Tempest-Keep
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Tank Talk: The irresistible fight
Tank Talk is WoW Insider's 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 Allison Robert (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. Since Tank Talk began, we've gotten a few questions from people about raid fights that require tanks to use resist gear. With all of Burning Crusade's raid attunements now removed, and with lots of guilds testing the waters in Tier 5 and Tier 6 before Wrath hits, I figure now's as good a time as any to discuss what resist sets you're going to want if your guild is intent on progression. The resist gear issue is nowhere near as dire as it was in vanilla WoW (Molten Core, anyone?) and in general the raid as a whole rarely needs to worry.Tanks are special. But you knew that already, didn't you?This guide covers all of the existing 10-man and 25-man content in the game outside of Sunwell Plateau:
Ask a Lore Nerd: The world may never know
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!Let's leap right into things, and see what Tyler wants to know, shall we?Question: If the Ashbringer is really the Light's answer to Frostmourne, then why isn't anyone trying to use it, or destroy it? Is it because that Tirion Fordring has it? If he does, in WotLK then, he needs our help to weaken the Lich King and let him use it?Answer: Nobody is using the Ashbringer right now because nobody has the Ashbringer in its true, Light-blessed form. Last we knew, the Ashbringer was still in Highlord Mograine's hands in a Corrupted form. The latest Know Your Lore covers the events leading up to that in a little more detail. Currently, we either need to purify The Ashbringer or forge a new one to be able to use it against the Lich King.
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:
Guildwatch: "Makes it sound like Teapot Dome up in here"
Menzoberranzan on Tichondrious-H decided recently that after a spat of drama, they were going to go on hiatus until Wrath, so their GL cooked up this video to show off some of the highlights of the guild. Most of it is just a slideshow of screenshots (so we're using it as the header shot this week), but jump up to 7:19, because there's some funny kids dancing.Lots (and I mean lots) of drama in the GW this week (including the "corrupt loot council" that spawned that gem of a title), so make sure to click the link below to read it all. And don't forget to send your own tips in -- wowguildwatch@gmail.com is the email address. We want your downed, drama, and recruiting news, so send it all.
Loot Reaver gets his revenge
Void Reaver, after 2.4, is apparently, "wrecking fools," according to Korin on the Silver Hand. We all called him Loot Reaver before 2.4 -- if your guild could finish off Karazhan, and survive VR's trash, he was basically a pushover. But a whole combination of factors, including addon problems (with DeadlyBossMods and VoidReaverAlarm) that killed the addons that made it cake, as well as a few bugs and other problems with the fight after the patch, means Loot Reaver is getting his revenge. He's back to being a real challenge in Tempest Keep.The hardest part of the encounter is avoiding these orbs he shoots out at random spots where a guild member is standing. When he shoots one out, everyone in the guild has to move away from that spot and each other, since getting hit with one is instant death. Those addons were meant to tell you when an orb had been fired, as well as let you keep an eye on the proximity of where it was hitting (so you could easily dodge it). But without the addons, people are back to judging where the orbs might land, and guilds that haven't practiced the fight much aren't that great at judging. Not to mention that there are some bugs, apparently -- some of the orbs are invisible, and others may even be moving through walls and underground.The fight is still doable, but apparently Blizzard wasn't happy with how easy it was to waltz in there with some addons and collect your loot. Whether it's bugs or addon changes, Void Reaver is currently back to "wrecking fools."
Le map du Blizzard
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Blizzard_maps_Paris_in_World_of_Warcraft_style'; Blizzard has released an interactive map of Paris, done in the style of World of Warcraft. Paris is the location for the World Wide Invitational 2008, and the map is a real gem. If you click on any of the locations, a tooltip will popup with two facts about it. One fact is real, and one is an in-joke tied to the World of Warcraft.When I found this, myself and several other writers were laughing out loud at them. While it's not as good as a Wrath of the Lich King map (to quote fellow writer Alex Ziebart, "Holy cow, is that a map for Wrath?" *looks closer* "Oh... it's just Paris. Lame."), it's still pretty darn funny and cool.For instance, when you click on the La Defense up in the left hand corner of the map, the quip at the bottom reads "If you put Tempest Keep in the middle of Stormwind it might look something like this – but with less dragonhawks." Just hilarious, especially if you've ever had to deal with the annoying dragonhawks in Tempest Keep: The Eye.
Does server progression matter?
Daniel discussed the removal of the Essence of Immortals from the PTR and the progressive content of Quel'Danas awhile ago, and it led me to think a little about progression.Obviously, the removal of that bit of the Sunwell Plateau isn't particularly devastating or crippling. Its inclusion could actually be crippling for the more underpopulated, raiding-light servers, holding the one or two raiding guilds back from experiencing content simply because they chose the wrong server to roll on. I can understand the removal, but my mind being the strange creature it is used this as fuel to wander to similar topics, my braincells discussing it amongst themselves.
WoW Moviewatch: Tempest Keep
It's been a while since we featured a video on Tempest Keep. Unfortunately, the movie featured last year was removed from YouTube. However, Maëvah, the 22nd highest ranking Warcraftmovies user, has us covered.In his 16th video, Maëvah takes a cinematic approach to PvE. He uses music from War of the Worlds (2005) (According to a reader, it's the 1978 version) as the soundtrack for his battles. While not the biggest fan of this genre, I really enjoyed the randomness of the credit song and dance![Via Warcraftmovies.com]Previously on Moviewatch ...
Insider Trader: Leatherworking, the final stretch
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.If you have ever rolled a druid, rogue, shaman or hunter, it is quite likely that you ended up choosing leatherworking as one of your professions. Because it can be a valuable source of gear for the leather and mail-wearers, it is a common choice. If this is the case, you are going to want to hit 375 skill in order to make your end-game epics. If however, you chose leatherworking as a companion to skinning in order to make money, you will only need to reach about 325. Once there, you will be able to convert any type of skin into its available higher form in order to maximize your profits. Still, leatherworking, like any profession, can be an extremely costly skill to cap. This week, Insider Trader will be taking an in-depth look at some of the best ways to reach 375 from 300. Hop through the break for tips and analysis.
Are hybrid tanks going to *be* left behind?
In the wake of Alex Ziebart's recent post for Hybrid Theory, we received a number of comments from paladins on their ability to main-tank a 25-man raid. Behind the scenes, the subject was equally controversial; many of us here play tanks and we all feel passionate about our classes. An email discussion started about hybrid tanks in general, and it got to be so interesting that we were threatened with being fired if we didn't post it we were asked to share it with our readers. Warriors? Druids? Paladins? And the people who love them? This one's for you. Now, I've previously fielded complaints that my posts are too long, so far warning; if you're not in the mood for a pretty thorough look at the current state of hybrid tanking, you'll probably want to keep moving. If you play any tank at all, just want to know more about them and the people who choose to play tanks, or are considering rolling a tank class, I hope you find the following to be of interest.Please note that the headers below are not, as in portions of Matthew Rossi's post, quotes from anybody involved; they're just a means of helping me organize my thoughts and translate our email conversations into the blogging format. I'm attempting to condense the content of multiple email conversations.My perspective on Alex's post For reference, my main is a tanking feral druid in a Tier 6 raiding guild. Our main tank is a protection paladin, and we're on Reliquary of Souls at the moment. This guy main-tanked Vashj, main-tanked Kael for a certain period until we found out his computer settings made it really tough for him to see Flamestrikes (so we substituted a warrior for that reason, not because of the pally/warrior divide), and has main-tanked most of Hyjal and a fairish amount of Black Temple.More past the cut.
Are raiders becoming obsolete?
At first glance, I didn't really think there was much out of the ordinary about a post made by one of Nihilum's resto Shaman, Neg. A number of raiding guilds have complained strenuously about the presence of easy-to-obtain epics in the game, but any post entitled, "Does Blizzard Hate Raiders?" is typically going to get a scoff and little else. I had read the article shortly before zoning into Black Temple for the third time ever, and for the first time with the ingame sound on. My guild had recently killed both High Warlord Naj'entus and Supremus, and while the Karabor Sewers portion of the instance is interesting to look at, it pales in comparison to what you'll see once you're offered a teleport to a different floor by a member of the Ashtongue Deathsworn. My guildies and I were really just there to farm Hearts of Darkness for resist gear and to explore a little bit, with nothing really important on our minds. Nevertheless, what we saw that night was beautiful. The floor you're ported to has a tiny, friendly area with the Ashtongue Quartermaster, but beyond that lie a number of sinister things. The ceiling is pillared by giant statues much like those that guard the portal into Outland, and rogues lurk in pairs seemingly all around you. Not infrequently you find yourself turning around to shouts on vent to see them rapidly killing off members of the raid; we finally hit upon the strategy of sending our own rogues off to sniff out the presence of danger while the raid itself was ringed and guarded on all sides by the tanks. Once another set of rogues was found, our hunters set up Flares to flush them out of hiding, marked them, and pulled carefully. You were only really safe if you were in the middle portion of the raid; wandering off to go explore on your own was unthinkable.The music is lovely, the atmosphere is stellar, and for the first time ever in a raid I felt the real sense of a dangerous place with violent, unpredictable creatures that didn't want us there. It was one of the few times that we've actually had to use real strategy as a raid outside of a boss fight. Black Temple makes it abundantly obvious that you are a small, embattled group struggling to survive against overwhelming odds. Most raids are pretty straightforward - learn the tricks to the trash, pull the trash, clear the trash, ask "What's the respawn timer?", and then kill the boss. Tempest Keep is a pretty cold and sterile environment; Serpentshrine Cavern is more interesting visually but the trash is, in many cases, just pull after pull after pull of the exact same stuff (weirdly enough, Karazhan and Zul'Aman seem to come a little closer to the Black Temple raid mentality than their Tier 5 brothers). But there is so much obvious care and attention lavished on the endgame raids, I said to myself (while taking tons of screenshots and turning the sound up), that I just don't buy the argument that Blizzard doesn't give a hoot about raiders. But Neg isn't really writing about the conflict between raiders and the rest of us, which has been a pretty thoroughly discussed in one form or another. It's his contention that the raiding world - what I saw on Thursday and what Nihilum practically does professionally - is becoming obsolete in this, the Age of Purple.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Learning how to wipe
The Care and Feeding of Warriors would like to pretend to be an exhaustive and comprehensive overview of warrior issues. Unfortunately, they're letting Matthew Rossi write the thing, and he's equal parts obsessed maniac, egotistical loon and occasionally informed poster. Proud pappy of three level 70 warriors, we think he may have been dropped on his head a lot as a child. That would explain why he enjoys playing the class that gets hit all the time.Playing World of Warcraft is supposed to be fun. I know I play for enjoyment. In the past I've done so through PvP, although I was never as much of an enthusiast as some warriors. Lately, I've gotten back into raiding, mostly because I have a lot of experience tanking and I found guilds looking for a dedicated prot warrior. In the short time that I've been with my new guild, I've gone from tanking A'lar in blues and greens to gearing up in Karazhan and the lairs of Gruul and Magtheridon respectively. These 'loot runs' aren't progression, and so they feel less 'real' as a tank than Zul'Aman, Serpentshrine and Tempest Keep do (Kael and Vashj are all that stands in our way now) because they lack that one crucial element that sets aside 'real' progression tanking.Wipes. They lack the endless wipes. We wipe in ZA, SSC and TK because we're still learning them. For some reason, I've come to associate real progression in raiding with wiping over and over again, watching incremental progress as people come to understand the fight. From the first time I killed Nefarian, a fight that took us several days and quite a few wipes to master, I seem to have been hard wired to accept wiping as part of the process. If you want to kill the bosses you have to die first. As a tank, one of the harder lessons you'll ever learn is in dealing with this expensive and often personally aggravating necessity of raiding. You have to grow a thick inner skin, not allowing the setbacks and odd quirks of a particular fight (A'lar won't move platforms, Tainted Cores aren't being handled fast enough, people are grouping up too much on Shatters) to frustrate you or cause you to start pointing fingers at people.
Totem Talk: A raider's valentine
Totem Talk is the column for Shamans. Matthew Rossi not only plays a shaman, he's come to appreciate their presence even when he's playing one of his other characters. That's his ridiculously mustached human warrior (who is still wearing a green belt to tank in SSC) next to one of the raid-saving shamans.It can at times be easy to forget why we rolled a shaman in the first place. Sometimes it seems shamans are overlooked and underplayed, and its fair to say that the last year hasn't been the kindest to the class. With all this negativity and upset, it's fair to say that sometimes shamans must feel like there's no point to playing their class at all. So here I am to tell you that, while shamans may indeed have suffered (especially in PvP) over the past year, they're still incredibly viable in PvE, and if anything I wish we had more of them.We've talked before about the shaman as a pinch hitter or panic button class, and these are both functions that they do excel at. But in running the 10 and 25 man instances, another aspect of shaman versatility is their broad array of totems and abilities - there's almost always a situation where a totem, a shock or a special ability like Heroism can help immensely with an encounter. I know having the ability to cycle in shamans to our DPS groups for heroism made a huge difference in our Tidewalker and Lurker kills, as well as finding the particular strength of Chain Heal very, very useful when a group of us are trying desperately to keep those murlocs tanked. Furthermore, I personally love having an elemental shaman in my group taking care of the priest add on Fathom-Lord Karathress, not only due to the damage they can inflict (and having seen it, I have had to re-evaluate my understanding of elemental shaman DPS - it's much, much better than I'd believed when geared properly) but due to their ability to buff not only their own DPS but the healer's healing at the same time with Totem of Wrath and Wrath of Air as well as being able to interrupt the heals after a tidal surge.
Around Azeroth: Kael'thas rises
Player Ilithiel of the Serious Business guild on Argent Dawn thought this screenshot would be perfect for a spotlight considering the information coming out of Patch 2.4 on the PTR. His guild had just finished Phase 4 of the fight against Kael'thas Sunstrider, the final raid boss of The Eye in Tempest Keep. Kael'thas is seen here rising into the air to destroy the walls around him. Of course, that doesn't stop him from getting thrashed soundly by Ilithiel's guild. Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really. Ok, only if it's a sunrise in new Patch 2.4 lands. We'll take those anytime.%Gallery-1816%
Guildwatch: Incriminating evidence
Here at Guildwatch, we talk a lot about drama, but we don't really talk enough about how to prevent drama from happening in the first place. So consider this a great tip: if you're ever in trouble with a guild officer, just make sure you have an embarrassing photo of them dancing naked in Stormwind. You know, like the one above. A little blackmail in all the right places will make sure you're always on the officers' good sides.That's just one of the many things you can learn from this week's GW, which starts right after the jump. Be sure to send your tips on drama, downed, and recruiting to wowguildwatch@gmail.com.
Around Azeroth: Bottomless Arcatraz
Reader Jehoiakim of the Steamwheedle Cartel server snapped this shot in the Tempest Keep instance, the Arcatraz. His group had just finished off Zereketh the Unbound and was working their way to Wrath-Scryer Soccothrates when he made the mistake of looking down. All the way down.Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really.%Gallery-1816%
Netherstorm summoning restriction to be removed
To accompany the information about patch 2.4 regarding the ability to summon into instances, Tigole popped into the Elitist Jerks forums with another handy detail.The restriction on summoning in Netherstorm is going to be removed entirely! Hooray! While this change won't vastly alter gameplay, it's another nice little convenience thing. Those are usually the most enjoyable changes, I think. This far into the game, there really isn't much need to keep Tempest Keep restricted to those with flying mounts. Plus, as all of the level 68 Druids with their Flight Form have displayed, you don't need to be top level to do some damage in most of Tempest Keep either.This seems like it might be another change with the intent of opening the game up to more players and speeding up the content to prepare for Wrath of the Lich King, but most people I know never liked the summoning restriction anyway. I, for one, am glad to see it go.
Raid Rx: I has Al'ar, now wut?
Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. When a search for "Alar" (meaning winged) puts this car in your lap, how can you resist? Srsly. The front end even looks like a phoenix. Now this is the legendary mount I want for Love is in the Air... muhahaha This week's post is a bit different in that I actually got... dun dun DUN... An email! With a question and everything! I know. I'm surprised as you are. I was starting to think my fancy WoW Insider email was broken. Or sending all my fan mail to John over at Shifting Perspectives. You just can't trust ferals. So after basking in the glow of having something addressed to me, I got to work on a response. In the interest of fostering good raid healing practices, I present you with an Al'ar Tale of Woe after the break.
Guildwatch: First come, first served
Time once again for Guildwatch, your weekly dose of guild drama, downed, and recruiting news from around the realms. Every week, we collect your tips, sort them out all pretty-like, and put them together in one column. It's all the guild news you can handle, all in one place.This week's GW starts right after the jump. And don't forget to send us your own tips for next week: wowguildwatch@gmail.com is the address. Click away!
One Shots: Last stand
Reader Ceddeear on the Blackwater Raiders realm in World of Warcraft offers this image of his character standing in a doorway in Tempest Keep next to his demonic minion, the Felguard. He tells us that this was his last run before changing to a more raid-friendly talent build -- and losing the Felguard forever. We /mourn for you, Felguard!Snapped any good screenshots recently? Send them to us so we can feature your screenshot and story for tomorrow's One Shots! It's easy to participate -- just send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com. %Gallery-9798%
