anub-arak
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Random raid factors and the high cost of failure
Klepsakovic over at Troll Racials are Overpowered has a thought-provoking post asking how Blizzard's advancing raid model is affecting players and how they relate to each other. In particular, he zeroes in on a point that I think a lot of players sense but never really articulate: Not every player in a raid is going to be equally stressed by a fight, and when the stressed party or parties is randomly determined, things get ugly fast. Compare this to encounters where the primary difficulty is role-specific or even player-specific. Good DPSers pushed their output to the limit on Patchwerk, healers learned to anticipate damage during Malygos' Vortex while one or two people got good at yanking sparks into the raid, and tanks grew experienced with fast pick-ups on Kael'thas. But the average raid group, even when experienced, probably tripped over and over again on encounters like Teron Gorefiend or Anub'arak. When you can't control who gets targeted by Shadow of Death or Anub'arak's spikes and when the randomness limits the experience that any one player can get ... Well, it's easy to see how certain fights acquire the nightmare moniker.
The OverAchiever: How to get disappearing mounts
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we offer supplication to the gods of RNG. Four mounts will be disappearing as a result of current Wrath achievements becoming feats of strength in Cataclysm. As such, this article's essentially an extension of The OverAchiever: Do them now!, which singled out all of the known future feats. If you're interested in snagging a Swift Zulian Tiger, Swift Razzashi Raptor, Swift Alliance Steed/Swift Horde Wolf or Crusader's Warhorse, you'll find some information past the cut.
Two Bosses Enter: Eregos wreaks havoc to claim season title
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Ladies and gentlemen, gnomes and ghouls ... We have our season champion: Ley-Guardian Eregos of The Oculus! In the hotly contested finals of the Wrath Original Five-Man season, Eregos tipped the scales to triumph over Anub'Arak, 48% to 42.6%. Such was the confusion that spectators hardly knew which way to look, with nearly 10% of them throwing up their hands to declare the death match a tie. In fact, the Ley-Guardian's time inside the Two Bosses Thunderdome was anything but routine.
Two Bosses Enter: Anub, Eregos meet in finale; search for judges
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. We're moving from the quarter-finals into the semi-finals of the Original Five-Man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Anub'Arak scuttled King Ymiron and his longboats last week, 60.8% to 35.9%, to advance to this week's season finale of the Original Wrath Five-Man season of Two Bosses Enter. In the highly anticipated finals, Anub'Arak will burrow into the Thunderdome to face the dreaded Ley-Guardian Eregos. If you've never participated in a Two Boss Enters match before, please be sure to read the Thunderdome ground rules before casting your vote. Visit the comments first to get as broad a view of the match as possible before deciding whose pennant you'll be waving in the stands. But first: We're taking a new angle inside the Thunderdome for upcoming seasons of Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves. Each match will be decided by a distinguished panel of judges -- and you're invited to sit on the panel! Details after the break.
Two Bosses Enter: Eregos a finalist; Anub'Arak faces Ymiron
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. We're moving from the quarter-finals into the semi-finals of the Original Five-Man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Welcome, one and all, to the last semi-final match of this season of Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves! This week, we'll pit semi-finalists Anub'Arak (Azjol-Nerub) against King Ymiron (Utgarde Pinnacle). Both bosses enter on the wings of strong victories. Anub'Arak comes to the Thunderdome with a 64.5% approval rating from his last match, while King Ymiron brings a 64.1% rating from his own supporters. But first, a big upset from last week's Thunderdome. In a spectacular reversal of their July deathmatch, Ley-Guardian Eregos pulled out a decisive victory over Loken. After being voted back in to the Thunderdome despite his earlier loss, Eregos showed new confidence to claim a position in this season's finals. A solid 56.5% of spectators gave Eregos the upper hand this time around, compared to only 36.9% the last time he faced off against Loken. We'll recap the battle as well as opening up voting for Anub'Arak versus King Ymiron, after the break.
The OverAchiever: Dungeon and raid titles
Titles; they are cool, they are wonderful, and in a not-inconsiderable number of cases, they are very hard to get. Almost without exception, every single title in the game is also linked to an achievement. Today we're going to examine how you can get (or, in some cases, how it was possible to get) about half of the 19 titles currently available from dungeons and raids. Next week, we'll cover the last half, going in alphabetical order. If you're a skimmer, the two toughest achievements are actually at the tail end this week, and if you're currently in Icecrown Citadel, there's two currently-unobtainable titles that may interest you here (in addition to another set next week).
Two Bosses Enter: Anub'Arak pounds Dred, Eregos faces Skadi
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to the quarter-finals of the Original Five-Man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Last week's battle was all about size. In the end, being tougher trumped being larger, as Anub'Arak Pounded King Dred with 64% of the spectator vote. We'll get a view of the beat-down after the break -- plus we'll set up the vote for this week's battle between Ley-Guardian Eregos and Skadi the Ruthless. Alert fans will note a different schedule on their weekly Thunderdome tickets. Starting this week, you'll find the past week's roundup and the next week's fight and vote in a single post. Be sure to follow the jump if you'd like to debate and vote on the upcoming battle between Eregos and Skadi. Then starting next week, we'll be hosting the Two Bosses Thunderdome on Wednesdays (moved up from Thursdays). Join us after the break for last week's wrap-up plus next week's battle: Ley-Guardian Eregos (The Oculus) versus Skadi the Ruthless (Utgarde Pinnacle). Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here.
Two Bosses Enter: Anub'Arak vs. King Dred
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to the semi-finals of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Scroll to the end of the last round's post for a listing of semi-final matches. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Welcome to the semi-finals of the Wrath of the Lich King Original Five-Mans season of Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves! This week's matchup is big -- really, really big. In fact, we're thinking about expanding the Two Bosses Thunderdome so that our opponents can physically fit inside (and because these adds are not something we want running loose in the stands). Top-seeded Anub'Arak of Azjol-Nerub squares off against the ever-popular King Dred in this week's Thunderdome match. There are sure to be plenty of hasty conclusions: "It's Anub, man -- he rocks ToC!" (wrong fight there, dude) and the inevitable "OMNOMNOM" of the dino fanboys. Rescuing us from the tedium are our loyal fans, who've built an entire season of convincing scenarios that make weighing your vote a real pleasure. Be sure to read (and contribute to) the comments before you cast your vote -- you just might change your mind after seeing what your fellow spectators have offered up for consideration.
One Boss Leaves: A landslide win for Anub'arak
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to what's nearly the end of the current round of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! It's no surprise, really, that Anub'arak took control of this week's Two Bosses deathmatch with a 73% pounding of the Tribunal of Ages. We're not sure that voters really considered any realistic scenario when casting their votes, but we did get a few interesting setups from spectators. The quality of the floor, in particular, seemed to be a sticking point for many. Tyr: Wouldn't Brann fall through the floor if Anub keeps burrowing holes in it? I mean, I'm sure that in Azjol-Nerub, his own kingdom, he has enough escape holes pre-burrowed to hide in, but an old titan complex just waiting to be condemned? Brann'll be lucky if the ceiling doesn't collapse and crush him on his way down.
Two Bosses Enter: Anub'Arak vs. Tribunal of Ages
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to what's nearly the end of the current round of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! I'm hiding my eyes behind my hands for this one: Anub'Arak (Azjol-Nerub) versus Tribunal of Ages (Halls of Stone). Storyweavers, get ready to spin your webs ... This is the type of match where a good blow-by-blow account in the comments can go a long way toward swaying the vote. But first, the pound ground rules: This match takes place inside the Tribunal of Ages in the Halls of Stone ... or perhaps the Tribunal has been transplanted to the Two Bosses Thunderdome ... or perhaps they're someplace else ... Any way you slice it, the Tribunal's basic encounter mechanic functions as usual. Work with it, people! It's a fantasy tournie. No matter where you choose to set the match and who you may choose to stand in for Brann Bronzebeard, his survival ultimately determines the success or failure of the mission. Anub'Arak is therefore challenged with holding the Tribunal at bay long enough for Bronzebeard to complete his task. Technically, a "win" for Anub'Arak means that neither opponent dies. All of the competitors' abilities, including crowd control and other effects to which bosses are usually immune, work on their opponents. Assume that the opponents share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output. Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Don't neglect style, story and scale. Welcome to the Two Bosses Thunderdome. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here.
One Boss Leaves: Anub'Arak pounds Loken
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man originals Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! The results from the last match of this bracket are in: Anub'Arak (Azjol-Nerub) has clearly given Loken (Halls of Lightning) a solid pounding, 55% to 40%. While some readers seemed puzzled by this week's pairing (kozom: "bug + zapper = ???"), Sunsinger wove a lengthy tale of Anub'Arak's emergence as the victor: Yes, he knew this presence. He felt it only few times before, but beings of metal and lightning did not forget things easily. After all, his body was a masterpiece, one that probably surpassed all of the Titans' creations left on Azeroth in terms of fine craftsmanship. Not only had he known the appearance of his guest the moment the latter stepped into the Halls, he also was easily reading his intentions. Even if not for his mind sensors, it wasn't hard to tell that the Spider King came here to kill him. For a being of such ambition, the Lich King was even late to try and eliminate his most immediate rival, the Old God, because both of them were not the type of beings that liked to share power, and the Prime Designate knew that he stood somewhere between them and that sooner or later he would have to face the forces of the Scourge. And he would defeat them.
Two Bosses Enter: Anub'Arak vs. Loken
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Here we are: the final matchup of the second bracket of Two Bosses Enter, featuring the five-man bosses of original Wrath. Before we loose our competitors to one another's depradations inside the Thunderdome, we'd like to remind spectators that we'll have an extra vote next week to balance out the bracket. We'll be taking your votes from among every loser so far (including Round One). The top three underdogs will return to compete in the next bracket (for a total of 16 competitors). And now ... Anub' Arak of Azjol-Nerub versus Loken from the Halls of Lightning. The ground rules: Assume that the opponents along with their minions share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output. This deathmatch takes place in neutral territory (or a Thunderdome facsimile thereof), which shall in no way hinder either opponent from using his usual resources. All the usual minions will be available to each boss. Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Don't neglect style, story and scale. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here.
The Daily Quest: Rawr, chalk, and more podcasts
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Episode 62 of the Twisted Nether Blogcast is available for download, with special guest Spooner of Spooncraft. Gray Matter discusses the ups and downs of Rawr for Moonkin. Not only has OutDPS released episode 10 of The Hunting Party Podcast, but they have a new author on board to tackle hardcore raiding. Today, Heroic Anub'Arak! World of Matticus asks, why play a healer? This World of Warcraft chalk art is pretty incredible! Really old, but also really cool. It's worth a second look. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Blood Pact: Warlock guide to surviving Trial of the Crusader, part 2
Every week Blood Pact serves you up a dish of warlock delight. Chock full of juicy chunks of detail, smothered in lashings of class specific tips all topped off with a sprinkling of hundreds and thousands of mage tears.This week I'm rounding off the Trial of the Crusader guide with the last three bosses; Faction Champions, Twin Val'kir and Anub'arak. A more diverse trio of boss fights you will be hard pressed to find. As with last week I aim to bring you the flavor of the fights with some insight into how they look through a warlock's eyes. Again, I'll be linking only a selection of the loot from the overly complex table. This week the Horde drops for normal mode.Faction Champions This will be one of those fights you either love or hate. If you haven't done it before, and don't know what it's all about, then I suggest you have a look through a full strategy; such as those on WoWWiki or Wowhead. There's a huge amount of detail to the fight most of which is pretty irrelevant when you boil it down to your role. If you are leading the fight for the first time then be ready for a headache in assigning everyone their responsibility. If you're not leading then listen to what you need to do and go for it.
Encrypted Text: Rogue tips for raiding Trial of the Crusader, part 3
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss some of the tips and tricks to remember when raiding the final boss of Trial of the Crusader.Azjol'nerub was merely a setback for the final boss we face in the Trial of the Crusader. Anub'arak (too many apostrophes in the Nerubian language, I say) decides to crash the party and Arthas' powerful shockwave drops you right into his lair. We're put face-to-face with the Traitor King himself, even though we've already bested him once in Northrend.This is one of the simpler fights in terms of mechanics, compared to a very long and drawn out encounter like Yogg-Saron or Mimiron. It's by no means easy, however, and Anub'Arak's heroic 25-man version has only been conquered by a handful of guilds worldwide. Between several new fight mechanics and very distinct phases, the encounter is fast-paced and very fun from a Rogue's perspective. After the cut, I'll talk about the specific details you can use to help your raid group conquer this over-sized beetle.
WoW Patch 3.2 PTR Trial of the Crusader testing schedule
Daelo posted an official schedule for testing the Trial of the Crusader content on the current PTR, which further explore the perils inside the Crusader's Coliseum. There are two different schedules for players on North American and European realms, who will be squaring off against different bosses:On the North American test realms:Anub'arak - Tuesday Night, July 21, starting at 7pm EDT. Normal and Heroic.On the European test realms:Val'kyr – Wednesday Night, July 22, starting at 19:00 CEST. Normal and Heroic.Blizzard is implementing both Normal and Heroic version in varying difficulties and set-ups. Daelodev also mentions having different Test Patchwerks that hits "VERY hard" to better test sustained tank damage. He reminds everyone that feedback from all the tests - which include their combat logs - is incredibly useful to the development team. He ends the post with the usual FAQ that notes that 1) there's no trash in the zone, 2) loot is implemented, and 3) Achievements are in place. Check out the official post for more details.
One Boss Leaves: Azjol-Nerub was merely a setback
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. This season's bosses come from the five-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King.We had to do it. Both Anub'arak and Elder Nadox have been waiting patiently all season for their chance in the ring, after all. But did anyone think this Two Bosses Enter matchup would come out any other way? "Anub'arak wins, mandibles down," states faithful reader aarsej. "The truth is, Anub'arak is actually Hogger in disguise." Reader votes might actually support that conclusion: Anub'Arak supporters pushed this fight perilously close to a 90% slaughterfest.Clydtsdk-Rivendare called it for the few dissenters.Clydtsdk-Rivendare: This one is actually really close, IMO. Both mobs go invincible and summon adds, so it really all comes down to Nadox being smart enough to realize how strong Pound really is. If Nadox is invincible when Anub'arak uses Pound, Nadox wins. Otherwise, the sheer force of the blow tilts the scales heavily towards Anub.... To make Nadox's add situation make sense, we'll set this fight in his "nest," if you will. Anub's adds come in from either doorway (the geography of this always confused me). Nadox is out of the nest for whatever reason, but when she returns, she sees Anub about to kill her kids. Nadox runs forward to engage Anub. Anub and Nadox trade blows for a while, when Anub sets off Carrion Beetles. Nadox sends his small adds to take care of these while she continues after Anub.
What If We Lost: An argument for losing a major lore-based battle
Warning: This article does contain spoilers for the Argent Coliseum Raid. If you want to be surprised, skip this article!There's a pretty long thread going on in the General Forums right now that makes an interesting request of the dev team: Let us lose. The argument goes that we've been sort of steamrolling our way through massive challenges and insurmountable odds pretty much the whole raid game, and it's just getting boring. Nothing feels like a threat anymore. We know we're going to defeat it and move on. We need to shake things up.The more I think about it, the more I like it. Why not let us be on the losing side, at least for a few patches? The Lich King himself could use a bit of help in that vein, for sure. The early leveling game did manage to conjure up a few heart-stopping moments where Arthas "let us win," but when it was time to take that to the next level, it seems like Blizzard's sort of backed off and gone stale. Now, we're holding a Ren Faire on his front lawn while his scourge mostly mills around aimlessly and doesn't make more than a token attempt to do anything threatening.There would be no quicker way to get him to burst back on the scene by having him or one of his lieutenants deal us a devastating blow, one which we will find it hard to recover from.
Two Bosses Enter: Anub'Arak vs. Elder Nadox
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. This season's bosses come from the five-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King.INSECTS! We're getting close to the end of our first bracket of bosses for this season of Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves, featuring five-man bosses from Wrath of the Lich King. (We're sure you can all guess who's in the last fight of the bracket, just as we're sure you can all guess by how large of a landslide he'll win.) Last week's tussle with King Dred and Jedoga Shadowseeker went down with a chomp and a gulp, leaving us with two more player favorites for the week ahead: Anub'Arak from Azjol-Nerub versus Elder Nadox of Anh'kahet: The Old Kingdom.Remember the basic ground rules: Assume that the opponents and their minions share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output. This deathmatch takes place in neutral territory. All the usual minions will be available to each boss. Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Focus on the three S's: style, story and scale. It's minions versus minions in this buggy battle. Join us after the break to cast your vote for who you think will emerge this week's victor.
The OverAchiever: Glory of the Hero, Continued
No one's kiling any folk here today, on account of we got a really tight schedule. -- Mal, "Trash." Seemed to have some good luck with a previous Firefly quote, so why not? We're all set in Ahn'kahet, so let's pop over to Azjol-Nerub and lay waste to some bosses there.AZJOL-NERUBEvery achievement here is, in one way or another, a DPS race. If you've had difficulty with previous achievements in that vein or your DPS is still gearing up, you'll probably want to steer clear of Azjol for a while.Watch Him DieThis is one of the few achievements in the game most efficiently done from a kamikaze perspective (Sarth-10 3D is the most notable of the other picks). Early attempts at this with two tanks, two DPS, and one healer failed miserably, mostly due to the combination of poisons, a Priest healer, and Watcher Narjil's Blinding Webs ability. I'll admit I tried that before anything good dropped from Naxx, so it may just have been a gear issue at the time, but:a). If you have very good DPS, and:b). If you're willing to suffer a repair bill -- you can probably get this achievement in one or two tries without worrying about keeping all three Watchers tanked, bringing an off-tank, or risking a DPS having to kite all three to the entrance.
