Illidan
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The Queue: Momma said knock you out
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.Another day, more Q&A. Let's just get started, eh?MauroDiogo asked... I'm facing a bit of a dillemma. I've got a level 80 druid (Feral). a 70 warlock waiting to be levelled and a fresh new Death Knight (and many many other alts which I dont feel like levelling at the moment) I've recently spent almost 3K Gold in new tanking gear,enchantments and gems for my druid and the following day I went a bit emo and lost interest in the druid. To make things worse Allison wrote the article about how feral druids are doing in comparison with the other in-game tanks. Shall I just stick with my druid and hope that better days will come or shall I focus on a different character?
Hi Arthas! Want some help slaughtering the innocent?
A guildmate of mine was healing a Culling of Stratholme run last night and finally broached a question that seems to have occurred to everyone who's helped Arthas take his utilitarian moral perspective on the road: "Why are we helping this guy?"It's a question that people used to ask about Black Morass a lot too (indeed, the first boss, Chrono Lord Deja, will ask you that himself), but Black Morass was a little more cut-and-dried. Medivh unquestionably cost many lives in bringing the first Horde through his portal, but if the orcs never set foot in Azeroth, then the world would have fallen to the Legion. The Bronze Dragonflight is unusually blunt about the cause-and-effect; war breaks out among the human kingdoms, the Alliance never occurs, the new Horde is not present at Hyjal to defend against Archimonde's forces -- indeed, the Legion may very well have swept the world without Hyjal ever occurring. So, despite the destruction wrought by the first Horde's entry into Azeroth (and you could argue, because of it), Medivh must succeed in opening the portal.I'm not sure it's quite that straightforward with "Old Strat" -- and questions about whether it is prompt some thought-provoking questions concerning Azeroth's past, present, and future.
Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we sing a swansong to TBC raiding in all its glory.With less than a week to go before we all start frantically levelling and leaving Outland behind for good, let's not forget the ups and downs raiding during The Burning Crusade has brought us. From Attumen to Kil'jaeden, we've run the gamut of raiding, killing anything from pit lords to corrupted naaru with nary a blink.We've shed blood and tears over rare drops, wiped countless times until the small hours, decked our alts out in epics and moved servers to find a better guild. We've rerolled, watched ourselves and our raid instances get nerfed, hung out in Shattrath showing off our gear, and gotten to grips with major class changes in the last two weeks. So let's look back...
Shifting Perspectives: State of the class, part 1 - Balance
Every Tuesday, or possibly Thursday when the writer votes on Tuesday and spends Wednesday screaming and beating her laptop over formatting errors, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week Allison Robert steals John Patricelli's column once again, secure in the knowledge that she will never be forced to atone for her crime as long as she writes something nice about ferals and keeps a respectful distance from Dan O'Halloran's whip.I hate Tauren cat form.Good. I got that out of my system and can write something productive. Although, believe me, if I could get away with it, an entire Shifting Perspectives would be devoted to just how much I hate Tauren cat form. I mean, just look at it! Look at the angle on the horns! The cat can't bite anything! Christ, I just -- hi, Dan. Yes, I'm totally writing the column! Look at me go!This week, mindful as always of American election-year politicking, I'm going to borrow a page from presidential duties and write a little something I like to call "State of the Class." Druids have undergone a number of changes in the transition to Wrath of the Lich King, and will acquire even more as they level to 80. We are one of Blizzard's primary targets for both gear and role consolidation, which raises a few questions over how comfortably we're going to scale in relation to pure classes and what we can realistically expect on the march to a new level cap.The TL:DR version of this article -- I believe our future is generally bright, the Druid community continues to have a few concerns over certain aspects of the class, our focus in PvP seems to be changing the most, and I hate Tauren cat form. This is a three-part post, so let's get started with balance. However, if you want to jump ahead to feral, you'll find that here; and the third part, restoration, is here.
All the World's a Stage: So you still want to be a blood elf
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the eleventh in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. This article is largely a continuation of last week's article, which has been updated for accuracy.There has been a great deal of change and evolution of the world of World of Warcraft, and to a certain extent, all the available player races have gone through changes because of the events that have taken place. The original release content had lots of dungeons and quests and things going on, but each one seemed to tell the story of a place rather than the story of a people. Like each place, the stories told there seemed static, as the players grew and moved on, the places all remained the same.The Burning Crusade, however, began to change all that. Instead of just adding new content with each patch, some aspects of the old content were changed as well, with certain characters and peoples coming to the foreground as major antagonists. Players were no longer merely vague adventurers tasked with saving the world from one giant evil monster or another, their characters had vested interests in bringing about some change in their circumstances. For no group of player-aligned characters was this as true as it was with the blood elves. From the time The Burning Crusade was released, up to now, when the next chapter of the Warcraft story (Wrath of the Lich King) is starting to unfold, the blood elves are the only player faction whose leader has turned into a major boss in a dungeon (not once but twice!), whose capital city has been deprived of one of its most significant residents (who also ended up turned into a major dungeon boss), and whose culture has undergone a complete turnaround over the course of this expansion's expanding storyline. The draenei, of course, played a huge role in the story of The Burning Crusade, but in the end, they were mostly just very strong supporting characters. The blood elves were the stars of the show.
Ask a Lore Nerd: The Eye of the Tiger and the Warglaives of Azzinoth
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.Last week on Ask a Lore Nerd, Offsprnge (one of your fellow readers) asked me to write this week's edition with some Eye of the Tiger playing. I guess I came across a little tired last week, so I'm going to do just that. To fit the groove, I ask all of you guys one favor: Read the questions and answers in the voice of Rocky Balboa. If it will help you get in the mood, go ahead and read it out loud in that voice.And since we're already talking about it, Offsprnge asked... Right, I think I got a good one by the way, perhaps it is so obvious I should slap myself, but the whole battle for Mount Hyjal features the Burning Legion invading with it's commander Archimonde, however, why are there hordes of ghouls, liches, necromancers, frost wyrms and "all that kind of thing!" (find the reference). Again, like another reader mentioned, at the time the Lich King was still feigning allegiance to the Burning Legion. It doesn't pay to make the Legion suspicious too early. At the same time, the Lich King played a role in weakening Archimonde's forces: He used Illidan to destroy Tichondrius and his forces, which were to play support for Archimonde. The Scourge that were at the Battle of Mount Hyjal were sacrifices, pawns to keep Archimonde overconfident.
Voidwalker tanks Illidan, for real this time
The other day, in response to a Hunter pet tanking Gruul, I posted a video of a Voidwalker tanking Illidan... almost. The Voidwalker survived most of phase one, which is quite nearly identical to all of the 'humanoid' phases, so to me that was good enough. It wasn't good enough for everyone though, so they're back with a video of the entire fight.The Voidwalker tanks all of the phases except for the fire elemental phase, because that requires far more finesse than what you can do with a pet, or they can do on their own. The Voidwalker also didn't tank the demon phase, because there wasn't one. Their gear levels combined with the new talents of patch 3.0.2 and the added raid nerf let them beat the encounter without ever seeing an entire phase of it. That's like opening a bag of Runts to find out someone took all of the bananas. The bananas are the best part, you jerks.
Voidwalker tanks Illidan, almost
Step aside, hunter pets. There's a new raid tank in town: Voidwalkers. The guild Hexed from Dragonblight-US got a little bored raiding the old fashioned way with all of the nerfs that have gone in, what with Killy J down already, so they decided to do things a little differently. They pulled out a Voidwalker and sent it a-tankin'.Through liberal use of Demonic Empowerment (and its associated threat bug) and their awesome healers, Mister Voidwalker successfully tanked the Priestess mob in the Illidari Council encounter and most of Illidan himself. An incident with Parasites caused a little chaos, which ultimately spelled the voidwalker's demise. Illidan hits juuust a little too hard to live through a few of the healers scrambling away from parasites. Even if it had 23,000 HP.It was also mentioned in the e-mail to us here at WoW Insider that they used the Voidwalker to tank the first three bosses in Mount Hyjal as well. I think even a baby kitten could tank the first three bosses of Mount Hyjal nowadays, but using a Voidy for it is still pretty dang cool. I hope to see more off the wall stuff like this before Wrath launches, so if you have it, please send it in to us!
Guildwatch: Slow going
It's a little silly, we admit, to say "every time an expansion patch comes around," because this is really only the second time it's happened, but every time an expansion patch comes around, guild action slows down a bit, and as a result, this week (and probably the next few weeks) will find Guildwatch poking around for a little more guild news.But the good news is that lots of guilds are taking advantage of the easier endgame, so if yours is, be sure to drop us a line at wowguildwatch@gmail.com -- no down is too small, and no drama is too minor. Whether it's your guild or someone else's, we want to hear about it, and then post it here on GW for all to see.
Guildwatch: Prime Time Hours!
It's good to know that, whatever changes in the World of Warcraft, be it talents or raids, or pets or mounts, or anything else, there'll always be people that take the game too darn seriously. And when they do, that's usually when Guildwatch shows up, mostly, let's admit it, to point and laugh.Oh, but we also praise those who get things done, too. It's all in this week's Guildwatch, as usual -- check behind the link below for drama, downed, and recruiting news from around the realms. Patch 3.0.2 is here, Wrath is just around the corner, and Guildwatch continues to cover the good, the bad and the ugly in the world of guilds.
A sneak peek at the BlizzCon floor
Our good friends at the Orange County Register were lucky enough to be let into BlizzCon yesterday (we'll be on the floor in just a few hours here), and they've got a preview gallery of what it's like in there up on their site right now. There's nothing super revealing in there, but there are lots of pictures of vendors setting up, and the various stages they'll have at the event. The Illidan statue from last year is making a re-appearance, and he's joined by someone Starcraft fans will want to see.We can't wait to get in there -- Diablo 3 will be playable, and of course we'll have coverage from all the panels, tournaments, and booths inside the convention center all day today and tomorrow. The Opening Ceremony starts at 11am PST, so stay tuned here to watch our coverage as it goes down live.
Bornakk confirms raid nerf
Blue poster Bornakk has clarified what many people were noticing yesterday: all Burning Crusade raiding mobs have had their health reduced (approximately 30 percent according to data collected). He also goes on to say that the mobs will be doing less physical damage, although the spell damage will remain the same.As far my close and personal friend Illidan goes, he will no longer be casting Shear. While I understand the need for this, as a Warrior can no longer spam Shield Block come patch 3.0.2, I will miss this particular mechanic in that it truly provided a test of skill above the standard tank and spank mechanic.The HP nerf to all of the raid bosses isn't sitting too well with me either. It makes me sigh in frustration at the weeks my guild spent getting the last 25% of Brut down to a science. Had this nerf been in place three months ago, we would have killed him on the second night of attempts.But that is the life of these games, onward and upward towards Wrath of the Lich King!
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a night elf
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the seventh in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself.The night elves are probably the most difficult race to roleplay well in all the World of Warcraft, which is particularly ironic considering how very popular they are. Many a roleplayer has been disappointed by seeing player character night elves who are 21 years old, who were born in Darnassus or Teldrassil, or whose mother or father is human -- all of which would be next to impossible according to the actual lore of the game. The only way to make things like this is to change the lore to suit your own preferences, or to rely on cliche devices such as time travel and special magics which really go too far into the realm of the abominably self-centered Mary Sue.Night elves can also be difficult to understand, and full of contradictions: they can be over 10,000 years old, and yet they often do not possess the vast wisdom that would seem to come with such an age; they are deeply connected to nature, and yet they sometimes act without the blessings of nature; their women are supposed to be very fierce warriors, and yet their animation in the game has them bouncing up and down like teenage girls at their favorite boy-band concert.And yet much of this is just the sort of thing that draws people to the night elves. There's a youthful passion combined with ancient grace and sadness that many roleplayers just love to get into. Also, for those who love to develop long and complex background stories for their characters, there is a great deal of history about the night elves' ancient past which can serve as good inspiration for many of your own character's life events. We won't go into every detail of ancient history today, however; instead we'll cover the basics that you'll need to know in order to start out with a night elf that fits in the Warcraft story, and direct you to some more resources if you'd like to make one with a really deep and complicated background.
Illidan enters TCG play in Black Temple as Master Hero
Mike Hummel at the official WoW Trading Card Game site posted some interesting teasers about the upcoming Black Temple expansion. Specifically, the man behind Papa Hummel's biscuits brings us news of the new, bad-mofo Master hero: Illidan himself. Illidan's going to be a Master Hero. At first glance, they play like most any other card. They start off in your deck, and they get shuffled into your hand as normal. However, when you can afford the resources to bring Illidan into play, he replaces your existing hero. He starts off with same states and effects as the hero he replaces -- this includes any counters and damage, or other effects like Gouge. Of course, folks on the TCG forums aren't entirely convinced of Illidan's uberosity. As Zubino points out, you have to wait at least until turn 11 to get him out. If you're stalling until turn 11, then you need a whole lot of other oomph in your deck to be able to prop up the card. Still, being able to call out a Traitor ally every round is a nice ability, and we can all hope to boost him up a little more with Warglaives. And don't forget -- 35 health is nothing to sneeze at in a Hero card. The Master hero definitely brings another facet of play to the TCG, which is about more than just the loot cards. Of course, now I have to wonder who the next Master hero will be.
World of WarCrafts: Raid art
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.With Wrath looming over the horizon, the instances we currently spend all of our time inwill become obsolete. The dusty halls of Karazhan will be forgotten and we will never have another chance at obtaining an Amani War Bear. So, here's your chance to commemorate the good times with your fellow guildies and spruce up your WoWspace. Here is what you will need: White Cardstock Color Printer Scissors Paper Cutter Xacto Knife Double Sided Tape Photo Frames (8x10) Matboard (3 for 8x10 frames) Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-31666%
A new round of free character transfers announced
As of noon today, a new set of free character transfers are available from select realms due to their exceedingly high population. Bornakk says that these transfers will last until Wednesday, September 10th unless their transfer goal is met early. In that case, the character transfers will end early as well. Get in while you can, if you're on one of these realms!The realms Illidan, Mal'Ganis and Warsong have the option to transfer to the Zuluhed server. Aerie Peak, Area 52, Moon Guard, and Zul'Jin have the option of transferring to Muradin. On the Oceanic side of things, the servers Barthilas and Frostmourne may transfer to Dreadmaul if they so choose. Forum links embedded for your new-home-researching convenience.Remember, these transfers are only open until September 10th or until their transfer quota is met. If you're interested in moving, do it as soon as you can so you don't miss out.
Guildwatch: Unknown withdrew... any chance of joining another guild
Consider yourself lucky if you've never seen the sight above before -- it's the sign of a former guildleader yanking everything out of the guild bank (including all the stuff above and a good 12,000g) and transferring off to another server. Good times. This is why I usually keep all of my Hearts of Darkness under my mattress at home -- the banks just aren't safe.This isn't the only guild leader ninja we heard about this week, and it's definitely not the only messy drama -- there's lots more right after you click the link below. Don't forget to send in your tips about drama, downed and recruiting news from around the realms to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. We really appreciate it, and lovers of drama of all kinds do too.
Richard Knaak interviewed, writing a new Stormrage book
The guys over at BlizzPlanet have a knack for finding Knaak news (I know, I know, that was bad) -- they heard about an interview with him on a certain WoW podcast, and kindly broke down what he said for those of us who don't have the time to listen in.It sounds like he talks pretty insightfully about how he sussed out main character traits for the NPCs of the Warcraft universe -- he based what he had them do on their past actions, and he says that Blizzard has a few "lorekeepers" (we'd imagine Chris Metzen is among them) who track the history of Azeroth and its inhabitants for reference purposes. He's only played a little bit of WoW, apparently, but he pieces the rest from lore and screenshots.And, perhaps most interesting, at the end of the interview, he says he's working on a new book called "Stormrage," which we'd assume would be about a certain Demon/Night Elf. Fans of the extended universe will certainly want to check out the interview itself.
Are tanks the most drama prone?
My tanking corps rocks. They really do. I'm quite happy to be their officer representative. We all play our role as the meat shield very well, rarely do we miss a shield block in our rotation or forget to pop a health stone as healers make transitions in and out of the demon realm in Kalecgos. What is interesting about any tanking corps I've been apart of is the inevitable drama that comes up.Since I've been in a few different guilds with a few different tanking corps and this drama always seems to happen and happen the same way, I have to ask: are tanks the most drama prone?It's best to define what drama actually is. Drama is any whining and moaning from anyone about things out of their control. If they complain about things in their control, well, then they just fail miserably and probably should spend some time outside to recenter themselves. For instance, a tank complaining loudly that his healer always is the first to get constructs in Gorefiend and demanding that they get a soulstone before the fight even starts, is drama. A tank complaining that they need healers X, Y, and Z, in the raid or else they won't do anything but auto-attack Illidan, is drama.A tank complaining that they deserve extra guild repair money for their expensive plate armor, is drama. And since the tank is special, they also need their own rank to let everyone know this (but it's also practical because only they should be able to withdraw 300g a night in repair money).
Tank Talk: The irresistible fight
Tank Talk is WoW Insider's raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and Allison Robert (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, raid-tanking strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish. Since Tank Talk began, we've gotten a few questions from people about raid fights that require tanks to use resist gear. With all of Burning Crusade's raid attunements now removed, and with lots of guilds testing the waters in Tier 5 and Tier 6 before Wrath hits, I figure now's as good a time as any to discuss what resist sets you're going to want if your guild is intent on progression. The resist gear issue is nowhere near as dire as it was in vanilla WoW (Molten Core, anyone?) and in general the raid as a whole rarely needs to worry.Tanks are special. But you knew that already, didn't you?This guide covers all of the existing 10-man and 25-man content in the game outside of Sunwell Plateau:
