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WoW Moviewatch: Nihilum Vs. Teron Gorefiend
Releasing the third video in their 3-part series, Nihilum has posted their live-realm kill of Teron Gorefiend - another boss of the Black Temple. This is certainly quite a feat for Nihilum to have succeeded in so many encounters in such a short time. They also have rumored that they are "making progress on a certain encounter, but are not ready to show a corpse shot yet." Stay tuned for more progress in post-2.1 content!
WoW Moviewatch: Nihilum Vs. the Shade of Akama
Nihilum has done it again, this time posting the second video in their 3-day trilogy: The Shade of Akama! This is the 3rd boss in the Black Temple. I'm not sure if this was a world-first kill, but it is confirmed that it is a live-server kill (and not the PTR). Great job, Nihilum! Keep on pushin that content for the rest of us to drool over!
WoW Moviewatch: Nihilum vs. Kael'thas Sunstrider
Nihilum has released the video clip of their world-first Kael'thas Sunstrider kill. This means they have completed Tempest Keep: The Eye. Congrats to them, and thank goodness the GM gave them all the Black Temple attunement items! Nihilum has also mentioned that they will be releasing multiple videos of boss encounters over the next few days, so stay tuned for more!
Curse, Forte jump in to pick up a world first each
The world first kills continue. First, Nihilum brought their PTR skillz out to the live servers, and rocked four bosses in one night. Then, they dropped three more just for fun. And now, other guilds are getting in on the action.Curse reports that Forte from EU Kazzak took out Anetheron in Mount Hyjal on Saturday evening, winning them the world first on that one. Then, on Sunday, Nilhilum (on EU Magtheridon) and Curse (on EU Vek-nilash) both headed into Hyjal, and downed Anetheron and Kaz'rogal-- and this time, Curse picked up the world first on Kaz.MMO Champion has more, including deets on all the kills (and the fact that Curse also picked up Supremus and High Warlord Naj'entus in the Black Temple-- with only 22 players in the raid!), and screenshots for every kill. So grats to Curse, Forte and especially Nihilum on all their achievements this weekend.What does all this mean for us casual players? While usually a world first kill means not much more than a tip of the hat, so many kills like this in one weekend might be a sign that Blizzard is getting serious about making the endgame more friendly to casual players. If these hardcore guilds can burn through this content so quickly, it's probably not long before we see more casual guilds moving up the ladder behind them, right?
Nihilum - Taking down even more bosses
There are a couple of hazards of being a blogger on this side of the pond. The first being that, when you consider one of the largest raiding guilds currently tearing through raid content is in the EU, there's quite a bit of time lag between when they take bosses down and when I sit down to run news postings. The second thing is that in the case of a guild like Nihilum, they've trained on the PTRs for quite some time and are thereby completely ready to tear through these fights and rack up the official Live Server World First kills in nothing flat. This said, as if to answer my progression post yesterday, Nihilum returned to Black Temple on the heels of their last string of accomplishments and took down three more bosses. First they turned their collective might toward Teron Gorefiend who dropped some quite tasty goodies. From there, they chewed up Gurtogg Bloodboil and spit him out. (again, not without snagging some sweet loot first!) From there, Nihilum headed for (and successfully tore down) the Shade of Akama for lots more nifty purple goodness, and another live server World First. While they did not finish the Essence of Souls event (pictured) they are hoping to return and knock that out in short order.Now some of the reactions I got in mail the last time I posted a progression post for Nihilum raised an interesting question to me. If a guild goes on the PTR and learns the strategies there does that somehow lessen their world first accomplishment on live servers? It seemed like several people felt that the accomplishments were diminished due to having been done prior on the PTRs. Personally, I've got mad respect for those who blaze the trails -- whether on the PTRs or on Live servers, although I am nostalgic for when it was a bit more of a surprise as to who would do so. (One of the few downsides of the job, I suppose. heh)[via Nihilum]
Nihilum - Four world kills in one day
Nihilum, never ones to rest on their laurels, tore through Tempest Keep and claimed the head of Kael'thas Sunstrider in a bold sweep that landed them the world first kill on live servers. From there, they finished the Mt. Hyjal attunement quest, and then proceeded to peek their heads in and see what was up in Hyjal. Just to send a warning shot to the other bosses that it was just a matter of time, they decided to tear Rage Winterchill a new one and leave his corpse behind as a warning. Due to a bug in that fight, Tigole had to get involved and reimburse them as only one of the items for Black Temple attunement dropped -- as opposed to the 25 expected.With those items in hand, they headed towards the Black Temple, finished up the attunement chain, and then took down both High Warlord Naj'entus and Supremus in a one-two punch based on their hard work learning the strategies on the PTRs. In one evening, they secured four World First kills on live servers, thereby proving their dedication to the destruction of endgame content.[via Nihilum]
Method Man and Vashj
As a society we are not always interested in seconds. We prefer firsts, the first man to walk on the moon, the first man to swim the English Channel, heck even the first woman got plenty of notice in her day. And yes, Nihilum did managed to down Lady Vashj first, but I have been following the story of the second guild to kill the snake-headed wench, and I am happy to report their day has finally come. For those of you not obsessed with minutia the way I am, the guild Method from the Sylvanas (EU) realm killed Lady Vashj on May 5th. Something happened though that makes this kill more interesting than just any old world 2nd. The encounter bugged out and the guild, after all their hard work, lost the chance at looting the corpse. That's right folks, imagine watching Lady Vashj's corpse despawn in front of your very eyes. I know I would cry wet, salty tears. Naturally members of the guild contacted a GM, but to no avail. It was a whole day before the guild finally got resolution. They did get a mail message though that told them that their loot would indeed be delivered. World of Raids says Method received a Krakken-Heart Breastplate and Gauntlets of the Crestfall amongst other things. Congrats to them for getting their just rewards. If you're interested in learning more details about the fight, Method will be interviewed by WoW Radio on May 13th at 12:30 EST. I'm sure they'll have some fascinating insights. [via World of Raids]
More Legendary weapons from the Kael encounter
Our good friend Boubouille over at MMO-Champion has posted pictures and stats of all the Legendary weapons found in the Kael'thas fight. Last week, we posted about that crazy axe, but it seems there's more-- seven weapons in total, and they're all amazing.There's a shield that gives +40 defense and can shield the user for 100,000 damage. There's an uber dagger for rogues, and an awesome bow for hunters. There's even a staff that not only increases both spell damage and healing by 325, but also adds over 1000 attack power to Cat, Bear, Dire Bear, and Moonkin forms.Nihilum is so far the only group to take on Kael'thas (and let us know about it), but they haven't spilled too much information about exactly how and why these weapons are used. We do know they're meant only for the encounter, and that when you die, the weapons disappear. But how and why they're obtained isn't quite clear yet-- I've heard the weapons are given to the raid when Kael's advisors are killed, but does that mean these weapons replace the raid's weapons or do they have to be looted and equipped? And what exactly is Kael doing during all of this that requires so much crazy power?As of this writing, Nihilum hasn't yet downed Kael, so they're probably more concerned with going after him then telling us about it. But once they down him (I predicted this past weekend, but we haven't seen anything yet), maybe we'll get some clearer answers about what the encounter is actually like.
Nihilum meets Kael'thas, finds new Legendary
Nihilum has made it to see Kael'thas Sunstrider, the end boss in the 25-man raid The Eye (in Tempest Keep), and though they haven't downed him yet, they've come back to tell the tales.First things first, there's a new Legendary in the game, a two-hand axe called Devastation, with a +50 crit, +150 attack power, and a speed buff of 50% and an attack speed buff of 20% as a chance on hit. Oh, and did I mention that it's got 158.1 DPS on it? I think I just did. I believe that makes it the highest DPS weapon in the game? Nope, there is at least one wand that goes higher (thanks readers! see comments below). The only thing I know of that's higher is Illidan's Twin Blades of Azzinoth, and those have only been seen on GMs so far.There is a catch, however-- the axe can only be used during the fight with Kael'thas. As for the event itself, Nihilum says "the encounter seems very cool," and it looks like Kael comes with (at least) four adds-- his advisors Thaladred the Darkener, Master Engineer Telonicus, and Grand Astromancer Capernian and Lord Sanguinar.No mention yet on how they're doing with the encounter, but I'd guess we might see a world first as early as this weekend.[ via MMO-Champion ]
Nihilum downs Al'ar [update: loot]
Congrats guys! Nihilum, of H-Magtheridon-Eu, have defeated as far as I know the first boss second boss to go down in the Eye (the 25-man raid wing of Tempest Keep), Al'ar (the Phoenix God). This is a world-first. However, he bugged out by being killed by DoTs in the air, and so they didn't get any loot. Sad, sad times. Any readers been in the Eye yet?Edit: looks like they got their loot after all, presumably after contacting a GM. Here it is:[thanks, Delilah]
WoW Insider returns to Xfire for "Life After 70"
The good folks at Xfire have asked us back to their "Two-Handed Sword" debate club (those of you who joined us last time will remember how much fun it was), and this time they're moving us up in the world: I'm going to moderate. Yes indeedy! The topic is "Life After 70," and they've got some great guests on. Teza from World of Raids is returning as well, and because they're making a point to focus on European players this time around, Awake from Nihilum will be on, as well as Nopher from Last Resort. And the list of guests is finished off by Evilseed from the very informative Wowhead.com.The chat will be all online, so to join us, you'll have to download and install Xfire, but don't worry, it's free and extremely simple. If you do join us, you'll be able to "listen" in live, as well as join the Open room chat to talk with other players about what we're discussing (that room was even crazier than the main room last time-- I loved it). So the chat will be next Wednesday, April the 11th, at 2pm Eastern time. That's 20:00 CEST if you're in Europe-- they're giving you guys a chance to have a nice primetime even this time. Please join up with us and say hello-- I want lots of WoW Insider representation!And as I said, this time around I'm not just a guest, I'll be moderating. That means I have to ask questions, I'm pretty sure, so if you have any questions or discussion ideas you'd like me to bring to the chat, please post them in the comments below, and if I choose your question, I'll even mention your name during the chat as a WoW insider reader. Thanks! See you on Xfire next Wednesday!
Nihilum downs Vashj
We knew it was coming. And now it's happened: Lady Vashj is down at the hands of Nihilum.And just as Eliah suspected the other day, the Fang of Vashj dropped with her-- at 92.8 DPS, it is now the highest DPS one-handed anyone-can-use weapon in the entire game (the weaponsmithing weapons are a little better, but only for specialized blacksmiths). Healing Pally gloves also dropped (Plate +20 spell crit and +48 healing), as well as a few vials from the Well of Eternity (which might actually be one of the most powerful items ever given to players, if you think about it), two of those elusive Nether Vortexes, and a Tier 5 helm token for Warriors, Priests, or Druids.The picture on Nihilum's site shows her respawning right over her corpse, so it looks like, as they say, "tuning is needed." But grats to Nihilum on downing Lady Vashj for a world first. Next up: Kael?[ via MMO-Champion ]
Nihilum gets Vashj to 3%
Superstar guild Nihilum (H-Magtheridon-EU) has apparently gotten Lady Vashj, the final boss of Serpentshrine Cavern and Illidan fangirl extaordinaire, down to 3%. This means the world first kill is probably not far off. In the grand tradition of end bosses for large raids, this follows after a hotfix nerf to Vashj a week or so ago; Ragnaros, Nefarian, C'thun, and Kel'Thuzad (I think; not quite positive on KT) were all nerfed before they were first defeated.Being as how nobody's ever killed her before, we don't really know much of what she might drop (other than probably T5 tokens like the rest of SSC and the Eye). But we do know one item: the Fang of Vashj, a one-handed (i.e. not restricted to main or off-hand) dagger with the following stats: "92.8 DPS, 133-201 damage, 1.8 attack speed, increases attack power by 50 and increases dagger skill by 14." We know this item exists because it's listed in the official Bradygames strategy guide, although besides its name we have no actual confirmation that it will drop from Vashj. If those stats are accurate, it would be the highest DPS one-handed weapon in the game, aside from the epic weaponsmithing weapons (Blazefury, Dragonstrike, and Wicked Edge of the Plains).[via MMO-Champion]
WoW Radio interviews Nihilum
World of Raids has the story on WoW Radio's interview with Nihilum, WoW EU's leading guild in terms of PVE content. Awake and Ekke represent Nihilum and take us on a 90-minute audio insight into a top-tier raiding guild. Covering topics from adjusting to TBC raiding, the recent nerfs to Gruul and Magtheridon, rogues and girls and raiding guilds, and even their bad taste in music (Justin Timberlake, anyone?), it's well worth the time spent listening to it.My favorite part is when they discuss their preferred healer setup for a 25-man raid. Woo hoo!Click on through to download the MP3 from World of Raids, then come back and share what you found interesting and insightful from the interview.
Know Your Lore: Lady Vashj
This is the first in a Know Your Lore twofer this week, since we missed it last week. We also have to get these two lore figures down quickly, before someone kills them and makes us all look like fools. FOOLS I TELL YOU! Anyway, first up is a slimy, wily maiden with a deep sense of loyalty and devotion to anyone who commands her. Who: Lady Vashj. What: Formerly a Night Elf, now a Naga. History: Vashj was born over 10,000 years ago in the city of Zin-Ashari at the height of the Night Elves' power on Azeroth. She was of the Quel'Dorei, or the Highborne caste of Night Elves, who would eventually become the High Elves and then the Blood Elves ... I think. It's kind of confusing. As a Highborne, she quickly rose through the ranks of public service and became a handmaiden of Queen Azshara. Unfortunately for Vashj, Azshara liked the High Priestess of Elune -- Tyrande Whisperwind, future ruler of Darnassus and love object of Illidan and Malfurion Stormrage -- better than her, and offered to make Tyrande her majordomo. (No, not the guy with the adds in Molten Core. Read!)
World first: Magtheridon downed by Nihilum
Right after Blizzard fixed a bug in the Magtheridon encounter we see the world first kill of Magtheridon by Nihilum (a Horde guild on Magtheridon EU). Killing Magtheridon allowed them to complete the attunement quest to enter the Eye (25 player raid in Tempest Keep), home to Kael'thas Sunstrider. Congrats, Nihilum, and may more firsts follow![Via World of Raids]
WoW Moviewatch: Sapphiron, Kel'Thuzad, Atiesh
Curse Gaming has posted videos of three huge worldfirst events lately: the killing of Sapphiron (D&T did it first, but Beyond Redemption is shown in the vid), Nihilum's downing of Kel'Thuzad, and Risen's crafting of the the worldfirst of Atiesh. If you're already read up on these three, the videos won't tell you much more-- watching people do this stuff is, of course, never as fun as doing it. But if you haven't made it to Naxx yet, or haven't participated in extreme endgame content, it's neat to get a look at it-- especially through the eyes (and UI mods) of some of the best players in the game.
World first: Kel'Thuzad downed by Nihilum
Well, we all held our breath when they got him to 1% -- and now KT is down. Horde guild Nihilum, on the European server Magtheridon, have beaten Death and Taxes to the world first (just as they did with the similarly-bugged C'Thun). Congratulations Nihilum!As well as putting together an image showing the loot, Nihilum have also released a mp3 of the ventrilo conversation for the kill; you may want to cover your ears![Thanks, toolmonkey]
World First: C'thun Down
Only hours after Blizzard made additional changes to the C'thun encounter, European guild Nihilum (Magtheridon realm) seems to have managed to kill C'thun. Forum post with details here, and screenshots and loot are listed on their website. Congrats, members of Nihilum for this impressive world first![Thanks, spencer, for the quick heads-up on this one!]
