throne-of-thunder
Latest
Did you miss in Pandaria?: Shado-Pan Geyser Gun
The latest build of the Warlords beta shows a number of achievements for toy collecting. You can earn a "Robo-Gnomebulator" (whatever that is) when you amass 150 of them. For those dedicated collectors, one of the most obscure toys in Mists is the Shado-Pan Geyser Gun. To earn it, you must return to the Throne of Thunder raid. You can queue for the Forgotten Depths section of ToT's LFR if you can't convince your guild to clear to Tortos. Once your LFR group has defeated Ji-Kun, you can return to the Tortos area by clicking on a feather and flying into the red portal above. Make sure you don't aggro any leftover trash on the way back! The geysers in ToT have a hidden minigame. Standing on top of one gives you a stacking debuff called Spray Water. Continue riding the geysers until the debuff stacks to 250, which takes both practice and patience. There's no achievement for this, so look for the "new mail" icon instead. You'll receive a message in your mailbox from Taoshi of the Shado-Pan congratulating you on your "ninja-like geyser-jumping abilities." She includes the geyser gun as a reward. Now you can douse friend and foe alike in lukewarm water that smells strongly of Tortos. If you want to be a really awesome person, you can earn the gun for several friends at once by allowing them to ride on your mount while you deal with those fickle geysers. Good luck!
All-priest raid downs Lei Shen 25 man
Single-class raids are not unheard of in WoW, but I've found I'm more accustomed to finding all-paladin and all-druid efforts -- you know, hybrids who can traditionally provide all the roles a raid would need: tanking, DPSing, and healing. An all-priest raid -- while I'm sure it's been done before -- is a new take for me! And I have to say, it's fantastic. Organized by Usha (Aerie Peak-US) and Valley (Frostmourne-US) and billed as "All Saints Day", these 25 priests managed to clear the Throne of Thunder, as seen in their Lei Shen kill video above. For the interested, their spec breakdown was 2 Holy, 11 Discipline, and 12 Shadow. Next week they are moving on to Siege of Orgrimmar, so if you're an interested Alliance priest on a North American server, this might be worth checking out. They maintain Flex gear as the minimum requirement to join the raid, so keep that in mind as well. Congratulations to the All Saints! I think events like this are a great way to pass time, have fun, and challenge yourself while we're all waiting for patch 6.0. Good luck in Orgrimmar!
Know Your Lore: The immeasurable sorrow of Jaina Proudmoore
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. What do you do when you've lost everything -- your friends, your family, your home, even the essence of what made you ... well, you? Jaina Proudmoore has undergone this transformation in Mists of Pandaria, and come out the other side a drastically changed woman as a result. After the successful defeat of Deathwing in Cataclysm, Jaina and her coastal city were the unfortunate target of the very faction she's spent years of her life trying to unsuccessfully champion. In the end, Jaina lost everything. But where does that leave a leader, a diplomat, an advisor, a friend? It's an arguably dark place, but it's also arguable that this was just the character development Jaina needed. As a character, Jaina hadn't really had a lot of progression in her personality since she was introduced all the way back in Warcraft III. Wrath of the Lich King saw the beginnings of what would ultimately be a push into a dark place from which no one, not even a Proudmoore, could emerge unscathed.
Raegwyn caps MoP content with solo Dark Animus kill
Just when you felt like you were getting the last scraps of Mists of Pandaria under your belt and handling that business, along comes Raegwyn the death knight to make you feel yet light in your boots. Raegwyn's recent solo kill of Dark Animus in Throne of Thunder makes the rest of us feel like real underachievers. "This is probably the hardest boss of this expansion (at least p1) and a pretty good ending of the MoP soloing in my opinion," Raegwyn noted on his video of the boss take-down. So what's the master soloists's trick? As it turns out, practice. "Practise, Practise, Practise..." he wrote on the Blizzard forums, outlining the determination that led him to put in some 70 to 80 attempts at Dark Animus phase 1 and another few trial runs on phase 2. "I remember a time when i also was a noob as DK and then i soloed Hellfire Ramparts when i reached 60 on wotlk releaseday. ;D jk But for real im doing this kind of stuff since 2007. practise is the way to perfection and perfection isnt as hard to reach as you may think." As Raegwyn claims: "And remember... What doesnt kill you gives you Vengeance."
Know Your Lore: Which side is Wrathion on, anyway?
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Once upon a time, an egg from a corrupted flight of dragons was purified. Even before he hatched, the dragon in that egg began to plot and plan. His first step was freedom -- both from those who sought to contain him, and those who sought to kill him. The second, far larger step was born of a vision ... a terrifying vision of a precious, fragile world abruptly coming to a devastating end. Wrathion is one of the stranger characters to have been introduced in Warcraft. While his plans in Cataclysm were fairly straight forward, Mists has proven to be a far more complicated gambit. And through all of the quests and all of the plans, Wrathion has remained as enigmatic as he was the first time rogues set eyes on him. He can be cruel, he can be downright merciless if the need calls for it. Yet at the same time, he seems to possess an altruistic capacity that we've simply never seen before from a black dragon. He'll promise the world to you, and then turn around and promise the same to your enemy. Is he bad? Is he good? Is he siding with the Alliance or Horde? What makes Wrathion tick, and just whose side is he on?
Drowning in Timeless Coins
I've been happily completing the daily over on the Timeless Isle every day -- it's an easy 50 valor points, after all. And while farming the 20 elite mobs needed for the quest, of course I've been hopping from rare mob to rare mob in search of pets or interesting toys. In the meantime, I've piled up a lot of Timeless Coins. I mean, a ridiculous number. I'd noticed people complaining that they had all these Timeless Coins, but I didn't really understand the problem. I mean, they aren't sitting in your bags taking up space in your inventory, they're just ... there. Incorporeal currency. But it's slowly begun to sink in that there's a legitimate problem with the Timeless Isle and its bizarre form of currency -- namely that the only place you can spend that currency is on the Timeless Isle itself. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy buying trinkets and unusual things, but at the same time, if all those Timeless Coins pictured above were actually gold in my bank, I'd be ecstatic. Instead, I'm slightly nonplussed and wondering what the heck to do with all these incorporeal things I've gathered.
Know Your Lore: The mysterious motives of Wrathion
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Wrathion made his debut in the Cataclysm expansion -- not as a raid boss, but as a clever ally to rogues looking for legendary weapons. His words seemed genuine and sincere, although his actions revealed a vicious streak that players would be wise to avoid. Yet his origins go back even further, to a small quest chain in the Badlands in which Wrathion is born to a mother who is captive of the red dragonflight, his egg later tampered with and then hidden for safe-keeping. He's only two years old, give or take a few months. Yet Wrathion is far, far more clever than one would expect for someone of his young age. And given his actions in Cataclysm, and later in Mists of Pandaria, one thing remains perfectly clear: This is not your typical dragon. But what exactly is Wrathion after? What, exactly, is the purpose of his scheming, and perhaps most importantly -- should we be worried? Please note: There are some small spoilers for patch 5.4 content in this post.
WoW Insider's guide to the battle pets of 5.3
Patch 5.3 has added a ton of new content to the game, including some additional battle pets for us all to collect. We've compiled a a rundown of them, including where to find them and what they do. Have at y, pet collectors, and happy hunting! Burning Crusade raid pets There are a total of ten new battle pets that can be found in Burning Crusade-era raids. And you thought you were done farming the Karazhan opera! Karazhan L'il Bad Wolf The L'il Bad Wolf has a chance to drop from the Big Bad Wolf at the Karazhan opera event. Sadly, the Big Bad Wolf is not a guaranteed boss from the opera, so this pet is likely to be one of the more difficult ones to add to your collection this patch. For the lucky ones who do manage to grab the L'il Bad Wolf, you'll be rewarded with a Humanoid pet possessing Claw, Mangle, Howl, Counterstike, Dodge, and Pounce. While none of those are unique abilities, Mangle is possessed only by two other pets in the game.
Totem Talk: Restoration and the Throne of Thunder, Part 4
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and content creation at InternetDragons.TV), shows you how Turtles and Hyrdas have a special place in the sewers of the Isle of Thunder. Their existence does sort of answer the question about what happens when turtles and snakes find their ways into the refuse of an empire full of magic and chemical experimentation. I mean, I know that was a burning question for me before this raid tier started. But now that you've stomped shells and knocked out a few one eyed monsters tentacle things, I'm sure you think you've done it all. Well, there's more to do still. As you dive deeper into the sewers looking for a way back into the main castle, there is still a great number of horrors that await you. Well, rather, they're waiting for you so that they can try to eat you whole. The good news at least is that they mark the midpoint on the way to the final encounter with the Thunder King himself. This will not be a comprehensive boss guide, instead this will be a quick run down on things that you, as a resto shaman, should be aware of or tips to help make your healing of the encounter easier.
Patch 5.3 and more with Ghostcrawler
In case you hadn't heard the news, patch 5.3 is set to hit live servers tomorrow. While 5.3 doesn't include a new raid, there are a host of different new activities, including four new scenarios, heroic scenarios, a ton of pet battle changes, and of course the advancement of Mists of Pandaria's storyline as the heat ramps up between Alliance, Horde, and an outlier faction of Horde rebels. It's back to the Barrens again -- and this time, Crossroads isn't the area of contention. But on top of all of the new content comes a ton of different class and content changes as well. We sat down to chat with Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street about patch 5.3's changes, as well as some upcoming changes for patch 5.4, response to subscription losses, Vengeance changes, that big unannounced feature we've all been dying to hear more about, and much more.
Convert to Raid interviews Ion Hazzikostas
Convert to Raid, the podcast for raiders in the World of Warcraft, recently interviewed Blizzard's Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas. You can listen to the full interview over on their site, and in the video above, but we've plucked some of the best bits out for your convenience. Pat started off by asking Ion how he felt the raid tier, Throne of Thunder, had worked out, what he was happy with, what could possibly be improved for future tiers and so on. Ion responded that they were very happy with the tier, the structure and feel of the dungeon, and particularly the progression of the World First race. He spoke about the Lei Shen encounter really delivering on what a heroic end-boss should be, in terms of difficulty and fight construction. However, when Pat asked about learning points, Ion had plenty to say.
Retribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunder
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions! Throne of Thunder has been out for a good long while now, and many of us have been raiding its depths every week. Personally, though, I took a short break from raiding at the launch of patch 5.2, and had only seen many of these fights on LFR. It wasn't until recently that I picked the raiding game back up and joined a new group, though with them working on their second heroic boss I was a tad behind in terms of progression. So I did a bit of research and, through trial and error each week, have crafted a short list of notes for each boss, including talents, glyphs, and special abilities to look out for. Usually my "default" talent build is something like 221223, with Mass Exorcism, Double Jeopardy, and Templar's Verdict glyphed. In my summaries below I will try to emphasize the usefulness of certain talents and glyphs, whether they deviate from this core build or not. Also, these tips are primarily for normal mode encounters in Throne of Thunder, though some of them may be applicable to LFR and parts of heroic.
Throne of Thunder With Protection Paladins: Being awesome
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense. It's not a new phenomenon for protection paladins to be able to use their extensive utility toolbox to mitigate or outright circumvent fight mechanics; it's something that we've been doing since Uther first picked up a blunt object. Throne of Thunder continues that lofty tradition with all sorts of mechanics that can be ducked or dodged by crafty paladins with an excellent sense of timing and the proper addons or macros. We'll also touch on whether it's a good thing that one corner of WoW's tanks can break aspects of an encounter, and the ramifications of such possibilities.
Totem Talk: Restoration and the Throne of Thunder, Part 3
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and content creation at InternetDragons.TV), shows you how. With the Zandalari on the run, you've now moved on to trying to break into the inner reaches of the Thunder King himself. Well, rather, you would if he didn't blow up the bridge you were on and all of your flying mounts happened to go mysteriously missing. Instead, you get to play the part of Jack Burton while you crawl your way through the forgotten depths of the island to face your very own David Lo Pan. Seriously though, the next leg of the journey through Throne of Thunder will have you playing adventurer under ground facing many of the things that go bump in the night. This is where all the failed experiments and the creatures long forgotten have taken up residence over the many years since their master and creator first ruled the land.
Son of Animus will tank all the things
Patch 5.2 introduced a slew of battle pets, with a few as rare drops from bosses in the new Throne of Thunder raid, including Living Sandling, Ji-Kun Hatchling, and Son of Animus. Recently, I was lucky enough to obtain Son of Animus, and it's quite a unique addition to my collection. I couldn't wait to level it! This breed 4 (4/14 or P/P) Mechanical pet uses abilities inspired by the boss that drops it, Dark Animus, and are as follows: Slot 1 Metal Fist or Batter Slot 2 Siphon Anima or Touch of the Animus Slot 3 Extra Plating or Interrupting Jolt
Patch 5.2 hotfixes for April 22
Some hotfixes went live today after the server restart. The big one that has my guildmates jumping up and down with glee is the change to the cost of Mogu Runes of Fate - they now cost 50 Lesser Charms of Good Fortune, down from 90 previously. Now, I do lots of dailies, so I couldn't get rid of my Lesser Charms fast enough even before the price nerf, but this is a great quality of life change that will give people more Runes of Fate to spend on chances for gear. In addition, players picked from different realms will now be able to get loot and bonus rolls off of Oondasta and Nalak, and there are some minor nerfs to the Twin Consorts fight in Throne of Thunder. The Sinister Primal Diamond has also had some tweaks to its activation rate, particularly for fire mages. The full blue text is below the cut.
Throne of Thunder: Pinnacle of Storms Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds
Huzzah! Pinnacle of Storms, the final wing of Throne of Thunder Raid Finder, is open this week, and that means you're almost done. If you're just venturing into ToT Raid Finder, we recommend you head over to our 5-second guides for the first, second, and third wings. This wing is mostly downhill in terms of difficulty, especially after the Durumu pre-nerfed maze business, but can still prove to be a challenge to Raid Finder champions clueless on strategy. And just for you, we've put together a quick guide for the final wing. We accept cookies and high fives. (Thanks Zhonya for the help!) Iron Qon Tank swap at two stacks of Impale. Stay off of fire, ice, or lightning lines on the ground throughout the fight, reposition the boss as needed. During the lightning phase, move out of and away from tornadoes once sucked in. Move the boss to the back of the room. Stay spread out during lightning phase. During ice phase, move to hit the boss on his unshielded sides. Stack in his final phase for healing.
Pinnacle of Storms is now open in Raid Finder
If you're looking for something to do in WoW tonight you're in luck because the Pinnacle of Storms wing of Throne of Thunder has just opened in the raid finder. If you haven't kept up with the story of patch 5.2's massive Throne of Thunder raid, this wing will pit you against Iron Qon, the Twin Consorts, and even Lei Shen, the Thunder King himself. If you need some help figuring out these fights, check out our PTR guides to Iron Qon, the Twin Consorts, and Lei Shen as well as Icy Veins strategy guides for Iron Qon, Twin Consorts, and Lei Shen. Good luck and happy raiding!
Bashiok clarifies changes to Durumu
Last night, Blizzard released some hotfixes that mostly focused on the Durumu encounter in Throne of Thunder. Today on the general forums, community manager Bashiok has responded to a few player questions and clarified some of the rationale behind the changes, as well as announcing that another small hotfix to the encounter will be deployed later today. This newest change will see the death-beam during the maze phase dissipating slightly sooner than before, to balance against the fact that it now moves faster than it did prior to the hotfixes. The sum of these changes should help out those players who were struggling with the fight due to graphics and visuals. Just wanted to follow up with some additional information, as we've seen a few questions since the changes. In a hotfix yesterday, we changed two elements of the Durumu Eye Sore mechanic, or the "maze" as it's more commonly known. First off, we applied a small client patch to increase the visual fidelity of the fill graphic itself, giving the effect less vertical height and hopefully making it easier to see the safe spots as they appear. Feedback on this change has generally been positive. Separately, at the same time we made some adjustments to the logic of how the maze is drawn with respect to the movement of the Disintegration Beam. One of the less intuitive aspects of the original maze mechanic was how it would begin drawing behind you, and how the right thing to do was actually to turn around and back up, towards the approaching death beam, in order to safely enter the forming maze. Why would any sane person want to move closer to a death beam?! We generally are extremely cautious about making gameplay adjustments to encounters once players have already learned them, but in this case the opening of the Halls of Flesh-Shaping LFR wing highlighted the fact that the mechanic was a particular source of confusion to many players, and the longer we waited to make any adjustment, the more disorienting it would be if we did change anything. So what we did was make the maze immediately begin drawing in front of the player as the beam activates, so that you never need to turn around and run towards the beam. This also effectively gives players a slight head-start on the beam as it begins to move. To maintain the same sense of urgency, the beam does move slightly more quickly now, so that it will, over the course of the phase, catch up to players and negate that head start. But the player movement required once you're actually running the maze should be unchanged. We have noted, however, that at the very end of the maze sequence, it can now feel like the fast-approaching death ray is going to reach you, making it feel like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. To address that concern, we are making another adjustment today, which will cause the death ray to dissipate a few seconds earlier at the end of the maze. source
Totem Talk: Restoration life post healing buff
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and content creation at InternetDragons.TV), shows you how. Shaman healing always seems tenuous whenever the second tier of raiding hits in an expansion. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we suck by any stretch of the imagination, but any tier that has a lot of movement mechanics and a lot less stationary heals we generally have to work that much harder. Now, things have definitely gotten easier over the years for us, but they could always get better right? So that was when Greg Street, otherwise known as your friendly neighborhood Ghostcrawler and lead systems designer for Blizzard Entertainment, made a tweet that had restoration shaman around the globe cheering, despite them being perhaps a bit confused as to where this came from. So what lead up to this buff? What impact has it had on our healing in the Throne of Thunder? Has it improved our quality of healing life since the hot fix went live?
