Well, the battlegrounds are extra special right now, while the Olympics are going on!

Check it out - you can get a Tabard with the Olympics logo on it, and if you win a round, you can get a Gold Medallion which, when used, brings out a non-combat “critter” pet that is a dragon-like creature that is normally associated with China and Chinese cultured events.

How Do I Get My Tabard?

The tabard is super-easy to get. All you have to do is go into a battleground and stay for a round, and the tabard will be mailed to you as a “competitor”.

Nothing else!

How Do I Get My “Spirit of Competition” Pet?

Getting the pet is a little more difficult - it requires that you be on a winning team, winning your round of battleground.

I got lucky and got my tabard and pet immediately - went into an AV round and then left for an Eye of the Storm round in the middle of AV, and we won the EOTS so I got the medal for that.

So, go out there on your plethora of toons and pick up the goodies!

The Midsummer Fire Festival is here!

This entry is about one of the many neat things that have come along with this festival celebrating the arrival of Summer in the northern hemisphere.

How To Use This Special Event To Powerlevel Your Lowbies

Any level of player can use some of the magic of this festival to gain a 10% premium to the experience they gain killing mobs, for a full hour!

You can easily use this to help power your lower level toons through levels a bit faster - but make use of it now before this bonus is removed!

How do you do it?

Simply find the Midsummer Festival Ribbon Pole near the Midsummer Bonfire major city in World of Warcraft (I did it in Undercity on my way to Scarlet Monestary with my 33 druid)…

Hovering over the pole’s top half will reveal a cog to click - when you click it, you’ll get a “ribbon” attached to you from the pole’s top, and as long as you don’t run too far away from the pole the ribbon will stay attached.

If you wish, you can run around the pole, but it’s not required. Just something to do to entertain yourself ;)

After a few moments of having the ribbon attached, your character will start to spin around and around in a squatted position with its arms extended, with the ribbon still attached. You can still run around, jump, do whatever, while this is going on, and it won’t disrupt it unless you go out of range of the Ribbon Pole.

Once you’ve been spinning for a little bit, you should be able to see a buff applied to your toon, displayed to the left of your minimap with the other buffs!

Unfortunately, this buff is removed upon death, so be careful - but charge up whenever you’re in a city!