The-Eye
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Lesser Voidcaller brings all the spirits to the yard
Since the introduction of the new Raiding with Leashes achievement, I've been farming the old BC raids for new pets. I've only managed to farm up about half, but I'm sure Lady RNG will be kind to me at some point. In my collecting adventures, I've come across a few battle pets that are so irresistibly cute that I could care less about abilities, pet family, or how to obtain them. Lesser Voidcaller definitely falls under that category because of its unique idle animation that summons small spirits. Lesser Voidcaller drops from High Astromancer Solarian in The Eye, so it's not tough to obtain. Before you engage the boss, be sure to at least kill the two packs patrolling the room, as the casters will use a mind control and force a reset. The entire room will pull with the boss if you don't clear it, but I've never had an issue AoEing everything, even on my squishier priest. Lesser Voidcaller is of the Magic family and its abilities are as follows: Slot 1 Shadow Shock or Nether Blast Slot 2 Siphon Life or Prismatic Barrier Slot 3 Curse of Doom or Drain Power
Why the Burning Crusade didn't suck
Yesterday, Brian Wood explored his thoughts on why Burning Crusade sucked. He did it in-character, playing the role of Grandpappy Frostheim, laying out his thoughts in the persona of a grumpy, crusty old dwarf telling the young'uns how bad things were back in his day. You can't take a persona like that seriously -- and you're not supposed to -- but the piece made me think about why I love Burning Crusade so much. Even after all of this time, it remains my favorite expansion, though Mists of Pandaria is pretty darn good. Yeah, Burning Crusade had its faults. It wasn't as well-balanced as most remember, it had more than its fair share of annoying gameplay mechanics, and the fact that the developers hadn't yet solidified the roles of 10- and 25-man raids was a real drag at times. If Burning Crusade were released this year, it would have a terrible reception. There have been so many quality-of-life improvements made since its release that players would never want to live as we did in Burning Crusade ever again. Despite that, it still had many elements that I loved, and still love. Many of these things are nebulous and completely up to personal tastes -- what I love, you may hate, and that's fine. That's how opinions work. Stranger in a strange land To me, Outland defined the Warcraft franchise's storytelling capabilities. Though Warcraft often utilizes the same fantasy tropes you see just about everywhere in the genre, it wasn't afraid to be different -- we went to a new, completely alien planet. The playable draenei were a race of people who traverse the stars. The ethereals were merchants from another plane of existence. Outland was not just a subcontinent of Azeroth, it was a new world entirely. While it has been done in fantasy, it isn't done very often.
Ask a Beta Tester: Factions and reputation
Welcome back to Ask a Beta Tester, wherein I sigh at names like fungus and then answer their question anyway. Questions such as: Will we be able to do the BC heroics for the achievements after Wrath comes out?Yep! Just like you can still earn achievements for the Classic dungeons in The Burning Crusade, you'll be able to do the BC dungeon achievements in Wrath.Beath asked...Does Culling of Stratholme grant Keepers of Time reputation? If not, is there a new faction associated with this instance?Last time I ran this dungeon, it wasn't awarding any reputation at all. That may have changed since then, but a peek at Wowhead and Wowwiki doesn't show any associated reputations.
Tank Talk: The first kill
Tank Talk is WoW Insider's new raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and Allison Robert (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, raid-tanking strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish.The nature of tanking is to be a component in an overall strategy. In classic WoW, levels 1 to 60, it often seemed like the center of attention, as boss encounters were often 'tank and spank' variations that involved having one tank hold a boss on him or her while the healers kept the tank upright through the boss' attacks and the DPS players burned it down. There were a few fights that broke this mold... fights where a player would become a bomb and have to run away, fights with giant eyestalks and sweeping beams that had to be avoided that were as much choreography as encounter... but as time has progressed encounter design, especially for raid encounters (although even five man fights have been diversified) has taken this mechanic and stretched it into whole new shapes. While there are still bosses who need to be primarily tanked by one person (Naj'entus, Azgalor to name just two) even these fights tend to incorporate new mechanics that challenge the raid and break the monotony of a 'tank him here, the raid stands here" fight. Other fights require several tanks to hold different aspects of the encounter, whether it be Azgalor's infernals or the multiple tanks (my guild uses three, some only use two) needed to ensure smooth mitigation of the Hurtful Strikes on Supremus.
Le map du Blizzard
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Blizzard_maps_Paris_in_World_of_Warcraft_style'; Blizzard has released an interactive map of Paris, done in the style of World of Warcraft. Paris is the location for the World Wide Invitational 2008, and the map is a real gem. If you click on any of the locations, a tooltip will popup with two facts about it. One fact is real, and one is an in-joke tied to the World of Warcraft.When I found this, myself and several other writers were laughing out loud at them. While it's not as good as a Wrath of the Lich King map (to quote fellow writer Alex Ziebart, "Holy cow, is that a map for Wrath?" *looks closer* "Oh... it's just Paris. Lame."), it's still pretty darn funny and cool.For instance, when you click on the La Defense up in the left hand corner of the map, the quip at the bottom reads "If you put Tempest Keep in the middle of Stormwind it might look something like this – but with less dragonhawks." Just hilarious, especially if you've ever had to deal with the annoying dragonhawks in Tempest Keep: The Eye.
Around Azeroth: Kael'thas rises
Player Ilithiel of the Serious Business guild on Argent Dawn thought this screenshot would be perfect for a spotlight considering the information coming out of Patch 2.4 on the PTR. His guild had just finished Phase 4 of the fight against Kael'thas Sunstrider, the final raid boss of The Eye in Tempest Keep. Kael'thas is seen here rising into the air to destroy the walls around him. Of course, that doesn't stop him from getting thrashed soundly by Ilithiel's guild. Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really. Ok, only if it's a sunrise in new Patch 2.4 lands. We'll take those anytime.%Gallery-1816%
How to stop Vashj and Kael from destroying your guild
Last week our own Marcie Knox pointed out in her Ready Check column the daunting task that's given to raiders when they face Lady Vashj and Kael'Thas Sunstrider. These two bosses have earned their reputation as a guild killer, and are some of the hardest encounters in the game. While there is a plethora of information out there on how to defeat the technical aspects of the fights, very little is written on the social aspects these fights give us. Examining what can be done to keep a group of raiders together during this difficult time is critical to success.Lets take a brief look at why these two encounters are so difficult. When it comes down to it, Blizzard is testing our ability to deal with two different skill sets. The first being immediate and unknown change, and that comes with Vashj during phase two and three: which side will the Naga spawn, where will the Tainted Element appear, how many times is your main tank going to get rooted and bat poison dropped on him, which way will the tanks need to drag the Naga around to avoid getting the melee cleaved, etc... On the flip side to Vashj's unknown factors exists Kael'Thas. Kael is definitely a scripted encounter. We know what order the advisers are going to come up in, we know (sans gaze) where they'll go, we know what Kael will do when he reaches 50%, and we know what order we need to get the weapons down. This fight is all about repetition of a scripted encounter.
Raid Rx: I has Al'ar, now wut?
Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. When a search for "Alar" (meaning winged) puts this car in your lap, how can you resist? Srsly. The front end even looks like a phoenix. Now this is the legendary mount I want for Love is in the Air... muhahaha This week's post is a bit different in that I actually got... dun dun DUN... An email! With a question and everything! I know. I'm surprised as you are. I was starting to think my fancy WoW Insider email was broken. Or sending all my fan mail to John over at Shifting Perspectives. You just can't trust ferals. So after basking in the glow of having something addressed to me, I got to work on a response. In the interest of fostering good raid healing practices, I present you with an Al'ar Tale of Woe after the break.
WoW Moviewatch: Vials of Eternity
This raid movie is so well crafted, I don't even know where to begin. Take the excellent "story behind the story" video Legend of Stalvan and mash it up with the elegant, well-edited and highly entertaining Serpentshrine Caverns raid video and throw in moments of bizarre humor plus the most memorable rendition of an 80s emo tune ever to be sung a capella over Teamspeak and you have this machinima masterpiece. Guild Numen of the UK Silvermoon server have unequivocally set the bar for raid videos.Don't be put off by its twenty minute plus run time. It's worth every moment of your time. Highlights after the jump.
Gamers on the Street: Attunement changes
Hello all, and welcome to Gamers on the Street! In this column I will be logging into a different server each week to create a character and ask completetly random gamers of both factions their opinions about things that are currently impacting players in World of Warcraft. In this way we hope to reach out to the community and give some everyday gamers a chance to talk about some of the things going on in game.This week, I picked the Gnomeregan server by asking someone in the <It came from the Blog> guild to name a server for me. It was the first one that was given to me. I rolled my two characters -- a Gnome Rogue and a Troll Rogue, which I dutifully leveled past one so nobody thought I was a gold spammer -- and headed for the major cities nearby to ask my questions. Amusingly, getting anyone to talk to you at level five (Alliance) or three (Horde) was difficult to say the least...
Raiding progress, minus attunements
Players have pretty much /cheered across the board about the removal of attunements from Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep yesterday-- even the Blizzard curmudgeons over at PaladinSucks nodded in approval.But as Elizabeth asks on the WoW Livejournal, what exactly does this mean? Can your guild change this weekend's Gruul run into a raid on The Eye? Can guilds skip over Karazhan and Heroics now, and just head straight to Serpentshrine? Will we see Void Reaver dropped by most guilds quicker than Isiah Washington from Gray's Anatomy?Unfortunately, the answer to those questions is probably no. True, the removal of attunements does mean that more guilds can head into SSC and Tempest Keep right away (instead of waiting for 25 of their members to get attuned), but the bosses in both of the big raids aren't real forgiving unless your guild has already seen a few Kara clears, a few successful Gruul raids, and hopefully even a Magtheridon raid or two as well. Just as a reference, Void Reaver, the first boss in The Eye, requires about three or four tanks in the raid, and easily hits for 7k in the space of a few seconds. Likewise, Hydross, the first boss in Serpentshrine, is not nice to raids-- his adds hit for about 5-6k, and he enrages within 10 minutes.But on the other hand, if you have run Kara, Gruul, and Mag a few times, most guilds are saying you'll have no problem at all with Void Reaver, so guilds who are ready already will definitely benefit from the attunements opening up for all. But if you're still stuck on Curator or Shade of Aran, you likely won't get much out of SSC or TK except a repair bill and a bit of perspective. You'll need to gear up before tackling the bigger stuff.
Peep drops from Kael'thas
Most of you have probably seen the news that Peep, the super-rare epic flying phoenix mount pictured above, was first given to Ezra. Last night, Method, of A-Sylvanas (Eu), got the world-first drop of The Ashes of Al'ar, the item that summons Peep. This was on their guild's first kill of Kael'thas, the final boss of The Eye. I don't think there are enough kills of Kael'thas that we have any idea what the drop rate of the Ashes is, but if it's anything like the Deathcharger's Reins (from Baron Rivendare) or the Fiery Warhorse's Reins (from Attumen), expect it to be significantly less than one percent. By the way, how do we abbreviate "Kael'thas"? I would go with KT, except Kel'Thuzad has that one already. Perhaps just "Kael"? It's a bit of a surprsie to me that he would drop this; for some reason it doesn't seem quite "serious" enough for him. I had previously hypothesized that Peep might drop from the boss Al'ar, the Phoenix God, but that does not seem to be the case. Anyway, grats, Method![via MMO-Champion]
Where to start with 2.1 content
The 2.1 patch this week introduced enough new quest lines, top-end raid content, flying mounts, and L70 solo & small group content to qualify as its own game. With a three day weekend looming I didn't even know where to begin. So I scoured the web and found the where to go and what to do to get me started. THE BLACK TEMPLE: Already planning to strut around Shattrath in your T6 Raid gear? Don't bank that T5 set too quick. The Black Temple attunement quest is ... epic. And it hasn't even been fully discovered so far. What is known is that you will have to slog through a great deal of the Burning Crusade raid content that comes before it: Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, Serpentshire Cavern, The Eye and The Battle of Mount Hyjal. And many of those raids require extensive attunement quests of their own. If you are still itching to begin, you can dig in with the Tablets of Baa'ri chain out of Shadowmoon Valley to start grinding that Ashtongue Deathsworn rep. NETHERDRAKE EPIC FLYING MOUNT: First, don't confuse this with the Swift Nether Drake top Arena teams are awarded with at the end of every season. That one has a speed increase of 310% and has an armored appearance. This is the normal epic nether drake with a speed increase on par with other epic flying mounts: 280%. What's special about this epic flying mount is that it can be obtained through solo and small group quests. No raid required. What is required is a great deal of dedication.The first steps on your journey is to dig yourself out of Hated reputation with the Netherwing clan and get all the way to Exalted. This is accomplished through solo, 5 man and 3 man daily quests. Head to the south east corner of Shadowmoon Valley and speak to Mordenai in the Netherwing Fields. A complete write up can be found here.
