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Two Bosses Enter: Bring back your favorites
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. This season's bosses come from the five-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King. We're balancing the brackets as we get approach the culmination of this season of Two Bosses Enter ... One Boss Leaves, and it's your chance to bring back your favorite underdog! Is there a boss you think got the short end of the stick? If the reader votes didn't carry your favorites through to victory, dip back through both first- and second-bracket competitors and tell us who you think deserves another shot. We'll fold the three with the most votes back into the competition. Vote for your favorites after the break.
One Boss Leaves: Anub'Arak pounds Loken
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man originals Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! The results from the last match of this bracket are in: Anub'Arak (Azjol-Nerub) has clearly given Loken (Halls of Lightning) a solid pounding, 55% to 40%. While some readers seemed puzzled by this week's pairing (kozom: "bug + zapper = ???"), Sunsinger wove a lengthy tale of Anub'Arak's emergence as the victor: Yes, he knew this presence. He felt it only few times before, but beings of metal and lightning did not forget things easily. After all, his body was a masterpiece, one that probably surpassed all of the Titans' creations left on Azeroth in terms of fine craftsmanship. Not only had he known the appearance of his guest the moment the latter stepped into the Halls, he also was easily reading his intentions. Even if not for his mind sensors, it wasn't hard to tell that the Spider King came here to kill him. For a being of such ambition, the Lich King was even late to try and eliminate his most immediate rival, the Old God, because both of them were not the type of beings that liked to share power, and the Prime Designate knew that he stood somewhere between them and that sooner or later he would have to face the forces of the Scourge. And he would defeat them.
Ask a Faction Leader: Cairne Bloodhoof
WoW.com's prestige in the community has afforded us the opportunity to speak to major Azerothian leadership figures on any subject, and we're letting you, the reader, Ask A Faction Leader! We recently spoke to Prophet Velen, leader of the draenei, and he shed light on several key issues, including city construction, elven ingrates, natural history, and compromising positions. In this installment of Ask A Faction Leader, we'll be sitting with esteemed tauren chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof. Our first reader question: Dear Cairne, Yesterday I was distressed to see a Tauren riding a Hawkstrider. Although I'm not much of a D.E.H.T.A. sympathizer, I think It's a bit cruel to be asking a poor beast like that to be heaving a 2 ton Minotaur up and around Azeroth. What really disturbed me though, is that later in the day, as I was walking through Dalaran, I saw the same Tauren sitting on his mount (hawkstrider) for about 30 minutes. Anyway, just thought I should bring it to your attention. Jabijin, Troll Rogue, Mannoroth Cairne responds: Your concern for the native wildlife of Azeroth is heartening, young rogue. I, too, was worried for the health and safety of the hawkstriders when our blood elf allies originally began instructing us on how to ride them.
All the World's a Stage: We don't need no narration
All the World's a Stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. They have their stories and their characters; and one player in his time plays many roles. Throughout my career as a roleplaying columnist on WoW.com, I've been talking about roleplaying as a way to tell stories, but last week a comment by Zombie, as well as those made by a few others on the same topic, caused me to think about roleplay stories in a new way. Perhaps what we roleplayers do isn't actually storytelling so much as it is character development through interesting and somewhat disjointed anecdotes. There's really no beginning, middle, or end to a roleplayed character in WoW. Instead, what you get is a mishmash of events and experiences, which you may then string together into a story in your mind if you like. But even if you don't, you can see that most of us don't really expect for a narrative to develop from a clear beginning, through various plot developments, and finally lead into an exciting climax. There is something else roleplayers want to get out of their experience, even if many of us have trouble articulating exactly what it is.
Two Bosses Enter: Anub'Arak vs. Loken
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Here we are: the final matchup of the second bracket of Two Bosses Enter, featuring the five-man bosses of original Wrath. Before we loose our competitors to one another's depradations inside the Thunderdome, we'd like to remind spectators that we'll have an extra vote next week to balance out the bracket. We'll be taking your votes from among every loser so far (including Round One). The top three underdogs will return to compete in the next bracket (for a total of 16 competitors). And now ... Anub' Arak of Azjol-Nerub versus Loken from the Halls of Lightning. The ground rules: Assume that the opponents along with their minions share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output. This deathmatch takes place in neutral territory (or a Thunderdome facsimile thereof), which shall in no way hinder either opponent from using his usual resources. All the usual minions will be available to each boss. Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Don't neglect style, story and scale. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here.
One Boss Leaves: Skadi spears Bjarngrim
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man originals Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! In a relatively close contest inside the Two Bosses Thunderdome, Skadi the Ruthless rained down a whirlwind of destruction upon General Bjarngrim, 56% to 40%. The general's electric charge proved to be all-too temporary, as Skadi's relentless pressure left the crowds roaring in the stands. A roundup of reader opinion yields several narratives worth a read (check out Baldagrim and Chipperbane's mini-sagas on page two of the comments) along with some solid rationales in support of both sides. bob: Bjarn has no problem on this fight. Between Ironform and Def Stance, he can take Skadi's WW and Poisoned Spear; he doesn't even need to run out of WW. Skadi, on the other hand, has zero defense against Bjarn's WW. Bjarn makes it thru the drake phase fine, as he has lieutenants to heal his party up if they take a little frost cloud damage. Far too often, despite WoW.com's attempts to emphasize this to the voters, these polls come down to which fight annoys players more and has nothing to do with the actual comparisons of abilities between bosses. In that kind of poll, Skadi is def the winner, 'cause his air phase is annoyingly long and there is very little room to maneuver away from his WW on that little platform.
Ask a Faction Leader: Prophet Velen
WoW.com's prestige in the community has afforded us the opportunity to speak to major Azerothian leadership figures on any subject, and we're letting you, the reader, Ask A Faction Leader! We recently spoke to Garrosh Hellscream, leader of the Horde's Warsong Offensive, and he shed light on several key issues, including moral dilemmas, basic campfires, faction changes, draenei donk, and the merits of getting eaten by sharks. In this installment of Ask A Faction Leader, we'll be sitting with venerable draenei leader Prophet Velen. Dear Velen, Being a prophet, you are probably aware of forthcoming cataclysm. With Thunder Bluff built on 4 mesas, I am worried about safety of the city and its citizens. Since you guys possess some kind of expertise in crashing things (specifically capital cities) I was wondering if you could lend some advice for case it gets struck down. Best Regards, Baine Bloodhoof Velen replies: Ah, it's good to see Horde leaders initiating a rapport. While I'm certainly not an architect or artificer -- trades better left to younger and stronger draenei -- I have been around for quite a while, so I can give some advice regarding the construction of your city.
Patch 3.3 PTR: The fate of Bolvar Fordragon
Before we go any further, I want to warn you now that there are massive spoilers behind this cut for the Icecrown raid dungeon, including the fight with the Lich King himself. Seriously, they are massive. If you don't want to be spoiled, don't click through to the rest of this article. I am warning you now. Just don't.
Two Bosses Enter: General Bjarngrim vs. Skadi the Ruthless
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Before we begin setting up this week's Two Bosses battle, let's dispense with the inevitable. Click this link into the Way-Back Machine, crank up the estimable Mr. Murphy and get your party on. There. All done? Now let's get down to business, because the stakes are high in today's Thunderdome deathmatch as General Bjarngrim (Halls of Lightning) meets Skadi the Ruthless. The general commanded an impressive 66% of the vote in his first-bracket battle against Sjonnir the Ironshaper. He'll need the authority this week. His new opponent, Skadi, carved out an even larger first-round victory with his 82% thrashing of Dalronn and Skarvald. Time for a quick review of the standard Two Bosses Thunderdome ground rules: Assume that the opponents along with their minions share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output. This deathmatch takes place in Skadi's territory (or a Thunderdome facsimile thereof), which shall in no way hinder General Bjarngrim from using his usual resources. All the usual minions will be available to each boss. Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Don't neglect style, story and scale. And now, more audio love to set the gladiatorial mood: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here.
One Boss Leaves: Tribunal overcomes Eck's ick
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man originals Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Tribunal of Ages' defenses proved too high-tech for Eck the Ferocious in this week's Thunderdome, with 59% of spectator votes anchoring the little gorloc's bounds and handing victory to the Tribunal. Two Bosses readers continue to dial up the creativity and effort in their play-by-plays of the fight, hoping to win more votes for their gladiator of choice. "Like ... like what?" you're asking. Like this story (which actually supports a victory for the hapless Eck) from reader Sky Paladin:The snow was grey, here. The plague on Northrend left few things untouched, and the snow was not one of them. Dark blotches flared here and there, with odd white patches where footprints had disturbed it. A small trail of white blotches marked where Roo, a small gorloc child, struggled enthusiastically to make his way to the Halls of Ulduar. Bounding slowly beside him was his guardian and friend, Eck the Ferocious. "This place very scary," Eck commented to Roo. "You sure this the right way? Iron dwarves really not very tasty." "We remember," Roo replied. "Yes-ss, we came here with hero from before. Just over the big hole to forever. You can jump, yes?"
Two Bosses Enter: Eck the Ferocious vs. Tribunal of Ages
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Hold onto your hats, boys and girls -- this week's a wild one in the Two Bosses Thunderdome. Gather 'round in amazement as Eck the Ferocious tackles the Tribunal of Ages encounter from Halls of Stone. Been held back by that challenge a time or two yourself, eh? You're not alone. First-bracket boss Anomalus found himself shut out by the Tribunal, as well, falling short by less than 3% of the Thunderdome vote.Eck's first-bracket victory over Amanitar was slightly more energetic, with Eck bounding to a 6% margin over his opponent. Time for a quick review of the Two Bosses Thunderdome ground rules: This match takes place inside the Tribunal of Ages in the Halls of Stone. Why is Eck here? Because it's a fantasy deathmatch, of course. (Work with it, people, work with it.) In this scenario, we'll retain the basic mechanic of the Tribunal of Ages encounter. Brann Bronzebeard's survival still determines the success or failure of the mission. Eck is therefore challenged with holding the Tribunal at bay long enough for Bronzebeard to complete his task. (If you can prefer to come up with some other figure to stand in for Bronzebeard, feel free to exercise your creativity in the comments.) Assume that foes share similar levels, health pools and a comparative overall damage output. Don't get caught up in game mechanics and what player characters might do in each encounter. Style and scale are your main considerations. And now, the weekly Thunderdome call-out: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here.
One Boss Leaves: Xevozz buffets Ionar
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man originals Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! The lightning power of Ionar did nothing but feed the rage of Xevozz in this week's Thunderdome action. Xevozz defeated the hapless lightning revenant with 60% of the spectator's roaring approval. Tucked away in the stands, however, were a few dissenters, such as Xtian. Xtian: Since when would these bosses not kite each other? They presumably would do whatever is most likely to win them the round, which probably means not standing near each other. Ionar would power surge one of the arcane energy balls, forcing Xevozz to move away. Ionar would then attack Xevozz. The ethereal could respond by teleporting everyone on top of the arcane energy, but then Ionar would just disperse and become immune to damage. Xevozz would once again have to run away from the protection of his arcane energy, at which point Ionar can fry him with little worry. If Xevozz decided not to engage the elemental and instead hang by his arcane balls, Ionar could just keep dotting up Xevozz, who has no ranged attack.Clearly the ethereal is not going to win this one.But siding with the victor was Massa, who offered a panoramic take on the battle.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a disposable villain
Today, All the World's a Stage continues with steps 7 and 8 of a series on "how to be evil: bringing the bad guy back into your fantasy roleplaying," complete with ideas, methods, warnings, and practical examples. Be sure not to miss steps 1-3 and steps 4-6 on the path to evil! So, you want to be evil? It's not as easy as it seems. Perhaps you've watched a lot of movies or TV shows in which the bad guy has amazing powers, threatens human civilization, and nearly destroys the universe in his quest for domination. Perhaps you were playing Warcraft and saw characters like Arthas and Archimonde wrecking things up pretty bad and said to yourself, "I wanna be just like them when I grow up!" You open up your copy of World of Warcraft and find that you can't play a Lich King or Eredar Overlord, so you just click on the "forsaken" or "draenei" options as the next best things available. "Yup! I'm all ready to go!" you say to yourself. Everyone is just gonna love my idea about being an immortal demigod out to destroy the universe! But it turns out no one believes you're actually the Lich Prince instead of just another forsaken dude. And people just roll their eyes whenever you reveal your draenei's secret eredar affiliation. A lot of people want to play a raid boss, but the fact remains, you're just not. You're a generic adventurer like everyone else. That doesn't mean you can't be bad... it just means can't be 20 feet tall and out whole cities with a flick of your hand. Once you start thinking practically, about doing something with what you've actually got, then you can start getting somewhere. One of the most practical tools you can have for playing a bad guy is the disposable low-level character. Keeping your villain at a low level means you don't need to hesitate when he's been defeated, you can roleplay his glorious death and delete him. Your friends save the day -- you save a lot of leveling time. How is it done? Read on.
Two Bosses Enter: Ionar vs. Xevozz
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Energy sweeps the Thunderdome this week as Ionar of the Halls of Lightning confronts Xevozz from the Violet Hold. Mage-Lord Urom gave Xevozz a bit of a struggle in Xevozz's first-bracket match, while Ionar easily overcame Ichoron in his own shot at a berth in this round. Which boss will zap the other's strength this week?Time for a quick review of the standard Two Bosses Thunderdome ground rules: Assume that the opponents along with their minions share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output. This deathmatch takes place on neutral territory, which shall in no way hinder either combatant from using his or her usual battle abilities. All the usual minions will be available to each boss. Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Don't neglect style, story and scale. And now, the weekly Thunderdome call-out: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here.
One Boss Leaves: Volazj shuts Telestra outside the cycle
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man originals Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! The demented whisperings of Herald Volazj threw Grand Magus Telestra into chaos during this week's cage match. Herald Volazj emerged the easy victor, even while spectators danced about the mechanics of the match. Would Telestra's mirror images fight one another? As mere copies of the magus, would they even be affected by Volazj's Insanity? The vote was decisive, even if the opinions were not -- but the tales of confusion in the comments were unparalleled. Savor, if you will, Kinka's epic entry. Kinka: The Grand Magus is out with an expeditionary force seeking to map and plot ancient, malignant powers for Malygos deep beneath Azjol-Nerub. For a long while, the work is routine. After all, the undead are child's play to magi on their fire magics. That, coupled with the brute force of the handful of dragonspawn and the single young drake that had accompanied them, meant that before too long at all, they were done fighting through the undead lines and were cataloging magics thought long lost to the upper world.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be possessed
Today, All the World's a Stage continues a series on "how to be evil," bringing the bad guy back into your fantasy roleplaying, complete with ideas, methods, warnings, and practical examples. Be sure to check out steps 1-3 on the path to evil here.It's been said that the secret to writing a good story is not having a really interesting hero, but rather an interesting villain. The hero himself is defined by the villain in many ways, just as a sports team becomes famous only once they've defeated the last year's champions, or a runner breaks the world record for speed, a hero needs someone to test himself against, a great obstacle for him to overcome or destroy. If the villain is interesting, then the hero will be interesting too.It is natural, then, for a roleplayer to want to test his own heroes or those of his friends against some obstacles as well. Many of us sit down with the intention of creating a really interesting challenge for our guildmates to overcome – but in our creative endeavor we must remember that danger lurks behind every corner, and creating a villain in itself is a task with significant obstacles to overcome. In fact, one might say that the greatest enemy of such a roleplayer is none other than his own self, the ghost of cliché lurking just outside his field of creative vision.
Two Bosses Enter: Grand Magus Telestra vs. Herald Volazj
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Grand Magus Telestra's reputed "hot factor" was much cited in her first-round battle against Utgarde Keep's Prince Keleseth, but we can't puzzle out a way it could have any impact at all in this week's cage fight against the faceless Herald Volazj of Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom. Telestra's Nexus brand of magic may find the Herald's boss-beating brand of Insanity a tough audience for her hair- (and opponent-) flinging ways.We'll use the standard Two Bosses Thunderdome ground rules: Assume that the opponents along with their minions share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output. This deathmatch takes place on neutral territory, which shall in no way hinder either combatant from using his or her usual battle abilities. All the usual minions will be available to each boss. Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Don't neglect style, story and scale. And now, the weekly Thunderdome call-out: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here.
One Boss Leaves: King Ymiron dethrones King Dred
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! Despite King Ymiron's cavalier dismissal from the cage by the dino-fanboys ("On the one hand, Ymiron is a Viking. On the other hand, Dred is a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The part of my brain that is still 5 years old has decided this is no contest. If Ymiron is not allowed to use Dred as a mount, then he must die so that Dred may live. – DeathPaladin), the Vrykul king ruled King Dred in last week's Two Bosses Thunderdome, 51% to 44%. Comments from the stands were lively in what one fan called "one of the most deadly and greatest match-ups so far."Reader Pollux contributed not one but two viewpoints on the matchup.Pollux: The recounting of this clash begins with King Ymiron, who is in his throne room, rubbing the last few smatterings of blood off his face and armor. He's just finished hacking and blasting his way through a ragtag crew of miscreants who, like so many others, believed they could stand against him, even in his own hall. He's slightly weary after this latest confrontation and is forced to admit to himself that he is not quite as quick on his feet as he once was ... nor as resilient. The cuts from his enemies' blades seem to pierce deeper; the residual sting of their spells doesn't seem to fade as speedily as it used to. With downcast features, King Ymiron is momentarily lost in thought, but he is soon awakened by a distant rumbling.
Ask a Faction Leader: Garrosh Hellscream
WoW.com's prestige in the community has afforded us the opportunity to speak to major Horde and Alliance leadership figures on any subject, and we're letting you, the reader, Ask A Faction Leader! We recently spoke to Genn Greymane, King of Gilneas and leader of the Worgen, and he shed some light on several key issues, such as how hot Vereesa Windrunner is, why losing the Blood Elves was no big loss, and how to treat mental illness in the undead. This week, we've got incredibly popular Orc leader and captain of the Horde's Warsong Offensive, Garrosh Hellscream. Sitting in with him is Overlord Varok Saurfang, right hand of Warchief Thrall. Our first reader question: Dear Garrosh, There is a growing number of Horde members who believe "a basic campfire" would make a better Warchief than you. What's your response? Thank you, Brakkas
Two Bosses Enter: King Dred vs. King Ymiron
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. Welcome to Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble! It's Battle Royale among the royals this week, as King Dred of Drak'tharon Keep squares off against King Ymiron of Utgarde Pinnacle. Both contenders enter the Thunderdome on the heels of impressive first-round victories. King Dred crunched the doomed, fanatical Jedoga Shadowseeker in less than two chomps of his great jaws, while King Ymiron practically ushered Drakkari Colossus out of the Thunderdome with a wave of one finger. Will a battle between the King of the Beasts and the King of the Vrykul prove more challenging to both?Here are the ground rules for this week's royal melee: Assume that the opponents along with their minions share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output. This deathmatch takes place in King Ymiron's throne room, but this shall not hinder King Dred from being able to summon raptors during battle. All the usual minions will be available to each boss. Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Don't neglect style, story and scale. And now, the weekly Thunderdome call-out: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... Dyin' time's here.
