wow-ulduar
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Yogg-Saron and Flame Leviathan nerfed tonight
It looks like some pretty big nerfs to the Yogg-Saron fight tonight. Ulduar's big bad (well, one of two) will have a much easier first phase, as the Guardians of Yogg-Saron have ceased mind-controlling players, as well as becoming "more forgiving" in their spawn rate. Additionally, flash-frozen players that touch a cloud will no longer bring forth a Guardian. Flame Leviathan's hard mode was hit as well. The amount of extra health he gets per tower up was reduced and the snare effect of Hodir's tower removed. Additionally, vehicles caught in a flash freeze will be freed with a single shot from a Demolisher or Siege Engine cannon. Players will also not go quite so high when ejected from Flamey following a stun, which should make them a bit easier to pick up. Oh, and XT-002 Deconstructor won't make people into bombs quite so often (and his heart's health was reduced a touch on 25-man). Overall, it seems Yoggy will be significantly easier. My guild isn't there yet, though (next up for us is Mimiron) - people who have done the fight, how big of a deal will these changes be?
The Daily Quest: It's always sunny in Dalaran
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. European folks can win a trip to BlizzCon in Blizzard-EU's costume contest. OutDPS takes a look at the Freya encounter. While not strictly WoW related, many of you will like to know that D&D Online is going free to play. Lodur over at WoM looks and Friends and Raiders: Raider Accountability. Holyform writes the Complete Idiot's Guide to Discipline Priest Spells. Our friend Medros of All Things Azeroth has a new podcast out called Group Quest. Check it out! Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Additional in-game fixes
There's been more in-game fixes, besides yesterday's patch 3.1.1 and the long list of bug fixes associated with it.Some of the more interesting changes: The Yogg-Saron encounter has received the following changes: Guardians of Yogg-Saron in phase 1 and Immortal Guardians in phase 3 have had their health reduced by 15% in heroic mode, the Destabilization Matrix cast by Mimiron will now correctly hinder the casting speed of Crusher Tentacles in both normal and heroic modes. Players can no longer summon the Black Knight unless you are riding an Argent Warhorse. Critical strikes from the Hunter ability Explosive Shot should properly trigger Thrill of the Hunt again. The full list of the additional changes after the break.
Breakfast Topic: Is your guild prepared for Patch 3.1?
There is a lot of speculation that patch 3.1 will drop tomorrow. I'm not really buying into that speculation yet, but the background downloader was active over the weekend delivering up another part of the patch files. That is a strong indication that the patch is nearing, and at the least means guilds should start ramping up their preparation to push into Ulduar.For many hard core raiding guilds this means making sure the right members will be on and fully buffed and ready for lots of raiding as soon as Ulduar opens up. Equally important is making sure that reserves and alternates are available so progression raids don't grind to a halt.
WoW EU previews Ulduar
We've been waiting not-very-patiently for news on Ulduar and patch 3.1, and the WoW EU website certainly delivered today. A preview for Ulduar has been posted, with some descriptions of the early raid encounters and a little more lore flavor for the zone itself. The very beginning of the preview gives a little setup for the zone: "Some thought it a city, built to herald the glory of its makers; some thought it a vault containing innumerable treasures, perhaps even relics of the mighty Titans themselves. They were wrong. Beyond its gates lies no city, no treasure vault, no final answer to the Titan's mysteries. All that awaits those who dare set foot in Ulduar is a horror even the Titans could not, would not destroy, an evil they merely... contained."Awesome? I would say so. The preview also drives the point home that Blizzard is really loving the hard mode options of encounters. 11 out of 14 encounters will have a hard mode (or modes), so your raid can determine what they can handle. I don't want to get too excited about the preview, I'd like to see the zone in person before I get giddy, but it does sound damn cool and the pictures they supply are very pretty. Go forth and devour their bandwidth, my friends.Need more news about Ulduar? We've got updates, previews, speculation, and everything else you need to know about the next big raid coming in patch 3.1. If the Titans are hiding it up there, we'll tell you about it here.
