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Know Your Lore: Highmaul and the Gorian Empire
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. "Why Highmaul?" is one of the most frequently asked questions I get these days. It does seem a little strange that we are raiding the capital of ogre civilization when one would think we should be facing down the leaders of all of the Iron Horde we've been fighting against throughout the leveling process. But there's method and reasoning as to why we're invading the ogre stronghold, and it absolutely ties back into the Iron Horde. When one thinks of ogres, one hardly thinks of things like intelligence or cunning -- it's usually the complete opposite. But the ogres of Azeroth are a far, far cry from what they once were, not so long before the events that opened the Dark Portal and began the First War. The Draenor we're currently visiting may be a slightly altered universe, but the history remains by and large the same. And in both instances, there was a point in time where the ogre race ruled supreme.
Learn to beat World of Warcraft's newest raid... in 60 seconds
We realize that there are a couple of different ways to treat that title, so let's be clear: This video guide will teach you how to beat all of the bosses in Highmaul in 60 seconds. It will not teach you how to take 60 seconds to defeat all of them. Yes, it could go either way, but did you really think you could drop World of Warcraft's raid in a minute of playtime? Nope, it's all about length of tutelage, not length of execution. The even shorter version is the universal raid guide for the game, of course: Move out of the thing, stack up if you see everyone else stacking up, and kill the little things. But it's the fine details where everything is really decided. click on past the break and get a minute-long dose of how to not be the one responsible for wiping the group.
All wings of Highmaul LFR now available
If you're looking to continue your journey to LFR domination, the third and final wing of Highmaul opened today. This last wing is home only to Imperator Mar'gok, and, like all other LFR wings, you'll need an ilvl of 615 to queue up. Need a helping hand taking Mar'gok out? There are some great guides to Mar'gok on other difficulty levels that will give you an idea of what to expect -- though, as always, his abilities will be dialed down for LFR difficulty. Take a look through these guides to get an edge on the LFR competition: Icy Veins Ten Ton Hammer GameSkinny Git Er Raid FatbossTV (and for a super quick recap, check their Highmaul in 60 Seconds video) LoS Gaming Good luck in LFR, everyone!
How to send your followers on raid missions
With the right followers, it's possible to get yourself a piece of genuine Highmaul raid loot without ever setting foot inside the raid. Before you endeavor to do this, you should know that the Dwarven Bunker/War Mill and Salvage Yard are basically required to do this in any sane amount of time. You need both buildings to get enough follower armor and weapon upgrades, as these missions require a roster of ilvl 645+ followers to complete. Raid mission basics Your first raid mission will unlock when you have 3 followers at 645 or higher item level. The mission should stick around for at least a couple days if you want to spend some time getting other followers ready. After completing a raid mission, your next one will unlock 2 weeks later. Any piece of loot from the raid appropriate to your loot specialization can drop, with the exception of weapons. Just like normal drops, these can be warforged, socketed, or have tertiary stats. The quality of loot is based on your current progression in the raid itself: Normal caches (ilvl 655 loot) are rewarded if you've killed 0-14 bosses in normal mode. Heroic caches (ilvl 670 loot) are rewarded if you've killed 15+ bosses in normal mode. Mythic caches (ilvl 685 loot) are rewarded if you've killed 15+ bosses in heroic mode. Mythic caches plus a bonus of 1000 gold are rewarded if you've killed 15+ bosses in mythic mode.
Paragon scores world first mythic Highmaul clear
Paragon scored the world first clear of mythic Highmaul this weekend. Method, the first to slay 6 out of 7 Highmaul bosses, was anticipated to finish first, but Paragon came from behind to win the day. Congratulations to Paragon! Hopefully this means their raid team will be able to take a break for the holidays -- assuming the pursuit of mythic gear doesn't override their celebrations. Blackrock Foundry isn't slated to open until early 2015.
Highmaul LFR and Mythic will be live at 10AM PST
If you've been paying attention to the Highmaul opening schedule, then you know that today's the day to both LFR -- at least the first wing of it -- and Mythic Highmaul will go live. (European servers will see their LFR and Mythic variations up tomorrow.) But after rolling restarts this morning, there's no Highmaul. So just when can raiders expect to find these new raids in operation? According to Bashiok, 10AM (in each region's release time) is when raids typically arrive -- including Highmaul. That means players on North American realms, you'll be able to hit up LFR and Mythic Highmaul starting at 10AM PST (or 1PM EST), while European players will see their own LFR and Mythic Highmaul go up tomorrow morning at 10AM CET. If one LFR wing isn't enough, the second and third wings open on December 16th and January 6th, respectively.
Get started raiding Highmaul with these guides
The first raid of Warlords, Highmaul opens its doors to players today (or tomorrow for EU players) for normal and heroic modes. If you're waiting for mythic or raid finder, both of those open on December 9th, with additional raid finder wings opening on December 16th and January 6th. If you're not sure how to get started with Highmaul, we've rounded up the guides that will help you down the biggest bosses and collect the best gear. Wowhead has a great guide covering everything you might want to know about Highmaul, including achievements, ilvl requirements, zone info, and boss guides. Icy Veins offers comprehensive strategy guides for each boss, including videos. GameSkinny has excellent short-and-sweet boss guides. Check part 1 for Kargath, The Butcher, Tectus, and Brackenspore strategies; find Twin Ogron, Ko'ragh and Imperator Mar'gok in part 2. Get-Er Raid has beta videos of heroic kills of each Highmaul boss with easy to follow narration that's packed with helpful info. Top guild Method has beta videos of heroic kills of each Highmaul boss as well as a video walkthrough of the whole raid. The kill videos have no narration to walk you through them, but the Highmaul walkthrough offers advice to help you through the tougher parts of Highmaul. Have your own favorite guide that's not mentioned here? Be sure to let us know in the comments -- and, of course, good luck raiding!
World of Warcraft opens the doors of Highmaul
The raid cycle of World of Warcraft's endgame begins anew today with the advent of Highmaul. While this raid did not go live with Warlords of Draenor's release, Blizzard is now opening the doors a crack to let in players for their first taste of epic combat. Highmaul is a seven-boss raid, although only two of those bosses are mandatory for players to down (but c'mon, only cowards tiptoe by the big baddies). Even though the raid is open for business today, it will feature only normal and heroic difficulties and will not be listed on the raid finder. In the coming weeks, mythic difficulty and raid finder functionality will be added to the instance.
Highmaul and the first world boss opens on December 2
After tomorrow's scheduled maintenance, the normal and heroic versions of Highmaul will be available for raiding on US realms (with EU opening on December 3). The LFR and mythic versions of Highmaul will begin to open the following week. In addition, the first world boss will start spawning in Gorgrond -- either Drov the Ruiner or Tarlna the Ageless, which will alternate every week. Both world bosses drop similar ilvl 650 loot. Normal and heroic are both flexible between 10-30 players and don't share lockouts. You'll find the entrance to Highmaul in western Nagrand (remember, there's no queuing like there used to be for SoO flexible raids). Don't forget your bonus rolls! Head over to Fate-Twister Tiklal (Warspear) or Fate-Twister Seress (Stormshield) to purchase your first set of 3 Seals of Tempered Fate. They can be purchased with gold, Apexis Crystals, Garrison Resources, or Honor Points. You can mix and match or buy all 3 with one type of currency, but the more you buy with the same type of currency the more expensive it gets. You can also get one of these free from a level 3 Dwarven Bunker/War Mill in your garrison, or from a rare follower mission. You are limited to 3 per week across all sources. Check after the break for the full Highmaul raid unlock schedule. Blackrock Foundry is due to open several weeks later.
Tier 17 raid armor preview
Blizzard released a preview of tier 17 armor sets tonight in advance of the grand opening of Highmaul. The paladin set is displayed above and you can see the rest of them over on Battle.net. If I may be a crotchety old Warcraft veteran for a moment, I'm not particularly digging this armor tier. None of the armor sets feel particularly evocative of their class, instead just a spattering of colors and things tacked onto other things. Aesthetics is one of the most subjective things in the world, though. For as apathetic as I am about them, there's undoubtedly someone else who is thrilled.
WoW previews Highmaul raid, kicks off anniversary events today
Are you ready to start in on the raid cycle of Warlords of Draenor? Yes you are; that's what you do here. You can start by checking out the latest World of Warcraft development blog that shows off Highmaul in all its glory. The raid's release will be staggered into four parts, with Normal and Heroic releasing on December 2nd, Mythic and the first part of the Raid Finder difficulty releasing on December 9th, and the final two wings being added to the Raid Finder on December 16th and January 6th. Highmaul contains seven bosses, three of which are optional and two of which are mandatory. Players will take on Kargath Bladefist to kick off the raid experience, while the ultimate encounter leads players against Imperator Mar'gok, the pinnacle of ogre power in the region. You can also take the time to play around with the game's new Twitter hashtag campaign while you wait. That won't help you with the raid at all, really, but it will help pass the time. In other WoW news, Blizzard will be kicking off its previously announced anniversary events today. Both the 40-man, level 100 version of Molten Core and the Southshore vs. Tarren Mill battleground will become available to players through the raid finder and battlemaster queue, respectively. Everyone who logs in will receive a molten corgi pet as a happy birthday present from the team. The events end January 6th.
Highmaul raid schedule revealed
We've all been assiduously leveling through Warlords and now we get to find out what it was all for - starting this December 2nd, Highmaul unlocks, the first Warlords of Draenor raid zone. Blizzard has put a spotlight up on the zone, talking about specific boss fights and when the various wings of the raid unlock. As expected, mythic opens the week after normal/heroic, and LFR unfolds in wings, with wing 1 opening the same week as mythic, then wings 2 and 3 over the following weeks. I'm interested in the decision to have Kargath Bladefist, an iconic character who even got his own Lords of War short, as the very first raid boss of the expansion. I'm also interested that there are three optional bosses this time out, with the Butcher, Tectus and Brackenspore all listed as optional. It reminds me a little of how you could go from Flame Leviathan straight to XT once your raid had geared up enough, and I'm all for it. Head on over to the official site to get started on the preview and thinking about raid strategies. December 2 isn't far off.
World of Warcraft outlines anniversary plans, delays Draenor raid
Blizzard has released a new World of Warcraft dev blog clarifying its 10th anniversary plans in light of Warlords of Draenor's impending launch on November 13th. In short, the festivities will begin on November 21st and run until well after the holidays on January 6th. Those who pony up for a sub in that time period will be awarded the Molten Corgi minipet. If you rush to the new level cap in time, you'll also be able to play through the new level-capped Molten Core raid; if not, then you can still play the new Southshore vs. Tarren Mill battleground, which comes in both level 90-99 and level 100 brackets. Blizzard further notes that the new PvP season and the normal and heroic versions of Draenor's first raid dungeon, Highmaul, will not open until December 2nd to "make sure that everyone [has] had time to level up." Highmaul's LFR and mythic modes will open another week after that. Massively's sister site WoW Insider also has some good news for Draenor devotees this morning: It appears that facial recustomization is now part of the regular barber shop in beta, possibly alleviating the fears of those worried about being saddled with an ugly pixel face once the new race models are live.
Warlords of Draenor: Beta raid testing schedule for Monday, July 28
Raid testing for Warlords of Draenor will continue on Monday with two new scheduled encounters, according to a post made by Lead Game Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas. As with last week's testing, both encounters will be on Heroic difficulty, allowing players to bring a group of anywhere from 10-30 people in order to test the content. To get in the raid, speak to Nexus-Lord Donjon Rade, who is now also located in Dalaran, Shattrath, and both factions Vale Shrines, as well as Stormwind, Orgrimmar, and your garrison. Oregorger from Heroic Blackrock Foundry will begin at approximately 10:30AM PDT, and the Twin Ogron encounter from Heroic Highmaul will begin at approximately 4pm PDT. Characters that participate in testing will have their effective level scaled to 100 for the purposes of testing, so no need to worry about gear or level. Keep in mind that testing periods are subject to change at any time -- so if you're interested in testing, keep a eye on the official forum thread for any updates.
Warlords of Draenor: Raid testing to begin Monday, July 21
Lead Game Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas has announced that the Warlords of Draenor beta will begin raid testing tomorrow with two Heroic encounters -- one from Highmaul, and one from Blackrock Foundry. As a Heroic level encounter, the raid will accommodate anywhere between 10 and 30 players. Players that wish to test the encounter can speak to Nexus-Lord Donjon Rade in either Stormwind, Orgrimmar, or their garrisons, once the encounters are open for testing. The Butcher from Heroic Highmaul will be available for testing beginning at 1:30pm PDT, and Gruul from Heroic Blackrock Foundry will be available beginning at 4pm PDT. Please note that testing periods are subject to change at any time -- if you're interested in testing, keep an eye on the official thread in case any changes are made to times or dates.
Warlords of Draenor: New Dungeon Journal entries
Okay, this one's a little spoilery, but if you're game for that, it's interesting - the latest Alpha build for Warlords of Draenor contains Dungeon Journal entries for several familiar names. We already suspected some of them would be making an appearance, but others are a bit of a surprise. To keep you from seeing spoilers you don't want, the information is behind the jump.
