zulaman
Latest
Patch 4.1: Rise of the Zandalari preview now online
For those of us waiting with bated breath (yes, it's bated, not baited -- look it up) for the release of patch 4.1, one of the most highly anticipated aspects of the patch would be the new heroic 5-man dungeons Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman. Now, at last, we have Blizzard's patch 4.1 content preview, Rise of the Zandalari, to tell us how ZG and ZA came back to life after we defeated the horrors within both dungeons. If you want to see how the same Zandalar tribe that once assisted us against the Hakkari in Zul'Gurub and the Drakkari in Zul'Drak is now working at cross purposes, how Vol'jin has stepped out of the shadows to stake his own claim to troll affairs, and who replaced Zul'jin as warchief of the Amani (and how the Zandalar are behind it all), this preview is for you. You can view it directly on the official Battle.net blog, or read it behind the cut below. %Gallery-119767%
The Queue: It's a moose, all right?
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mat McCurley will be your host today. Hey, it's Mat here, filling in for Mike Sacco. I love filling in for Mike Sacco! He's so dreamy... Also, that's a moose. Quit bugging me. Sky asked: Question for the Queue: If the 140 VP reward for 'tier 2' heroics went live, players would be able to reach the weekly valor point cap without having to raid. Do you think this is good or bad for the game?
The Queue: Zul'Again
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. Lots of troll questions today, and I mean that literally. Questions about troll stuff. Getcher troll answers here! Free troll answers! Pledge your troll and get a free Zul'Jin tote bag! Oldboy asked: Since ZG/ZA will be "heroic-only", is there any word on whether it will be possible to intentionally queue for them more than once in a day? It almost sounds like they'll be on a separate heroic "tier", so it's not clear whether they'll be in the same pool when choosing random. Queueing restrictions are the same for ZA and ZG as they are for any other heroic dungeon. You can queue for them once a day, or run them multiple times via the random option for Cataclysm heroic tier 2.
Patch 4.1 PTR: Zul'Aman examined
After spending many hours and relying on the dungeon finder to pick up tanks on the 4.1 PTR, I managed to get a nice handle on the updated bosses in Zul'Aman. Unfortunately due to time constraints, the group was only able to challenge the first four animal bosses. We weren't able to progress past the Lynx or Dragonhawk bosses. While there were new mechanics introduced, after wiping over 10 times to the Dragonhawk boss, I can safely say that there need to be some slight numbers adjustments. WoW Insider rogue specialist Anne was able to join me as we continually wiped, figuring out new mechanics. Thank goodness for repair bots. As an aside, perhaps someone can answer me this question: Why are raid groups looking for players for Icecrown Citadel on the test realm? %Gallery-118415%
The Queue: Trollface.jpg
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. Probably not the one you were expecting, eh? Batleth asked: Since ZG and ZA will now be lvl 85 heroic dungeons in 4.1...does that mean the current lvl 70 10 main raid ZA will go away? Or stay put? The achievement for completing the Zul'Aman raid becomes a Feat of Strength in 4.1, so it's safe to say that running the dungeon as a raid will no longer be possible.
Patch 4.1 PTR: The return of Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman
Were you one of the many players lamenting the loss of Zul'Gurub? Did you enjoy Zul'Aman back at level 70? Well, good news! They're back in patch 4.1, which has just hit the PTR this evening. The patch description first appeared on the WoW Taiwan community site and will be rolling out across all regions within the next 24 hours. The PTR download is around 5 GB, so if you're planning on participating in this PTR phase, you might want to start downloading as soon as you can. The Google Chrome translation of Taiwan's patch description (and extremely rough, barren patch notes) is behind the cut below. The translation is rough, but we'll comb through it shortly to clean up the language. We've cleaned up the translation to their best of our ability, so it should make a lot more sense now. Keep an eye on WoW Insider throughout the day, as we'll be bringing you patch coverage all day long.
The Onion takes on Raiding
The Onion, the well-known and consistently hilarious parody news site, has turned its eyes toward World of Warcraft once again. In the past, they have introduced us to geek love in WoW and the World of World of Warcraft, and this time, they introduce us to the world of Raiding via nerd columnist Larry Groznic, who has previously written on his mastery of Quotes from Monty Python's Holy Grail and the merits of Weird Al Yankovic's Wikipedia entry.Larry's rant to an under performing guild member, while somewhat anachronistic (it focuses on a Zul'Aman raid) manages to poke fun at classic raid leader nerd rage, hilariously nonsensical guild names, perennial altoholics, and quite a few other WoW foibles. It may even hit too close to home for some of the people who might recognize some of themselves or others in Larry or his chosen victim. But hey, if we can't laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at? The Onion's done it again, and it's worth a read.
Breakfast Topic: Raiding: How easy is too easy?
Karthis, a feral Druid from the Garona-US server, wrote a thought-provoking treatise on the current end-game on his blog a few days ago. Of course, he's hardly the first to declare the current end-game far too easy, but he brings a very interesting angle to the discussion -- namely that of the casual.He interviews various casual raid guild leaders in his piece. These are guild leaders who, back in Burning Crusade, mostly ran Karazhan and maybe dabbled a bit in Zul'aman. They certainly were far behind the curve. But they had a dedicated core of 10 raiders who got together, faced the challenges, and overcame them. But now, even these casuals are saying that the end-game is just too easy. One guild leader interviewed is finding that some of their raiders have gotten all the loot they need from Naxxramas and maxed out Northrend Achievements and Reputations, and, for lack of anything to do, are not logging on for days or simply letting their subscriptions lapse altogether, leaving their guild leader to make the painful decision once Ulduar comes to either refuse to give them their raid slots back or kick out their replacements.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Horde Warrior
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the thirteenth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. The Warrior is not merely a well-trained fighter who loves his weapons and armor and takes great care to wield them well -- inside each one is a boiling cauldron of rage and passion. By and large, warriors feel at home on the battlefield because it is the one place where they can express themselves, where they can finally let go of all the restraint society imposes on them and unleash all their emotions. Without his raging passion, a person would be much better suited to some calmer form of work -- it is this unquenchable fire which sustains a warrior, driving him into action in the midst of mortal peril.Alliance warriors tend to focus more on training and weapon mastery, sometimes downplaying their rage so much that you hardly even see it. Some warriors like this (even in the Horde sometimes) may be so stoic that even they do not believe that they have any emotions whatsoever, although I doubt anyone who watched them fight could really agree. Something's got to make you willing to put on all that armor and risk death every day.But Horde warriors are more likely to display their rage, bloodlust, and other aggressive emotions much more freely. Of course, it's possible that a Horde warrior could have a collection of stuffed animals, write poetry, and even play hopscotch with children, but their rage lurks deep within, and the essence of their profession is to let it loose.
WoW Insider interviews Tom Chilton
A couple of days ago at the midnight release of Wrath of the Lich King in Anaheim, CA, our very own Dan O'Halloran had an opportunity speak with Tom Chilton (also known as Kalgan), Lead Game Designer of World of Warcraft. They spoke on a wide variety of topics, from raid philosophy to the growth of the game in North America and many things in between. Read on to see what Kalgan had to say!WoW Insider: What did Blizzard think was the most surprising class development of The Burning Crusade? Did you think Paladin tanks would be as popular as they were, did you anticipate the Druid supremacy in the arena?
World of WarCrafts: Mojo tee
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.There's just never enough Mojo to go around. Fortunately, this tee will let you show off your love for Mojo without having to get lucky with your hex stick.The method can also be applied to bags, hats, or even shoes. And if by chance you don't fancy Mojo, you could always mix it up and make a shirt with a huge Willy. Here is what you will need: T-Shirt Glue-on Jewelry Beads Fabric Glue Cardboard Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-36236% Want to print the step-by-step instructions? Copy and paste the instructions below.
First impressions: 5-man healing in the beta
I specced resto in the beta the other week to try out the new talents and abilities Druids are getting in Wrath, and decided to brave the horrors of LFG and scribble some notes for your sake, dear readers. By the way, the aspect of beta that I will miss most? The 1 copper respec fee. Can we keep this?Please note that this is written from the perspective of a 70 Restoration Druid, so unfortunately I can't comment on whether Priests, Shamans, or Paladins might have had an easier or harder time healing the instances. I have a good but not jaw-dropping resto set, and on the live realms clock in around +1998 to +2100 healing unbuffed. If your gear's better or worse, then just adjust the potential difficulty level as needed. And even if you're not a healer, you still might find something useful here:
Get your Amani War Bear before it's too late
Assuming the time table of Wrath of the Lich King's pre-patch and release will be similar to that of The Burning Crusade, we're probably looking at an early to mid October release with patch 3.0.2. The 2.0.1 patch hit on December 5th, 2006. The Burning Crusade went live January 16th, 2007. The gap was slightly over a month. Assuming Wrath makes its release date of November 13th, early October is a really safe bet. This means you have a little less than 30 days to finish the things that are going away when that patch hits. Specifically: Your Amani War Bear.Whether your guild is on the cusp of getting their first bear or you're in the queue to get your turn (or even if you're looking to buy a bear from a raid group), time is short. Remember that Zul'Aman is only on a 3 day lockout, not 7 like most raids. Most groups only run the place once a week regardless, but you may want to consider rallying your raid to push for twice a week until patch 3.0.2 hits. You may only have 8 or 9 raid resets left before you're out of luck. I very strongly recommend WoW Insider's Zul'Aman Bear Run guide from our Jennie Lees if you just need to shave off those last few minutes.Good luck, ladies and gentlemen. I hope to see many bear mounts in your future.
Wrath's Obsidian Sanctum brings new mounts and new challenges
The other night I was able to test out another of the new raid dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King: The Obsidian Sanctum. To give a little background on the zone, the Obsidian Sanctum is the Black Dragonflight's wing of the Chamber of the Aspects, beneath Wyrmrest Keep. There's a portal for each of the Dragonflights, but only the Black one is active right now. The portals take you to a dimension/chamber tailored to the aspects of the Flight.With that out of the way, the Obsidian Sanctum is home to Sartharion the Onyx Guardian and a trio of black drakes. They look more purple, perhaps lavendar, but we'll stick with black. The Drakes are mini-bosses, only with a few minor mechanics to learn and understand. Killing each one of them removes an ability from Sartharion himself, who you attack last. There is some trash between mini-bosses, but it's minimal. The bosses are currently somewhat undertuned, but they're not going to be particularly difficult for a reason. Downing them one by one is not the challenge of this raid zone. Like Zul'Aman, it has an additional challenge for you to tackle after you've killed everything on "easy mode." You can pull Sartharion before all of the Drakes are dead for bonus loot. That bonus loot includes a Black Drake Mount
World of WarCrafts: Raid art
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.With Wrath looming over the horizon, the instances we currently spend all of our time inwill become obsolete. The dusty halls of Karazhan will be forgotten and we will never have another chance at obtaining an Amani War Bear. So, here's your chance to commemorate the good times with your fellow guildies and spruce up your WoWspace. Here is what you will need: White Cardstock Color Printer Scissors Paper Cutter Xacto Knife Double Sided Tape Photo Frames (8x10) Matboard (3 for 8x10 frames) Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-31666%
Insider Trader: Popular enchants and where to get them
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.If you've ever spent any time sitting in trade chat, you could probably make a list of some of the most popular enchants. Requested frequently, any enchanter possessing the the knowledge to imbue a weapon or piece of armor with the proper stats stands to make a fair amount of gold. For example, a healer seeking Major Healing, or a meleer seeking Mongoose, will know the materials, and gather them. Each time they replace their respective weapons, back into trade they will go to request the enchant. Today, Insider Trader presents a list of some of the most requested enchants with information about how to obtain them so that you can offer them to friends, guildmates, and your server. It is by no means a complete list, but it will get you off to a shining start and provide you with quite a to-do list. Check out the comments section for helpful details as well. Drop rate data was gathered from the Armory, and Blizzard uses ranges such as Very Low (1-2%). This is narrowed down with data from Wowhead where appropriate, but keep in mind that some bind on pick-up recipes can only be seen by enchanters, and Wowhead cannot filter out that data, making their estimate much lower than the actual drop rate. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be working on the faction recipes series, focusing on enchanting, so stay tuned.
Zul'Aman bears to disappear with next content patch
The Zul'Aman bear mount has been a popular treat -- popular enough that folks offer paid runs to get the bear mount. We already knew the chance to get the bear was going away when Wrath comes out. However, in the bad news category, Zarhym revealed over the weekend that bear mounts will no longer be obtainable when the content patch comes out. While I know a lot of folks already have their bear mounts, in my opinion, this change kind of sucks. I have a small raiding Guild who I've been working with to get our bear mounts (with a few bumps along the way). Since we knew the earliest we'd lose our opportunity would be November, all of our planning has been focused on getting the bears this month and next. And now, that's changed without enough warning to alter our plans. Heck, I can't even plan since all I know about when the patch is coming out is "soon." To be clear about it, the problem isn't that the chance to obtain the bear is going away. That's fair -- the timed event would be stupid easy after level 70. The problem is that Blizzard set one expectation (when Wrath comes out), and has now vastly reduced the opportunity without warning. That's a problem for me.
Alt Text just short of the real bribe
Lore Sjöberg at Wired's Alt Text talked yesterday about the Zhevra mount you get as part of the Recruit-a-Friend program. It's a pretty fun read. He talks about the myriad of vanity items, and how these items can be such a motivator for WoW players, even though they don't really affect your gameplay at all. I do want to add a point to his article, though. The new Recruit-a-Friend benefit isn't just the Zhevra. For me, the ability to gain triple-XP is the huge motivator. I'm involved in a Guild that's doing it's best to truck through Zul'Aman content. I can't wait to get a good friend of mine involved in the fun, but getting from 0 to 70 is going to take a while. Even with the speed levelling records out there, going from zip to end-game isn't going to happen overnight. So, while my friend will be starting after Labor Day weekend, there's a little bit of delay before she's rocking out to left-handed Nalorakk. The triple-XP bonus -- and the ability to teleport me to her when she needs help -- overcomes the big hurdle to getting a friend started. This is the real power of the new Recruit-a-Friend benefit, in my opinion. The Zhevra's cool and all, but the XP bonus and teleportation feature makes getting my friend involved three times faster. The benefit doesn't just reward getting friends involved, it empowers us to get our friends involved.
Breakfast Topic: Does the levity mess up the lore?
Warning: Wrath spoilers ahead! Blizzard's pretty good at Lore when they want to be, with the whole 2.4 storyline, the Battle of Ahn'Qiraj, and many epic storylines promising to come out of Northrend. At the same time, they also have their own offbeat brand of humor that is never far gone from their design philosophy, and it shows up in their stories too. Sometimes it serves them well and adds a bit of levity, but other time, it seems to take on a life of its own, a life that can strangle what could have otherwise been something compelling and interesting. Zul'Aman is perhaps the most pertinent example. What could have been the last attempt of the Farstriders to shut down the troll menace threatening their people, what could have been a revival of the Troll killing tradition of the Arathi, or an examination of the High Elves who stayed loyal to the Alliance but still hate the Amani, instead turned into a cheap redneck treasure hunt. It killed much of the allure of the zone and turned what could have been a epic struggle against a former hero of the Horde into a run of the mill bunny bashing session.
All the World's a Stage: Sacrificing spells for the story
All the World's a Stage returns today to shine a brutal but loving eye on the intricacies of roleplay. We do this by looking at the craft of roleplay itself, and the people who love it. We might not be ready for Jerry Springer, but we're pretty sure this week's column is going to have a little debate behind it. Michael Gray fills in this week for David Bowers, and talks about letting roleplay exclude some other forms of play in the World of Warcraft.We're not a big Guild. All told, we probably have about twenty to twenty five people who come online at various times to talk, chat, and play together. We have some structure, but we're mostly a motley of friends who hang out. Our raiding effort takes place because our raid leaders woke up one day and said "By Wrath of the Lich King, we're going to be able to progress in ten man content."We're also a roleplay-ish kind of Guild. I say "ish" because we're not full immersion players. We have some light story notions. For example, I have the vague idea that our raid's main healer is the son of our raid's main tank -- that's mostly because they're the same human model, but one has light blonde hair, and the other has old, graying hair.So, when we come across folks into the roleplay and immersion a little more than we are, we're sometimes not quite sure what to make of it.
