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Two Bosses Enter: Instructor Razuvious vs. Ragnaros
Two bosses enter... but only one of them will get to leave in our series of fantasy deathmatches. Here at WoW Insider we're pitting some of the game's most fascinating bosses against each other until we come up with a final victor in the end. And the best part? Every week, you get to decide who wins.This week we're going to consider a fight between Instructor Razuvious in Naxxramas and Ragnaros in Molten Core. Who will win and who will lose? Read up on the abilities of each and then let us know what you think!
Two Bosses Enter: The Four Horsemen vs. The Twin Emperors
Two bosses enter... but only one of them will get to leave in WoW Insider's own series of fantasy deathmatches. We've made a list of 32 of the the most dangerous and the most interesting bosses within the World of Warcraft and now we're pitting them against each other one at a time. In the end, we'll wind up with a single winner to claim victory over all others. And the best part? You get to decide who wins -- your vote tells us who wins and loses each round.Today's matchup pits The Four Horsemen from Naxxramas against the Twin Emperors from Ahn'Qiraj -- while this does make it a two on one, I don't think anyone can argue that it's not a fair fight. Want to learn a little more about these bosses -- and have your chance to voice an opinion about which one might come out on top in a fight? Read on!
One Boss Leaves: Jin'do vs. Moam wrap-up
The battle between Jin'do and Moam was our most closely contested battle to date -- with Moam emerging victorious by only a slim margin. You decided Moam would come out on top in this fight by a mere 26 votes! Your comments suggested that Jin'do's totems would be a challenge -- but that Moam's mana drains would overcome them in the end. So one fight is over -- but stay tuned, because our next fight is coming soon! (And for those of you keeping score at home, here are our current standings: though be warned, they can still be shuffled around.)
Exclusive interview: Awake from Nihilum speaks with WoW Insider
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Exclusive_interview_with_WoW_guild_Nihilum'; There might be no guild in all of Azeroth that has attracted attention like Nihilum has. They've charged through the endgame, gaining an unimaginable four world firsts in one day. They've downed Illidan. They've beaten the game.And even out of the game, they seem to be a lightning rod for controversy. They don't like girls. They supposedly cheated on Vashj, and maybe they buy gold. Players have followed Nihilum's exploits like no other guild-- some hate them and some look up to them, but everyone who follows news from the endgame must know who they are.Now, in their first exclusive interview after downing Archimonde and finishing off the current content, Awake from Nihilum spoke with us to talk about all of these things and more. What did they and did they not like about the endgame they just beat? What's Nihilum going to do now? And exactly how many of them have girlfriends?Click the link below to read this exclusive interview, and get a glimpse of what it's like to run with the guild that beat the game. Questions were collected from both WoW Insider staff, and from members of our own casual guild, It came from the Blog. Thanks to Awake from Nihilum for doing this with us, and good luck to him and his guild in future content.
Forum Post of the Day: Your favorite boss quote
Unlike boring trash mobs, bosses in World of Warcraft all have their interesting catchphrases, some more memorable than others. And over on the EU forums, poster Lindey is looking to figure out what other players think is the best boss quote in the game. At the top, so far? Molten Core's Ragnaros and Blackwing Lair's Vaelazstraz with their classic introductions:Ragnaros: Too soon, you have awakened me to soon Executus! What is the meaning of this intrusion?Vaelastraz: Too late... friends. Nefarius' corruption has taken hold. I cannot... control myself. I beg you Mortals, flee! Flee before I lose all sense of control. The Black Fire rages within my heart. I must release it! FLAME! DEATH! DESTRUCTION! COWER MORTALS BEFORE THE WRATH OF LORD....NO! I MUST FIGHT THIS!But beyond Lindey's list of player favorites, the thread itself is a collection of some of the most entertaining dialog tidbits Blizzard's thrown into the game. Take a look for yourself!
Guildwatch: Get me the board!
Watch your back, Shade of Aran! You're On Notice! This week's Word is "Ninja," but we've lots of all kinds of drama, downed, and recruiting news in today's Guildwatch, your weekly look at guild happenings around the realms.Remember, if you've got tips for us, the address is wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Click the link below to read all the truthiness we could find this week.
Illidari Council down
Warning: this post relates what is popularly known as a "world-first" kill. If you are not interested in a certain high-end European raid guild that shall not be mentioned destroying enemies you may not have heard of, read no further. Right. Still here? OK then.A mere 15 hours after their last kill, the current superstars of WoW PvE have vanquished the one remaining obstacle between them and the big man himself, Illidan. Yes, the Illidari Council is no more. This means they have tonight and tomorrow to try to take down Illy before the raid resets on Wednesday morning (right? Wednesday for EU raids?).What's the secret to their success, you may ask? Well, Kungen claims "Key to success is 4 rogues in all raids." That's good to hear, as it may assuage some Rogue concerns over being edged out in PvE. According to their site they're working on Illidan as I type this, so good luck, guys, and congrats once again. Check out their site for a nice gallery of Illidan killing everybody, and here's the loot from the Council. [via MMO-Champion and World of Raids]
Nihilum takes down Mother Shahraz
Nihilum have scored another in their seemingly endless string of world-firsts: the Black Temple boss Mother Shahraz. Dang, guys. Give old North America a chance, huh? Nah, I'm just kidding -- congratulations once again, of course! This only leaves two encounters left undefeated in the Black Temple: the Illidari Council, and Illidan himself.As with the Essence of Souls, nobody really seems to know much about the fight, although the boss appears to be a six-armed demon. And like EoS, they got their loot, with no bugs to get in the way there. Here's what dropped: [via MMO-Champion and World of Raids]
Essence of Souls killed by Nihilum (world first)
Nihilum is really on fire these days. Fresh from seven world firsts in the past week or so, they have now achieved the world-first kill (on the live realms, anyway) of the Essence of Souls, a Black Temple boss. No details have emerged about the fight that I've been able to dredge up, although WoWWiki speculates that the boss has a different phase for each of its three different faces.In their comments thread, Nihilum deem the Essence of Souls "the hardest encounter we've met so far in WoW, ever" and "likely the hardest and most intense encounter in the history of world of warcraft," so my guess is it was probably pretty hard. Congrats! And in an unusual turn of events, they actually got their loot upon killing the boss: MMO-Champion has this boss's full loot table, thanks to PTR kills.
Curse, Forte jump in to pick up a world first each
The world first kills continue. First, Nihilum brought their PTR skillz out to the live servers, and rocked four bosses in one night. Then, they dropped three more just for fun. And now, other guilds are getting in on the action.Curse reports that Forte from EU Kazzak took out Anetheron in Mount Hyjal on Saturday evening, winning them the world first on that one. Then, on Sunday, Nilhilum (on EU Magtheridon) and Curse (on EU Vek-nilash) both headed into Hyjal, and downed Anetheron and Kaz'rogal-- and this time, Curse picked up the world first on Kaz.MMO Champion has more, including deets on all the kills (and the fact that Curse also picked up Supremus and High Warlord Naj'entus in the Black Temple-- with only 22 players in the raid!), and screenshots for every kill. So grats to Curse, Forte and especially Nihilum on all their achievements this weekend.What does all this mean for us casual players? While usually a world first kill means not much more than a tip of the hat, so many kills like this in one weekend might be a sign that Blizzard is getting serious about making the endgame more friendly to casual players. If these hardcore guilds can burn through this content so quickly, it's probably not long before we see more casual guilds moving up the ladder behind them, right?
Method Man and Vashj
As a society we are not always interested in seconds. We prefer firsts, the first man to walk on the moon, the first man to swim the English Channel, heck even the first woman got plenty of notice in her day. And yes, Nihilum did managed to down Lady Vashj first, but I have been following the story of the second guild to kill the snake-headed wench, and I am happy to report their day has finally come. For those of you not obsessed with minutia the way I am, the guild Method from the Sylvanas (EU) realm killed Lady Vashj on May 5th. Something happened though that makes this kill more interesting than just any old world 2nd. The encounter bugged out and the guild, after all their hard work, lost the chance at looting the corpse. That's right folks, imagine watching Lady Vashj's corpse despawn in front of your very eyes. I know I would cry wet, salty tears. Naturally members of the guild contacted a GM, but to no avail. It was a whole day before the guild finally got resolution. They did get a mail message though that told them that their loot would indeed be delivered. World of Raids says Method received a Krakken-Heart Breastplate and Gauntlets of the Crestfall amongst other things. Congrats to them for getting their just rewards. If you're interested in learning more details about the fight, Method will be interviewed by WoW Radio on May 13th at 12:30 EST. I'm sure they'll have some fascinating insights. [via World of Raids]
Preview: Black Temple bosses
MMO-Champion is at it again (Boubouille has just been doing a bangup job showing off content from this 2.1 patch!), and this time, he's somehow delved into the Black Temple and pulled out screengrabs of (most of) the bosses. As of this writing, there's no Illidan grabs yet, but that may still be coming.Since we killed the site off the last time we linked to it, I've gone ahead and mirrored the Boss shots: Here's High Warlord Naj'entus (he's the Naga-looking thing we saw last time), Supremus, Teron Gorefiend (judge me by my size, do you?), Gurtogg Bloodboil (the best looking one, in my opinion), Mother Shahraz, and Essence of Souls (the last one appears to be an encounter of sorts, and it's probably where that three faced boss-- Desire, Grief, Anger-- appears).Boubouille has also grabbed a layout of the class trinkets available at the Exalted levels of the Ashtongue Deathsworn rep, so you can know right now what you're going to be working for. I have to admit that all the content looks sweet, but just like all really high level content, I wonder how many people are actually going to see it. The Black Temple seems fun, but to tell the truth, I'm actually looking forward to the Ogri'la and Sethekk quest areas more.
Nihilum gets Vashj to 3%
Superstar guild Nihilum (H-Magtheridon-EU) has apparently gotten Lady Vashj, the final boss of Serpentshrine Cavern and Illidan fangirl extaordinaire, down to 3%. This means the world first kill is probably not far off. In the grand tradition of end bosses for large raids, this follows after a hotfix nerf to Vashj a week or so ago; Ragnaros, Nefarian, C'thun, and Kel'Thuzad (I think; not quite positive on KT) were all nerfed before they were first defeated.Being as how nobody's ever killed her before, we don't really know much of what she might drop (other than probably T5 tokens like the rest of SSC and the Eye). But we do know one item: the Fang of Vashj, a one-handed (i.e. not restricted to main or off-hand) dagger with the following stats: "92.8 DPS, 133-201 damage, 1.8 attack speed, increases attack power by 50 and increases dagger skill by 14." We know this item exists because it's listed in the official Bradygames strategy guide, although besides its name we have no actual confirmation that it will drop from Vashj. If those stats are accurate, it would be the highest DPS one-handed weapon in the game, aside from the epic weaponsmithing weapons (Blazefury, Dragonstrike, and Wicked Edge of the Plains).[via MMO-Champion]
On Needing and Greeding
Some of you may remember, as I do, a time when there was no Greed button, only a dice and pass options on looting. Either you wanted the item, or you didn't. Or, it was BoP loot, in which case, as I remember, everyone was supposed to pass, and then you all decided what to do-- though it was so long ago, I can't quite remember why that was...At any rate, that time is over, and now we have the option to Need or Greed roll on loot that shows up, so it's pretty clear what to do when loot drops-- if you need it, roll Need, and compete with other Needers. If you just want, roll Greed or pass, and everybody's happy.Except, as with everything, there are exceptions. Nesp from Lightning Blade brings up one of the most common-- he's a jewelcrafter, and he's wondering if he should roll Need or Greed on gems-- sometimes, he's the only one in the party that can cut them, but then again, anyone can use them after they're cut. Likewise, I think there's a little confusion about things like Fel Armaments and Arcane Tomes as well-- yes, people of the opposite faction from Aldor or Scryer shouldn't roll on rewards they don't need, but should the right factioned people all roll Need or Greed? Likewise, everyone needed things like Corrupter's Scourgestones-- should everyone in that case roll Need, or just roll Greed?As Blizzard says (sensibly) in the thread, the best policy is to actually decide on a policy within the party before you have to-- nothing worse than losing an item to someone who can't use it, or taking an item accidentally that you don't really need. My plan is probably the default most players use: if you need it (as in, you can wear it or turn it in ASAP), roll need. If you don't (or you're going to sell it at the AH or DE or vendor it away), roll greed, and live with the consequences (there's always more loot to gain). But whatever works for you is what works best.
Around Azeroth Extra: Kruul stomps Stormwind
As we all know, Kazzak has gone through the dark portal and left his lieutenant, Kruul, in his stead. It looks like Kruul got tired of hanging around the Blasted Lands and wanted to come see the cities of the world -- I've heard about Kruul sightings in at least Stormwind, Booty Bay, and Ironforge today. So I flew into Stormwind to try to get his autograph, but he seems to have accidentally one-shotted me with his Void Bolt volley. About six times.
C'Thun's Loot Table?
No, C'Thun has not been killed yet, but there are already rumors floating around as to what he might drop. Sure, there's no proof of any of this, but news of this nature seems to inevitably leak early - from Nefarian's loot tables to every set of patch notes. Casters will immediately be drawn to a new legendary item - a trinket dubbed The Piercing Eye of the Abyss. It gives an underwhelming bonus of 2% spell crit but also has the following interesting effect...Upon death, you have a chance to be possessed by the spirit of the Old God for 20 seconds. While possessed you cannot be attacked or targeted by any spells or effects and your damage spells deal bonus Shadow damage. When the effect ends, you die.While certainly interesting, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this item, or any other item that requires your death as a pre-requisite for usefulness.
