Who's the boss (in Ulduar)?
by Michael Sacco 
Feb 17th 2009 at 9:00AM
All this talk of 3.1 we've been seeing lately is fantastic! Class and talent changes everywhere, dual-spec announcements (see? I told you!), it's all great stuff. For me, though, the big draw of 3.1 is -- read my lips -- one new dungeon!
I know, I know, raids is raids, but I'm getting pretty tired of Naxx, and I want a nice long raid to sink my teeth into. New strats to learn! Setting a course through uncharted territory! Wiping because we don't know the fight yet! I'm just so excited.
Of course, the one thing we haven't found out about Ulduar yet is who the heck we're killing for their purples! Being a reasonable man who reads his quest text, though, I've been able to divine the identities of a few personalities we're likely to encounter. The Ulduar screenshots from beta, with their diverse wings and amazing architecture, also hint to these same folks. They'll be involved, and I'll put good gold on it.
Who's ready to rumble?
IN THE ANNOYINGLY TALL CORNER, HAILING FROM THE TEMPLE OF STORMS, JOINED BY HIS TRUSTY, SCALY STEED, GIVE IT UP FOOOORRRRR
That's right, folks. You've seen this dude, hangin' out at the Temple of Storms all depressed. But what's eating Big Blue? Well, his brother, Loken, started a war between Thorim and the Frost Giants by killing Thorim's wife, Sif, and blaming it on the king of the Frost Giants. In his grief and rage, Thorim lashed out and attacked his allies.
With the help of you, the player, though, Thorim's ties with the Frost Giants are mended and he decides to go after the cause of his loss -- his brother, and thrall to the Old God Yogg-Saron, Loken. The meeting doesn't quite go as planned, though, and Loken is able to take advantage of his dark master's power near Ulduar. Thorim and his blue protodrake, Veranus, are incapacitated and taken to Ulduar by Loken's command, saying he has plans for them.
The signs here are obvious -- Thorim and Veranus will be featured in some way in the instance, and given Blizzard's history of bosses fighting you against their will, they seem a dead lock for bosses. I'm not necessarily looking forward to offing the pair -- I was just getting to know Thorim when he got captured -- but then again, I loved fighting Vaelastrasz. We'll have to see.
The next group of bosses, though, you might not actually have heard of if you haven't done a lot of quests in Storm Peaks. Don't worry, though -- I've got your back. I'll explain everything.
IN THE LUSH, VERDANT CORNER, HAILING FROM THE TEMPLE OF LIFE, LOOKIN' AS FINE AS THE DAY SHE WAS SCULPTED, FELLAS, PLANT A TREE FOOOOOORRRR
I know what you're thinking, questers! Why would Freya suddenly go nuts on us when we've been helping her clear the undead out of Sholazar Basin?
Simple answer for a simple question, folks. The Freya you assist in Sholazar is the Avatar of Freya, and she states that she's simply following the programming left for her by Freya before her departure.
The real Freya is the Watcher of the Temple of Life in Storm Peaks and was one of the group of four Watchers who've mysteriously disappeared from their posts. There were signs of a struggle at her Temple, though, indicating that she's either dead or captured, most likely by Loken.
IN THE FROSTY CORNER, HAILING FROM THE TEMPLE OF WINTER, SHOUTING OUT TO HIS SONS AT DUN NIFFELEM, PUT ON YOUR SCARF FOOOOORRRRR
You've met this dude's sons and probably killed close to a million Brittle Revenants for them, but just who is this Hodir guy, anyway? Well, he was the Watcher of the Temple of Winter, and the frost giants consider him their father and creator. Like Freya, his temple was recently attacked and his guardians slain.
Interestingly, his temple appears to have been attacked by a "fire-based entity", which would explain how they were able to incapacitate Hodir.
If you're smart, you've started to see a pattern here!
IN THE BIG BRASS CORNER, HAILING FROM THE TEMPLE OF INVENTION, LETTING YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY GRINDS HIS GEARS, SET YOUR WATCHES FOOOOOORRR
So, you know all those mechagnomes you've been seeing around? Well, they were Mimir's servants, as he was the Watcher of the Temple of Invention which, oddly, is still in great shape compared to the others. And now that Mimir's disappeared (like everybody else), they're straight-up bonkers.
What I'm saying is you should expect an add fight with a million mechagnomes ripe for the slaughter. ENJOY.
Now for the spookiest disappearance!
IN THE, UH. WELL, I GUESS IN THE REALLY TIDY CORNER, HAILING FROM THE TEMPLE OF ORDER, USE A COASTER AND TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF AT THE DOOR FOOOOOOORRRRR
Tyr's the Watcher of the Temple of Order, and he (she?) has just disappeared completely. The Temple is intact, but its guardians are all gone, along with Tyr.
I get the feeling that, of all the Watchers, Tyr might have been the only one to go along with Loken willingly. Unfortunately, much like Mimir, there's simply not a lot of information on this particular Watcher and we'll need to see what happens once the PTR goes live.
IN THE NON-EUCLIDEAN CORNER, HAILING FROM UNDERNEATH NORTHREND, DIGGING HIS ELDRITCH TENTACLES DEEP INTO YOUR MIND, SURRENDER YOUR SANITY FOOOOORRRR
Yogg-Saron has been a huge player in Northrend goings-on. If you're not familiar with him, he's the cause of the felling of Vordrassil in Grizzly Hills, the source of Saronite and its related madness, the cause of Loken's betrayal and corruption, and a host of other badness in the Northrend area. Under Loken's command, the Iron Dwarves have been attempting to free Yogg-Saron from under Ulduar, and this is undoubtedly the tipping point that'll cause you and 9 or 24 other friends to head in there.
While I can't guarantee that we'll be facing him directly, I'll put good money on him being a part of a boss fight (or two!), whether it's preventing his ascension to the surface or fighting his gaping maw.
I can't wait. And not just to prove that I'm perceptive!
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Jillemixie Feb 17th 2009 9:06AM
OMG NEW RAID WEWTZ.
Ok, now that that's done, I love the whole watcher idea. I can't wait to hear more :-)
Thiosion Feb 17th 2009 9:09AM
I think the last boss will be a corrupted Thorim...
---SPOILERS---
...because at that end of the chain for Sons of Hodir, he was taken captive into Ulduar.
My thoughts? His proto-drake, Veranus, was taken captive to. I see an aerial fight above Ulduar, in non-controlled vehicles that you can use your normal abilities on. No idea how that'd work for melee, though. Guess they can just sit there and imagine themselves stunlocking me over and over when we go hit the BGs afterwards.
FenSat Feb 17th 2009 9:23AM
I certainly hope that if there is a vehicle encounter in Ulduar that, as you suggest, it is an "uncontrolled" vehicle encounter in which we are free to use our abilities. Nothing feels more cheesy from a design/balance standpoint than vehicle encounters in PvE (I love vehicles in WG however). I simply think it's a lazy way for designers to balance an encounter (remove all the unknown variables by making the characters all have the same set of abilities by dropping each them in a vehicle).
I do very well on the Malygos fight, but I hate phase three for that very reason. I didn't level to 80 just to have an encounter hinge on my ability to NOT use my abilities.
bub Feb 17th 2009 9:31AM
Everything you wrote after your Spoiler alert was already said in the actual post. Learn to read ya thick thickhead mcthicky.
I know you talk about the people that were taken who will now probably be bosses, but how about the monsters that Loken used to take them in the first place. I see a Naxx style wing raid, each wing relating to a temple that was overrun and ending with the creature that captured that temple in stormpeaks.
itsthetino Feb 17th 2009 9:47AM
"---SPOILERS---
...because at that end of the chain for Sons of Hodir, he was taken captive into Ulduar."
The article says all ready states that.
"Thorim and his blue protodrake, Veranus, are incapacitated and taken to Ulduar by Loken's command, saying he has plans for them."
Although let me say, an aerial battle with regular abilities would be pretty awesome. Maybe make it like the discs during Maly?
Thiosion Feb 17th 2009 9:56AM
'twas my bad. I scrolled too far while reading the article and just reached Freya, and assumed the tail end of Thorim's text was just the intro.
MechChef Feb 17th 2009 10:09AM
And by corrupted Thorim, you mean Dony Tanza, then yes.
Angus Feb 17th 2009 1:13PM
The vehicle thing can be done like the quest that gets Thorim to talk to you.
Harpoon your way up to a guy and kill them. Maybe have it so you can speed up the mount and so pull along side an enemy and melt their face. Have enemy melee and casters in there. So your healers have to stay near people and tanks can actually taunt them off your drake and onto theirs for a fight.
Lots of possibilities.
Thiosion Feb 17th 2009 9:11AM
"was taken captive to"
Should say "was taken captive, too".
Grammar part of the brain just woke up.
Brunixx Feb 17th 2009 9:11AM
I hope we don't actually have to kill Thorim. I felt so useless when he got caught by his brother. :( Most likely he will be a boss though.
Joelock Feb 17th 2009 9:12AM
I had been curious about the "other bosses" (I too am pretty sure Yogg will be the end of Ulduar) Im usually pretty on top of lore stuffs but had missed the memo about all the watchers and their hiatus.
Cant wait for 3.1 ptr.... cause ptr is one step closer to release ^_^
Malkia Feb 17th 2009 9:21AM
I believe the quest detailing that is in Frosthold in the storm peaks. It's on my to do list though so I'm just going off of WoWWiki...
(Why yes, I do pick quests according to lore and how much they interest me now...)
kabshiel Feb 17th 2009 12:06PM
Yeah, all that info about the abandoned temples and their watchers is from an Alliance quest chain: http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=12986
Malkia Feb 17th 2009 9:16AM
Yeah, it's definitely going to be a Titan themed dungeon. Which probably means lots of mechanicals no matter who the bosses are.
I get the feeling a fight with yogg-saron would be rather..interesting seeing as how he whispers horrible things in your head in the earlier areas.
I'm content to just wait and see though...mostly because I don't have any gear for it yet.
Siha Feb 17th 2009 9:50AM
Oh, wouldn't it be cool to have an Insanity-style mechanic like the last boss of Ahn'Kahet? :)
Rankin Feb 17th 2009 9:17AM
I wouldn't be surprised to see Loken again in a more silent capacity.
JuicedCardinal Feb 17th 2009 9:41AM
Ah yes, Loken: Wrath's Kael'thas. Only this time, the raid boss comes after the 5 man!
Meethan Feb 17th 2009 9:18AM
Ya, what your stating is most likely somewhere near true.
Thorim can't just be dropped, nor his pet. I feel we will face his pet and free Thorim himself.
Freya is an iffy because of how little contact we've actually had with her, but this goes for nearly all of the above. She might play a role in someway, even if it's only an architectural sense.
Hodir is majorly iffy. There is really no indication that he actually lived or died. But the way I see it, if he does have influence, we'll face a corrupted him or his killer (infused with Hodirs power in some way...). Then there's the whole "my soul is sinking back into Ulduar!" thing and blah blah lore.
Mimir is the second most likely yes aside from Thorim. We've seen his mechagnomes running around giving us hell and it's time to pay back. His encounter will probably be one of those hard modes :)
Tyr is like Freya, we fon't know much about him. If he was captured though, yes, he's probably be a boss.
Yogg-Saron is the one guy I originally thought we'd be fighting directly in Ulduar. This has been completely frayed by his influence in Icecrown. The scenario I see is that they'll be guys channeling a spell to let him out and we'll kill his guys then there's a boss fight where Yogg-Saron will have SOME KIND OF influence while you fight. After you kill the boss, Yogg-Saron goes back underground to Icecrown where we kill him once and for all.
Rokushi Feb 17th 2009 9:38AM
I don't think we will actually be killing Yogg-Saron at all. Remember if we kill the old gods Azeroth will be destroyed. I would hate to seriously to fight Yogg-Saron this early in the game. It is an old god. It should be powerful just like C'thun was.... Well C'thun was impossible to beat until they nerfed him but that is what was so great! Though, I think if we do fight him it will be like C'thun and just part of him.
Meethan Feb 17th 2009 9:48AM
/sigh
If we kill every single old god, we have a problem. Yogg-Saron has affected (effected?) too much of Azeroth to be aloud to live. Also, the lich King hates him so....