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Ready Check: WoW Insider's guide to Majordomo Staghelm
Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop. Greetings again, heroes. In previous forays into the heart of the elemental plain of fire, we've defeated Shannox, Beth'tilac, Lord Rhyolith, Alysrazor, and Baleroc the Gatekeeper. With the first five of Ragnaros' champions defeated, the gates of the Sulfuron Spire itself are now open. Only one more obstacle stands between you and the Firelord himself: the new Majordomo, Staghelm. Previously one of Azeroth's greatest druids and the defacto leader of Cenarion Circle while Malfurion slept in the Emerald Dream, Staghelm has now sided with the destructive forces of fire, making himself the new leader of the Druids of the Flame. Staghelm has already proven himself to be extremely powerful. He interrupted the ceremony at Nordrassil between the Cenarion Circle, the Earthen Ring, and the dragon aspects, wherein he split Thrall across all the elemental planes. He slaughtered a company of captured druids and summoned Alysrazor on the raid, and now he is to be your next challenge. Are you up to the task?
Patch 4.2: Fandral's Flamescythe turns feral cats fiery
Feral druids, rejoice! Majordomo Staghelm turns into a pretty cool-looking flame cat during his encounter in patch 4.2's raid, The Firelands. Druids have been clamoring for Blizzard to in some way or another give feral cat druids that awesome flaming cat form. Well, your hopes and prayers were answered -- Fandral's Flamescythe, a drop from Majordomo Staghelm, will shift you into flame cat form when in cat form as long as it is equipped. This is wonderful news for druids, as more customization is always welcome. Blizzard's design philosophy of You went to the Firelands and came out looking like the Firelands is in full swing. Feral druids went to the Firelands, looked Fandral Staghelm in the eyes, and left with a tangible reward -- a sweet new form. This also paves the way for other items to also change players' forms, much like Deathbringer's Will from Icecrown Citadel in Wrath. The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!
Cataclysm Post-Mortem: Hyjal
Alex Ziebart and Mathew McCurley (that's me) decided to give each Cataclysm zone the once-over now that we're many months out from the release of the expansion. In this post-mortem series, we'll examine (in our own opinions and words) what worked and what didn't work in terms of story, quests, and overall feel for the zones and the cool moments that dotted the landscape. Join us for a discussion about Cataclysm's new level 80 to 85 content and what made the cut as the most compelling experiences. Hyjal is home to the majestic world tree Nordrassil, once under siege by the Burning Legion and Archimonde, an eredar leader and lieutenant of Sargeras. In Warcraft III, we vanquished Archimonde at Nordrassil and subsequently went back and ended his campaign in Hyjal through the Caverns of Time. Now, Ragnaros the Firelord has returned to Azeroth with the help of Deathwing and has invaded the sacred mountain with one goal -- destroy the wardens of Hyjal and burn their tree to the ground. Hyjal's story Mathew: I had an odd experience with the story at Hyjal, mostly because at first, I couldn't have given a damn about the druids and the Emerald Dream and all of that. The first time I went through Hyjal, it was a sprint, and I never stopped to smell the roses, since we were racing to 85. It was only after I did Hyjal a second or third time that I truly dug in and found the wonderful story of the zone. Now, I am 100% involved in the Hyjal story and am really excited to see where it's going. Now, the druids are my best friends, and there is nothing I want to do more than help ancients punch fire elementals in their fiery faces.
Patch 4.2: Firelands bosses voice emotes
Firelands bosses Lord Rhyolith, Alysrazor, Shannox, Baleroc, Fandral and Ragnaros all have their voice emotes in with the new patch 4.2 PTR patch. Want to take a listen? They are all right here! Fair warning for spoilers and all that jazz, so hit the jump for the full clips. This post contains patch 4.2 spoilers.
Patch 4.2: Firelands lore spoilers and speculations
If you're into the lore of World of Warcraft, then patch 4.2 is already shaping up to have some surprises for you. Having recently been on the PTR, I got a chance to play through the introductory quests on Mount Hyjal that transition into the new daily quests and set the stage for the raid. In less than an hour of gameplay, some interesting new tidbits were revealed. These are all spoilers -- nothing but spoilers from this sentence on.
Patch 4.2 Firelands and daily quests preview up now
If you've been waiting for Patch 4.2 preview videos, Blizzard has you covered. Yes, the official site has video trailers previewing not only the Firelands raid, but also what we're going to be doing for our daily quests to restore the former glory of Mount Hyjal after the eruption of the fire elementals and their lord Ragnaros onto its slopes. So far, I see a whole lot of magma- and fire-based things to kill, some chaotic-looking mechanics, and Fandral "I am so on fire" Staghelm seems to make an appearance near the end with fire scorpion and firecat forms. After the break, you can watch the Daily Quest preview movie. It shows a bit of the natural world reclaimed but in general is mostly some kicking vistas. Looks like 4.2 is going to be a rather incendiary one for Cataclysm.
Forum Post of the Day: Worst NPC names
We've talked about your favorite NPCs before, but I really like this idea by Benfea: what's the worst NPC name in the game? There are lots of votes for Nutral, the "neutral" flight master in Shattrath, and Haris Pilton probably takes second place for sure. Someone (an MVP!) said Captain Placeholder, but that's crazy talk-- Captain Placeholder is one of the best NPCs ever!Personally, I never liked the names of the auctioneers in Ironforge-- Redmuse confused me at first, and Lympkin sounds like some kind of disease. And Fandral Staghelm is not only a jerk of the highest order, but his name sounds dumb, too. Who names their kid Fandral?What's the worst NPC name you've seen in the game?
