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The Daily Grind: What's the hardest boss you've ever fought?
The video game boss is as traditional as it is feared. From the earliest days of the console generation to our fancy-schmancy Eminem-Os, gamers have cut their teeth on challenging villains such as the Sleeper, Mallyx, Tarinax the Destroyer and the Watcher in the Water. Boss battles always seem impossible at the outset, punishing parties with a complete wipe at a single mistake. Strategies are memorized, patterns are ingrained and teamwork polished until that big baddie hits the floor, sobbing like a baby. So what's the hardest boss you've ever fought in a MMORPG? Was it an epic one-on-one battle, a harrowing party fight, or even a raid boss so mighty that its mere gaze stopped you in your tracks? What made this confrontation so difficult -- the sheer pool of hit points, the complex strategy or the way it almost seemed to cheat to win? And no, "Hogger" doesn't count for this Daily Grind. These memes have a statute of limitations, you know.
Breakfast Topic: Looking forward to patch 3.3 and the next expansion
So patch 3.2, aka Call of the Crusade, aka the Last Biggie Before Icecrown, has finally dropped. Yay. Woo hoo. Check out the doves we just released. But wait, just take a moment to gawp at the new content. Go on, you deserve it. Hogger's waiting for you, we understand. Oh hi! Back already? So, let's look forward to the future shall we? BlizzCon is mere weeks away (excited yet?) and we know with that lovely fanboy/girl certainty -- normally reserved for predicting tomorrow's sunrise -- that the next expansion is going to be announced. So, to speak of the future. I'm convinced patch 3.3 will hit before Christmas (I'm guessing around November to coincide with the Warcraft: Death Knight manga). So where does that put us for the new expansion? I can't see Blizzard waiting a year for the next expansion, not without any new content. But, I digress. Patch 3.3 is now officially incoming, it doesn't have a name or an ETA but it's coming. Can you feel it in the air? So readers, what do you think patch 3.3 will herald, aside from Sindragosa and the showdown with Arthas?
Breakfast topic: When Blizzard listens
For years it has been a running joke that the level 11 elite Hogger should be a high level raid boss. Every server will have heard talk of a 40-man Hogger run or re-rolling a bunch of level 1's just to tackle this insurmountable foe. He is surely the scourge of Alliance toons everywhere simply because he is the first elite we encounter as we explore Elwynn. Well, it seems Blizzard have listened, Boubouille over at MMO Champion has been datamining the 3.2 patch files and has discovered tidbits about some of the bosses we'll be fighting. Indeed the most interesting part involves memories of past encounters -- including Hogger. Yes, you can also fight Algalon, Onyxia, Illidan and Edwin VanCleef but Hogger is the most important. What confuses me though is whose memories are you fighting? Those of your own past encounters or those of one of the Argent Crusade? If it's the former, what happens if you've not fought said boss? What if you're Horde? But I digress. While you can bet Hogger won't be a level 11 anymore, it's a shocking revelation. While we know Blizzard pays attention to what WoW players are saying, it's nice to be reminded of that. So I want to know your reactions? Is it a good thing for Blizzard to pander to player's whims? Do you think reminding players where they came from and their past triumphs is a good thing? Not so keen? Is it just an excuse to be lazy and rehash old content? Tell us, constant readers, and drop your thoughts in the box below.
