sunwell-plateau
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M'uru nerfed in 2.4.3
An interesting change to Sunwell raiding cropped up in today's patch notes: in short, M'uru, Entropius and adds are all taking a health hit, and a couple of things have been smoothed out in the Kil'jaeden encounter.Let's talk about M'uru first. Countless guilds have had trouble with this fight, yet those that have beaten it have praised its unforgiving tuning. With some guilds reporting over 500 wipes on this boss alone, no wonder Blizzard felt some need to change the encounter. Although it's not known quite how much their health will be reduced (speculation ranges from 5% to 20%), the tuning as it stands means that any significant reductions change the entire pacing of the fight.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Only a little broken
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, the column that answers your questions about the story and lore of the Warcraft universe. Click the Comments link below, ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment!skoll asks...Whats your speculation about the Burning Legion in the new expansion, since Kil'jaeden has been killed/defeated? IF he is dead.. will it that be the end of Burning Legion? If not, what you think their role will be?Answer: Well, Kil'jaeden isn't dead. Not at all. In the Sunwell Plateau, Kil'jaeden is being summoned but never fully makes it through the portal. We bop him on the head and he just falls back in. What presence will they have in Wrath? Well, it will probably be minimal. I am sure they'll have some presence, the Legion doesn't really have any love for the Scourge, but it won't be anything like what we've seen in The Burning Crusade. Kil'jaeden is alive and well, but I think they'll scale way back on demons just because we've seen so many lately. They will probably want to step away from thrusting the same thing on us for another entire expansion.
Moving on
There comes a point where you move past content. There's no reason to go back to it other than nostalgia, or for the off chance on a slow night that the one really awesome drop that particular boss has might finally drop. It's a fact of the endgame... you work, you put in the wipes, you stock up on food, buff pots, elixirs, flasks, and other consumables, you go in over and over again and struggle and finally get the boss down... and then in a month or two it's trivial and you're sick to death of the sight of him or her. Another month and you're saying "Does anyone really need any Vashj drops anymore?" and a month after that, you're done with the instance. This is fine, and it's part of the moving on process with content: if you're regularly farming M'uru you probably don't need anything off of Mother Shahraz anymore except for maybe bad luck on shoulders. Some guilds were fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to be completely done with Black Temple and Hyjal well in advance of Sunwell Plateau. Others are just now finishing up with Gruul and Magtheridon and preparing to move into SSC and Tempest Keep, while still others are just now done with those.
Xfire to broadcast WoW's Sunwell Plateau raid live
This Wednesday at noon (EDT), Xfire will run a live broadcast of a raid in World of Warcraft's top instance -- the Sunwell Plateau. The raid will be performed by famous uberguild Nihilum, and the broadcast will run on the Dyyno technology.This is the second raid broadcast by Xfire, but this time around advances in technology enable a higher number of viewers and better quality. Up to 4,000 people may tune in. Four different points of view will be provided -- those of a Warrior, a Hunter, a Druid, and a Warlock. The raid is expected to last between three and four hours. To watch, you'll have to head over to Xfire's website and install both the Xfire client and the Dyyno plugin.What do you think, readers? Pro-level raiding as a spectator sport? Is that something you're actually intrigued by, or does it sound like a terrible waste of time? We're skeptical, but maybe we're just not as l33t as j00.
New live raid broadcast by Nihilum
We've told you before about Nihilum's new planned broadcast of a Sunwell Plateau raid, hosted by XFire. We just wanted to remind you that the big day's right around the corner -- the broadcast starts live on Wednesday, June 25th at 19 CEST. This time around, there's 4,000 view slots available, and you'll be able to watch the raid over the shoulder of a Warrior, Hunter, Druid, or Warlock. The broadcast is set to run about 3 to 4 hours. As Natalie warned you before, make sure you have the Dyyno plug-in installed and ready to go ahead of time. (Dyyno runs "best" under XP on Internet Explorer, but should work fine with Firefox.) Check out the event's web site for more instructions. Nihilum doesn't promise a Kil'Jaeden take-down -- but why risk missing it?
Does Blizzard need to put out more content faster?
It seems a complaint I've heard a lot about Blizzard lately is that 2 years between expansions is just far too long. We'll languish too much without new content, and people will leave for Age of Conan and Warhammer Online and other games, they say. Myself, I think the length between expansions is acceptable, provided that Blizzard is working on improving and adding new content. To some extent, they are doing this. 2.4 was a tour de force that granted us a whole new area to grind and quest in, and if Blizzard can be out patches like 2.4 on a regular basis, I can forgive them for a few delays in the expansions. That said, I do feel like they could stand to pick up the pace.
Tank Talk: The better (and lesser) angels of our nature
Tank Talk continues this week with one requisite "Why does my ingame life have to suck so hard?" story in deference to a point made by commenters on our first column. We will then take a look at the most fundamental decision you will encounter as a raiding tank -- and one you are likely to make, and then re-make, on just about every boss encounter in the game. There is a Druid on my server who messages me almost daily asking me to come tank his heroics. What annoys me is not being asked to tank per se, but that he, too, is a feral Druid. His gear isn't as good as mine simply because he hasn't raided past Magtheridon, but he's sitting on at least three of the better pieces of Tier 4, crafted epics, and several of the badge pieces that I'm still using to tank Tier 6. At a matter of fact, with the advent of two different badge vendors and badge drops from 10-man and 25-man bosses, his stats are significantly better than the ones I had tanking most of Tier 5. This guy literally has the gear to do just about anything in the game short of the more advanced content in Black Temple and Sunwell Plateau, and I used to point to him with no small measure of Druidic pride as proof of what a little elbow grease could accomplish.But he still wants me to come tank for him.I started getting irritated with the constant begging at one point and asked him, "How can you possibly have any difficulty getting groups? Everybody in LFG is looking for a tank, and your gear is excellent."At his computer, I'm sure he was shrugging. "You do it faster than I do.""I really don't. Just get some good DPS and you'll be fine."And then the truth came out: "Well, I don't really like tanking. I'd rather DPS." Ah.
The long wait for Season 4
So we know that Arena seasons are intended to match PvE progression. Drysc a few days back said what some of us have feared over at the forums, stating that "(Arena) Seasons match PVE progression," and pointed out that the last gate in Sunwell Plateau opened only last May 20. He went on to explain that they "want that gear to be circulating a bit before the next season starts." By "that gear" he must have been referring to items that drop from Kil'jaeden, particularly weapons such as Apolyon, the Soul Render. Although a full 10 item points above its Season 4 equivalent, the Brutal Gladiator's Greatsword, they are very nearly visually identical.When Season 4 starts, many players will have the maximum 5,000 Arena points banked for Season 4 item purchases. Some teams will be able to hit 2050 Rating on their first week, making it likely that more than a few players will be sporting S4 weapons as soon as the Season starts. Because of the way the current Arena system works, more players will have access to Season 4 gear than those with access to Kil'jaeden or even Sunwell Plateau. What does this imply, exactly?
Season 4 and PvE progression
Drysc gave a little insight into how the Arena seasons are scheduled over on the forums -- I had always thought that the Arenas were running on their own schedule (with the spaces in between augmented by when patches got released). But apparently the timing of Arena seasons has more to do with PvE content than anything else.Strange, no? But true -- Drysc said that they want Sunwell Plateau gear to "circulate" a bit more before introducing a new Arena season. That means that the players running PvE content are actually calling the shots for when the Arena season ends -- if guilds take their time getting through the Sunwell raid, it may be a long time before we see any signs of Arena season 4.That's interesting -- obviously a lot of players consider PvE and PvP to be completely different parts of the game, but not so with Blizzard. Apparently they consider them very much two sides of the same player base, so much so that even something as arbitrary as PvE gear distribution determines timing of the Arena seasons.
Don't get stuck in the Sunwell Plateau
I've found recently in my raiding of the Sunwell Plateau (here after and forever more referred to as SPLAT) that there are a few places folks shouldn't go.Kalecgos is one of them, that boss should just be wiped off the map. He's just that annoying. But baring that, there are these lovely little hedges placed around the instance. Don't go on those. If you do, you might just make your raid leader and Warlocks scream at you.If you get on one of these hedges and step the right way, you'll find yourself stuck behind them (click the image above for a high resolution version), unable to get out. The only way to get out is for you to hearth, for a Mage portal to be placed behind the hedge, or for a Warlock to summon you out. All the while you've taken up a good couple minutes of raid time.
Tank Talk: Do you feel lucky, punk?
Tank Talk is WoW Insider's new raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and myself (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, raid-tanking strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish. At least, that's what the others said they were doing. I intend to use it mostly as a soapbox to complain. Absolute power tends to......something something.Welcome to Tank Talk. I am your bear Druid hostess for this week, with a topic that occurred to me while reading a recent article here on the site. Eliah Hecht wrote that his guild is facing a not-uncommon tank shortage and that he has considered the possibility of leveling a tanking class to 70 before Wrath, or tanking on a Death Knight afterwards. A number of people on my server and in my guild have talked about doing the same thing, or switching mains once Wrath hits. With so many people playing Death Knights, I think it's very possible that more people will discover they enjoy -- or at least, don't mind -- tanking, and may seek to do so in a raid environment without necessarily knowing what they've really signed up for. From those of us who have tanked raid content in vanilla WoW or BC, here are the 10 questions you'll want to ask yourself if you're considering the possibility of tanking serious raid content:
Nihilum plans another live stream of Sunwell Plateau raid
Nihilum, famed Horde guild on Magtheridon EU, will be running a second live, streaming raid on the Sunwell Plateau this month. Partnering with Xfire, Nihilum is set to provide the entire raid in real-time, through your browser with the Dyyno plug-in. Choose your favorite class and watch the raid through the eyes and screens of a Warrior, Druid, or Warlock from the guild. (Choose wisely because you can't switch later.) If you missed Nihilum's first live streaming raid in May -- and you probably did since they only had 1,000 spots available -- you'll want to install the plug-in ahead of time. (Note that Dyyno has been tested for XP and will run under Vista but Mac/Safari is not yet supported.) The upcoming event has a 3,000 viewer limit, but log on early so you don't miss the chance to view one of WoW's top guilds blast their way through formidable end-game content. During the live broadcast, you'll be able to interact with other viewers in the Xfire chat rooms.Nihilum's raid will take place on on June 25, 2008, at 1:00pm Eastern Time (convert the start time into your own time zone). The entire broadcast will last 3 to 4 hours so bring your snacks and make sure your seatbacks and tray tables are in the upright and locked position. Good luck to Nihilum! I'll be watching and rooting for you.
SK Gaming interview: Kil'jaeden, Sunwell, and why to stack +haste
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/WoW_Insider_interviews_top_World_of_Warcraft_raider'; Recently WoW Insider caught up with Neg, a restoration-specced Orc Shaman who raided with Nihilum before leaving recently for SK Gaming. An experienced player who has seen all of Blizzard's raid content, from Molten Core through Sunwell Plateau, Neg's talked to us previously about high-end raiding and what Sunwell was like on the PTR. As he's become one of a small group of raiders worldwide to finish the whole zone, we've asked him some follow-up questions about guild stability during the transition to Wrath, what Sunwell was like going live, why there are so many Shaman nowadays in high-end raiding, and the best and worst raid content on offer in WoW.If you didn't catch our first interview with Neg, you can find that here, but read on for an inside look at the toughest raiding you'll find in the game:
More calls for midlevel content, the return
Back before patch 2.3, one of the most repeated calls from players was not for new raiding instances or a particular class balance change, but for new midlevel content. As we've said on the WoW Insider Show, a large percentage of the population of Azeroth is perfectly content hanging around the 30s and 40s and not bothering with endgame PvP or raiding, and previous to patch 2.3, they wanted new content to roll through.Then patch 2.3 came, and with it, a whole new series of quests, and even a new hub in Dustwallow Marsh. Midlevel players finally got what they wanted, and for a while, the requests for new things for midlevel players to do were quelled.Until now.
The Seven takes down Kil'jaeden in China
Our good friend Boubouille at MMO Champion is reporting that the last watermark of the latest content in the Sunwell Plateau has been reached -- The Seven (who, you might remember, also nabbed the first Illidan kill in China), has downed Kil'jaeden over there. Grats to them -- they didn't get Thori'dal, but they did get Apolyon, and who doesn't like rending souls, right?To tell the truth I'm kind of surprised this happened so quickly -- apparently The9, who runs World of Warcraft in China, were able to drop the Sunwell Plateau patch pretty soon after it came out in the US and Europe. Burning Crusade, we know, took a long time to release over there (it came out months after it did on this side of the world), but either The9 is responding to pressure to release content closer, or patch updates are much easier to localize and distribute.Either way, grats to The Seven and all of the other guilds worldwide able to topple The Deceiver. Next up, Northrend!Update: Our commenters remembered something I forgot: All of the Sunwell Plateau gates were released open in China, to make up for the late content releases in the past.
Ask a Lore Nerd: You're how old?
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, WoW Insider's newest weekly feature column. Have a question about the story and lore of the Warcraft universe? Click the Comments link below, ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment!We have no reason to delay, so let's get right into the meat of things!Jere asks: I might be wrong on location, but why is there a member of the Argent Dawn stationed in Dun Morogh just southeast of IF?Answer: Unfortunately, we have no idea. Father Gavin might just be an emissary or representative from the Argent Dawn to Dun Morogh, but he has no quests or dialogue attached to him. It's possible he'll be used for something in the future, but it seems unlikely. He simply exists. Nothing more.
SK release Kil'jaeden video
As promised, SK Gaming have just released their video of their world-first kill of Kil'jaeden. They call this fight "all about absolute perfection in terms of execution," and "definitely the hardest boss ever made and an impressive final boss." Of course, this video contains full spoilers for the KJ fight. I'm just going to assume SK's site will go down, so I'm embedding it from Filefront above, and linking to WarcraftMovies if you want to download it. It's shot from five points of view, though SK promises that it is not "messy" -- hemo rogue, resto shaman, enhancement shaman, and two different destro warlocks. And since people are always curious, the music used in the video is, according to SK: Airbase - Ocean Realm Alex M.O.R.P.H. - Walk the Edge (B2B Woody Van Eyden Mix) To download in glorious 1680x1050 WMV, head on over to WarcraftMovies (edit: apparently a WCM premium account is required to download the full-res version). An H.264 version is due in a few days.Edit 2: Here's a high-quality version at Filefront; thanks, bdew.
Kil'jaeden's Soul Flay hotfixed
Let's give a quick timeline on what's happened with respect to Kil'jaeden (as a boss) so far in WoW. When patch 2.4 went live, on March 25th (26th in Europe), the Sunwell Plateau, the 25-player raid of which KJ is the last boss, was opened, but several "magical gates" were interposed between would-be KJ-killers and the demon himself. The last of these gates, giving access to KJ, was opened on May 20th/21st. SK Gaming got the world-first kill on him on the 24th, and Method and Nihilum quickly followed; and Deus Vox got the US first on the 27th, with Exodus following the day after (thanks, hyos). Nobody else has killed him, as far as I (and WowJutsu) know.That may or may not be about to change, due to a new hotfix just implemented last night. According to Lead Encounter Designer Daelo, a change has been made to KJ's Soul Flay ability. It now uses "a much simpler rule" to determine its target: the target of Soul Flay is the player with highest threat against KJ (typically the main tank, I would think). Daelo notes that this is not intended to make the encounter easier nor mor difficult, but rather to produce "a more consistent, more understandable, and more enjoyable Kil'jaeden fight." Folks who have done this fight, do you think this is a good description of the change? Or is it a nerf, in the long tradition of nerfing raid bosses?
Deus Vox gets US first on Kil'jaeden
In what is probably the last "first" post I'll be making until we get to tear into Wrath (my money's on November, by the way), Deus Vox (Laughing Skull-A) has gotten the US first kill of Kil'jaeden (SK Gaming achieved the world first three days ago). Congratulations to Deus Vox! Glad to see the North American realms stepping up, even if it does take us a few days. Anyone have any speculation on why the European realms are usually ahead of us?Their loot was: Hand of the Deceiver Sunflare Borderland Paingrips Helm of Burning Righteousness, which was converted into Helm of Uther's Resolve And, presumably, some Sunmotes and Badges. The winning raid here was two druids, two hunters, one mage, two paladins, four priests, three rogues, five shamans, three warlocks, and three warriors; for more details on this and Armory links, check World of Raids.This makes, as WoR notes, four KJ kills without any drop of Thori'dal, so maybe there is one more "first" post in the making after all. The world-second and third kills were scored by Method and Nihilum, both European guilds and both yesterday.
SK-Gaming downs Kil'jaeden for world first
They've done it again. The first guild to kill M'uru, SK Gaming (of Vek'nilash EU), is now the first guild in the world to kill Kil'jaeden himself, the last boss of the Sunwell Plateau and of The Burning Crusade. The gate to the encounter has been open for three days in Europe. As Nihilum notes, SK's kill does end Nihilum's tradition of taking down every end boss in WoW since C'Thun. This is almost certainly the last world first we'll see until Wrath of the Lich King. The US first on Kil'jaeden is, of course, still up in the air. Their loot was: Hammer of Sanctification Thalassian Ranger Gauntlets Cover of Ursol the Wise Cover of Ursoc the Mighty Hand of the Deceiver 3 Badges of Justice 4 Sunmotes The winning raid has one feral druid, three hunters, one mage, two paladins, four priests, three rogues, five shamans, four warlocks, and two warriors (Thanks to Nihilum for this info, and thanks to Eiel for corrections). SK promise that a video is in the works; as always, we'll keep you posted. Grats to SK!
