scourge-invasion
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FOX news covers WoW's Zombie Invasion
FOX news picked up the story of the big zombie invasion, citing that the plague came to an end on Tuesday. They covered the event as a deliberate contagion that, if left "untreated," would turn you into one of the "flesh-eating zombies." Like our own Mike Schramm, FOX parallels this purposeful in-game disease with the previous accidental "Corrupted Blood" plague. I love it when WoW is in the news. I love it even more when the media's not talking about us being game-addicted fiends smashing the buttons for our Pavlovian treat. While FOX's story isn't exactly ground-breaking info for those of us toiling against the continuing Scourge invasion, it might reach a few of our friends and coworkers and convince them to give WoW a try. Or, this coverage could just be another sign of the impact Blizzard's game is having on the mainstream, while that 11 million subscriber base just keeps growing. And, yup, FOX's article does mention the upcoming Wrath release, so it's certainly possible Blizzard will see a few more players from the coverage. Every time WoW has an event like this which has mainstream interest, there'll be a few more people logging for the first time to see what the buzz is about. And, hey, it certainly lines up with the Holiday theme.
Anti-Aliased: Killing the auctioneers is a perfect reason to go to Northrend
Going to Northrend has always been something that bugged me. It's a land that's literally a boat trip away, and no one's set foot on it or even mentioned it since Arthas went bonkers and started living up there. Even the groups that should have been concerned about it, like the Argent Dawn or the Knights of the Silver Hand, didn't really go out of their way to even give thought to the icy land to the north. No, no, we were more concerned with running through a giant portal just so we could bonk Kil'jaeden on the head and make Illidan whine more about how life doesn't work out for him.So my thoughts were as follows: "What could Arthas possibly do to make everyone simultaneously angry and want to journey to Northrend?"I don't know why I never thought of the answer before. What could be possibly more annoying than giving the power to grief the NPCs to the lowlifes of World of Warcraft? Arthas, you cunning, cunning man.
Anti-Aliased: Killing the auctioneers is a perfect reason to go to Northrend pt. 2
But, while some players used the event as a way to grief others, other players began to take a stand against it. Heroes pulled out their swords, turned on their sense undead, and began vigils in the cities to keep them functioning the way they should. By doing something as simple as "playing along" with the event, the cities could be kept in their standard working order, letting business be conducted as usual.When players didn't work together -- when they were more concerned with complaining about how bad the event was and how they couldn't do anything -- the result was catastrophic. I dropped by Stormwind one night to find all of the NPCs dead, bodies literally covering the streets, and only about 4 Alliance players attempting to make a stand against 30+ zombified players. The bankers were turned, the auctioneers were turned, the guards were even turned. Stormwind had literally fallen to the plague. The Argent Healers had retreated, and now no one was left in the town square but me and my horseman's sword.So my guild was sick of it, and they didn't want to see it happen anymore. We all got together in Elwynn Forest, made a 35 man raid group (which ended up becoming 55 once more people heard what we were going to do.) Our guild mistress made a bold speech, everyone cheered, and then we mounted up and rode straight into Stormwind. With arrows flying and exorcises filling the air, we took back the city, posted priests and paladins to keep watch for the infected ones, and turned the Cathedral of Light into a refuge shelter for lowbies who needed aid and assistance.Many in the Alliance kept up what we had started by particpating in a new channel called the ArgentDefense, and Stormwind began to function again. Complaints about how "no one could do anything" began to dwindle, because people had stood up and done something. Griefers got tired of griefing because they would either get killed much too quickly or find themselves being cleansed of the plague before they could turn by groups of priests. Even roleplaying, which was amazingly sparse on my RPPvP server, was more popular as people openly roleplayed the defense of the city streets. Amazingly enough, there was a way out of this "bad game design" by, gasp, embracing it. "Most importantly though, people have an amazing experience to share with others, even those who may not play the game." If this event was something you could "opt-out" of, or avoid, I don't think it would have anywhere near the same impact. Stories, like this one above, wouldn't have occured at all. Instead, people would have just looted their loot, sold what they wanted, and gone on with the constant improvement of themselves. This event would have gone mostly unnoticed, perhaps applauded by a few people, but it would have found itself forgotten in the history books of WoW lore freaks.Now people have a reason to really hate Arthas and the scourge. People have a reason to journey to Northrend and deliver the fight to the doorstep of Icecrown Glacier. Most importantly though, people have an amazing experience to share with others, even those who may not play the game. All because a few people stood up for themselves and did something to fight back when everyone else said "it was impossible to do anything." Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who likes to fight against impossible odds. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's over running Epic Loot For All! with his insane roommates. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com.
Scourge invasion in Stormwind and Undercity
While it's not something new exactly, it seems a lot of people haven't quite seen it happen yet. Along with the Scourge Invasion in places like the Burning Steppes, Azshara, and other points around the world, the invasion has hit some of the capital cities. Every now and then a strike team of Scourge, a Pallid Horror and Flameshockers, will spawn in a capital city and start attacking nearby guards and NPCs. When defeated, they'll leave behind a broken Necrotic Crystal which will have a quest for you.This is something exclusive to the invasion, but it's not something that just started happening today, and not the next step/phase of the event. A lot of people are under the impression that it is simply because it happens so infrequently. It really is rather cool when it happens, though. The first time I saw it was back in 2006 when this event happened the first time. Since I roleplay when I'm not raiding, I was sitting in the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind just yapping away with some people. The Scourge actually spawn in the 'basement' of the Cathedral, so my first experience with them was seeing them rise up out of the catacombs. Freaky? I think so!
The plague is gone, zombies dropping like flies
Just as Tigole said, the plague has indeed gone away. The crates are still there, but you can't contract the plague anymore. The zombies haven't been wiped out yet, but they'll eventually just wear themselves down, they can't spread the infection. No ceremony, no big events or explosions, the plague just stopped being effective. A little disappointing, really.However, there is a rumor, a rumor, that at 4 PM PST there will be stuff goin' down in Azeroth. Supposedly it will be 'epic.' What is it? I don't know. It's entirely a rumor, but man do we love us some rumors. You do too, don't you? I thought so! Well, if anything actually does happen, we'll be right here to let you know!Edit: Well, a whole lot of nothin' happened. Rumors are a fickle mistress! A few readers have reported that the necopoli outside of major cities are hovering lower in the sky, but it's difficult to tell. That's all we've seen or heard so far.
The scourge of the Scourge
Last Saturday on the WoW Insider Show (which you can hear right here, with an embedded mp3 post coming in just a bit), we voiced an opinion about the Scourge Invasion world event that's getting a little lost in the mix: not everyone is having lots of fun with zombies. While I personally love zombies in all their forms (and am thrilled by all the content the event is bringing us, even if it is moving really fast), lots of players out there are logging in to play World of Warcraft, and finding themselves in the middle of World War Z.As we said on the show, Blizzard is making sure that this is an event that everyone feels -- in the past, you could avoid most of the world events just by staying out of certain areas or certain zones. But at the same time, that made some players feel it wasn't immersive enough -- why have a world event if it doesn't affect the whole world? And so this one does -- no matter what level you are or where you play, whether you got eaten by a zombie or downed Tenris Mirkblood, you know that the Lich King is coming. And some folks, who play the game casually or at a low level, just don't care.Update: Well that's timely. In between the time this post was written and planned to go live, Blizzard has decided to cure the plague. Considering that things moved so fast this weekend, that seems premature, but we'll have to see how the event plays out -- Blizzard is of course saying that it's not because of the vocal minority speaking out against the zombie gameplay, but we'll have to see what happens next.
The Undead Plague ends today
We have good news and bad news. The good news is, if you hated dealing with zombies and the plague, it's going away in just a few hours. The bad news is, if you loved dealing with zombies and the plague, it's going away in just a few hours. Tigole confirmed it in a thread on the General forums, and also mentions that this isn't all that they have planned for the pre-Wrath umm... festivities, I guess?He doesn't go into specifics about what will be happening next, but the plague is going away. The special bosses and the necropoli wil be around for awhile yet, a week for the former, a few days for the latter, but the zombies will be no more as of noon PST. Tigole also assures us that this had nothing to do with the whining. This part of the story had simply run its course. We have no idea what's next, but whatever it is, I can't wait to see it.
Scourge Invasion: Lord Blackwood
Lord Blackwood, found in the bowels of Scholomance in the Western Plaguelands, was one of the most popular invasion bosses back in 2006. One of his drops were so cool because it had a particle effect! Holy crap! That was a rarity back in our day. These days they'll put stars and glitter on any damn thing, but back when we were 60? We got our sparkly weapons from once (twice, I guess) in a lifetime world events or the bosses that were the very pinnacle for 40-man raiding. Yeah. Forty men. Sometimes women. Well, not forty women. Some men, and some women. Man, it doesn't matter. My point is, you kids don't know how good you have it!Anyway, head on into Scholomance! If you don't know where this is, you should take the Western Plaguelands map and beat yourself with it. I'll give you a hint, though. It's on Caer Darrow. You 'need' a key to get in the front door, but if you don't have one there are alternatives. Bring a Rogue. If you lack Rogue... Kite dozens of undead all the way to Sorrow Hill so they can murder you outside of the door of Scholo, thus allowing you to rez on the other side of the door. Easy! Okay, clear through the dungeon, you know how to kill things I'm sure. Fight your way down through the Summoning Chamber, and you'll come across this room here. See the purple glowy guy? That's him. He patrols around the entire backside of the room, and I recommend clearing out the room, even some of the areas back there. He likes using his bow and arrows, so if he runs in that direction to get range, you're going to get some adds. That's bad. When you engage Lord Blackwood, you'll very quickly discover he has a ton of health and armor. This fight is going to last awhile. Blackwood is the most difficult of the invasion bosses so far, because he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. One, the most basic, is he has Shield Bash. Keep him away from your Casters and Healers or he'll have a lot of fun interrupting them. To get to range, he'll use Smoke Bomb. You get stunned, and he runs off to start pelting you with his bow.While at range, he uses a basic Shoot which does more damage than his basic melee swings. He also uses a Multi-Shot that hits multiple targets for Arcane damage. Basically, leaving him at range is a lot more dangerous than keeping him in melee, but he'll use Smoke Bomb fairly frequently to escape. That's why I suggested clearing as much of the room as you can before pulling him. When he starts running around trying to get range, he could easily pull a lot of extra mobs.Once he's dead, you can take a look at your loot! He drops primarily tank loot, a shield and a sword. The shield is Lord Blackwood's Buckler and the sword is Lord Blackwood's Blade. Truly, that sword is a relic of the past. Back when particle effects meant something.*For an added piece of trivia, Lord Blackwood shares his name with Blackwood Lake in the Eastern Plaguelands. It's very possible he used to own/oversee that region of Lordaeron before the Scourge came. These little details are sprinkled all throughout the Plaguelands. It's part of what made me love those zones so much back at 60.Now that Blackwood is done, let's bop over to Stratholme and check out Balzaphon!*I'm completely joking around here. I'm glad everyone gets cool stuff and there are more unique weapons in the game.
The bosses of the Scourge Invasion
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/The_bosses_of_the_Scourge_Invasion'; In the chaos of the plague and looming ziggurats, a portion of the overall invasion has been overlooked. Tenris Mirkblood of Karazhan isn't the only limited edition boss during this invasion, and not all of the content is exclusively for top level players. There are unique bosses with unique loot for players of all levels, starting from your early 20s right on to level 70. Whether you're leveling your first character or you're leveling you umpteenth alt, the Scourge Invasion has something for you to do. You get to do it away from all of the chaos, too. Round up some appropriately leveled friends and fill out a group to tackle these bosses, or find a kind-hearted level 70 looking for something to do, and knock these guys out! Behind the link below you'll find a list of each of the bosses, as well as a quick guide for each one of them.
Scourge Invasion: Lady Falther'ess
Alliance players, are you having fun globetrotting into dangerous Horde territories to track down these bosses? No? Well, too bad! This boss, Lady Falther'ess, is a level 37 banshee in Razorfen Downs, all the way at the bottom of the Barrens on Kalimdor. The easiest way to get there as the Alliance is from Stormwind. Fly (or ride) down to Booty Bay, take the boat across the Ratchet, and then ride all the way down to Razorfen. The outside of the dungeon is a bit confusing to figure out, but you'll find the entrance eventually. Hint: It's inside the big decayed pig's head. For Horde players, getting here is easy. Fly to the Crossroads or Camp Taurajo and jog down.She's pretty deep in there, so fight through the dungeon, no need for me to tell you how, and this is where you'll find Lady Falther'ess. She's the purty lookin' one. While you're here, if you have Cooking, make sure you talk to Henry Stern. If your skill is high enough he'll teach you how to make Goldthorn Tea. In addition, if you have high enough Alchemy skill, he'll teach you how to make Major Troll's Blood Elixirs.Once you open her cage, the fight begins! She fights as most banshees you come across fight/will fight. Her melee attacks do Shadow damage. She has the ability Ribbon of Souls which just does more Shadow damage. She has a Silence called Banshee Shriek, and a curse that lowers your chance to hit called Banshee Curse.Just be careful so your healer doesn't get silenced repeatedly, and this will be an easy fight for a level appropriate group. A level 70 can, of course, tear her up without worry. Once she's dead, snag your loot.She drops primarily healer/caster loot, but don't worry about that too much, melee players. This dungeon has a lot of nice loot including one of the first plate drops you'll encounter, so convince your party to do the whole thing. Maybe you'll get lucky and Ragglesnout will spawn with his X'caliboar. It's a fun instance, anyway. If you don't see Mordresh Fire Eye at least once in your lifetime, Sylvanas will never love you. Or uh, Varian Wrynn? Thrall? I don't know how you people swing, you freaks. You're probably into that C'Thun stuff, aren't you?Anyway, Lady Falther'ess drops a pretty good wand for the level, Lady Falther'ess' Finger. She also drops a pretty white spell power cloak, Mantle of Lady Falther'ess.That's all for this boss, and while there's been a bunch of these bosses one after another from the early 20s, the next one isn't until level 60. Since we're already on Kalimdor for this boss, let's take a look at Dire Maul's Revanchion next.
Scourge Invasion: Sever
Sever is a level 21 Abomination boss found in Shadowfang Keep only during the Scourge Invasion event. Moreover, Shadowfang Keep (and its associated quests on the Horde side) is the precursor to another upcoming storyline as mentioned by Blizzard (and beta testers) so I highly recommend giving this place a go if you haven't yet. Low level players will enjoy the drops here, and both low and high level players will appreciate seeing the story of this dungeon and your final opportunity to see a boss we may never see again.If you're a new player playing Alliance and you're trying to get to Shadowfang Keep, you have quite a journey ahead of you. Shadowfang Keep lies in Silverpine Forest, in the northern Eastern Kingdoms. For Horde players, that's just a jog down the block. For Alliance, you'll be crossing half of a continent. It's easiest to start from Ironforge (if you're a Night Elf or Draenei, you can take the boat from Auberdine to the Stormwind Harbor, and from there take the tram to Ironforge) and run east to Loch Modan. From there, run north through the Loch, up through the Wetlands, east through the Arathi Highlands and the Hillsbrad Foothills, and then to the Keep itself in Silverpine. That's pretty much what my map looked like the first time I tried to find the place. I saw the funny shaped island and said, "Ooooh that must be it!" That took me through a slightly more dangerous area than the real path. Follow the red arrow to the red circle. That's Shadowfang Keep.If you and your group is into the story of WoW, wait until you're all there and go into the dungeon together. When you zone in, run straight ahead to the grate blocking you off from the courtyard and watch the show.Once that's done, start clearing the dungeon! I won't ruin how to do it for any low level parties that are trying this place out, but I'll give a little guidance at least. You need to get to the courtyard to progress, but it's sealed off with a locked door. There's a way through it, so kill the baddies in this first area until you find it.When you're in the courtyard, stop off and kill some ponies for a free bag. Sweet, sweet bags. Then you go to the right, where you're faced with a split in the road. It's dark in Shadowfang Keep, so it's difficult to see in my screenshot, but there are two ways you can go here. Up the ramp, or through the door just left of the ramp which leads to the kitchen and banquet hall. If you just want Sever, you want to go up the ramp. If you want to see all of the bosses, you can hang a left and clear through the kitchen and banquet hall. Once you've done that, you can backpedal a little and go through Sever, then continue through the dungeon. The rest of the exploration is up to you! Have fun with Shadowfang!We're not done with Sever himself, though. Sever is an abomination, and as you'd expect from abominations, he's a pretty physical fighter. He hits like a truck on level-appropriate players, but you should be okay. He's a tank and spank encounter. If you don't know what that means since this might be your first dungeon, it means he has very few gimmicks or tricky mechanics. Your tank tanks, and your DPS spanks him. He'll pound on the tank and every now and then cast Diseased Spit which does around 100 Nature damage and lowers your stamina a little. Nothing tricky, nothing scary. When he has roughly 40% of his health left, he'll Enrage and his melee damage will go waayyy up. I've heard people say he has an AOE Fear as well, but I've never actually seen him do it myself.Once Sever is dead, enjoy your rewards! There are only two items on his loot table. There's a two-handed axe, The Axe of Severing, that is pretty good. He also has cloth leggings with spell power on them, Abomination Skin Leggings. Casters see very little spell power this early in the game, so this is actually an incredible drop for level 20ish players that don't have someone twinking them out. Heck, if you do have someone twinking you out, make them do it with these! They're fantastic.And that's Sever! Your next target will probably be Scorn, whether you're high or low level. He's the closest in terms of difficulty and location, being level 30ish and up in the Scarlet Monastery.
Scourge Invasion: Scorn
Scorn resides in the Graveyard wing of the Scarlet Monastery, which is actually quite convenient because the Headless Horseman is there during the Hallow's End event as well. As a high level player, you can take out two birds with one stone. As a low level player with friends willing to twink them out, you can get a shot at Scorn's loot and a ring that can sit in your bank for 40 levels until you can use it. If you play Horde and have never been to the Scarlet Monastery before, it's right in the northeast corner of the Tirisfal Glades. You can just bop out of Undercity and scoot over. Alliance is going to have a rougher time. For directions, just look back on the ones I gave for getting to Shadowfang Keep. They're mostly the same, except you keep going north through Silverpine Forest and into Tirisfal Glades. If you've never been there, this is where you want to go when you get to Tirisfal. Alliance, be careful and try to stay clear of the Horde towns and NPCs here. The guards (and players, probably) will kill you if you get too close.The Graveyard is one of the two instance portals here that isn't behind a great big door. If you go inside of one and it says "The Library!" then you're not in the Graveyard. That would be... the Library. Fight your way through the dungeon, it's pretty linear so I won't explain how anything goes, but at the end you'll fight Bloodmage Thalnos. Killing him is what spawns Scorn, so you will need to clear both of the bosses. You don't need to clear all of the undead in the instance, just clear what you need to so you have room to move around.While you're clearing, keep an eye out for the Graveyard's rare spawns for extra loot! If you want to use a simple /target Mob command or macro, their names are Azshir the Sleepless, Ironspine, and the Fallen Champion. No 'the' on his name, it's just Fallen Champion.After Bloodmage Thalnos is dead, run back the way you came, toward the entrance/exit. You'll see Scorn eventually. He's a lich, you won't miss him. He'll be the big undead boney skirty floaty guy.Scorn is, for the most part, a Frost Mage that hacks and also specced into Mind Flay. He has a Frostbolt Volley, which is an AOE Frostbolt. He has Frost Nova, which is an AOE snare/root. He has a normal melee attack, which he seems to use while Mind Flaying, and he also has one final, ultimate ability. Lich Slap. Ouch!He doesn't have a lot of HP, so you shouldn't have too much trouble killing him. If casters and healers stand as far away from him as your spells allow, you won't get hit by his AOE spells at all.Once he's dead, split up your loot! Warriors and Paladins will likely enjoy The Frozen Clutch, a pair of Mail DPS gloves. Hunters might like them as well, but they can't use them until 10 levels after the item's minimum level, so they'll likely find better. Casters and Healers of all flavors will like his other drops. A spell power necklace, Scorn's Icy Choker, and a spell power dagger, Scorn's Focal Dagger.Again, these drops may not look like much to us level 70 players, but stats like raw attack power and spell power aren't exactly plentiful at these lower levels. These are very good items for their level, and they'll only be around for a limited time.That's it for Scorn! If you're looking for another target, the closest in terms of level is Lady Falther'ess all the way in Razorfen Downs. Geographically the closest target is probably Lord Blackwood in Scholomance or Balzaphon in Stratholme. Go! Adventure!
Scourge Invasion: Balzaphon
Balzaphon, like Scorn, is a lich. Like Scorn (and most liches... lichen?), he's primarily a Frost-based caster. You can find him within the burning streets of Stratholme, and while you can get at him by going in the front door, it's much easier to use the eastern entrance that takes you straight to the Undead side of Stratholme. You need the Key to the City to get in through that way, so if you don't have it, bring someone with one! Or fight your way to this spot through the other entrance. If you go in through the Undead side (as you should) then you'll see a fork in the road just inside. There's an open gate on the left, and a locked gate up ahead. You want to hang that left, where you'll see a fountain surrounded by undead. Clear a path to the right, watch for abomination patrols, and hang that right. You'll see Balzaphon right up ahead. Before you fight him, clear around him. He has a Fear, so you should be careful in this area.Ready? Fight! He rapid-fires Frostbolts. And I mean rapid. He casts them very quickly, and he casts them one after the other. If he takes a break from that, he casts AOEs (Frostbolt Volley, Cone of Cold) instead. Your tank will need a whole lot of healin' here. When his health starts dropping, he'll start mixing Fears in there on people, which is why you cleared around him. It's very easy to get feared into nearby groups of undead.It's a harder fight than the earlier bosses, but Lord Blackwood is a little more tricky, I think. You'll get Balzaphon down pretty easy, just stay alive longer than he does! Easy! Right?Now, the loot. Again, Balzaphon is caster heavy. Sort of what you'd expect from a lich. He has a spell power necklace, Chains of the Lich. He has a spell power belt, the Waistband of Balzaphon, that is marked as being frost spell power only on Wowhead but I was under the impression they has removed all class-specific spell damage/power, so who knows! He also forks over his staff, Staff of Balzaphon, from time to time.Back in the day, the biggest draw about this guy is that if you're after Argent Dawn reputation, he drops two Corruptor's Scourgestones and he's only a handful of pulls away from the entrance. You could farm up a dozen of the things in no time flat. If you're looking to complete the Argent Champion achievement and need a lot of Dawn rep still, this is a good place to go.If you want other bonuses, if you go a bit further up the road from Balzaphon you'll come across The Unforgiven. It's only a few pulls away, so it's some extra loot and scourgestones. And if you want to go a little further than that you'll find Hearthsinger Forresten, who will sometimes drop the Piccolo of the Flaming Fire, a trinket that will annoy your friends for eternity.That's it for the level 60 bosses from the Scourge Invasion! The only one left now is Tenris Mirkblood inside of Karazhan. Good luck!
Scourge Invasion: Revanchion
Revanchion is a level 60 ghost... thing in Dire Maul: West. He's one of the more annoying-to-get-to invasion bosses. Not because he's all the way out in Feralas, but because he's in Dire Maul: West. To get to him you need the Crescent Key which is earned via a quest in Dire Maul: East. So he may be more trouble than he's worth, but that's not for me to decide!If you're level 60 (or higher) I assume you know where Feralas is, I assume you know where Dire Maul is, so I'll forego the handy dandy map this time. If you have the Crescent Key, just run up into Dire Maul and get started. If you don't have the key, you can work around that by rounding up a bunch of ogres, letting them have their way with you by the door, releasing spirit, and rezzing on the other side. You bunch of cheaters.When you're inside, there are some wandering trees you should deal with. If you're really good at timing and sticking together, you can get away with killing only one or two if you work around their patrols. On the other side, you'll come to a set of three archways. The middle will lead you to Tendris Warpwood. We don't care about him. The right will lead to the upstairs section. We don't care about that either. Go left. You'll see an area like this: See that ghost hanging out waayyy in the back in the corner? Like they should be wearing a dunce cap? That's Revanchion. Clear the trash here, then pull the boss! The biggest problem when fighting this guy is he has an insanely high dodge rate and has Frost Armor. Your tanks will have very very low threat unless they're a Paladin, so be careful! Beyond that, the fight really isn't so scary. He has a Shadowbolt Volley he does now and then, but that's about it. He also melees, but it doesn't hurt much. Just kill him.Unfortunately, the loot Revanchion drops isn't as good as the drops you were getting from earlier invasion bosses. At level 60, Outland gear is available to you, and that stuff is amazing. Back in 2006, though? Before epics were commonplace, and before we even had access to Outland? This stuff was top of the line.So what does he have? He has some healing bracers, Bracers of Mending. Though with the spell power change, some regular caster could get use out of those! Shadow Priests would enjoy that Spirit for leveling, for example. There are some spell power gloves, The Shadow's Grasp. Melee classes can bask in the not-quite-glory of the Cloak of Revanchion. Lastly, he drops Corruptor's Scourgestones if you're wearing your Argent Dawn Commission (or similar trinkets) just in case you're working on Argent Dawn rep for achievements.If you've never done Dire Maul before now, I recommend taking this opportunity to run through it. Heck, do all three wings if you can. They all tie together a bit while still having their own individual stories. It's a bit like what Burning Crusade dungeons should have been. It has wings, but they're all interconnected in little ways. You can go from one to the next without every stepping out of the instance if you want to do so. It's neat! Explore!Now, let's go back to the Eastern Kingdoms with Lord Blackwood!
Phase 4 of the Zombie invasion begins! [UPDATED x8]
The zombie invasion has hit phase four. We can see that the scourge are full out attacking cities now, and the plague debuff will now turn you into a Zombie after a short period of 2 minutes. There are necropolis appearing all over Azeroth.Argent Dawn representatives are being spotted around capital cities. The new raid boss in Karazhan, Tenris Mirkblood, is now active and dropping one Arcanite Ripper (a 2H axe), a Vampiric Batling for each raid member, and two badges for each raid member. You can get to him by going through Attuneman, clearing him, and then moving up the stairs behind his room. We've got a strategy guide up now with details on how to defeat himYou can see the location of the necropolises on the world map - they are indicated by little purple skull icons.A Haunted Momento has been confirmed to drop from rare spawns around the necropolises- it's a leather ball type item that you throw to someone. Whoever has the momento gets to have a wraith follow you around! Pics after the break and in our gallery.Big Update: Click the Arcanite Ripper and play it like a guitar!Late night updates: There are Argent Dawn healers appearing at most flight paths (if not all) around the game. They are making is so the flight path NPC does not become a zombie anymore. We have a semi-confirmation of the Lurch buff increasing in speed to 125%. But we also have conflicting reports.Continue reading after the break for the latest information. %Gallery-35353% Zombies have entered the World of Warcraft in the Wrath of the Lich King world event! Check out our tips for eating brains, our zombie night gallery, or see Blizzard's official zombie infestation guide. They live! Braaiiiiinnnssss!
Breakfast Topic: Braiiins for breakfast?
If you've paid any attention to the goings-on in the World of Warcraft lately, you probably know that Arthas has already made his first move and sent crates of a conspicuous nature to some very public places in Azeroth. They're not exactly gift packages, either, as clicking on these crates will infect you with a ghoulish disease. There've been reports of zombies attacking towns, feasting on the innocents, and turning entire populations into the Lich King's servants.Have you unwittingly (or wittingly!) gotten infected? Have you had the disease run its course and turn you into one of the malevolent Scourge? Are you one of the remaining bastions of the Light, cleansing all who may be infected and smiting those who have been transformed? How are handling this world event that's preparing us for Wrath of the Lich King?
Zombie Infestation Survival Guide
Bornakk posted some excerpts from what appear to be an old diary in the dead town of Andorhal. The diary details the struggles of one Eric Farrington, who explains the horrors of seeing loved ones transformed into gruesome tools of the Scourge only to be eventually transformed himself... and hunger for brains. Bornakk also appended a short Q&A that should answer some of the questions players might have about the new Scourge invasion. Of course, most of those same questions have already been covered by Mike in his live... er, undeadblog.Bornakk didn't mention that zombies also have their own language, and when players speak while transformed, their speech will be unintelligible to normal players. While the Q&A addresses how to avoid getting infected and finding a cure, players who might want to experience becoming part of the Scourge are encouraged to read up on the unique zombie abilities...
Breakfast Topic: Resurrecting old events
The upcoming patch 3.02 looks like it has a formal name now -- "Echoes of Doom," according to the EU site -- and players have wondered for a while whether Blizzard is going to bring back the Scourge Invasion event. This was an event that went live with the introduction of the original 40-man Naxxramas in patch 1.11 and saw Scourge troops appear all over Azeroth and even within major cities. It was one of Blizzard's early experiments programming world content that could be directly affected by players (in a roundabout way you can trace the underlying philosophy behind phasing to the success of events like these), and was a huge hit that's left players inquiring on the likelihood of its reappearance ever since.As a player who started after Burning Crusade launched, I have to admit I would love the chance to see this, if for no other reason than having a shot at getting my main the rather good-looking Tabard of the Argent Dawn. But, cool tabard or not, the event is pretty thematically consistent with the content being released in Wrath of the Lich King, and the 3.02 patch is expressly meant to transition players into the expansion as seamlessly as possible. You could argue that Blizzard's never going to get a more opportune or relevant time to marshal the undead NPC's, but you could counter by pointing out that redeploying content originally meant to be a unique event diminishes its impact a tad. If it were re-programmed with additional exapansion-related content? Maybe, although I get the feeling the developers may be somewhat occupied at the moment. Either way, is there any obligation on Blizzard's part to try to re-run old content for the benefit of newer players?
Scourge Invasion to return?
Here's a promising note for those who enjoyed the Scourge invasion world event a while back. When a player moans on the forums that he thought it was a yearly thing (and that it might never return), world designer Kisirani says not to jump to conclusions: we may be using the Necrotic runes from the event very soon in the future. Rumors have been swirling about a world event for a long time now, and if you've been paying attention to the spoilers (that link is a spoiler, of course), you know that things are going to hit the fan very shortly here.Though for all of the hints and leaks and files found in the beta, we haven't actually seen an event at work, and it's not completely clear just what will happen. Of course, something has to happen to Naxx for it to move north to Northrend, and we've speculated all along that, without being too spoilery, Arthas would do something to drive the Horde and Alliance to seek him out, and that's exactly what the hints are pointing at. But as for when this event will go down, and what, if any, rewards might come out of it, from Necrotic Runes or otherwise, we don't know for sure. As much as players have learned about how Wrath might kick off, Blizzard is still holding their cards close on this one.
Kisirani implies the return of the Scourge Invasion event
I think a lot of old school WoW players will agree with me that the Scourge Invasion event that kicked off the Naxxramas patch (and coincided with that year's Midsummer Fire Festival) was a whole lot of fun. There was something incredibly epic about fighting a massive hulking abomination on the steps of the Stormwind Cathedral that not even most boss fights have been able to capture for me. it was also nice to have all those extra bosses in the dungeons for a bit of variety, especially since some of them dropped some very nice loot. Beyond all that, it finally gave us a chance at getting the much coveted tabard of the greatest faction in the game. Still, despite Blizzard's hints that we'd get a chance to experience the Scourge Invasion again, it's been over a year and a half since the citadels ceased to hang over our capital cities with no sign of a return -- I've even saved a space in my bank for my spare Necrotic Runes, just in case! Of course, if the Scourge Invasion is ever to return, it's getting closer and closer to the most opportune moment for such a thing. WotLK is coming, in which we will invade Northrend ourselves to try to put a stop to the Scourge once and for all. Preparations are already underway in Stormwind for the journey, and rumor has it that Arthas himself is in eager to lure us to Northrend and trap us there. What better way to do that than with a preliminary invasion as bait? Apparently, Kisirani agrees.
