naxxramas
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The Immortal clarifications by Bornakk
This was hinted at the other day when the idea of an "Immortal" achievement for Ulduar was thrown around, but Bornakk has stepped up to clear up exactly what's supposed to be happening with Naxx's ultimate "flawless victory" achievement.He clears up all the questions that people have asked. To get the achievement, you only have to be present for Kel'thuzad, as long as no one has died on any of the other bosses. And "dying" on the other bosses means any deaths at all -- including wipes, or any other deaths while bosses are engadged. Deaths on trash are apparently fine, and will not lose you the achievement, but if anyone dies on a boss, the raid ID is lost for the week and you've got to start over again next time (of course, you can still go through and get all of the loot and other rewards, so it's not a total wash).It's tough, no question, but remember that this is an achievement, not a part of normal progress. It's designed to really push your guild (or at least show you've got some good gear). While most of Naxx won't give an experienced, well-geared guild much trouble, achievements like this one can and should be more of a challenge.
Why too many currencies actually helps progression
Badges of Justice, Battleground marks, Marks of Honor Hold and Thrallmar, Spirit Shards, Stone Keeper's Shards, Emblems of Valor, Emblems of Heroism, and now Emblems of Conquest: Ulduar will add yet another currency item into the game and Cypruss of Draka wonders, rightfully, if it's all just too much. The good news is that since the currency system was introduced, all of this stuff is out of our bags, but wouldn't it just be easier if instead of creating a whole new token system, Blizzard just charged a lot more for the gear?Bornakk says no -- he says that if they just kept the same tokens and charged more per item, people would end up doing Naxx, Ulduar, OS, and any other instances that dropped that token every single week rather than actually moving up through the content, which is what Blizzard wants us to do. He also says that the Emblem exchange mechanic is designed to help this -- you can do Ulduar and go backwards for the gear, but you can't do Naxx ten extra times to get Ulduar gear.Which, we have to give it to Blizzard, is actually pretty smart. Yes, it does keep players from farming up the tokens (Blizzard knows that if you could run all the instances per week just to get one kind of token, there'd be lots of players who would), but it also keeps people progressing to get gear they can upgrade to. As Bornakk says, they've been trying to improve the Badge system ever since it was introduced in BC, and this method of introducing new currency to send players up the ladder is a result of their work there.
Guildwatch: "Ok ready for summon"
We have to admit -- that takes chutzpah. Ziro stepped away from a progression raid, got summoned to Molten Core just to ding the achievement, and then asked for a summon back. And got it, even without being /gkicked. First of all, we're surprised he pulled it off -- if something had gone wrong on either side, he'd be out an achievement and a guild. But wow, we're really just amazed at his confidence. All he did was type "Ok ready for summon." And it worked.Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how much you want to be entertained), not all guild runs go so smoothly. After the break, we've got the good, the recruiting, and the ugly. All the guild news fit to print in this week's Guildwatch after the link.
An Immortal in Ulduar and other troublesome achievements
Here's an interesting Ulduar request from Hugner on Hyjal -- he wants to ask that there be no "Immortal"-style achievement in the new raid instance. He says getting the achievement has been super frustrating for his guild, not only because, you know, it's hard, but because with one simple disconnect at the wrong time, the whole week's attempt is wasted.Of course, an achievement like that isn't meant to be easy. Some people in the thread suggest making it more like The Dedicated Few (so that not all the bosses have to be flawless in one run), but Bornakk says it's an achievement -- it's not required and if you really want to get the meaningless points, you'll just have to work around the disconnects. He's also shoring up discontent on the other side of things -- people are complaining that the Gonna Go When the Volcano Blows achievement is messing up their Sarth runs, because they're dodging insignificant damage rather than actually downing the boss. In fact, the easiest way to do that one is just to suicide in the very beginning (because the AoE can't hit corpses), and lots of people are doing that. Bornakk says change isn't likely -- the achievement is designed to be separate from gaining loot from the boss.Bottom line on both of these is that they're achievements -- if they're hard or random or waste time, that's kind of the point. Blizzard may have caved on a few of the holiday achievements, but these endgame achievements aren't meant to be gotten easily or even without a little RNG help.
Why now's the best time to run BC content
Spartonian over on WoW LJ has been running some old content, and he points out something that everyone should hear: now is the absolute best time to be running the old Burning Crusade endgame. He says the contest is laughably easy with current endgame levels and gear, and yet, because we're still basically at the beginning of this expansion's endgame, there are still quite a few items that can be picked off of the end bosses in Black Temple and Sunwell (not to mention you can pick up the achievements for those places if you weren't able to down them before.And he's right -- there are some nice trinkets still found in those old instances, and who wouldn't want to complete their Warglaive set or grab a Thori'dal from Sunwell? Sure, the stats may not be the best, but until the ammo changes go in, you can save money while soloing -- and own a legendary to boot.Of course, when Ulduar shows up, we'll all likely be too busy with the new content (be it the raids or the Argent Tournment or whatever else you got) to go back to Burning Crusade. But now, during the downtime post-OS and Naxx, is the perfect time to go back and clean up the old content.
Patch 3.1 PTR Priest glyph changes thus far
One of the things Patch 3.1 is supplying in spades is glyphs and glyph changes. Every class is getting a ton of them, and it's really hard to keep up with them there are so many. Priests are coming out alright so far through the whole process, with a lot of our current glyphs being improved and our new glyphs being legitimately useful, if situational. Let's see what's new, shall we? Glyph of Fade - Reduces the cooldown of your Fade spell by 9 sec. (Old: Increases the duration and cooldown of your Fade spell by 50%.) This is massively better than what it was previously, and I suspect that this will become a popular Shadow Priest glyph in PvP. Two points in Veiled Shadows plus this glyph means a 15 second cooldown on Fade. Every 15 seconds, a Shadow Priest will be able to clear all movement impairing effects, assuming they have Improved Shadowform. That's pretty friggin' sweet.
Phat Loot Phriday: The Soulblade
We said we'd do a Warlock item this week, so here you go.Name: The Soulblade (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDigger)Type: Epic Main-hand DaggerDamage/Speed: 87-258 / 1.80 (96.0 DPS)Attributes: +39 Stamina, +44 Intellect, +42 Spirit And yes, that Spirit makes this about as Warlock as daggers come, nowadays. %Gallery-33600%
Raid Rx: 3 steps to assigning healing roles
Raid Rx has returned from retirement! Every Thursday (usually), Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. This week we're going to cover the steps in figuring out who heals who! Last week I looked at addons for the healing lead. I suggested using a combination of macros and addons like Surgeon General. But what about the actual logic and process of assigning healers themselves? As in deciding who covers who? That's a much more trickier process that comes with time and experience. I'll share some of the basic mindsets here. This week's Raid Rx is inspired by a topic from Plusheal. When assigning healers, I try to have a general idea of what the players and the classes excel at. I keep that in mind when picking out the healers and tanks.
Guildwatch: Brother against brother
The worst thing about the screenshot above? "Nùker" is a character that's already been known around the server as a ninja. We swear, people -- we work week after week to bring you all this news of nefarious guild switching and loot stealing, and you're not even paying attention. Given, as ninjas go, taking the mammoth is a pretty lame way to ruin your rep (or at least ruin it even more), but still, we're posting all of this for a reason here, people!Oh, that, and because it's really funny. More drama, downed, and recruiting news after the break in this week's Guildwatch. If you've got guild news of any kind (especially drama -- we're full up on downed news lately, but drama is harder to come by), send it right along to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. And keep an eye out for your server and guild in this week's GW -- you never know when we'll show up on your doorstep.
Blood Pact: Warlock's guide to gearing for Naxx
It's time again for a healthy dose of dots and demons, with Blood Pact! Now sporting a new host: Nicholas Whelan! Having at last removed the stench of brimstone from my robes, I'd like to start things off right with a post about gearing up for 10-man Naxxramas.Wrath of the Lich King has created a new standard for sheer volume of content available to players as soon as they hit max level. And with content, comes gear! Reputation grinds such as the Argent Crusade and the Kirin Tor can be completed in only a few days, even if you schedule time to deal with things like 'real life'. Crafted gear is mostly bind on equip now, making it much more accessible. Several heroics, such as Utgarde Keep, Violet Hold, and Nexus, are easy enough that a DPS can usually slip into them shortly after hitting 80 without slowing their group down. Even the 10- and 25-man versions of Obsidian Sanctum and Vault of Archavon, are frequently cleared by pick-up-groups.Head slot items for warlocks are pretty much limited to three right now. My current favorite is The Argent Skullcap, attained through a rather simple quest-chain in Icecrown. The high amount of hit rating makes getting that all-important 446 much simpler, and it's far easier and cheaper to get than either of the other two pre-Naxx headpieces. Though if you're a tailor The Hat of Wintry Doom may serve as a skill-up for you. And if the Forgotten Shadow Hood happens to drop in Heroic Culling of Stratholme, it's also a good choice. However, that 446 hit rating has to come from somewhere, and I've rarely seen any piece of gear with as much as The Argent Skullcap has.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Yeah, I've been working out
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.Last week I answered a question about the Kor'kron and I messed it up a wee bit, which I don't mind admitting. I said that the Kor'kron were all Orcs, but I didn't notice that in Wrath of the Lich King it actually includes a number of Trolls. The Kor'kron were originally only really seen in Thrall's throne room originally, they were his personal guard at the time and 100% Orcs. In Wrath, they've apparently spread out and include a couple of the other races as well.So who makes up the Kor'kron? The Orcs primarily. Trolls secondary, and there are also a few Tauren and Taunka thrown in as well. I haven't seen any Undead or Blood Elves among the Kor'kron yet, they seem to keep to their own little militaries for now.frostymage asked... Why aren't the Knights of the Ebon Blade flying the Acherus to Northrend? It said in one of the DK starter quests that it could destroy Naxxramas.
Breakfast Topic: Raiding: How easy is too easy?
Karthis, a feral Druid from the Garona-US server, wrote a thought-provoking treatise on the current end-game on his blog a few days ago. Of course, he's hardly the first to declare the current end-game far too easy, but he brings a very interesting angle to the discussion -- namely that of the casual.He interviews various casual raid guild leaders in his piece. These are guild leaders who, back in Burning Crusade, mostly ran Karazhan and maybe dabbled a bit in Zul'aman. They certainly were far behind the curve. But they had a dedicated core of 10 raiders who got together, faced the challenges, and overcame them. But now, even these casuals are saying that the end-game is just too easy. One guild leader interviewed is finding that some of their raiders have gotten all the loot they need from Naxxramas and maxed out Northrend Achievements and Reputations, and, for lack of anything to do, are not logging on for days or simply letting their subscriptions lapse altogether, leaving their guild leader to make the painful decision once Ulduar comes to either refuse to give them their raid slots back or kick out their replacements.
Guildwatch: Leave Tankserious alone
No classier way to /gquit than that, really -- have a power outage in the middle of a raid, and then return just to tell everybody that you're gone forever. Good luck with that whole "life" thing -- tell us how it turns out.Lots more drama, downed, and recruiting news in this week's Guildwatch. Who knows: your guild (or server) might even be in here. Click the link below to find out.
The Queue: It's always sunny in Azeroth
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. Adam Holisky will be your host today. Today has been a busy day around WoW Insider HQ (we actually have a virtual HQ where we sit around and work with each other; often we are served milk and cookies). So The Queue is coming to you a bit later than normal. We've seen the surprise announcement of BlizzCon 2009 come across our desk today, a good preview of Ulduar, PTR 3.1 testing information, and the opening of the arena tournament registration. Now all we need is the actual PTR to go live. Come on Ghostcrawler... you know you wanna push that live button...Drew M. asked..."Do heals crit?"
Guildwatch: The Armory never lies
Ninjas and /gquitters beware: the Armory knows. It knows what achievements you've gotten and when, it knows what your gear is, and it knows what kind of raiding you've done and which reputations you've leveled. You can say anything you want on the forums: that you're an experienced raider, or that you've never even been in an OS raid, much less ninja'd gear from one, but the Armory will call you out, every time.That drama and more in this week's Guildwatch, our weekly collection of guild updates from around the realms. To tell us your guild's story (or send us a great bit of drama you've seen elsewhere), just drop a note to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. This week's GW starts right after the cut.
Ready Check: Preparing for Ulduar
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 look to the future...In amongst detailed tactical explanations of the various bosses currently residing in the available level 80 raid instances, let's take a break to look at the bigger picture. Many guilds are in a situation several of you can relate to: having cleared Naxxramas, the Eye of Eternity and the Obsidian Sanctum (let's not pretend Vault of Archavon's a proper raid instance), there's nothing left to do but clear them again. And again. And again...Welcome to farm status. Whether you struggled to defeat the final denizens of these dungeons or facerolled it all in the first week, eventually raiders reach a common plateau with everything killed and these kills more or less easily repeatable. When at this point, there are several different directions you can go, and I'm sure we've all seen other people do one or more of the following: get bored and simply stop showing up; get greedy and focus entirely on loot, playing sloppily and angsting over drops; level an alt and suddenly have the world revolve around that character, trying to get it into raids because your main doesn't need loot; or hunker down and start preparing for the future.This week's column deals with the latter, but if you're seeing people exhibit less-than-savoury behaviour now you clear everything in one night a week, it can be very telling -- especially if they're a recent recruit. With the leisure of a farm period, you have time to deal with these people as your guild sees fit, although boredom is a real problem when farm periods are long (such as the gap between Black Temple and Sunwell Plateau). With nothing to interest hardcore raiders in the game any more, real life starts rearing its head, and many guilds lose important players at this time, replacing them with untried raiders who might seem great on farm content but whose skill on progress raids is an unknown. There's no real solution to this, it happens, and it's up to your guild how you deal with it.So how does a guild prepare for a raid instance nobody knows much about?
WRUP: Do I lose my job if I say Warhammer? edition
Oh dear. It seems one of our own, Mr. Alex Ziebart, is abandoning the our for a weekend in Warhammer Online. Alex Ziebart: Do I lose my job if I say Warhammer? Oh, don't worry, Alex. We don't fire people for playing other MMOs. Not often, anyway. But regardless of Alex's fate, for the rest of the team -- and to let us know what you're up to in-game this weekend (Warcraft or otherwise) -- keep reading!
Guildwatch: "A premier raiding guild"
Edhristwo just got /gkicked in the shot above -- he and a friend got caught playing around in the Arena on a raiding night, and the guild's GM didn't take kindly to it. Which is fine -- if you join a guild, they can ask you to be around for raids, and /gkick you when you do something else. But the "premier raiding guild" is the funny part -- they're up to one drake Sartharion, and they've appeared in our drama section before. Hey, if Ed wants to do Arena, we'd say take the Tier 7 and run.That drama and more (including downed and recruiting notices from around the realms) in this week's GW, which starts right after the break.
Naxxramas optimization
Crygil posted an important announcement last night concerning the lag and associated performance issues in Naxxramas. Blizzard has made some recent optimizations to Naxx, and they want to know what all of our experiences are like in the instance this week. As such, they're asking everyone to post feedback in terms of performance in the thread over on the official forums.Now by performance I don't think they mean "My pocket Paladin can't tank." What they're looking for are detailed reports such as "When I was attempting to do the Heigan dance, my entire group lagged behind a good 5 to 10 seconds. We decided to go and raid Hogger after we wiped for six hours in a row." Or "The Ice Block appeared after Frost Breath when my guild was taking down Sapphiron because of the 30 second lag."Matt Rossi wrote a great piece yesterday on the need for designing the fights around latency. Hopefully this will become less of an issue as Blizzard works out their backend mechanics; and it appears this change is a major step forward.
The Light and How to Swing It: Raiding and the Retadin
I mentioned it the last time, but more than ever, it's a good time to be a Paladin. We're not perfect yet, and indeed the class needs a little more tweaking, but it's incredibly playable right now and is a lot of fun. We've always had traditional roles of tanking and healing for Paladins, but in this day and age, Retribution Paladins are a more than welcome addition to any party or raid. So for today, we'll talk about that. I know a lot of Paladins have specced for Retribution or have a spare Retribution set in their banks, and the spec is more popular than ever. Considering that Replenishment is considered a mandatory raid buff, a Retribution Paladin's raiding slot is pretty secure.Next week we'll talk about gearing your tank up for raiding, and after that we'll see how Holy Paladins are a beacon of light in this dark age. Alright, it's not such a dark age, but Holy Paladins are downright awesome anyway. Today, however, is a day of Retribution. So pick up that 2-hander and head on over to Naxxramas or beat down on those big bad dragons. First, we'll take a look at a good raiding build after the jump.
