bosses
Latest
Old world boss gold drops reduced in 3.0.8
Enjoy soloing Onyxia for a quick 180 gold every five days? With patch 3.0.8, those good old days are no more, as boss gold drops (at least back in the old world) seem to have been significantly reduced. Onyxia's 180 gold is now 50 gold and forum posters are noticing similar reductions in other old world raids from Ahn'Qiraj to Zul'Gurub. Is this the end of old world raiding for good? Well, it may not be as profitiable, but I'm willing to go on record saying that slaughtering Onyxia is still plenty of fun. Plus it's the only way to complete that awesome tier 2 set you need to be super stylish while idling in Dalaran.[Thanks, Rhaziel!]
Guildwatch: Get on your main and come duel me you !%#*
Now we're getting some where -- this is the first real week where we've seen lots of achievements reported in terms of what guilds are doing, rather than actual boss progression. I think this is the future of raiding in the endgame -- you'll walk through content pretty easily, but the achievements will be what really taxes your guild. We've seen our first Sartharion with three drakes achievement in Guildwatch this week (above), and our first "The Undying" mention, too. Here's to many more.Lots more drama, downed and recruiting news after the break. Enjoy.
Scouting around with the Crashin' Thrashin' Racer
Cabinetsanchez over on LJ has documented something that I saw in action yesterday while running a few instances -- while it's a ton of fun to run my Crashin' Thrashin Racer around (I'm undefeated since I picked up the achievement the first day I got the toy, by the way), players have found a few extra ways to make the Racers work for them. Yesterday, I saw one of my group members using the Racer a few times to scout the instance ahead and see what pulled with what, and as CS says, it worked great: while the Racer will aggro enemies, they won't tag on to the rest of the group -- they'll just reset after they destroy the little car.CS also says that the Racer takes no falling damage, so you can send it exploring off of cliffs and platforms, and he says that though the car is considered level 60, its aggro range is pretty small (I can attest to this, as we were driving it pretty close to enemies yesterday without it registering on their radar). And he's got an even more devious use (some might say this is an exploit): bosses aggroed by the racer will sometimes despawn after they conquer it for up to 30 seconds or so. That seems like a hotfix waiting to happen, but I haven't personally tried it, so it may not be as useful as it sounds.The downside of this is that the Racer was meant to be a fun item, and if it really does lead to behavior that Blizzard considers exploiting, they might have to think twice about including great items like this in the future. We'll have to see what their ruling on this is, but hopefully no matter what happens (I'm guessing a quick hotfix, maybe even shrinking the range of the Racer's controller), this won't prevent Blizzard from giving us more fun toys later on.
Breakfast Topic: Playing at work
We talked about this a while back, but the coolest thing I pulled out of the "working at Blizzard" article last weekend wasn't the on-site gyms, valet parking, subsidized cafeteria, or the amazing swag, it was than when your boss walks in the room at Blizzard, it's totally OK if you're playing a game. Of course, as a freelance writer, I've got a little freedom to play with any free time I have, but my free time comes in small amounts these days (I only made it to 78 this weekend) -- being able to play WoW at work (and have it count) would be great.Of course, some of you play WoW anyway (or just read our site -- don't worry, we won't tell your boss) even if you're supposed to be doing something else. And some jobs (security guards, IT tech support, a few call centers) lend themselves well to playing WoW during breaks, or just when the boss is not looking. What's your situation? Are you not near a computer to play WoW on at work, do you bring your own external drive in to play during lunch, or are you constantly alt-tabbing in case the boss stops by?
Guildwatch: Rolling the endgame
Boy, there's definitely no Naxx bump this time around (unlike the old Karazhan bump) -- guilds are hitting 80 and rolling right into the endgame. Of course, with even casual players moving this fast (surely casual players are 80 by now right, Ghostcrawler?) there may eventually be a problem of having new content to experience... unless you consider all of the rep grinding and Wintergrasp to be new content (and we do). But pretty soon, we'll have to have guilds reporting on achievements instead -- anyone actually beat Sarth with the three drakes yet?In the meantime, there's plenty of regular downings, crazy drama, and some good guilds recruiting right after the jump, so click the link below to see what's new around the guilds of World of Warcraft.
The Guild: Christmas special 2008
Yes, The Guild is back with another Christmas special this year, and this time it's a retelling of "The Night Before Christmas" with a decidedly MMO spin. St. Nick is a level 90 rare spawn, apparently, and the guidies have to be careful -- not only does he have a few mean adds (including a reindeer with a Shiny Nose buff), but he's got more than one phase to get through, too.Very cute. The video should be on Xbox Live and the Zune marketplace as usual, and we should be very close to having the rest of the guild's episodes sitting right on The Guild's site as well, so stay tuned for that. Maybe next year we'll be able to see some of St. Nick's dropped loot tables.
World of Warcraft Molten Core raid for ATARI becomes reality
Earlier this year, Blizzard won the prank wars with Molten Core, a faux ATARI game based on World of Warcraft's Molten Core raid complete with eight directions of movement, glorious 2D graphics and, yes, sound. We bet you thought that was just a joke, and that everyone would have forgotten about it after a week had gone by, but guess what? It's back, and this time it's real!Gamer's University made a "port" of the ATARI game for WIndows PCs, and it includes all that was promised in Blizzard's trailer. One player plays as a priest, the other as a warrior, and each has eight movement directions and one action button (heal for the priest, attack for the warrior) with which to defeat the ten bosses. Hard to believe people used to pay big bucks for these sorts of games, isn't it?[Via Eurogamer]
Kael'thas dropped with just 12 people
Personally, I think we've already seen proof of just how easy the endgame is now, but I've never done the Kael fight, so maybe this is even more of a feat. Dissonance on Alleria finished off Kael'thas Sunstrider (the 25-man version, not the 5-man fight in Magisters' Terrace) with just twelve people. Looks like kiting was a big technique, but otherwise, just seems like they were able to overpower everything else in the fight. They actually tried it with 10, they say (they dropped Al'ar, Void Reaver, and Solarian with 10 the week before), but the MCs in Phase 4 were a bit much, so they pulled in two more.This is a Sunwell guild, so they've got pretty much the best gear you can walk around with in the game, and as we've said here before, these instances really got nerfed twice: once when Blizzard nerfed the actual bosses' HP and damage, and a second time when Blizz gave us all the 51-point talents before the expansion.But it's definitely an achievement, toppling a 25-man boss with less than half the required group. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, sure, but don't fret, raiders seeking a real challenge -- we're sure Blizzard will make up the difficulty when we all step into the new endgame in Northrend.
Phat Loot Phriday: Swiftsteel Bludgeon
Haven't done a Mace in a while, and there are surprisingly few melee maces floating around nowadays. Since Shamans can't wield swords, most of the really high end maces have spellpower on them. But here's one that's meant for cracking heads.Name: Swiftsteel Bludgeon (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDigger)Type: Epic One-hand MaceDamage/Speed: 105-196 / 1.50 (100.3 DPS)Abilities: Improves hit rating by 19, improves haste by 27, and increases attack power by 40. This isn't a weapon at the top of anybody's game (especially with the nerf to maces wielded by Rogues in 3.0.2). But it is good as a stopgap, especially for Fury Warriors in the offhand slot trying to spam Execute and needing a fast weapon to do so (at 1.50, this is definitely a fast weapon). But don't get too angry, commenters -- there are definitely plenty of other weapons to use at this level and above. The only reason you'd really jump on this one is if you're melee DPS in need of a nice Epic mace in Black Temple, and you're not first in line to grab any of the really great ones that come from the bosses. Not everybody gets to wield Warglaives or the Syphon, not right away. How to Get It: Drops from Black Temple trash, and seriously, have you been in there after the patch yet? It's a free-for-all. Blizzard's big solution to having no one see the endgame was to nerf it to oblivion before Wrath so everyone could get in there and get all of the Epic looting out of their system.So round up 24 friends (you'll still need to be at least a little epic before you go in there, don't skimp on the SSC and TK runs), head into BT, and loot the place for all it's worth. Eventually, this one will drop, and if you're a melee-er who needs a mace, win the roll and it's yours. Of course, you can expect it to be replaced in Northrend eventually, but who cares? An epic is an epic, right?Getting Rid of It: Disenchants into a Void Crystal, sells for 14g 1s 84c. Too bad you can't melt it down -- putting all your money into swiftsteel might actually be a pretty good idea in this economy.%Gallery-33600%
Giving PvE players their own Arenas
Here's an interesting idea that's cropped up on the official forums: PvE arenas. In short, the idea is as follows: Round up four of your friends and form a party. Talk to the PvE arena master and get dropped into a cage match with a random dungeon boss from classic or BC, tuned up to level 80. If you win (that is, the boss dies before the last member of your party), your PvE arena rating increases. If you lose, it decreases. Bosses have their own rating, which develops week-by-week similar to players', so beating the harder bosses will do better for your score, and they'll try to match your team up against bosses that are an appropriate level of difficulty for you. PvE arena points are earned just like PvP arena points, and can be spent on rewards in a similar fashion. An alternate suggestion (also by the OP) is to reward badges based on PvE arena rating, which I think is a better idea, as well as being easier to implement, because it ties into the existing badge system. Even Tigole thought it was a "cool idea," so there is the ghost of a chance that we will see it in a Wrath content patch. I would definitely enjoy the chance to make a quick pass at a boss or two with four of my friends, and get some extra badges for it at the end of the week. It would also be really fun to get to face some old bosses again, especially given Blizzard's steadfast refusal to implement heroic Deadmines.
Guildwatch: Still dropping bosses
That's Cooldown of Darkspear, above, basking in the glory of a boss kill. While it seemed like raiding came to a standstill before BC, that's not really the case before Wrath -- while it's certainly slower, there's lots of people out there still killing bad guys.And Guildwatch reports on as many of them as we hear about -- if you'd like to see your guild here (or have a good time on some wacky forum drama, either on the offficial forums or somewhere else), drop us a line at wowguildwatch@gmail.com. And click the link below to see this week's drama, downed, and recruiting news from all the guilds around the realms.
Boss models updated in Wrath Beta
A nice surprise awaited the citizens of Stormwind and the Undercity when the new Beta build went live earlier. New, unique models for King Varian Wrynn and Lady Sylvanas Windrunner debuted in their respective cities, looking every bit as awesome as faction leaders should be. Although Lady Sylvanas received a makeover over a month ago -- changed from the erroneous Night Elf model into the proper High or Blood Elf model -- this newest iteration is more regal, more intimidating, and just more badass. Taking a screenshot proved difficult as throngs of admirers threw all sorts of emotes at the new Dark Lady from /cowers to /kisses. King Varian Wrynn in Stormwind also received a graphic overhaul, upgrading from pre-TBC PvP Honor gear to a unique armor set with an eagle and lion motif. He also no longer dual-wields Jade Serpentblades but more appropriately what looks like Quel'serrar. So Wrynn has apparently taken care of the Onyxia problem. Twice. Alex Ziebart points out that he also seems to be wearing Anduin Lothar's belt (always thank your lore nerds!). It's a cool model except that he always seems to be scowling and occasionally yawns. But the details matter -- Varian's face is also battle-scarred -- and I want to seriously give props to the Blizzard artists behind these new models. They're just completely fantastic.[EDIT: I probably should have mentioned this, too, since I'd already checked it out but reader RogueJedi86 called me on it -- they also updated the dragon model for Alexstraza, and can be viewed on World of Raids. She really likes her trinkets and baubles like the sophisticated lady that she is...]In other news, this Beta build also saw the traitorious Varimathras converted into a duotone Rubik's Cube. Maybe a placeholder for better graphics or punishment for being such an arrogant lackey? If anything, however, with all these unique models coming out, perhaps it's a good time to update the other boss models in the game. Thrall, the baddest of all badasses, still looks like he's in Level 40 greens [NOTE: Reader Skeeran correctly reminds me that Thrall's armor is Orgrim Doomhammer's armor as seen in Warcraft III... but it still looks like Level 40 greens.]. Even worse off is Cairne Bloodhoof, who looks like he got all his gear from the Wailing Caverns. Since these bosses are soon going receive a lot of visitors, it's probably a good time to dress them up properly to receive them. I mean, Tyrande Whisperwind is still wearing a nightdress...
It's-a Mario World: Final Bosses
The workweek is nearly over, which means it's time again to rehash the delightful, if discontinuous, mythology of the Mushroom Kingdom and its many colorful characters. Last week we had you grinding the gears of mini-boss semantics while ogling the usual gallery-candy, and today we want to continue in a similar vein. But let's up the ante, shall we? Who are the real bosses Mario has battled? No more of this egg-spitting mediocrity and three-hit nonsense. Half-assed baddies, step aside.The road has been long for Mario, and each of his victories have been marked with the defeat of a substantial villain, restoring order to various kingdoms and rescuing their fair and easily kidnapped damsels. The extended Koopa Troop family has long been a threat to the 'stache, but who are these other punitive powers that precede the credit screens? Let's take a gander at final bosses in a new gallery rife with heavyweight evildoing. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
It's-a Mario World: Mini-Boss Mayhem
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Mario_s_10_greatest_mini_bosses'; Last week we prompted some rich scholarly debate about Bowser's kids, as literally hundreds of comments (precise statistics unverified) argued back and forth as to whether the Koopaling characters are worth a damn. Today we return to pose another question: What are mini-bosses, exactly? Are they, like, regular Koopas after chomping down a few mini-mushrooms? Are they the less-popular bosses who have shrunken from our memories? What is so miniature about a mini-boss? Size? Reputation? Well, neither, really. A mini-boss might be defined as an antagonist too powerful to be categorized as a standard henchman, yet too weak to provoke any controller-throwing frustration. Much like their more difficult counterparts--area and final bosses--mini-bosses are usually faced in an enclosed, 1-on-1 setting, albeit with considerably less fanfare. With some exceptions, no trumpets sound as they enter, and no medals are award when they are defeated. Mini-bosses occupy a liminal position in villainy as the halfway hurdles of an overarching challenge. Mario has encountered dozens of these types, a few of which have continued their careers as playable characters in sports and party titles. But do you recall the most famous reindeer mini-bosses of all? We hope so, because we've stuffed a piping hot new gallery full of 'em. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps. And if that isn't good enough, check out the retro Mario you never knew in the latest, greatest Virtually Overlooked.
It's-a Mario World: Koopa Kids
Lately we have found ourselves pondering the Koopa family lineage in all of its complexity. Bowser seems to have outdone himself in the procreation department, but no one seems to know who mothered his children. It seems likely that Princess Peach did at least some of the laboring, given the amount of time she has spent in captivity with Bowser, but Bowletta or Kammy Koopa could have just as easily nursed a Koopaling or two. Details of intimacy between King Koopa and females in the Mushroom Kingdom remain relatively obscured. Regardless, we know that at least 8 children were born to him and his anonymous bedmate(s), with dozens more probably carrying the Koopa genes.Of course, the Koopa kids first appeared in the famed Super Mario Bros. 3. After two subsequent SNES games they vanished for ten years (excluding games like Hotel Mario, which no one really played anyway) until resurfacing in 2003's Game Boy Advance RPG, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, albeit without any dialogue or consequence to the main plot. We are left wondering how they dropped from the radar so abrupty, and why they have recently been condensed into the new Koopaling on the block, Bowser Jr. While such questions might be attributed to marketing and sales the phases of the moon, we can still pay homage to the classic Koopa kids in our new gallery. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
All eight Mega Man 9 boss sprites revealed
Normally used only for the purpose of gauging exactly how sedentary a gamer's lifestyle is, Xbox 360 Achievements have finally proven their value to the rest of the world -- even the non-360-owning portion -- thanks to Capcom. The icons associated with the Mega Man 9 achievements just happen to be black-and-white renditions of character sprites from the game, including all eight bosses! If partial greyscale sprites are all we can get for now, we'll take 'em! And hastily make a Mega Man 2-style character select screen out of them!As for the achievements themselves, they "reveal" secrets like the fact that Dr. Wily is in the game. Please do not tell us you consider that a spoiler. [Via Destructoid]
Blizzard confirms retroactive achievements, when possible
Ever since achievements were announced, the question I've heard the most from players has been about whether what they've already done will count. I attemped to answer this with a little bit of speculation last week, and today Tigole has basically confirmed what we'd already said: that where possible, Blizzard will award achievements retroactively.As we said last week, things like reputations and quests are easy to track -- other than dailies, you can't do the same quest twice, so it's easy for Blizzard to know, since day one, which quests you've done. And if a quest takes you to kill, say Onyxia, and you've completed it, then obviously you've got the achievement. Where it gets a little fuzzier is if you haven't done that quest, but you have killed Onyxia -- Blizzard probably doesn't even know yet if they'll do things like look for specific loot from certain bosses in a character's history, or if they'll extrapolate things even farther -- if you're Exalted with Hydraxian Waterlords, does that mean you've cleared MC?But Tigole does say that Blizzard is making a conscious decision to be as inclusive as possible on these old achievements -- whenever they can, they'll reward credit rather than making you go back to redo old content. That's a good choice -- it does mean that a few people will get angry for not getting the achievement because they killed the boss but didn't do the quest, but the alternative, awarding no retroactive achievements at all, would be even more frustrating.
Guildwatch: Giving out epic gems to scrubs
It's strange how just one little action or one little phrase can completely unravel a whole guild ingame. Of course, you could argue that guilds are ad hoc organizations anyway, and that it shouldn't be surprising that it doesn't take much to knock down a house of cards built only through text on a screen. But for a lot of people, their guildies are good friends and fellow players, and yet one misplaced phrase or piece of loot given out the wrong way can make those ties snap right apart.There's plenty of that in this week's Guildwatch, along with better news (downings from around the realms), and your chance to get in on some of those weak ties (recruiting notices). Click the link below to see the 'Watch, and send your tips to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Because as weak as these ad hoc ties may be, they're still worth having.
Guildwatch: Baby momma drama
You'd think that with the expansion coming, people would be taking a break from this game -- you'd think raiding would slow down, drama would subside (since it's a lot easier now then it used to be to get lots of great gear), and that recruiting would slow down. But this week's Guildwatch is a testament to players' dedication everywhere -- the raiding hasn't stopped, a few guilds are still picking up stragglers, and people are as selfish and whiny about their loot as ever. It warms our heart. Kind of.Drama, downed and recruiting news all after the break. If you've got news for GW, don't hesitate to send it along: wowguildwatch@gmail.com. On to the good stuff (including a baby momma drama llama).
WoW Radio runs Utgarde Keep
Our good friends at WoW Radio have somehow boonswaggled their way into the beta, and they're letting you all reap the rewards: Totalbiscuit and his buddies all ran Utgarde Keep, the first instance of Northrend, and you can see the results above. This is the same instance we played way back at BlizzCon of last year, and it looks about the same -- you can see the hulking Vrykul, the big flame forge with its walls that come down when you pull mobs, and later on you can check out the other boss battles, including a dual boss battle (two bosses, and both have to die, or else the one that dies first spawns a shade of himself), and Ingvar the Plunderer, who has a pretty mean AoE and some cheating help. There's also a few glimpses of other beta features, including Illidan form way at the end.Unfortunately, they don't run the next instance, Sar Chasm, which features a boss who says things to you he doesn't actually mean (spoiler: that's a joke, watch the video). But it's awesome to get a first look at Utgarde, bugs and all (the dragons who walk through the air are pretty fun), and the WoW Radio guys are pretty entertaining the whole time.
