3.2.2, 3.3, and 4.0: The future of World of Warcraft

So, I'm going to assume I'm still talking to an empty room, but that's how these things get started eh? So I'll keep trucking along, mostly because... well, to be honest, I am just that bored.

With Blizzcon this week, there's a lot of talk about the future of WoW. 3.2.2 is going to hit Live servers sometime in November, and we'll be face to face with our old friend Onyxia again (feral druids and deathknight tanks should take note: the new version of Thunderstrike/Shadowstrikc is a beast of a polearm, and the only (unless I'm grossly overlooking something) 2-handed weapon with any kind of tanking stat on it. More on that in a future post.).

3.3 will follow afterwards, where we will reach the culimination of the expansion and come face-to-face with it's namesake: Arthas, the Lich King. Some info was given at Blizzcon about Icecrown Citadel, and it sounds awesome. The raid instance will take up 4 floors of the citadel and wil be comprised of 12 bosses, including Sindragosa (queen of the frost wyrms), The Lich King himself, and a very interesting sounding encounter involving boarding the opposing faction's airship from your own faction's ship. Also in the Icecrown raid will be a legendary axe, Shadowmourne, available for Hunters and Deathknights. The surprising news on Icecrown Citadel is that it will include not one, not even 2, but 3 (!) 5-man dungeons that will be linked together through an Epic questline and feature 8 bosses, whom you will face with the help of some of your faction's Heroes (King Varian Wrynn for thelliance and Saurfang Sr. for the Horde) Also among the interesting news about the 3.3 patch is that it will feature a new cross-realm LFG system that will actually provide rewards for PUGging. More info on this as it comes.

The big new this week though, as was said in my previous post, was Cataclysm, the 3rd expansion for World of Warcraft. More info was released today about the expansion, specifically on itemization (which I won't cover in this post, I'm still trying to make up my mind on how I feel about it.) and the dungeons and raids. Right off the shelves, the game will ship with 5 raid instances: Grim Batol, Skywall, the Firelands, Blackwing Descent, and the Tol Barad Prison (Vault of Archavon 2.0). It has yet to be seen whether or not these will be large scale raids or single-boss encounters, but it looks to me like the focus on raiding will be much greater in the next expansion. Also announced are several dungeons, including a new wing of blackrock spire and heroic Shadowfang Keep and Deadmines.

So that's what's coming, and I say it's great. There are changes, but without change things stagnate. Of course there will always be the whiners who will incessantly berate Blizzard, and to be honest they bring me down. It's a game right? Can't you take the changes and go with the flow?

I dunno... more on that later.

In the meantime, I'm working on trying to get a cool look for this site as well as getting some quality posts up. If you've somehow stumbled across this, bookmark it and come back in a week or so, maybe you'll see something worth reading.

And as always, screw Kungen. Monte tanks all.

(oh and in an effort to get this blog publicized, I do need to put a confirmation code in this post, so here it is. hbi7kpuy32 )

Cataclysm and other stuff

So I started this blog and haven't posted much, but with good reason. The past 2 weeks have been pretty hectic for me in real life, in a very good way. I proposed to my girlfriend, and for some reason she said yes. Because our pastor is going to be having hip replacement surgery in november, we decided to set the date to fall before his surgery, so we're getting married Novemeber 7th. So things will be hectic for me for awhile...

Of course, if by some strange chance you have, in fact, actually found this blog, you're obviously not wanting to read about my real life... you're here for tanking info.

The big news this week is the confirmation of what MMO-Champion recently leaked, the new expansion! It will be called 'Cataclysm' and will feature a revamp of the old world.

The main features of the new expansion are:

• Two New Playable Races: Adventure as one of two new races--the cursed worgen with the Alliance or the resourceful goblins with the Horde.
• Level Cap Increased to 85: Earn new abilities, tap into new talents, and progress through the path system, a new way for players to improve characters.
• Classic Zones Remade: Familiar zones across the original continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms have been altered forever and updated with new content, from the devastated Badlands to the broken Barrens, which has been sundered in two.
• New High-Level Zones: Explore newly opened parts of the world, including Uldum, Grim Batol, and the great Sunken City of Vashj'ir beneath the sea.
• More Raid Content than Ever Before: Enjoy more high-level raid content than previous expansions, with optional more challenging versions of all encounters.
• New Race and Class Combinations: Explore Azeroth as a gnome priest, blood elf warrior, or one of the other never-before-available race and class combinations.
• Guild Advancement: Progress as a guild to earn guild levels and guild achievements.
• New PvP Zone & Rated Battlegrounds: Take on PvP objectives and daily quests on Tol Barad Island, a new Wintergrasp-like zone, and wage war in all-new rated Battlegrounds.
• Archaeology: Master a new secondary profession to unearth valuable artifacts and earn unique rewards.
• Flying Mounts in Azeroth: Explore Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms like never before.

Now, we have almost no info on a lot of the new content, but there is something to be talked about, as far as tanks are concerned, and that's the new class/race combinations.

Here are the new tank possibilities, for each faction -

Horde

• Troll Druid
• Tauren Paladin
• Blood Elf Warrior
• Goblin Deathknight
• Goblin Warrior

Alliance

• Worgen Deathknight
• Worgen Druid
• Worgen Warrior

So the Horde wins out here, in terms of new tanks. Of course, all of this information is fresh off the presses and can, cna likely will in some form, change.

As more information comes in as Blizzcon continues, I'll post a more in-depth look at some of the tank-related changes in the coming expansion.

A tank's guide to: The Trial of the Champion (patch 3.2)

With 3.2 fresh out of the oven, one of the most popular things for people to do is farm Trial of the Champion, the new 5-man instance. With loots comparable to Naxx10 gear (item level 200) in regular mode and Ulduar 10 (iLevel 219) in heroic, this instance is great for gearing alts, offspecs, or upgrading that one particular gear slot that you've just been flat out unlucky with.

Tanks in particular have quite the reason to farm the instance on regular mode, as it drops one of the best tanking trinkets in the game, The Black Heart.

This is a guide for the entire instance, which consists of 3 boss fights. This guide is intended for tanks specifically, and is not an in-depth analysis of any of the encounters. Instead, this is meant to give you a quick but very functional overview of how best to run this instance, whether you're a brand new 80 just starting to tank, or if you're a veteran tank who simply needs to learn the fights.

Fight 1: Enemy Grand Champions

To start out the instance, you'll need to talk to the High Elf NPC in the middle of the colliseum. This will initiate a very lengthy introduction where you and all your party members will be (individually) introduced, as will your opponents. You'll want to start out on horseback, as the trash portion of this fight is mounted (controls are the same as the mounts for the Argent Tournament dailies). This means you should have your Main Hand weapon on your toolbar or somewhere else you can get to it quick, as you'll need it in a hurry later on.

The fight will consist of 3 waves of non-elite mounted riders, who are dispatched easily, followed by the 3 bosses, mounted. Once the bosses have been defeated on their mounts, you go instantly into the boss fight, taking on all 3 at once (In my experience, this transition is the hardest part of the instance, especially if you're a druid or warrior. All I can tell you is be quick to pick all 3 MOBs up, and remember to re-equip your Main Hand. Also, have your group be ready to pop survival cooldowns to survive the transition.)

The bosses will be a random selection from the following 5 NPCs:

Runok Wildmane/Colosos - Tauren/Draenei Shaman. He'll likely be your DPS priority, as he is a healer.

Deathstalker Visceri/Lana Stouthammer - Undead/Dwarf Rogue. Occasionally drops a vial of poison on the ground, which applies a very hefty DoT if you stand in it. I guess I don't have to tell you to stay out of the fire :p

Eressa Dawnsinger/Ambrose Boltspark - Blood Elf/Gnome Mage (the announcer will say Eressa is a paladin. He is wrong.) This boss is the easiest, just keep aggro on it and soak the damage.

Mokra the Skullcrusher/Marshal Jacob Alerius- Orc/Human Warrior. Does a whirlwind that melee will need to step out of, but shouldn't be a problem for tanks. Also, does a really annoying toss that is all too close to a pro-wrestling move. If he tosses you, just run back into the fray, no big deal.

Zul'Tore/Jaelyne Evensong - Troll/Night-Elf Hunter. Does a nasty multi-shot that can cause issues to your group, also will hit deterrence and spring back from you on occasion. It's a good idea to keep your group close to this boss until it's dead, as to avoid the multi-shot.

Congratulations, the hard (lol) part is over.

Boss 2: Champions of the Argent Crusade

This boss will be a random selection of 2 different Argent Crusade Champions after 3 waves of 3 trash mobs.

On the trash, kill the priestess first, the guy with the big hammer (forgive me, the name escapes me) second, and the monk last. The monk will occasionally bubble himself when near death and slows your attack/walk speed while bubbled, but doesn't heal. Wait for the bubble to fade and deliver the deathblow.

The bosses are quite easy.

Argent Confessor Paletress - Paletress is fun. She has a few priest abilities (renew, etc.) that are so negligible they can be completely ignored. After you've almost got her HP down, she becomes immune and summons a 'memory' of a previous boss (a really neat trick, as you can see bosses like Onyxia, Vashj, and Algalon, along with dozens of others). Sadly, no matter which boss's memory is summoned, they all have the same abilities. The only ability here to pay attention to is a short AoE fear that, as far as I can tell, can't really be interrupted but is quick and painless.

Eadric the Pure - Eadric is only slightly more difficult than Paletress. The only reason for this is, while it is a traditional tank-and-spank, he does have one trick. He will emote something to the effect of 'Eadric the Pure begins to radiate pure light'. This is your qeueu to hide your eye (literally turn and face away from the boss). If you don't, you will be blinded for a few seconds. He also will target a random member and hit them with Hammer of the Righteous, but that's the healer's problem, right?

Final Boss: The Black Knight

There is no trash before this boss, instead only a few lines of dialogue. It is a 3 phase fight.

Phase 1

The black knight will raise a ghoul from the corpse of our friend, the high elf announcer. Have all DPS switch to the ghoul and kill it before it explodes (which does some hefty AoE damage), then burn the boss.

Phase 2

Just like his namesake from Monte Python, the Black Knight is not phased by mere flesh wounds. He arises in Skeletal form and immediately begins to channel Army of the Dead. Just like the player Death Knight spell, this summons a small army of ghouls who cannot be tanked. Also, he will be desecrating the ground, which adds an AoE that ticks for a decent amount, especially on heroic. Depending on your healer, you can either just have your entire group stack up on you and quickly AoE the ghouls down, or have the group stand off to the side and AoE the ghouls outside of the desecration. The Ghouls don't really seem to be tauntable, but try your best (blow your Cooldowns for DPS here, and if you're a warrior or a druid, hit your AoE taunt once the boss has finished summoning his army.) Once the ghouls go down (and they do so quicker than... well, you get the point.) just burn the boss down.

Phase 3

During the Black Knight's final performance (ghost form), he'll stack an ever-increasing debuff on the party, increasing magic damage by 5% and doing shadowfrost damage over time. This debuff will continuously stack. Also, he will randomly place his mark on a random party member, increasing their magic damage taken by 200% (ouch.). The name of the game is DPS, burn the boss down as quick as possible before being overwhelmed by the DoT.


Congratulations on your new loot, and enjoy the grind as you wait for the trinket to drop.