shado-pan-monastery
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Enter to win Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde
Wondering what Vol'jin's been up to since his brush with death in the Dagger in the Dark scenario? Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde, the newest Warcraft novel penned by Michael Stackpole, is a dark, gritty, and ultimately satisfying tale that fills in that part of Vol'jin's story on the backdrop of the Shado-Pan Monastery and Zandalari encroachment. Thanks to Blizzard Entertainment, we've got a copy of Shadows of the Horde to give away to one lucky reader! And just in case you'd like a little more information on the book before entering the giveaway, feel free to take a look at our spoiler-free review. To enter for a chance to win, leave a comment on this post before 11:59 p.m. ET, Tuesday, July 9, 2013. You must be 18 years of age or older and a legal resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec). You can only enter once. One winner will be chosen at random and we will contact you via whatever method you've used to comment. Official rules here.
Know Your Lore: Taran Zhu and the Shado-Pan
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. They are the Watchers on the Wall, the Sword in the Shadows. They are the Shado-Pan, Pandaria's fiercest warriors and arguably its darkest residents. Charged with restraining and controlling the sha -- vile creatures born of negative emotion -- the Shado-Pan have protected Pandaria from destruction for centuries. And although their numbers may be small in comparison to the rest of Pandaria's population, the Shado-Pan have succeeded in that mission ... until now. Taran Zhu, leader of the Shado-Pan, holds the distinction of having what is likely the most tumultuous run as leader of the Shado-Pan -- and a great deal of the troubles he has had to deal with directly involve us. Oddly, Taran Zhu is one of the more contentious of Pandaria's new lore figures -- yet his actions are no different than one would expect, from his place in pandaren society.
Michael Stackpole, Micky Neilson talk Shadows of the Horde
Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde will be available for purchase next week, on July 2. We've already published a spoiler-free review of the novel, which features the Darkspear leader Vol'jin as he recuperates from his near-assassination in the Dagger in the Dark scenario. The novel is something a little different for Blizzard, featuring a story that not only stands apart from the gameplay of Mists of Pandaria, but features a new author as well -- Michael Stackpole, whose writing spans both fantasy and sci-fi, with notable works in both the Battletech and Star Wars universe. Blizzard was kind enough to let us have a chat with both Mike Stackpole and Micky Neilson, Lead Story Developer at Blizzard, regarding Shadows of the Horde, its development, and the intricacies of writing that oh-so-troublesome troll accent.
Review of Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde by Michael Stackpole
I've been dying for a good troll novel. Despite their longevity in Warcraft's timeline, we really haven't seen much of anything regarding the troll race, their traditions, their customs, the loa -- none of the rich history that has been cultivated and told over the years. Needless to say, I was very excited when Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde was announced at the New York Comic Con last year -- and even more so when Michael Stackpole was revealed as the author of the book. A prolific author, Stackpole has written a ton of books set in the Star Wars universe as well as BattleTech and a variety of original works as well. Familiar with both fantasy and sci-fi, Stackpole is an impressive author in his own right -- and his realm of expertise with both guaranteed he'd be a good fit for the Warcraft universe and its unique approach to fantasy. So how did Shadows of the Horde hold up? This is quite possibly one of the darkest novels in the Warcraft stable. And it's brilliant.
New short story, The Trial of the Red Blossoms, now available
It appears that Blizzard is far from done with short stories on the official website -- and that seems to be a pretty good thing. The Trial of the Red Blossoms, written by Cameron Dayton, is the latest offering to hit the official website. And for those wondering, there isn't a Li Li in sight in this tale. Instead, we get a tale highlighting just what it takes to become one of the Shado-pan, woven through the eyes of a young, scrawny pandaren thief simply named Ten. If you thought that Pandaria and its residents were all about good cheer, food and drink, it's time to think again. The Shado-pan are among the least sociable of the pandaren, and are quite vividly illustrated as a group of warriors that you really, really don't want to mess with. It's a dark, grim tale about some of Pandaria's darkest, grimmest citizens -- and it absolutely shines. Ten is nothing like the sometimes too-precocious to handle Li Li, and his past and future hang in the balance of the Shado-pan. Whether or not he can rise to the occasion is entirely up to him. The Trial of the Red Blossoms appears to be the first of what may be the next collection of short stories. Cataclysm saw the Leader Short Story series, and Trial is filed under Faction Stories on the Expanded Universe page, suggesting there are more tales of other factions to come. If they are even half as good as Trial, I suspect we're in for a treat this expansion. And frankly, I can't wait to see if we're finally going to get some dirt on the August Celestials. You can read The Trial of the Red Blossoms on the official website, in the Destination: Pandaria section of the Expanded Universe guide. And as an added bonus this time around, the story is available for download in multiple formats -- choose from PDF format, ePUB format for the smartphone, tablet or Nook, or mobi format for the Amazon Kindle.
Reputation in review: The Shado-Pan
I gotta say, I really dig the Shado-Pan. I liked them from the first moment I saw them in the beta. I think a lot of it has to do with what kinds of characters make up the faction. While the rest of Pandaria is full of affable characters like the Tillers, who are free with food, drink, story and song, the Shado-Pan represent the other side of the pandaren race. They're the warriors, the fighters, the fierce, strong and sometimes dark side of pandaren culture. They are not welcoming, they are not particularly friendly, and to be perfectly honest the majority of them are pretty angry that we've shown up on Pandaria. Now perhaps it says something about me, but that fact in and of itself made me want to grind out this reputation. I mean, here I am, hero of Azeroth, killed Deathwing and interrupted what was going to be the end of the world and these guys are treating me like a total scrub? Oh it's on, guys. Not to mention the absolutely fantastic taste these guys have in hats. Have you seen the hats? I knew I needed one of those hats the moment I laid eyes on it.
5 things you need to know about the Shado-Pan Monastery
This is the final one of the four leveling dungeons that you'll encounter on your journey from 85 to 90. In my opinion, it is also by far the hardest to get through. There's a lot of stuff in here that hits like a train right now in the beta, or so it seems. I think this dungeon strikes a really great balance between being hard enough to challenge experienced players and not so hard that it's impossible or too difficult for newer players. Of course, we've given you a walk-through of the four bosses, and they're also included in our bosses in 5 seconds post for this set of dungeons. You're welcome! For those of you who don't want all the spoilers of a walk-through but need a little more information than can be transmitted in 5 seconds, here we are again with your friendly 5 things you need to know correspondent, giving you just enough knowledge to sound like you might know what you're talking about! I would mention that given the plethora of information already floating around about the bosses in this dungeon, 5 things you need to know has chosen to concentrate a little more on the trash. The trash in this dungeon, from a healing perspective, is a real pain. I've healed this dungeon 16 times now, and I blow more cooldowns on trash than I do on bosses, unless boss fights start going pear-shaped. Now, before we get onto the 5 things, I want to make a separate point. This dungeon, as I mentioned, has some high damage levels, especially from trash. Remember the trash from the Zandalari dungeons? Well, some of the trash here hits about as hard as that, if you're not careful to avoid it. This dungeon is all about avoidable damage, and taking out the problematic trash as priority rather than just AoE-storming through the place is really vital for your healer's sanity. OK?
Mists of Pandaria leveling dungeon bosses in 5 seconds
The new Mists of Pandaria leveling dungeons are brilliant -- they really are, a great mixture of fun and fear, of straightforward bosses and panic-inducing fights. But if you're on the beta now, trying to push through these dungeons, you might not want wordy explanations of just exactly where to stand, what to hit and what to interrupt. Your teammates certainly might not like them and will probably have pulled the boss before you're done typing your ninth message explaining the finer details of boss abilities. Certainly by the time these dungeons hit live servers, you're going to encounter a bunch of players who don't have a clue about the basic strategies. Nobody likes to wait around and read the dungeon journal to try to work out how to deal with abilities. So here we are with some very, very short, and only slightly sweet guides to explain the bosses in five seconds. Of course, we also provide full walk-through guides for these dungeons, and for the goldilocks group that doesn't want guides too detailed or too brief, we have the 5 things you need to know guides, which give you just enough knowledge to be dangerous. So, it should be obvious from the 5-second rule that these guides are not in-depth, not comprehensive, and might not be enough information for tanks and healers particularly. But they're fast and eminently copy-able into in-game chat without risking too much ire from your cohorts. Let's get started.
Dungeon Mastery: Shado-pan Monastery
Kun-Lai Summit is host to the Shado-pan Monastery. In Mists of Pandaria, you'll undoubtedly get a chance to experience and help rid the instance of Sha influence. Megan and I decided to check the place out and see what the deal is. We teamed up before when she carried me kindly tanked for me in the Stormstout Brewery. Like last time, I healed on my holy priest, Megan tanked on her druid, and we were accompanied with two hunters and an enhancement shaman. Your group needs to be at minimum level 87 in order to queue. The video above is a little under 50 minutes long. We would've been able to move quicker if I hadn't been in combat all the time. Yeesh. Even the Matticus needs a drink from time to time. Gu Cloudstrike Cloudstrike is the first boss your group will challenge. You'll run into Cloudstrike outside on a plateau just as you leave the first chamber. It's a three-phase encounter involving Cloudstrike and a flying serpent.
