stratholme
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Behind the Curtain: Are you frightened?
We all know that MMOs can provide you with plenty of emotional experiences. The MMO genre – generally – is one in which the slow burn is the norm. We'll spend weeks, months, maybe years working on our level 70 characters, our fleet of ships, and our guild. We know this and we expect it. We are rewarded with a warm sense of wellbeing, of a comfortable achievement. We're happy when we beat an instance, down a boss or win an Arena or Battleground match, but what about the other side of emotions? Has an MMO ever made you afraid? Have you ever been truly scared of what might happen next, of what might be round the next corner? I love the Stratholme and Scholomance instances in World of Warcraft. The former is a ravaged, ruined city, home to hordes of the Undead Scourge, and a small but fanatical cult of insane ex-Paladins. The buildings which line the street are smashed and burned; they lean at precarious angles, with fire still licking hungrily at their walls – what few remaining signs there are outside the houses remind you that people once lived here, before Prince Arthas Menthil slaughtered them. The Scholomance instance is a sprawling journey through the catacombs of a dark castle in the middle of a dead, poisoned lake – a place given over to the instruction and Necromancy and the Dark Arts. It's based on an old Transylvanian folk tale, and features the spirits of dead servants of the previous masters of the castle, tortured to death by the sadistic scholars within. As you run through its corridors and vaults, you come across the remains of people, perhaps innocents used as fodder for lessons, perhaps students executed as examples. Both instances are two of my favourite in the entire game. Given the opportunity, I'll still run through them now. Not only are they technically well designed, but the lore behind them is excellent, hinting at the fate that befalls the innocents in WoW, the peons, farmers and sundry other NPCs we barely glance at.
About the Bloggers: Daniel Whitcomb
Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers. What do you do for WoW Insider? I'm just your everyday regular normal blogger. I post on whatever looks cool in the World of Warcraft, and I try to keep on top of breaking news as much as I can. I tend to be biased a bit toward Hunter and Druid issues, I think, since I play both classes pretty religiously. I'm also a pretty hardcore Roleplayer, so I make sure RP issues get some play on the site when I can too. What's your main right now? Funny you should mention that, since I pontificated on that just this morning. Right now I'd say I still consider my Feral Druid my main, although I probably play my Hunter more, and either she or my new Death Knight will probably end up being my main come WoTLK. I play on the Cenarion Circle server, by the by.
Player versus NPC health
A comment left by Argent on my article about the maximum amount of stamina got me thinking. How does player health stack and scale against NPC health? I quoted 17,500 unbuffed health as a good target for maxed unbuffed stamina, which equates to about 22,000 health fully raid buffed (possibly more depending on group, consumables, and talent composition).So, let's take a look at what some mobs are that have around 22,000 to 23,000 health. Remember, this is as much as a fully equipped tier six warrior will probably have in raid. Archaedas, Level 40 Elite, Uldaman Princess Theradras, Level 51 Elite, Maraudon Timmy the Cruel (Timmeh!), Level 58 Elite, Stratholme Live Highlord Omokk, Level 59 Elite, Lower Blackrock Spire Magister Kalendris, Level 60 Elite, Dire Maul West Maleki the Palllid, Level 61 Elite, Stratholme Undead Novice Astromancer, Level 70, Tempest Keep the Eye (pulled in packs around Solarian) Culuthas, Level 70 Elite Demon, Netherstorm If you want to just go by unbuffed numbers, some famous mobs that have around 17,500 health include:
Angelista? Who the heck is that?
I've been looking through patch 2.4's loot tables fairly frequently, and just the other night one piece in particular really jumped out at me. Angelista's Revenge. Yes, good ol' Angelista is back yet again.There's no lore or backstory for Angelista, she's not really a lore figure at all. Like Foror and Styleen, Angelista is a just a little plug for a Blizzard employee, or friend/family member of a Blizzard employee. We don't know exactly who she is, but it's fun to see all of the signs pointing to her that crop up. Ahn'Qiraj, Stratholme(see above), Blackwing Lair, and now the Sunwell.Even though I know there's no real lore for Angelista, I have a mind obsessed with story telling, so I started to wonder what she would be like if she was a Warcraft figure. Her name sounds like a Priest, but her equipment definitely isn't priest-like. There's cloth belts in BWL and Mount Hyjal, a melee DPS ring in 2.4, a tanking ring and healing neck in Ahn'Qiraj... the only classes Angelista could possibly be are a very, very confused Shaman, Paladin or Druid.
The 7 best trinkets in the World of Warcraft
You know, if there's one thing I have noticed digging through my bags, it's that I have a whole mess of trinkets. Of all the gear slots, it seems like trinkets are some of the most versatile and swappable. Depending on whether you need a bit more hit rating, a bit more critical strike rating, a bit more mana regeneration, a bit more health, a bit more armor, or you plan to go PvPing for a bit, you can fill up bags upon bags alone with a whole bunch of trinkets, waiting for the right moment to spring them. Then there's the really bad ass trinkets. I'm not talking trinkets that are traditionally defined as "useful," I'm talking about the trinkets that make you into the life of the party. The ones that make other people notice you, make them stand up and say, "Woah, that guy is using some CRAZY trinkets." You know what I mean. Stop trying to get yourself that Ashtongue Talisman, these are the REAL deal.
CVG interviews Jeff Kaplan on Wrath of the Lich King
If you're itching to hear any kind of information on Wraith of the Lich King, then here's a great fix for you. CVG asks Jeff Kaplan what we can expect of the forthcoming expansion from Blizzard, including everyone's favorite fallen hero Arthas. Addressing the fear that everything in the expansion is going to be covered in ice and snow, Kaplan assures that Blizzard has plenty of variety in locales. One example he gives is the Howling Fjord, which is modeled after the Redwood Forest in the Pacific north-west.
One versus them all
We've seen Paladins soloing some crazy things, but player Parvati of the Zangarmarsh server wants to know what class would be best to solo pre-BC high level instances.I suppose it would depend on the instance. Druids can stealth past a great deal of Black Rock Depths trash to get to the bosses that drop the good loot. But a Paladin would do better in Stratholme. And Hunters can go just about anywhere.Parvati doesn't give his motives behind the question, but cash farming sounds like the obvious motive. But why restrict yourself to old world zones if that's the case? Cash is far more free flowing in the Outlands.Whatever his motive, I would like to hear what you think. Not just what class, but why.
WoR previews Zul'Aman
World of Raids has posted everything they know about Zul'Aman, the next 10man instance due in patch 2.3. Tigole has said that Zul'Aman is coming to the PTR next week, so if your guild is a big fan of the PTR, you could be headed to the Troll city in the Ghostlands very soon.They've got pictures up of four of the bosses, and info about the two last bosses, Hexlord Zin'jakk and Zul'jin himself, that we'll fight together. The first boss (whichever one that is-- I thought it was the Bear boss, but that fight seems more complicated) is supposed to be easier in terms of raid coordination, but Zul'Aman is definitely a continuation of what's going on in Karazhan, according to Blizzard. They say the difficulty will start around Nightbane or Prince and head upwards from there. Also, as we've heard, Zul'Aman will have a timed quest similar to the Baron Run, where you can try doing the instance quickly to earn better loot.Exciting stuff. I usually stay away from the PTRs, just because I like seeing stuff when it's released live on the realms, and any progress I make in the PTRs is eventually lost. But 10 mans are always fun, and I love the Zul instances, so whenever the PTR hits this week, you just might find me there taking down Trolls.Thanks, Atryd!
Mass Murder 101: How to be a hero
It's a fact that the majority of what we do in World of Warcraft is kill things. Nearly all the supplementary activities we engage in, from shopping to crafting, are all basically to help us improve the effectiveness of our violent capabilities. Many players have noted that if WoW were at all real, then nearly every one of our characters would be considered a genocidal maniac for all the people and creatures we have killed, and yet we view ourselves as heroes.The idea is, of course, that most of the lives we take are really evil anyway, so we're actually doing the real good guys a favor. We kill tons of demons, ghosts, zombies, dragonkin, giants, and rabid beasts -- even most of the humanoids we kill are bandits or wicked cultists of one sort or another. This way we do lots of killing, but still feel as though we are heroes.There are some situations in the game, however, that turn things around for us, in which our character is not the hero. While there are some higher-level instances such as the Black Morass, or the new Caverns of Time: Stratholme, in which one could argue either way whether what we're doing is good or evil, most of situations in which you are clearly the bad guy, as far as I am aware, have to do with the undead, and to a lesser extent the blood elves as well. Of course, you can argue that in general, undead are just misunderstood, and the blood elves are just tragically misled, but as in the case of quests in Hillsbrad that ask you to go slaughter human farmers, or help develop a new plague, there's really no denying that your character is doing something "morally wrong."
Slaughtering? No, it's just burning down houses (with people inside?)
When I first heard about the new Caverns of Time instance coming up in Wrath of the Lich King, where we go about helping the pre-lich king Arthas as he tries to "purify" the city of Stratholme, I heard other people jumping for joy, while I was feeling a bit of dread. When I played through that stage of Warcraft III, I remember that Arthas was already going down the proverbial moral hill, being ruthlessly indiscriminate as to whether the citizens had actually become undead or not. He didn't have much interest in helping them -- even if help was impossible, he didn't have any sympathy or hesitation in his slaughter.I understood that part in the game to show how he was already beginning to fall even before he went to Northrend and picked up Frostmourne. I was pressing the buttons that killed those digital Stratholmians, but I also knew that I was just advancing the plot of a story, even if I didn't approve of the action. If the same scene appears in the Caverns of Time however, then this is not, in my mind, merely advancing the plot. This is my character taking part in activities that I myself would never condone. Slaughtering almost-but-not-yet-undead families feels a little too close to home to me. "They're doomed anyway so might as well slash them to ribbons?" That inhuman attitude is sometimes used in real life to do horrible things, and it's quite chilling.Well, Blizzard CM Bornakk would disagree with me: "Slaughtering is a strong word," he says, "maybe it would be better to say that you are aiding the pround Prince Arthas in Straholme [sic] as he uses his divine Paladin powers to purify the streets of vile evil undead creatures ... and burns down houses." Well, I'm glad not to be hacking defenseless mothers, fathers and children apart myself, but burning down their homes is a serious thing, particularly if the houses to be burned are supposed to have these not-yet-undead families inside of them. For Arthas to do that in the story of his corruption is one thing, but for my character to help him is totally different.Now, admittedly you could argue that one of the existing CoT instances has us helping Medivh open a portal for orcs to come and rampage lots and lots of people, and yes technically that's an evil thing to do. But there's a big step between opening fantasy portals and burning down houses that are supposed to have families inside them. Does anyone else see a problem here? [Also, as a side note, the thread in which Bornakk tells us that slaughtering is a strong word actually begins with a really funny idea for another CoT instance, "Back to the Future," which is worth checking out.]
Breakfast Topic: The prequel
I know our own Elizabeth Harper had already started re-playing Warcraft III before BlizzCon, and a few days after I came home I reinstalled it (although Bioshock is taking up more of my time lately than anything else-- stupid Big Daddies). But what about you guys-- now that we know Arthas is just around the corner (in relative terms, of course-- this is Blizzard, after all), have you gone back to check out the last RTS game Blizz released?If you've never played it, not only is it an awesome game, but you've probably already guessed from everything we've seen so far that it will be a perfect prequel to what we'll see in Northrend. Sure, if you've already heard all the lore, the whole thing's been spoiled for you, but if you really want to see what happened in Stratholme before we do the new CoT instance, or what all the echoes in the Lordaeron throne room are about, or even why there might be an Old God in Northrend, the game is worth checking out.Are you planning on playing it if you haven't before, or have you already gone through it again lately, in expectation of seeing Arthas again?
The living, breathing world of Azeroth - shrouded by the Dark Portal
I turned around suddenly to the clang of the gates behind me, viewing the span of a burning city before me. Undead horrors and abominations stared blankly and stumbled in sporadic groups. The city of Stratholme lay in ruins, overrun by the legions of the Lich King. I was alone; a still green adventurer that only two days prior was wandering the halls of the Scarlet Monastery. "I thought that the Scarlet Crusade was stationed here somewhere," I thought to myself. Knowing I could make no difference to the fate of this doomed city, I dug through my pack for my hearthstone, and touched it. The city view blurred and vanished before me. My first adventure into Stratholme was far less poetic than the excerpt of my fan-fic above. Instead, it was filled with far more obscenities and questions as to why I can't get out, and statements of how no group could ever possibly take on 10 mobs, be them elite or not. They should have stuck a warning sign out front! I think back on that day, a year and a half ago, where I realized that the game did not end at 60. In fact, it had barely begun for me. And I've recently realized that the same can be said for 70.
Cloak of Shadows: 5 - Baroness Anastari: 0
Inspired by an old post about the Endgame Bosses Being Bored a couple of post-60 folks in my guild decided to pay Baron Rivendare a visit (and take some 55+ folks for a drag) as opposed to fighting for spawns in Outland. The sad thing is that this particular instance run simply drove home the point that Old Endgame just isn't nearly what it used to be. The first thing we noticed was how utterly easy the mobs were. Gone is the time when a 45 minute run was proof of skill at L60 for non-raiding guilds. With the inclusion of a L68 Shaman healer and a L66 rogue, the instance became a cakewalk, completed in a blazingly fast 28 minutes from start to finish. (including looting) But the eye-opening sad/funny part was to come when the party got to Baroness Anastari.As anyone who has been in Dead-side (or UD) Stratholme will tell you, the Baroness can be a bit annoying. Or at least, she could be when you were level 60, and you invariably got someone who forgot to burn all their cool-downs at the beginning of the fight. (To explain, the Baroness mind-controls a party-member and disappears. If you have special trinkets or talents, she is likely to use them immediately on your fellow party members.) So, with a few freshly minted near/60s in tow, the group jumped her, and everyone blew their cool-downs. Well, everyone except the rogue, not being used to that Cloak of Shadows button on his bar yet. Sure enough, first possession target was that same rogue. It went a little something like this:
Duplicate recipes create ingame scam
Tobold has found a strange little ingame scam that high level alchemists might fall into if they're not careful. Before the expansion came out, the recipe for Flask of Distilled Wisdom was an extremely rare drop from the last boss of Live Strat. Because it was so rare, the recipe could sell for hundreds of gold on the AH. Tobold thought he was getting one for a bargain at 150g, until he actually tried to learn it.Turns out he got the Recipe: Flask of Distilled Wisdom instead, which is exactly the same thing (produces exactly the same potion), but is available for a mere 4 gold from the Cenarion Expedition quartermaster in Zangarmarsh. The only catch is that while both are BoE (which means they can both be sold on the AH), the Cenarion version requires that you be exalted with the Expedition to learn it. Which isn't super hard, but the fact is that players who are exalted can buy this recipe for 4g, and sell it on the AH to unsuspecting alchemists for hundreds of gold.Of course, this scam has an expiration date, because as soon as word gets out that a) it's a scam, and b) the recipe is available for 4g in Zangarmarsh as long as you're exalted, the AH price will likely drop anyway. As Tobold says, Blizz could fix it by simply making the Zangarmarsh recipe BoP, but Blizzard probably thought they were doing players a favor by turning a rare drop into a rep reward. Anyway, if you happen to be shopping around for high level flask recipes, buyer beware.
Around Azeroth: King for a day
You know, players starting the game today may never see this sight. After all, with the quests, experience, and gear to be found in Outland as soon as you hit 58, why would you bother running the living wing of Stratholme? (In my experience, one of the more annoying level 60 5-player dungeons.) However, we can always look back on this screenshot of the very last room of the Scarlet Bastion in Stratholme, sent in by reader Sweetrevenge of Blackrock, and remember all the good times we had.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part. See more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
You can't go home again
When the expansion came around, we did a lot of speculating about what would happen to the "old" raid instances, now that the items were so much better in Outland. So now that people are working through the level 70 instances (that guy to the right isn't just Murmur on fire), what has happened back in Azeroth?I've only been back through old instances a few times, and every single one was just depressing. My guild, a few weeks ago, decided to run MC with about 30 people, just so some alts could get geared and we could spit in the face of mobs who'd given us trouble in the past. But I was glad I had to leave for some real life stuff halfway through-- we were taking down bosses without even blinking, and trash mobs dropped too fast for me to even get a cast off. We fought for weeks over this?I've also done one run of UBRS (to get some people attuned to BWL, which I passed on after that bad MC experience), and one of Stratholme just the other night-- my 61 rogue, a 65 priest and a 70 hunter farming Runecloth and Righteous Orbs tore both sides of that place apart so quickly that I was bored the whole time (the Eye showed up, and we just killed the adds it brought). The one place I'd actually gain something from, Zul'Gurub (I've got quest pieces that I need rep to turn in yet), I haven't had the guts to go back to yet-- I liked running the instance so much when it was challenging that I feel like going back there now with ten or even five people and tearing it apart would be like visiting the house you grew up in: everything just seems so much smaller and more depressing.Have you been back to the old content? Is there any challenging fun to be gotten from it at all? Originally, I was thinking it would be nice if Blizzard could reinvigorate these old instances, and I guess some kind of heroic mode would still be fun. But at this point, I'm almost of the opinion that they should just be put out of their misery.
Around Azeroth: On the streets of Stratholme
Reader Plod of Daggerspine (EU) sends us this shot from the streets of Stratholme. And instead of sending in just any old image, Plod has pointed out one of the creepier things in the instance -- these charred human bodies that litter the instance, frozen in rather unhappy looking poses. Yep, they scare me, too.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.See more of your pics from Around Azeroth.%Gallery-1816%
Attempting Strat 45
I've had the quest for the 45-minute Stratholme run for a while now, but never managed to get a group together until yesterday. Having read about the run I was reluctant to try a pick-up group, so I jumped at the chance to join members of my raid group to rescue poor Ysida from the evil clutches of Baron Rivendare.Most of my usual Strat runs have been slow-paced, with careful pulling and crowd control, but this Strat 45 was very different. Our group composition was interesting; we had a mage tanking, a druid healing, with a paladin, feral druid and hunter as everything in between. It strikes me that an experienced and versatile group is really a must for the challenge, especially a group used to working together.
