Preparing for Ahn'Qiraj
by Elizabeth Harper 
Feb 15th 2006 at 7:00PM
For Molten Core and Blackwing Lair, fire resistance is of supreme importance. As a non-tank, I tend to hover in
the 100-150 range throughout MC (depending on the fight, of course!) and in BWL there are fights that are a lot easier
once you clear 250. And though that may sound like quite a lot of fire resist, there are numerous options for a
new level 60 preparing to hit Molten Core for the first time - there's an item or two in almost every instance that can
help boost your FR. But as the gates of Ahn'Qiraj start to open, many players are finding gearing up for
this challenge to be more trying. The name of the game here is nature resist - and that's far more rare.The majority of the nature resist gear in the game is found on the green dragons - four outdoor raid bosses that spawn, randomly, in one of four locations in Azeroth. While the easiest of the four might be killed with only twenty (or even fewer!) experienced players, an organized raid group - and thus, most likely, a large, organized guild - is a requirement. Players in smaller guilds, or guilds that can't organize a full raid without notice when these bosses spawn, are getting locked out of nature resist that's about to be a requirement for raid progression.
Now I know some of you are out there thinking that players without access to the dragons can go farm instances for their own nature resist gear, which may not be as good as the epic items these dragons drop, will still be enough to help them through AQ. However, that's precisely the problem - after the green dragons, the next best options for NR are drops in Maraudon - where you may find greens and blues designed for players in the 45-50 range, but have suddenly become essential for new end-game content.
While players are already complaining about this issue, Blizzard has not commented or announced any planned improvements to NR itemization throughout the world. Only time will tell how important NR really is for success in AQ, and whether players without access to these dragons can compete with the rest.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dyyne Feb 16th 2006 10:49AM
What?!? Nature resistance is the "in" thing right now? Sweet. As a hunter, my Aspect of the Wild, with its 60% natural resistance, should make me a valuable component in any Ahn Qiraj party! w00t for hunters!!
Lummox Feb 16th 2006 1:18PM
There are a series of quests from Cenerion Hold in Silithus which lead to The Calling (on very new servers, this quest must be completed by someone on the server to trigger the Ahn'Qiraj War Effort) where a raid group must defeat the emissary of AQ. The reward for completing the quest are two pieces pieces of class appropriate armor (blues) which has NR as well as a class specific bonus. I.e. my lvl 60 warrior got plate leggings with +25 (or was it +15...) NR, and +9 defense, and plate feet with +5 defense (both also had stam bonuses). A good starting point for building your end-game NR gear.
elizabeth Feb 16th 2006 8:58PM
The Calling quest is a great start for NR, I agree. However, while you do get +25NR legs as a quest reward (slightly different for each class, but all rather nice), you still need a raid group to complete the quest.
And, yes, I look forward to befriending hunters for Aspect of the Wild come AQ time... ;)