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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWho'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 3 of 4)
sæmson Feb 17th 2009 9:52AM
its my shaman alt :P
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Alexstrasza&n=Tonidanza
Nightwatch Feb 17th 2009 9:46AM
I highly doubt that Yogg Saron will be the final boss of Ulduar. Yogg Saron has had a longer lore connection with the Nerubian empire, and some rumor suggests that patch 3.2 will feature a Nerubian themed raid instance that features Yogg Saron, or some aspect of his being as the final encounter.
There has been some rumor about the final encounter with Arthas featuring a number of NPCs that assist, and i would not be overly surprised to see Thorim or some of the other Titan Representatives in that list.
Kirtan Feb 17th 2009 10:04AM
That's what I've been saying on forum, but people keep spouting that 3.2 will be Grim Batol or something. And yes, Yoggy would definitely fit into Nerubian raid. After all, the greatesr instance presence is inside Ahn'Kenet: the old Kingdom, where the faceless ones roam and you can even catch a glimps of his face if you look into the pool that's somewhere near the start of the instance.
Swurds Feb 17th 2009 9:57AM
I think the main boss is going to be Thorim himself. They'll save Yog'Saron for another raid, prolly before Icecrown(under the tree). You'll free Thorim from the beginning, and help him slay his "captors". Then you find out this whole time you were helping him kill the competition. Same with Drakuru, only this time, Loken and Thorim put on a show for ya. Honestly, if Thorim was THAT much stronger than Loken in a fair fight, they wouldn't try to enslave him. If Loken couldn't control him, there would be no point. However, if they make it LOOk like Thorim is the victim, he can set the stage for leading Yog Saron's forces against the Litch King.
Molloch Feb 17th 2009 10:07AM
A few random thoughts...
I wonder whether they'll keep with the "boss has a mount, so you can loot the mount" tradition on the Thorim fight (assuming you fight Thorim).
So, if there's a good chance we'll be fighting Freya, and the Avatar of Freya sent us on a long quest to wake the Etymdian (not sure I spelled that right), what are the odds that weapon will be used AGAINST us inside Ulduar?
I'm hoping that if/when we fight part of Yogg-Saron that he gets his own custom model. I'd like to see something big, and terrifying, and a little bit unique.
SunwellVialist Feb 17th 2009 10:07AM
I... honestly wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard pulls the rug from under our feet with this Raid.
Sure, it is pretty apparent that Loken serves Yogg, but... what if that was all a ruse? He -is- the Trickster, after all, plus as a sentinel he may have seen corruption seeping into the other Watchers. So, he may have decided to go straight to Yogg, seemingly swear allegiance and then manipulate everything in this way, knowing that heroes may come and not only free the other Watchers, but also push Yogg back into his jail.
Considering that Blizzard likes to have chars like this (Medivh), it could be that they build Loken up to be such a guy as well, which would be quite awesome. Here we go hating on him, trying to thwart his every attempt, and in the end he actually manipulated everyone and everything into working out for the better of the world.
poilbrun Feb 17th 2009 10:23AM
I wonder if we'll be fighting these "Norse" gods or freeing them. Each of the bosses mentionned in the article are based on real-world mythos. What happens at Ragnarok? All these gods fight an opposite. It could very well be that we'll be fighting the bad guys to free them.
I see a problem though: Odin is normally fighting Fenrir at Ragnarok, whereas the attack on Hodir's temple in the game seems to have been led by the in-game equivalent to Surtur. But then Surtur normally fights Freyr at Ragnarok, and there seems to be no equivalent to Freyr in the game...
Angus Feb 17th 2009 1:16PM
Man, killing your brother's wife to get him to fight you so you can lure him into a trap that will cause him to be bait that gets 10-25 people to come free him and defeat the bad guy you are worried about. Along the way they kill you first.
Not even Loki was that crazy...
Matt Feb 17th 2009 10:13AM
Can we please stop saying that C'thun is not dead?
http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=8801
"The walls of Ahn'Qiraj tremble. A force of evil, older than the world itself, has been destroyed"
That seems pretty dead to me... If I'm wrong, can someone point me to the evidence that he survived?
Loadead Feb 17th 2009 10:17AM
SPOILER
____________
Are we really forgetting that faceless one that we help escape from the mine in Icecrown? If we're fighting against Yogg in this raid, we're almost certainly going to see Darkspeaker R'khem.
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=31892
Of course, the acts two and three could be different fights against Yogg Saron, since he's certainly underneath Icecrown Citadel, Azjol Nerub, and Grizzly Hills.
Of course, Yoggy killing Arthas would be the lamest let down ever. It'd be almost as bad as a space marine maintaining his love for a girlfriend who had been corrupted by the z... oh. wait.
Cheese Feb 17th 2009 10:21AM
QUIT WoW NOW.
Stop playing this game, fight it, get rid of it, you can do it. I have done it and thousands of other people.
It will never end, the lame guildies, the lame trade chat, the people who are generally worthless and nothing more than a mirror image of you; miserable, addicted, and feeling hopeless!
FIGHT IT
peagle Feb 17th 2009 10:43AM
Quit posting anti-Warcraft messages on WoW websites Now!
Have faith, you can stop being a complete douche full of hypocrisy, stop posting now and live your lives!
FIGHT IT!
Eternauta Feb 17th 2009 12:13PM
Don't feed the troll.
Oh wait...
mk Feb 17th 2009 10:22AM
i see that there's an alliance quest (fate of the titans) that deals with all this stuff, but is there anything horde-side? as far as i can tell, there's nothing that really has you looking into the temples and their owners. i knew that mimir was missing from quests involving you pretending to be him and of course thorim has been captured, but i didn't know any of this stuff about the other watchers and their temples. it would be pretty lame if horde quests offer no information about this :\
Meethan Feb 17th 2009 10:25AM
I don't know what quests you're talking about, but we get to chill with Braan and figure some things out.
vocenoctum Feb 17th 2009 10:38AM
I wonder if Thorim will be the "three drakes" model, with shades of 4 titans + his mount.
I figure we can assume there will be lots of dwarfs, do they have a stated leader to boss for them?
Then mechagnomes, and a mechanical boss, mimir or another. They said wings/ huge dungeon, so probably a mechanical area with a few bosses.
And Old God stuff, with a few bosses, maybe ending in Yog Saron, maybe not. What I would love to see is a timed combat where you must kill the summoners before Yog Saron is raised from below. If you fail to bring them down, he is freed and is undefeatable, wiping the group out in a global cooldown or two.
trunkage Feb 17th 2009 10:49AM
I was also thinking about where the Watchers would be in Ulduar, and I'm hoping they'll be together like Illidari Council.
CavalierX Feb 17th 2009 10:58AM
If I get to the end of Ulduar and am confronted by a huge demonic Tony Danza, I will crap my armored pants. I'm just sayin'.
Sygerrik Feb 17th 2009 12:57PM
I have a few thoughts of my own:
I remember that Blizzard has stated that there will be an Arena-style boss encounter, where players will choose two of the bosses they face and the other two will be random. If we do fight the missing Keepers, my money says that's the encounter where it happens.
Thorim and Veranus are a given, but remember what Blizzard said about every encounter having a "hard mode?" My guess is that Thorim + Veranus is hard mode, and fighting them individually is easier.
Now we're getting into sketchier territory. I also guess that a reconstructed Loken will be a boss, but maybe that's just wishful thinking, since he's my favorite lore antagonist so far. Looking into the instance, there's a large icy area, making me think there will be some kind of ice-themed boss-- perhaps a giant Jormungar? After the whole Narvir's Cradle storyline, I'd be surprised if one of the bosses isn't some kind of mega-construct built by the Irons as a doomsday weapon. Finally, as we get deeper in the instance, the focus will likely shift from irons and their creations to the foul servants of Yogg-Saron, so I expect to see a Twilight Cultist boss, or a Faceless One.
AyaJulia Feb 17th 2009 12:16PM
I really doubt we'll be fighting Yogg-Saron.
I got to see the Ulduar video before Blizzard took it down, in fact I even saved a copy out of my browser's cache and watch it from time to time because it gets me psyched about Ulduar. The final boss area, as far as I can tell it to be one, is upstairs in a bright, airy place. I'd expect any major Yogg-Saron fight to be underground, for obvious reasons. I think a previous poster had it right; we'll see his influence, but he's too major to already be killing him. He'll be in Icecrown.
Time to watch my Ulduar video again! :)