Back in December, Blizzard added the War Games feature to World of Warcraft so players could practice battlegrounds and arenas with their friends. If you haven't tried it out yet, that's understandable. It's currently a bit hard to find and requires you to type out commands. However, all of that will change when Patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands launches in the near future!

In order to make War Games more accessible, a new interface option will be added to the Player vs. Player tab in patch 4.2. Once it's implemented, all your party leader needs to do is select the War Games tab, pick a battleground or arena, target the opposing leader and start the game. For more details, check out the updated FAQ after the jump.

The Midsummer Fire Festival has returned to World of Warcraft! The celebration kicks off today and runs until July 5 at midnight PDT. As always, our friends over at Wowhead have an extensive Midsummer Fire Festival Guide to help you earn all of your achievements and items.

Throughout the next two weeks, you can visit the bonfires that are spread throughout Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend to earn experience and gold. You can also complete quests to earn Burning Blossoms, which can be turned in for items like a summer outfit and a Captured Flame companion. You can even queue up in the Dungeon Finder to face Lord Ahune for a chance at some epic loot.

On July 4, players are invited to their faction’s capital cities to enjoy a fireworks display and toast the end of the Midsummer Fire Festival. Fireworks displays will start at 6 p.m. PDT and occur every hour on the hour until the end of the event. Enjoy the event!

Do you want to earn the new Vicious War Steed (Alliance) or Vicious War Wolf (Horde) mounts when patch 4.2 launches? Then you better get ready to win some Rated Battlegrounds. Here are the details from Blizzard:

"If you want to sit your knickers on these sweet new rides come patch 4.2, Rage of the Firelands, you must earn achievements for winning either 75, 150, or 300 Rated Battlegrounds. One account-bound mount will be awarded for each of these achievements earned, so if you win 300 Rated Battlegrounds with a character, you’ll be afforded the opportunity to give that character and two of your alts each a wolf or steed. Since these mounts are tied to each achievement and not to your placement on the competitive ladder, they will be awarded instantly rather than at the end of each season as with Arena mounts. Your Rated Battleground wins tracked for these achievements are cumulative and are not reset with each season, so you can work toward the reward at your own pace."

Do you plan on adding either of these mounts to your collection? If you're not a regular Rated Battleground player, are they enough to entice you to try out the system?

World of Warcraft Patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands is right around the corner, so Mike B. aka Fony decided to make it the focus of his latest BFF Report. In this episode, he provides players with a guide to some of the newest questlines and PvP changes that are coming to the game in the major content update.

What are your thoughts on patch 4.2? How soon do you expect to see another WoW content patch from Blizzard? Watch BFF Report episode 70 and let Fony know in the comments!

Lead Systems Designer has written a massive blog entry that explains Blizzard's logic behind the buffs and nerfs coming in World of Warcraft Patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands. He leads off by explaining that balancing classes is an art, not a science, and then dives into an explanation of the changes that are planned for each class.

You'll find the lengthy blog entry in its entirety after the jump. Ghostcrawler emphasized that some things could still change before patch 4.2 goes live, so don't be surprised if anything looks a bit different on launch day.

Have you noticed that you haven't had to input your authenticator code every time you log into World of Warcraft? Don't worry, it's just a new feature from Blizzard. Here's the announcement from Zarhym:

"If you use an authenticator – and we hope you do – you may soon notice that an authenticator prompt may not appear with every login. We’ve recently updated our authentication system to intelligently track your login locations, and if you’re logging in consistently from the same place, you may not be asked for an authenticator code. This change is being made to make the authenticator process less intrusive when we’re sure the person logging in to your account is you.

We hope to continue improving the authenticator system to ensure the same or greater security, while improving and adding features to make having one a more user friendly experience. If you don’t already have a Battle.net Authenticator attached to your account, don’t wait until it’s too late - http://us.battle.net/en/security/checklist"

Some of our users have mentioned in this thread in our WoW general forum that they would prefer to input the code simply for peace of mind, while others appreciate the convenience of this new feature. What do you think?

Blizzard has released the official trailer for World of Warcraft Patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands! Check out the video below, and keep reading after the jump for the story behind the trailer.

It's time for your latest dose of GameBreaker.TV's Legendary and Blizz Blues! In Legen - wait for it - dary episode 32, hosts Gary Gannon, Josh "Lore" Allen and our own Mike B. aka Fony are forced to question some of Blizzard's latest actions. As for Blizz Blues episode 19, Darnell adds extra armor to mounts. You know you want to see the Armored Armored Warbear Triple-X Season Fourteen Flying Mount.

Valor Points will be converted to Justice Points in World of Warcraft patch 4.2, and Blizzard has posted the conversion details to "ensure you spend your points wisely before release of the patch." Here's what will happen when the update goes live:

"With the release of patch 4.2 all Valor Points will be converted down to Justice Points up to the 4000 point cap, with any points over the cap being converted to gold at a rate of 47 silver per point. In addition, all previous Tier 11 Valor items will now be purchasable with Justice from the Justice Point vendors, and new Tier 12 Valor items will be available from the Valor vendors."

Keep reading after the jump for the full post, which includes an example of how this conversion will actually work.

Blizzard just released images of the Tier 12 armor sets for druids and warriors, which finally completes their official preview of the Tier 12 gear that's coming in patch 4.2. You can view the new images below and check out the rest of the class armor after the jump.

So which set is your favorite? Which set could use a redesign? Let us know in the comments!