be as blue as mine was before I thought of doing that...
They reappear in your bags when caught so many report doing this with as few as 10 torches and I think that would be possible. You earn 5 by doing the Torch Catching quest and stacks of 5 torches can be bought for 5 Burning Blossoms. Don't forget that you should have 20 from the Shards of Ahune quest too! (These didn't drop for me - let me know if they did for you). Alternatively you can buy them on the AH as they don’t become soulbound. Let me know how many you needed to do it! I suspect I'll need the full 40 ^.^ (thankfully not!)

That's it! Hopefully you found something helpful in here if you were working towards any of this meta. As always, corrections/suggestions/general comments are welcome and will be edited in as soon as I can!

Good luck!

Ara