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Mists of Pandaria Beta: Scarlet Monastery revamp
While the level 90 heroic versions aren't available on the beta servers yet, MMO-Champion and Wowhead both took a look into the lower level version of Scarlet Monastery to see all the revamps. The current four wings of Scarlet Monastery have been slimmed down into two wings, the Scarlet Cathedral and the Scarlet Halls, removing most of the unnecessary trash while keeping what made the monastery a great set of dungeons to begin with. Scarlet Cathedral now starts with the graveyard. Interrogator Vishas is no longer there; it's just Bloodmage Thalnos, now outside the mausoleum. Before Thalnos among the mobs are Scarlet Flamethrowers, who drop explosive cannisters that players can use to damage other mobs.
Mists of Pandaria: Dungeons and challenge mode
Mists of Pandaria will launch with nine heroic dungeons, four of which were previewed to one extent or another at last week's press event: Temple of the Jade Serpent, the Stormstout Brewery, the updated Scholomance, and the updated Scarlet Monastery. Temple of the Jade Serpent Blizzard is taking a new approach with its introductory dungeon of the expansion. Rather than starting you off in instances that are entirely secondary to the expansion's story arc and saving the dungeons that tie closest to the plot of the expansion for the level cap, the very first dungeon you run in Mists of Pandaria will set the story's tone. The Temple of the Jade Serpent will display the expansion's villainy right up front. The sha, as you've heard by now, are the core external villains in the land of Pandaria. They are the manifestation of negative emotion. The Temple of the Jade Serpent will be your introduction to the sha. The Temple is where, once upon a time, an old emperor of Pandaria beat down the Sha of Doubt and saved the entire empire. Unfortunately, the war that the Horde and the Alliance have brought to Pandaria's shores has rekindled the Sha of Doubt and the temple has fallen under its influence. We did get to tackle the Temple hands-on at the press event, so we can provide a few concrete details about the bosses within and their abilities.
How to transmogrify your clothie into High Inquisitor Whitemane
I don't like to assume that I know much in this world, but when it comes to World of Warcraft there is one thing that I am truly certain of: People really like High Inquisitor Whitemane. I guess it's hard for anyone to miss though. Since vanilla WoW, I've been reading comments about the High Inquisitor in almost every cathedral PUG I've ever run. "This is my favorite boss in the game," or "I love this fight," they say. When I flip through fan art galleries, it feels like I can't go through 10 pictures without one of them being of her. Plus, have you ever been to a BlizzCon? I've attended three, and every time, I've seen more than a few girls cosplaying as her. And who knows why? Maybe it's because we all love Scarlet Monastery. Maybe it's the Sephiroth-effect (white hair + villain = fans). Whatever it is, this relatively minor character commands a huge fan base among players. Because of that, I'm going to show you how to make your character look like her with transmogrification.
Spiritual Guidance: The priests of BlizzCon 2011
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. This past weekend, BlizzCon 2011 brought a plethora of announcements for World of Warcraft. Players can now look forward to pandas, a dramatically new talent system, a Pokémon-style minigame, and lots more. Priests in particular are in for radical changes with the new talents, and while I suspect some of you would like to hear my perspective on things, I'm going to wait a week and see what else unfolds from the blues as they respond to some of the more obvious questions the community is asking. This also gives me the opportunity to follow through with my original plans of introducing you guys to some of the priests I met at BlizzCon 2011.
Two Bosses Enter: Ozruk wins Cataclysm Season 1
In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title. Within the tournament administration pavilion, Vanessa delicately turned the pages of the ponderous Tome of Champions, which sat upon a stone pedestal engraved with the righteous fist of the Silver Hand. It was the record book of all who have won and lost in sanctioned gladiatorial battle in Azerothian history, though Vanessa did not know the difference between sanctioned and unsanctioned or who even sanctioned it to begin with. After many patient moments, she reached the record of the most recent gladiatorial season. The brackets were an unholy mess, largely thanks to her interference, with countless matchups hastily crossed out and refilled with her name or that of those in her employ in place of the original combatants. A glorious, sneaky campaign to be sure, but it wasn't enough: Ozruk's name had gone into the records as the winner of the season despite her efforts. She sneered and turned the page again. A pleased gasp escaped Vanessa's lips. The brackets for the next season were blank! Not a single person had registered yet! She quickly slipped a fountain pen from her tunic and set it to paper. She only managed to get down a single name before Tirion Fordring stormed up behind her. "Vanessa! What do you think you're doing, girl!? Get away from that! I will not let you continue to make a mockery of this tournament!"
Two Bosses Enter: Cataclysm Season 1 finals
In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title. "Today, in the left corner, stands the guardian of the World's Heart!" Tirion's voice rose to a crescendo to be heard over the explosive cheering of the audience and the music thundering forth from the gnomish sound projectors. "Ozruk!" Break yourself, break yourself Break yourselves upon my body Break yourself, break yourself Break yourselves upon my body ... And so it went. A frown grew on Tirion's face, displeased with the so-called hippity-hop, but what the audience wanted, the audience would get. The moment the music faded, the old crusader motioned to the other corner. "In the right corner stands ..." Tirion leaned forward, squinting to make out the form far below. He sighed deeply. "Vanessa, what are you doing here? Where is the Cardboard Assassin? And why are you wearing that chapeau?"
Two Bosses Enter: Whitemane and Mograine vs. ... wait, what?
In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title. The Crusaders, Sally Whitemane and Renault Mograine, stepped into the Two Bosses arena, well-rested after their bout with Forgemaster Throngus. The Cardboard Assassin had already been assembled in the opposite corner, swaying uneasily with the deafening roar of the gathered crowd. Tirion Fordring rose from his seat and spread his arms to silence the audience. The moment the cheering stalled, Tirion motioned to Whitemane and Mograine. He bellowed, voice gruff and rumbling. "Today, in the left corner, heralding from the Tirisfal Glades of the fallen Kingdom of Lordaeron, we have the Scarlet Crusaders, Champions of the Light, bane of the unholy Scourge." Tirion motioned in the other direction. "In the right corner, heralding from the forges of Westfall, stands the Cardboard Assassin, slayer of men and gods alike." "Champions," Fordring shouted, "are you rea--" The arena floor burst into flames, flooding the coliseum with smoke and cutting Lord Fordring's words short, driving the audience into sudden silence. The fires were extinguished as quickly as they came, and a woman stood in their place, obscured amidst the smoke. "Well," she observed, "this hardly seems fair."
Two Bosses Enter: Baron Ashbury vs. Cardboard Assassin
In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title. A grave mistake was made when the Cardboard Assassin was allowed into the Two Bosses Enter tournament. The world severely underestimated the power of the comedy option. This week, can the menace of Baron Ashbury overcome the hilarity of the Cardboard Assassin? %Poll-64881% In last week's matchup, Throngus the Forgemaster slammed face-first into the Scarlet Crusade's Whitemane and Mograine. Was his skull thick enough to pull it off? %Gallery-119335% Follow along for the details of this week's matchup, as well as discussion on last week's match.
Two Bosses Enter: Forgemaster Throngus vs. Mograine and Whitemane
In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title. Round 3 of the Crazy Eights kicks off this week, pitting the goliath Forgemaster Throngus against the cutest couple of Crusaders you've ever seen! %Poll-64559% In last week's matchup, Eregos and Erudax went head-to-head in the new and improved Two Bosses Enter arena -- an arena with a roof. %Gallery-119335% Follow along for the details of this week's matchup, as well as discussion on last week's match.
Two Bosses Enter: Ammunae vs. Baron Ashbury
In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title. This week on Two Bosses Enter, it's a battle between Ammunae, the Construct of Life, and Baron Ashbury, a scary dead guy. Oh, the anticipation! %Poll-63235% In last week's matchup, Augh and Lockmaw slammed face-first into the Scarlet Wall that is Renault Mograine and Sally Whitemane. The pygmy and his pet didn't stand a chance. %Gallery-119335% Follow along for the details of this week's matchup, as well as discussion on last week's match.
Two Bosses Enter: Augh and Lockmaw vs. Mograine and Whitemane
In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. It's time for our third of four wild cards this season. Whitemane and Mograine make a triumphant return from WoW of old to tackle the dastardly duo from Lost City of the Tol'Vir: Augh and his pet croc Lockmaw. %Poll-63026% In last week's matchup, Karsh Steelbender and Forgemaster Throngus went toe-to-toe in what turned out to be quite a tight matchup. Which of them could stand the heat, and which of them couldn't? %Gallery-119335% Follow along for the details of this week's matchup, as well as discussion on last week's match.
Sunday Morning Funnies: Fighting naked
This week we have a fair amount of humorous adventures, including an ill-timed leak, success in disguise, a handy brick, a clever wolf, and even some snakes.Humorous Plot Dark Legacy Comics has seen an end to the NPC tyranny, as "Whitemane" exposes The Horace Hypocrisy. Shakes and Fidget discover The Altar. In LFG, an alliance is sought. It isn't going well. The Road to BlizzCon continues, with Now you're just being silly and The Dead Mimes, Part 1. Kissybear's friends are giving up; or are they? Teh Gladiators has alchemists for murlocs, and a statement is made on Yolanda. Humor NoObz has some insight on patch days, from the mobs' points of view. This week's installment of The Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf almost didn't happen, and the announcement of the delay is worth reading itself. Fortunately, Episode 23: WoW TV arrived in time for Sunday Morning!
Breakfast Topic: Silly, unconventional, and amazing dungeon runs
One of my favorite memories of WoW came from a year and a half or so back, when Alex and I were both leveling a pair of DPS Warriors as alts, mine a Gnome female, his a Night Elf male whom he RPed as being absolutely insane and having an unhealthy love of cheese. We had a friend who was leveling a Druid, another who was leveling a Shadow Priest and a third who was leveling a Warlock. So, it seemed on a lot of nights, all 5 of us would get together and take on whatever dungeon was in our level range. We conquered most of the mid-level dungeons once or twice this way, with no tank -- Alex would just charge ahead screaming and pull a bunch of mobs -- and somehow (we were never sure how) we generally killed them while staying alive. Often, neither of us Warriors made a special effort to tank, we just somehow DPSed them to death before they killed us.
Fighting teenagers in Scarlet Monastery
Scarlet Monastery is one of the most-loved instances in the game, partly because the bosses in there are so memorable-- who's ever going to forget Harod yelling "Blades of Light!" or High Inquisitor Whitemane shouting "Arise, my Champion" (along with the ensuing realization that you're now fighting two bosses at the same time)?That why it's so cool to see, in the first Caverns of Time instance in Old Hillsbrad, all our favorite Scarlet Monastery minions running around as children. I ran CoT for the first time last week, and I spent a long time wandering about Old Southshore, listening to the conversation in the inn, and checking out all the old lore. I saw both Herod as a boy, and little "Sally Whitemane" as a pigtailed girl running around oblivious of her distant future.Except, wait a minute. Apparently the future isn't as distant as it seems. Zerolimite points out on the forums that Old Hillsbrad is really only the Hillsbrad of seven years ago. Which means that even if Sally Whitemane, blonde and pigtailed, is even thirteen, that only makes her at most 20 in Scarlet Monastery. So what's with the white, err... mane? Likewise, Herod is just a kid seven years ago, so that makes him like 15 when he's hulking and yelling in the Armory. All this time, we've been killing teenagers.And as an interesting sidenote, seven years ago means it's very likely our characters were alive as well. Our guild's main tank, Paws of Thunderhorn, has said that he was actually interred in Durnholde Keep with Thrall, but even though we poked around the camps there, we never saw him (or at least recognized him-- this was a whole seven years ago). As for my Orc Shaman, he definitely was held in an internment camp, but it was further north, near Lordaeron. I tried to head up there and see if I couldn't pull off a little Back to the Future action, but for some reason, I couldn't seem to leave Old Hillsbrad...
