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The Queue: I want a siege tank IRL
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Today's edition of The Queue is brought to you by my bruised ego after a half-dozen rounds of crushing defeats in StarCraft II. Seriously? Twenty mutalisks in my base while I'm still trying to figure out where my dragoon buddies went? I hate everyone and everything. Yes, even you. Especially you, Taylor. You know who you are. Tethra asked... "Any idea when we're going to get our Olympics pets, other than 'soon'?"
Lich King figure revealed at Toy Fair
Toy Fair started up in New York City yesterday, and as you might expect, there's some nice shiny new Warcraft toys coming out to the event too. Specifically, our friends over at UGO got an exclusive shot of DC Direct's new Lich King. If you're going to feel a bit nostalgic about the poor guy once Patch 3.3 is past and Cataclysm is upon us, I have to say this statue looks like a pretty good way of remembering him. All the iconic details are there, although from this picture, I have to admit Frostmourne looks a bit... small. Of course, that could be because Arthas is in full hulking out threat display there. Overall, it looks a pretty awe inspiring piece, and hopefully we'll be able to get a closer look at it soon. There's more toys to come as well, including these intriguing shots straight from the show, which showcase, among other things, Sylvanas, a worgen, a goblin, and a paladin in Judgement armor.
Know Your Lore: The Lich King
WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for the novel Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, and the final battle with the Lich King in Icecrown Citadel. They're all pretty much contained on Page 2, and I'll give you another warning later just in case you forget about it. Most players are, by this point in Wrath of the Lich King, more than familiar with Arthas Menethil and his fall from supposed grace into the arms of the Lich King. Players may be slightly less familiar with Ner'zhul, the orc shaman who originally took on the mantle of the Lich King, but we've got an article for that. This article on the other hand, isn't so much about Ner'zhul, or Arthas, as it is about the Lich King -- the position that Arthas, and Ner'zhul before him, had foisted upon them. What exactly is the Lich King? What is its purpose, and why does it exist? To answer these questions, we have to go very, very far back into Azeroth's history. Azeroth was created by a group of creatures known as the Titans, a group of almost god-like giants that roam from world to world for a very distinct purpose -- to create and make order. There are a lot of conflicting stories surrounding the Titans, their origins, and the creation of Azeroth -- however, one story stands out above all others; the story of the corruption of Sargeras, champion of the Titans.
The Queue: Two bosses enter this one, too
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. It's happened again, ladies and gentlemen. I've run out of things to say in the intro portion here. That means it's time for another edition of, "write Alex's intro for him in the comments below along with your regularly scheduled questions for the next edition of The Queue." I should probably figure out a shorter name for that game. Brouck asked... "When Cataclysm hits what will happen to Neutral Goblin cities such as Booty Bay, will they become Horde controlled or remain neutral? Do you think another neutral faction will take over."
Spiritual Guidance: On weapons, Nibelung, and the Lich King
Fox Van Allen takes over Spiritual Guidance every Wednesday, preaching the path of darkness and smearing the good and holy name of the priest class. He also mind controls and spreads diseases to not-so-innocent altar boys. I never got a chance to run Molten Core when Molten Core was relevant. I didn't participate in the redemption of the Blood Elves when such a thing was fashionable to do. But now, with an end-game ready level 80 shadow priest at my disposal, I'm ready to take down The Lich King once and for all. I sure as heck haven't done it yet (due solely to the lack of corporate sponsorship, I assure you), and probably won't for a while. Still, there's been more than enough time to sit around and consider the ramifications when I eventually get around to it (you know, just been so busy this week, with my... stuff). Taking down Arthas is the big time, and I want to be rewarded commensurate with the effort I put in. I'll admit it -- I have an incredibly unrealistic expectation of getting an Inflatable Pink Arthas Balloon vanity pet trailing me wherever I go, or some trinket that summons miniature Arthases down to destroy a hopelessly outmatched Keristrasza in a way that elicits "ooohs" and "aaahs" from those newly minted level 80s thrown into the same random dungeon as I. And after glancing at the Lich King's loot table, I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed. I'm not saying the loot isn't good, but if we shadow priests are going to be getting little more than a staff for beating the legendary Lich King, it better be one hell of a damn special staff.
Clarification on normal mode functionality
Over on the EU forums, Slorkuz has clarified a few questions players may have about the new changes coming to normal mode ICC, namely the removal of limited attempts from the final bosses in each wing. While limited attempts will still be in place on heroic mode, they will no longer be in effect on normal mode as of the end of maintenance this morning. To quote: Q: If you extend your raid lockout this week, will you still lose attempts on Normal after the hotfix? A: No. Q: If you run completely out of attempts on Heroic, will the wing bosses and Lich King no longer respawn, even if the difficulty is switched to Normal? A: YES. So leave an attempt left if you wish to kill them on Normal. We'll try and correct this in a future update. Q: Why is the counter still visible in Normal? A: The hotfix being applied just stops the counter decrementing, and nothing more. In other words, raiders attempting the final bosses of these wings on normal difficulty will still see the counter, it simply won't count down if they wipe. More importantly however is the news that players wishing to attempt bosses on Heroic difficulty will need to leave one attempt up if they want to clear the boss on normal mode.
Icecrown Citadel normal modes no longer limited by attempts
Far earlier than any of us had expected, Daelo has announced that the normal modes of Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King will no longer have limited attempts. The heroic modes of these encounters will still have limited attempts, however. To quote: After each region's maintenance this week, raids will no longer lose attempts on wipes in Normal mode for Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. There will still be limited attempts in Heroic mode. We will continue to monitor developments in Icecrown Citadel in the future, especially since the Heroic difficulty has been unlocked by a significant number of raids. A very interesting development, and I'm curious why they decided to lift the attempts system from normal modes entirely. Is it due to a relatively low number of guilds actually killing these bosses right now, or is there some other reason?
Lich King weapon drop changes
Although this probably won't affect too many of us in the near future, Blizzard is already tinkering with many of the stats supplied by the Lich King's weapon drops. A community manager on the Korean site posted about upcoming changes to one Lich King-10 and four Lich King-25 weapons, and Boubouille's posted a translation with help from user Locriani. A lot of raiders had been surprised at the itemization decisions, and as a raiding healer, I've seen a lot of commentary concerning the uninspiring presence of MP5 on the Royal Scepter of Terenas II. Blizzard's specifically addressing these concerns. The following is the list of changes Blizzard's planning to make to Lich King-25 weapons: Royal Scepter of Terenas II: MP5 replaced with haste rating. Archus, Greatstaff of Antonidas: Critical strike rating replaced with haste rating. Heaven's Fall, Kryss of a Thousand Lies: Armor penetration replaced with haste rating. Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalas: Haste rating replaced with armor penetration. And on Lich King-10: Stormfury, Black Blade of the Betrayer: Armor penetration replaced with expertise. We're not sure when these changes are going to go live, but we'll update you when they do. EDIT: The changes have been confirmed by Ancilorn on the EU forums now as well.
Editorial: Thoughts on the Ensidia ban
Are you wondering what has caused all the ruckus in the raiding community the past few days? Have you been typing your fingers to the bone since Wednesday night, arguing for one side or the other in forums and chat channels? Whoever you are, or whatever side you're on, in the still-burning aftermath of Ensidia's ban, I feel some reflection is needed. Thus, I am going explain, to the best of my ability, what happened to cause such uproar in the raiding community this week. I am also going to, as the title implies, offer my speculations.
Paragon scores world-first legitimate 25-man Lich King kill
GuildOx reports that Paragon, from the European Lightning's Blade realm, has defeated the Lich King and acquired the Frozen Throne achievement. While well-known guild Ensidia had defeated him yesterday on 25-man difficulty, they also employed some dubious techniques to win and later paid the price for it by having their loot and achievements removed. Paragon, on the other hand, appears to have completed the encounter in an exploit-free manner and, according to MMO-Champion's Boubouille, did it on their first try. Congratulations go out to Paragon on their clean kill. Now let's see some of those heroic achievements!
Ensidia temporarily banned for exploits
It looks like Ensidia's 25-man world first on the Lich King will go down with an asterisk next to it, because they've all just received a three-day ban for "Abuse of in-game mechanics or glitches with intent to exploit or cheat in World of Warcraft." The Ensidia blog post reporting this is down as of this writing due to traffic, but you can still view the Google cache. The story is that Ensidia made use of Saronite Bombs to "bypass The Lich King fight mechanics" (Saronite Bombs and similar items were disabled in a hotfix last night). In addition to the temporary ban, all items and achievements they gained from downing Arthas have been revoked. Before the ban (but after the hotfix), Ensidia put up a post claiming that they didn't think the bombs were an exploit; Blizzard obviously isn't buying it. Meanwhile, Muqq, the Ensidia player who posted about the ban, has taken this as an opportunity to quit WoW (and rant a bit at Blizzard about "half-assed encounters"), saying "to ban people when they do not know what's causing the bugs is just a [expletive] joke." Update: It's worth a mention that the language Muqq used at the end of his post is identical (save places and names) to this post by Tigole (scroll to the bottom -- it's the last thing on the page), written of EverQuest in 2002. Be warned, neither of these are safe for work.
Breakfast Topic: When the model doesn't match the text
I love gear. Heck, I'm a warrior. I'm required to love gear. And even more than gear itself I love gear with something cool extra, something like Ash'kandi. Not only is Ash'kandi pretty freaking awesome, not only does it have one of the best models ever (even this far into WoW's life cycle few 2h weapons have even come close to rivaling Ash'kandi's model) but it has neat flavor text that helps establish the weapon's role in the game world. This is Anduin Lothar's sword. This is the sword of the Lion of freaking Azeroth! Possibly the greatest warrior ever to walk the land and here is his sword! One of the things I love about the new ICC wing opening, in fact, is discovering that flavor text like that is back. Unfortunately, I also discover that sometimes, model and text do not match up so well. We're going to talk about Lich King loot behind the cut, so if you don't want to know don't go any further.
In-game fixes for February 3rd
In addition to Saronite Bombs being disabled, there are a number of other hotfixes being rolled out on live realms this evening. You can find them in Bornakk's forum thread or continue reading them below. Blood Queen Lana'thel will now begin her flight phase a little earlier in 25 player mode, Vampiric Bite is no longer mitigated by armor, and the damage of Vampiric Bite has been reduced. Toravon will now be affected appropriately by Area-of-Effect damage spells. The Frost Orb corpses in the Toravon encounter will now despawn faster.
Saronite Bombs and similar items disabled [Updated]
We do not know whether or not this was used in the Lich King kills we've seen so far (Ensidia's kill screenshot suggests they did), but Daelo hit the European forums to make the announcement that they've temporarily disabled Saronite Bombs and the Global Thermal Sapper Charge. What does this have to do with the Lich King? Well, Daelo says... We just made a hotfix that disables the siege damage dealt by Saronite Bombs and the Global Thermal Sapper Charge. The siege damage of the bombs was causing the Frozen Throne platform to rebuild, which greatly decreases the difficulty of the encounter. We'll reenable the siege damage in a later update when the issue with the Frozen Throne is fixed. It is a longstanding tradition for end bosses to be exploited in the most hilariously awful of ways, so seeing something like this isn't all that surprising. Here's hoping nothing else like it crops up. Update: Ensidia has released a statement regarding their use of this bug. Update, take 2: Ensidia's raiding crew has received a 72-hour ban from the game (as well as loss of loot and achievements) for using Saronite Bombs to "bypass The Lich King fight mechanics."
Ensidia scores world first 25-man Lich King kill [Updated]
Last night was the world first 10-man kill, tonight it's the world first 25-man kill. The infamous Ensidia of Tarren Mill-EU has scored the kill, and there's a news post on their website confirming it. (Ensidia's site seems to have fallen offline, but you can still read their story via Google cache.) They walked away with Glorenzelg, High-Blade of the Silver Hand and Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalas. Well done, crew! WoW raiding is a bit strange these days, because this kill is actually just the beginning of the road. Now we get to watch the hard modes, which is likely to take quite a bit longer. That's our hope, at least. Will Ensidia walk away with hard mode Lich King as well, or will a group of underdogs come from behind? Will Stars show up in the spotlight again? Only time will tell. Update: Ensidia's raiders have received a 72-hour ban from the game for "abuse of in-game mechanics or glitches with intent to exploit or cheat in World of Warcraft." A hotfix was applied last night to prevent the use of Saronite Bombs (which Ensidia used) in the encounter and Ensidia's loot and achievements have been removed. So that world first? Still up for grabs.
Daelo and Ghostcrawler discuss the Lich King
The latest edition of Blizzard Insider, Blizzard's very sporadic email newsletter (and no relation to our old name, WoW Insider) has been released. Issue 32 features a note that the Starcraft II: WIngs of Liberty site has been revamped, blurbs about the mobile Authenticator and the Armory app, and some calls to buy their merchandise. More interesting for WoW fans, though, is an interview with Scott Mercer (Daelo), WoW's lead encounter designer, and Greg Street (Ghostcrawler), a crab who needs no introduction. They discussed the arc of Arthas and the Lich King from Warcraft II through World of Warcraft (congratulations again to Blood Legion on their 10-man world-first). Please note that here there be spoilers for some details about the Arthas fight, so stay away if you want it all to be a surprise.
WoW.com Guest Post: Is Arthas redeemable?
Richard Powell, otherwise known as Tharion Greyseer, has been an advocate of Warcraft lore and storytelling since he was first enthralled by Warcraft III:Reign of Chaos. Acting on his love of the lore, he started LoreCrafted to help highlight the setting's backstory and bring forth a similar appreciation from within other players. He can be often be found speculating on some of the deeper aspects of this fictional world as he tugs at the various plot threads woven by the developers. As the Ashen Verdict beats down each of the barriers within Icecrown Citadel and defeats some of the most horrific of what the Scourge has to offer, a singular question pricks at the back of the mind of many a hero: does Arthas Menethil deserve redemption? Do not misunderstand. This is not a question of whether he will be redeemed, but a question of whether he should be redeemed. The difference is important.
Blood Legion scores world first Lich King kill
About one hour ago, WoW.com was notified that Blood Legion of Illidan-US has scored the world first of 10-man The Fall of the Lich King (as well as The Frozen Throne.) Ten lucky Blood Legion members walk away with the Kingslayer title, and a... statue of Tirion Fordring? Well... okay. Why not? Congratulations, Blood Legion. Good luck on the hard modes next week! Before everyone jumps to conclusions and bemoans WoW being easy mode, keep in mind this is only the normal mode of the 10-man difficulty. Blood Legion is a high end 25-man guild, so this kill was not what you would call "pure." A kill this quickly doesn't mean the encounter was trivial, because if that were the case we'd have seen many more kills last night. It simply means Blood Legion had an edge, to say the least.
Lich King's loot table revealed
This is surprising: the entire loot table for the Arthas fight, on both 10 and 25-man (normal and hard, judging by the item levels) has just been posted to the Armory. Edit: the loot is also on Wowhead now, complete with 3D models. As tipster Micah noted, if this is really the whole loot table, it consists entirely of armor tokens, weapons, and Invincible's Reins (which is listed as a guaranteed drop on 25-man heroic). The focus on weapons isn't exactly new for raid end bosses, but it's interesting nonetheless. I haven't had a chance to go through the whole list yet, but as far as I can tell, there aren't any of the nifty proc-based items we've been seeing elsewhere in Icecrown. It's pure stats on Arthas drops (though Alex points out that they all the 25-man heroic items have flavor text). Still, I wouldn't say no to a nice Tainted Twig of Nordrassil for my druid. Which one's your favorite?
Enigma's Lich King encounter livestream
Enigma is already hitting the Lich King this evening, and they're livestreaming it for all to see. As of this posting they have 15 attempts left, so we're in for quite the show. Considering it's a livestream of the raid encounter there are bound to be spoilers in it. If you don't want to be spoiled, don't watch. The embed has been placed behind the cut, because there are autoplay issues happening. The last thing we want is the stream starting up automatically for people that don't want to see it. As a note, if the video is not playing correctly for you, just hit pause and then play again. If that doesn't work, refresh. Update: They've ended the stream. That's all, folks!
