Project Lore

We knew they were coming soon, but not this soon! Looks like Blizzard has given the Paid Faction Change service the go-ahead and it's now available for use (WoW or Battle.net ID necessary to log-in). Of course, according to the website, there are a few conditions to consider before you make the shift:

• The faction change process is not immediate, and a character will not be available for play while a faction change is pending. Under normal conditions the process should take under an hour, but please allow up to several days for a faction change to complete.
• During this process, you will select a new character race from the opposite-faction races that have the character's class available. You cannot change a character's class.
• To see how character-specific information such as achievements, reputations, and items are affected by a faction change, refer to the Translation Table.
• A realm transfer is not included in a faction change. However, the restriction on having members of both factions on a PvP realm has been lifted, so you can have characters of both factions on a single PvP realm.
• A character can change factions once every 60 days.
• Not every character will be eligible to undergo a faction change. If applicable, the reason a character is not eligible will be brought to your attention before payment is rendered. For example, faction changes may not be possible on certain realms or only one "direction" of faction changes may be allowed on a given realm.

Orcs becoming Humans! And Humans becoming Orcs! What has Azeroth come to?! A comprehensive FAQ, which can be also be found on the Faction Change site, details things even further. Here are some highlights:

• You can only transfer one character per transaction (so if you're planning to go full Alliance of full Horde, expect to pay out the nose).
• The character to be transferred must be at least Level 10 (under that, you might as well just make a new toon on the opposite faction).
• In addition to changing factions, you will also get to re-customize and re-name your character.
• You can switch a character back to their original race/faction, but that requires another paid transfer (and likely falls under the 60-day rule).
• The Faction Change itself is represented by a button next to your selected character on the character select screen, which will appear after you have been logged out for at least 30 minutes. The screens you go through will be similar to those used in the New Character Creation process, and you will be able to preview the changes before confirming.
• Your old character's name will be locked from use for 90 days, assuming that you decide to change it back.
• Items, Equipment, Titles, Achievements, etc. will remain unchanged unless they are faction-specific, in which chase they will be switched out for an equivalent.
• Non-combat pets, even faction-specific ones, can be transferred.
• A character who is being transferred will have their quest log cleared and all related items will be destroyed. Faction-specific quests which contributed to achievements will no longer be counted.
• Reputation will remain intact, though primary faction reputations will be transferred to their equivalent (i.e. Orgrimmar for Stormwind).
• Flight paths will be changed, but will remain level appropriate (a level 40 transfer will not automatically have all of the flight paths available to their faction).
• Friend and Ignore lists will be reset.
• Guild Masters cannot take advantage of this service.
• PvP-related currency (arena points, honor, etc.) will be carried over, except for any earned between the last maintenance and the time of the Faction Change.
• Mail and Auctions needs to be cleared before the change is made.
• Having more than a certain amount of gold per level will prevent you from using the Faction Change (this is over 20,000 at Level 80).
• This service cannot be used to change races within the same faction. That feature will be implemented later.

Whew! That's quite the list of requirements, but if you think you're ready to deal with them, keep in mind that you're still going to have to plunk down 30 USD for the switch. That currently makes it the most expensive of the character modification services, indicating that Blizzard considers this quite a big deal (and so should you). While Horde is outnumbered nearly 3-to-1 on my server, I can't say I really have any friends on the Alliance side, so it's unlikely that I'd ever change factions without an accompanying server transfer, too (55 USD, yikes!). How many of you out there are planning to make use of the Paid Faction Change, and why?

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It was a completely magical, fulfilling moment. It was months in the making (actually, considerably longer than I had anticipated, and I did end up losing that bet I posted about a while back, but refuse to pull out my hair!), which made it all the more sweet. That wondrous, level 80 ding. Here at Project Lore, we've followed the progress of several of our bloggers as we reach one of the pinnacle moments of our WoW careers, and cap out a character. For me, the moment came after a much-needed, much-delayed session of dailies in Icecrown. I pushed through the Shadow Vault, Jotunheim, Onslaught Harbor, Ymirheim and, of course, the Argent Tournament before realizing that I had finished my usual rounds and stood at 97 percent through level 79. I couldn't just leave it at that, so I sought out Keritose Bloodblade to finish up a questline I got a while back. I made a quick trip into the saronite quarry to complete An Undead's Best Friend, From Whence They Came and Honor is for the Weak, then alerted my guildies to watch the chat as I handed in each one and saw that lovely, level 80 achievement flash across my screen. So now what? Well, first things first, I equipped my lone purple item from my last venture into the Crusaders' Coliseum. Then, after a quick hearth to Dalaran, I picked up my congratulatory loot in the mail, and took a portal out to Undercity. In the Rogues' Quarter, I got all my skills up to level, cleared my spec (have yet to rebuild it, leaving that for next login) and bought dual spec just for fun. Now, what to do next...? Of course, finishing the respec process is an easy first choice. But beyond that, I still have more questing to complete, rep to grind, loot to find, achievements to earn, professions to level off, and definitely some good raiding to be had. So much to do before the world of Azeroth is changed in the Cataclysm! Level 80 is only the beginning. In the end, I think I'll just continue to take things as they come without any pre-set path. Spontaneity is just a good a plan as any. And I'll let you all know how it works out. So to those of you who have already hit level 80, perhaps long ago, I pose a question: what were your first steps after that wondrous first level 80 ding? Would you choose differently for an alt?

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Ahh, yes. With a new (old) encounter comes new achievements to earn, or fail spectacularly trying to do so. The 5th anniversary version of Onyxia is no exception, and the latest build of 3.2.2 on the test realms brings with it news on just what we can expect in this regard. Deep Breath in all its fearsome glory! The achievements are as follows:

• Onyxia's Lair (10-man) - Defeat Onyxia in 10-player mode.
• More Dots! (10-man) - Defeat Onyxia in less than 5 minutes in 10-player mode.
• Many Whelps! Handle It! (10-man) - Cause 50 Onyxia Whelplings to hatch within 10 seconds of Onyxia's liftoff, and then defeat her in 10-player mode.
• She Deep Breaths More (10-man) - Defeat Onyxia without anyone taking damage from a Deep Breath in 10-player mode.
• Onyxia's Lair (25-man) - Defeat Onyxia in 25-player mode.
• More Dots! (25-man) - Defeat Onyxia in less than 5 minutes in 25-player mode.
• Many Whelps! Handle It! (25-man) - Cause 50 Onyxia Whelplings to hatch within 10 seconds of Onyxia's liftoff, and then defeat her in 25-player mode.
• She Deep Breaths More - (25-man) - Defeat Onyxia without anyone taking damage from a Deep Breath in 25-player mode.

You might recognize a few of those phrases from the famous Onyxia Wipe Animation (WARNING: Not to be viewed at work!):

And really, how could Blizzard not reference the video? Not only is it still funny after all these years, it represents all of the memories players have from when Onyxia's Lair was the pinnacle of Vanilla raid content. The flames, the whelps, the wipes! There truly is a little angry raid leader in all of us. Likewise, "She Deep Breaths More" is a nod at the oft-maligned attack she uses when in flight during Phase 2. Players swore that she did it more often (and more randomly) in later patches. The dev team even poked fun at this reaction at the Dungeons and Raids Panel last weekend. When they showed off the tools used to tune boss encounters, the randomization for Onyxia's Deep Breath skill was set a little higher than usual. Some of you might be wondering what's going to happen to the old Level 60 Onyxia's Lair achievement. Well, it's going to be turned into a Feat of Strength once the patch hits, so if you want that particular notch in your belt, I'd get on that as soon as possible. So, what do you readers think of these achievements? Will they be hard to obtain? I think it'll be hard to say until the patch hits and the rest of us have an opportunity to experience the re-tun first hand!

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While focused primarily on its integration with StarCraft 2, the Battle.net panel revealed a number of service-based features that will also impact how we interact with our friends inside and outside of World of Warcraft. One of the key concepts of the new Battle.net is a universal account (called the Battle.net Real ID). If you've already merged your WoW account with the service, then you already have one of these, but you might be asking yourself what sort of advantages are offered by doing so. Currently, you can expect increased account security, as well as the ability to register your Blizzard games and download them at will from the internet, but the panel today revealed new aspects of Battle.net that will no doubt make the concept even more appealing. Having a Real ID (something that will likely become mandatory very soon) will allow you to chat with your friends cross- realm and cross-game. That's right, if your friends play on a different server or are even playing a completely different game, you will still be able to talk to them no matter what they are doing. Due to this new feature, you'll have to accept and send friend invites (a la Facebook) so that completely random people aren't sending you nasty messages. But it shows just how far ahead Blizzard is thinking. They know that when StarCraft 2 or Diablo III comes out, a lot of your WoW friends  might stop logging on for awhile. But through the cross-game chat system and "broadcast" feature, you can still ask them to fill in raid spots or ask who on your list might want to run some heroics. As WoW chat functions somewhat differently from those in other Blizzard games, it's not yet clear how certain restrictions will be handled, such as those relating to faction choice. Sadly, you likely won't be able to engage in Guild Chat just anywhere, although there are reports that there might be an iPhone app in the works allowing you to do just that. It also seems as though the achievement system will be consolidated under the new account structure. When you earn an achievement on one character, you've essentially earned it for all of your characters. No longer do you have to worry about trudging around Azeroth when you create an alt just to earn those pesky exploration achievements again. Once again, as the panel was focused primarily on StarCraft 2, it's unclear whether or not every new Battle.net feature will find its way into WarCraft, nor was a release date for the new service given. Launching with StarCraft, we may see its implementation before Cataclysm hits store shelves.

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I'm not much of a PvPer. Sure, I play on a PvP realm. I hate the Horde (or Alliance, depending on which character I'm playing). I dabbled in battlegrounds. But in MMOs in general, I have never really gotten into the Player vs Player aspects of the game as much as I have the PvE ones. Over the past couple of weeks, I've had the chance to step into the arena for a few games each week and I can confirm that I am not an elite player in those situations. Both in the 2v2 bracket and the 5v5 bracket, my teams have lost more games than we've won. So we need to get some more practice. That is beside the point, however. The past few weeks have given me a lot of useful experience as a healer (my chosen arena spec) as well as a lot of good times. The times we have won, though, have been a lot of fun. Even some of the losses were entertaining. And ultimately that's the point of WoW - to have fun. After participating in a few arena matches, I feel like I've been missing out on a huge opportunity for fun in World of Warcraft just because I was afraid I might be bad. Well, I am bad. At least, I'm not as good as I wish I was. That's OK though, because with each match, I feel like I am getting better. I find problems with my game like focusing too much on what opponents are doing and not being aware of my teammates enough. That's a lot different from DPSing in most boss fights where maximizing DPS and staying out of fire/void zones/clouds is all I need to worry about. Of course, I have spent a lot more time facing bosses than I have in arenas, so it all feels like second nature now. I used to avoid world events. Now I go out of my way to complete them. I used to rarely raid. Now I love fighting those skull level enemies. I was wary of stepping foot into arenas. Now I look forward to the virtual beat downs. Of course, all of those achievement points waiting for me to earn don't hurt. I wonder what other fun activities I've been missing out on in Azeroth. Any tips on where I should look next?

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As Juggynaut informed us all last week, with Patch 3.2 up on the PTR we're learning a lot more about what kind of new achievements and other goodies will be coming our way soon. A couple of the ones that caught my eye, since I love holidays, are Pirates' Day, Day of the Dead and Pilgrim's Bounty. It looks like those first two will be pretty small in scale, with the Pirate Day's achievement coming from drinking with the Dread Captain DeMeza (not Roberts!?) and joining her crew, and the Day of the Dead achievement from dancing with Catrina to become a skeleton. It's the Pilgrim's Bounty event that probably will draw in the most people because it seems to have the makings of a full-on world event that I guess would scan at least a week, like most others of this scope. From what MMO-Champion has uncovered, it looks like the Pilgrim's Bounty event will have something for everyone. Of course you have the random, just-for-fun achievements for the event: "Food Fight!" in which you bounce cranberries, stuffing, turkey, pie and sweet potatoes off a fellow feaster's head at a Bountiful Table; The Turkinator, which will have you heating up turkeys; Sharing is Caring, for which you'll pass candied yam, slow-roasted turkey, cranberry chutney, pumpkin pie and  spice bread stuffing at the table; Cook up each of these same dishes, and you'll earn Now We're Cooking (better get up that cooking skill!); And if you sit down to feast in each major city, you'll get Pilgrim's Paunch. On the PvP side, you'll have to wear your pilgrim attire and sit down to a bountiful table in each enemy capital city to earn the Pilgrim's Peril achievement. Anyone who enjoys daily quests will get a kick out of the Pilgrim's Progress achievement, for which you'll need to complete five Pilgrim's Bounty daily quests. You raiders out there will hopefully enjoy a draw back into Burning Crusade content to defeat the feathered and, might I say, turkey look-alike Talon King Ikiss in Sethekk Halls while wearing Pilgrim attire. This earns you the Terokkar Turkey Time achievement. And perhaps the oddest of all these (but sure to create some in-game fun) is the Turkey Lurkey achievement, for which you have to "blast those dirty, sneaking Rogues (of all 8 playable races) with your Turkey Shooter." I know I'll certainly be lurking around with my rogue just for the fun of that one. Now once all of this is completed, you'll get the Pilgrim title. Keep in mind that as we all know, information gleaned on the PTR is never official until it goes live on all servers. So things could change until then. But it looks like Blizzard has a pretty good idea of how they want this event to play out. Should make for a good time! Do you guys agree - is this an event you can get behind? Or are you dreading this as a possible addition needed to earn your Violet Proto Drake? What aspects of it are you most looking forward to? As for myself, all this talk of Thanksgiving feasts is making me hungry!

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Patch 3.2 is finally available on the PTR, which means that players will be able to find out all sorts of fun information about what changes lay ahead for us. Most of the changes are covered in the patch notes, but MMO-Champion found a bunch of new achievements to go along with the new patch. I, as an achievement whore, am very excited about these new (pointless) goals. Browsing through the list of achievements, they come out in a few different categories, covering the 10- and 25-player versions of the Crusader's Colloseum along with their heroic modes, Isle of Conquest (the brand new battleground), Koralon (the new Vault boss), and Pilgrim's Bounty and Pirate Day/Day of the dead. Wait, Pilgrim's Bounty? Pirate Day? Day of the Dead? New world events! Since Pirate Day and Day of the Dead only have one achievement listed for each of them, I'd assume they'll occur for only one day and have minimal impact on the world for their duration. But Pilgrim's Bounty raises my excitement level! There are a number of fun looking achievements to go along with the new holiday that I'll assume will take place over Thanksgiving week. For those of you unaware, Thanksgiving takes place on the fourth Thursday of every November in the United States. Of course, Blizzard could always adopt the Canadian version, which takes place on the second Monday of October each year. The only question I have is whether or not we'll have to participate in this new world event to get our Violet Proto Drakes from the Long Strange Trip achievement. If it's anything like the new and improved Noblegarden, then we will. I'm OK with that, but I'm sure some of the other players hoping to get that 310% mount might get upset. In addition to those new holiday achievements, there are a few new Feats of Strength, which hint at some more free pets for logging in. A Jade Tiger sounds like fun! What are your thoughts on these new achievements? Anything in particular draw your interest? What about the new world event? Can't wait or sick of holidays?

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As I recently lamented, questing in Zul'Drak has brought out a huge need for healing my leather-wearing rogue. The other day after a particularly close call, I called up a Heavy Frostweave Bandage, and my screen lit up as that familiar, lovely sight of an achievement flashed across my bandaged figure. Ultimate Triage. Apparently, it was a closer call than I had realized, and just through that simple action of healing my character that had less than 5% health, I had earned an achievement. It was easy. Perhaps too easy. And if I was as big of an achievement whore as some of us out there *cough* Juggynaut, I certainly would have already completed it, even if it meant intentionally waiting until the last second possible to make a killing blow on a mob while it beat me senseless. But, like many aspects of WoW, achievements are like candy. And once I got the one easy fix, I started searching for more. I've come to expect certain achievements - exploring areas here, completing X number of quests there. And I'm sure you have, too. So I won't detail those. The achievements that seem a bit more random, and still relatively simple, are what I'll focus on for now, since those are the ones I'm going after myself. For one, there's It's Happy Hour Somewhere. I had seen this one on the list before, but I didn't look too much into it previously. Turns out not to be too tough if you've made it to Outland. A quick trip to the Shattrath bar yields 13 different drinks from the two different barmaids. While your there, buy coffee from a roaming vendor in the Lower City. If you have any mage friends (or are a mage yourself), each of the 9 conjured waters counts. Find any remaining drink needs from a general goods vendor. Cha-ching. One warning: I do not recommend drinking and riding (your mount). The simulated dizzyness can make you feel sick IRL (or maybe I'm just too sensitive!) Another achievement that I didn't intentionally go for but was happy to get was a while back when I visisted the barber in the Undercity. Style your hair, and you get Shave and a Haircut. So simple. Then, there's Going Down?, which you get for falling 65 yards without dying. I got it a while back after an accidental fall, but as you can see from the WoWhead page, players have figured out plenty of high spots to jump off of for the achievement. And regardless of whether you like tabards as a fashion accessory, buy one and you get the Represent achievement. Of course, if you collect 10 tabards, that's another achievement. But if you're just starting out with achievements, you may not want to jump for that one just yet. I would consider these at the bottom of the difficulty scale for achievements, but a good place to start if you want to up your achievement points. WoW may make an achievement whore out of me yet. So who else out there loves achievements? What other achievements would you recommend for someone starting out? Any achievements you're stuck on? I'm still /love-ing and then killing all the critters I see in hopes of one day getting them all!

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With all the Patch 3.2 hullabaloo (and it's impending release on the PTR), it's easy to forget about other things that might be going on in the World of Warcraft. This Sunday marks the beginning of the seminal Midsummer Fire Festival, a gala event that recognizes the Summer Solstice and runs through the United States' real life Independence Day. Though most people don't celebrate the Solstice on Earth, it's an important holiday for Azerothians the world over. Despite the relative absurdity of lighting fires on the hottest days of the year, there's a lot more to see and do since its makeover in 2008. Below, I will detail what you need to check out to, ahem, "get your fire started." Update: Apparently, Blizzard has added fires in Northrend this year. Unfortunately, it seems as though you cannot repeat any of the fires you honor/extinguished last year for more blossoms, possibly preventing you from being able to complete the Midsummer set for the pole-dancing achievement. Word on the street is that this is a bug, but we have yet to receive an official response. Keepers of the Flame

Most world events have you running around willy-nilly collecting all sorts of strange objects, and Midsummer is no exception. If no new ones are added in Northrend, there are a total of 62 bonfires spread throughout the other three continents. These tend to be stationed at various faction-specific outposts in nearly every zone (there are none in the Plaguelands, Searing Gorge, Deadwind Pass, Azshara, Un'Goro Crater, Moonglade, or Felwood). When you come across one of your own faction, you're offered the chance to "honor" it and will earn 5 Burning Blossoms (the event's currency) and some experience (or several gold if you're level-capped). Likewise, if you find one of the opposite faction, you can choose to stamp it out for 10 Burning Blossoms and more experience (or about double the gold). Be warned, though, that it will flag you for PvP and, as other players are likely to be participating in the event, you'll might have to get a little sneaky. Many of the achievements for the holiday are centered around honoring or extinguishing these fires, so it's well within your interest to do so if you're itching for some points. Save for a few, it's not terribly hard to find all of them, just time consuming, and you actually get a nice chunk of extra change or xp out of it for relatively little effort. Note, however, that you can only honor or douse each fire once for the duration of the event.

Stealing Fire

It wouldn't be WoW without a little bit of racial conflict thrown in, would it? Each of the eight main home cities has its own sacred flame pit which you can "steal" by looting. Obtaining one will allow a player of level 50 or above to activate a quest in which they simply have to turn to the flame in to a Festival Talespinner. For each turn in, they will have their choice of event-themed consumables and a whopping 25 Burning Blossoms. Of course, turning a flame in is the easy part. Getting it in the first place is where the challenge begins! As a rogue, I had an immense amount of fun trying to sneak into the Alliance's cities. Sometimes avoiding the guards was tougher than avoiding the players. Enemy faction players still pose quite a problem, though, as there will almost certainly be plenty near the flame, where most of the daily quests and mini-games take place. I can't speak from an Alliance perspective, but each of their cities posed a unique problem (aside from, perhaps, The Exodar). Making the run for Darnassus' portal resulted in several deaths last year (note, this is not necessary for the City Flame, but it is for the bonfires in the Night Elves' starting zone, which you might as well grab if you're in the area), Ironforge's flame is located on the complete opposite side from the city's entrance, and Stormwind's practically demanded a dangerous trip right through the Trade District (though the addition of the Docks area may or may not make things easier). Let's not forget about the wandering superguards that can see through any manner of stealth, either. If you don't have a character capable of sneaking about, expect people to organize regular raids on the opposing factions' cities. While they sometimes end up in an "every man for themselves" kind of melee as people scramble for their chance to grab the flame, just keep on trying and you're sure to get it eventually! Turning in all four flames will open up A Thief's Reward, a simple quest that will allow you to obtain the Crown of the Fire Festival, which is necessary to complete one of the Achievements.

Enjoying the Festival

If you're not one for traveling (or you're simply not a high enough level to fully participate in hunting flames), there are still other ways to enjoy Midsummer (although "enjoy" may not be the operative word). You see, near the City Flame of each home town, there are several mini-games that you can engage in, even at a lowly level one. The problem is that my memories of them contain no merriment or fun, only pain and a heck of a lot of suffering. OK, well, Torch Tossing isn't so bad. This game requires you to stand near a bonfire and, within a specified amount of time, toss torches so that they light up braziers several feet away. The goal is to aim at the braziers lit up with an arrow, which will change constantly, much like the classic game Whack-A-Mole. Timing is key, so make sure that you bind the torches you're given to a hotkey, so that you only really have to worry about aiming the green reticule that appears on the ground. It may take several tries to get Torch Tossing down, but at least it's not as treacherous as the dreaded Torch Catching. Starting from the bonfire, you have to click on the lit torches in your inventory, which will send it arcing behind you in a semi-random direction. Your goal is to run over to where you think it's going to land and "catch" it, which will toss it back up in the air again. The initial quest asks you to do this four times in a row, while the daily version requires ten volleys. This may not seem very difficult until you actually try to catch a torch for yourself. First of all, it's not entirely accurate. I found that, last year, I had to slightly lead where I expected the torch to fall in order to catch it. Second, the shadow that you're supposed to use as a guide has a habit of fading out or or disappearing altogether. Considering that the last time this event ran there were no advanced shadowing options, this problem may have been rectified by now. Lastly, there are probably going to be other players attempting to catch torches at the same time, and it's not hard to lose sight of which one is yours, causing you to miss completely. If that weren't enough, missing a torch will cause it to explode on the ground, scorching you for several thousand damage in the process. If you are not careful, you can die catching torches! So why would you want to do this? Once you've run out of flames to honor/douse/steal, which may happen during the first several days of the event, this is going to be your primary means of obtaining more Burning Blossoms (5 for each, plus some gold). After you've worn yourself out playing with torches, why not relax by spinning around a giant blazing pole? Sounds like a blast, right? In Midsummer's version of a ribbon dance, simply clicking on the flagstaff will send your character whirling, accompanied by a stream of multi-colored flame. There's an achievement for dancing around for 60 seconds in full Fire Festival Regalia (this does not require the crown obtained from the City Flame quests, only the shoes, mantle, and dress, which can be bought from event vendors); otherwise, it will give you a 10% stacking experience buff (3 minutes added per 3 seconds of dancing, up to 60 minutes).

Frost Lord Ahune

You think everyone would just like to chill out during the hottest days of the year, but Azerothians have to battle the cold, literally. A holiday-specific boss called Ahune, The Frost Lord appears in the depths of The Slave Pens, a 5-man dungeon underneath Zangarmarsh in Outland. Frost Lord Ahune The questline needed to fight him begins with a Festival Talespinner and you must be level 70 in order to complete it (though, I believe it is possible to participate in the encounter, even if you're a few levels lower). There are two different encounters with Ahune (who looks like a dark blue version of Murmur or Ragnaros), one for either the normal or heroic version of the dungeon. This is not a hard fight at all, and since Blizzard has not upgraded him from last year, it's going to be even easier. However, there are a few quirks that make it fun. The first phase is an add phase, during which Ahune only takes a quarter of the damage inflicted upon him. Ranged DPS can do little to hurt him, and melee shouldn't even bother at all, as Ahune will flick them away if they try to get too close. So forget about the boss and focus on his summons, which should comprise of one elite elemental and several smaller ones. After 90 seconds, he will submerge and go into Phase 2. At this point everyone should be attacking his exposed core. He will not summon adds while submerged, but he will cast Ice Spears that will shoot up from the ground and knock players into the air. Likewise, be wary of the ice slicks covering the ground, as you can slip and fall on them. After 30 seconds, he'll come back up again. This cycle will repeat until you defeat him, with the only change being that he will summon additional adds every time he goes back into Phase 1. As for rewards? He gave out some pretty sweet cloaks last year, and there are a few of the usual, unique trinkets event bosses tend to hand out like a Scorchling Pet or the Deathfrost Enchantment. Also, by returning the Shards of Ahune he drops, you have your choice of two tabards.

The Rest of the Fest

Festival vendors offer the following items (and their costs, in Burning Blossoms) for purchase:

• Handful of Summer Petals - 2 BB - Using these will shower a fellow player in the sweet flowers of Summer.
• Mantle of the Fire Festival - 100 BB - Equipping these will post two large braziers on your shoulders (also festive during Hanukkah!).
• Vestment of Summer - 100 BB - A nice, long Summer dress that casts an orange glow over your body and causes your hands to flame up when you /dance
• Sandals of Summer- 200 BB - Wearing these shoes causes a small fire to form around your feet, though being a troll, I'll never know the pleasure of fine footwear!
• Brazier of Dancing Flames - 350 BB - Dancing? Fire? I'm noticing a trend here... this brazier will summon a tiny, hot-footin' female elemental (looks like a Draenei) to shake it for you. It will respond to your emotes and using /dance while targeting it will turn your character into a larger version of the elemental.
• Captured Flame - 350 BB - Summons a "Spirit of Summer" pet, which looks like a small, red-colored wisp.
• Elderberry Pie - 5 BB
• Fire-toasted Bun - 5 BB
• Midsummer Sausage - 5 BB
• Toasted Smorc - 5 BB
• Bag of Smorc Ingredients - 5 BB - Allows you to create the Summer favorite at campfires around Azeroth.
• Fiery Festival Brew - 2 BB

Note that, even if you collect every Blossom possible during the event, you will not be able to purchase everything. If you're going for achievements, I'd spend all of your Burning Blossoms on the clothing first, which should leave you enough for either the Brazier of Dancing Flames or the Capture Flame. The former, in my opinion, is the better reward. On the note of Achievements, it seems that the Alliance and Horde will received slightly different titles upon completion. Here's the lineup:

• Flame Warden/Flame Keeper of Eastern Kingdoms - 10 AP - Honor all of the fires for your faction in the Eastern Kingdoms.
• Flame Warden/Flame Keeper of Kalimdor - 10 AP - Honor all of the fires for your faction in Kalimdor.
• Flame Warden/Flame Keeper of Outland - 10 AP - Honor all of the fires for your faction in Outland
• The Fires of Azeroth - 10 AP - Complete the above three achievements.
• Extinguishing Eastern Kingdoms - 10 AP - Douse all of the opposing faction's fires in Eastern Kingdoms
• Extinguishing Kalimdor - 10 AP - Douse all of the opposing faction's fires in Kalimdor.
• Extinguishing Outland - 10 AP - Douse all of the opposing faction's fires in Outland.
• Desecration of the Horde (or Alliance) - 10 AP - Complete the above three achievements.
• King of the Fire Festival - 10 AP - Steal all of the opposing cities' flames and complete the quest "A Thief's Reward."
• Ice the Frost Lord - 10 AP - Kill Ahune, the Frost Lord in the Slave Pens.
• Burning Hot Pole Dance - 10 AP - Dance around a ribbon pole for 60 seconds while wearing all three pieces of the Midsummer clothing set.
• Torch Juggler - 10 AP - Juggle 40 torches in 15 seconds in Dalaran.
• The Flame Warden - 20 AP - This is the event's meta-achievement. You need to complete: The Fires of Azeroth, Ice the Frost Lord, King of the Fire Festival, Desecration of the Horde (or Alliance), Burning Hot Pole Dance, and Torch Juggler. Your reward is either the title of Flame Warden (Alliance) or Flame Keeper (Horde).

I would personally recommend completing all of the fire honoring/dousing/stealing achievements first, so that you have plenty of Burning Blossoms to buy all of the Midsummer clothing with. Ahune can be done at pretty much any time, and the others are relatively easy to complete. There are a few other, minor aspects to the event, including the ability to receive buffs (or extinguish them) utilizing the bonfires scattered throughout Azeroth, as well as a daily quest from the Earthen Ring called Striking Back, which asks you to kill a Twilight Cultist out on the Zoram Strand in Ashenvale.

Personally, I'd have to say that, since its revamp, this is one of my favorite world events in the game, and probably the first one I took seriously. I won't lie, I look forward to stealing the Alliance's fires all over again! What about you guys and gals? Share some memories or thoughts about the Midsummer Fire Festival in our comments section! This is a lengthy article, and it contains a lot of information, but I may not have covered everything you wanted to know. If you have any questions, please feel free to post those, as well.

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This former Tuskarr-inhabited island has been turned into a staging ground by the Vrykul. With so many new details about Patch 3.2 trickling out of Blizzard lately, it surely won't be too long before we see it pop up on the PTR! This time, they're letting us know a little bit more about what to expect from the expanded Argent Tournament. There's plenty to get excited about for those that have worn themselves out on the existing dailies, Paladin players, and even fans of the Black Knight. Two entirely new quest hubs have been added to the event. One lies within a Cult of the Damned camp that's just been set up to spy on the Crusade's activities (does this mean you'll be able to work for the bad guys in some capacity?), and the other takes place on a sizable island just off the coast that Sea Vrykul have claimed as their own. Remember those guys in Borean Tundra who made everything so misty? Well, they're back to pester you again and they're apparently attacking the Sunreavers' ships, which occupy the waters between the coast and the island. More quests will be available for those that have already achieved notoriety in the Tournament, itself. Those who are exalted with the Silver Covenant or Sunreavers will gain access to three new (randomized) dailies through which they will be able to earn more seals. New rewards have, of course, been added for you to spend your hard-earned seals on including tabards and two new mounts (one flying and one ground) representative of either faction, and a vanity pet called the Shimmering Wyrmling which will be available to players of both sides. For the true Argent Tournament Obsessives, the ones who have achieved the Crusader title already, even more quests and rewards will open up. Yet another new line of dailies will appear (at least two will reward seals), but the things you can purchase are even more exciting! There will be new heirloom goodies to send to your alts, an Argent Crusade Banner and Tabard (the latter of which has the ability to transport you directly to the Tournament from anywhere), and an upgraded squire who comes with his own summonable mount. It has a reported eight-hour cooldown, but the upgraded squire can serve as either a bank, vendor, or mailbox! Likewise, Paladins who are tired of their old Charger can trade it in for a fresh, new Argent Crusade-themed one. Blizzard also reports that the terrible Black Knight will make his triumphant return. What, you thought you killed him? Is this the true face of the Black Knight?! Pfft! That was only a flesh wound! For those that have run themselves ragged on the Argent Tournament, it seems like there is a whole lot of new stuff to look forward to. With so many dailies, there's no doubt it'll become the "go-to" place for anyone looking to earn some extra gold to foot the repair bills they get from the included instances! And for those that haven't bothered with it yet, there's no sign of them getting rid of any of the old quests (aside, perhaps, from the coliseum-building ones offered by the goblins out front) any time soon. Full notes can be be perused at your leisure here. Chime in below, readers. What do you think of all the new additions to the Argent Tournament? Does the amount of dailies make your head spin, like it does mine?

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