WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com WoW Insider http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com prods@weblogsinc.com (Weblogs, Inc. Producers) (Weblogs, Inc. Web Support) en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. View our terms of service here: http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[Ready Check: Summertime, and the livin' is...]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/06/28/ready-check-summertime-and-the-livin-is/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/06/28/ready-check-summertime-and-the-livin-is/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/06/28/ready-check-summertime-and-the-livin-is/#comments

Ready Check is a twice-a-week column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. Today, we step back a little and look at endgame in the context of sports.

Ah, summer. Pimm's in the sunshine, the thwack of tennis balls against grass, iced Frappucinos and hayfever. Delights like these, and others, all conspire to turn perfectly normal raiders into monsters of poor attendance. Yet guilds soldier on despite a mixture of player attrition and general unreliability -- this column looks at some of the ways they manage.

The problem at hand is that many raiding guilds, at all levels of raiding, rely on a fairly tight-knit group of players. The smaller the raiding core, the more reliant you become on everyone showing up, but the better the guild is (in theory) since your players are well accustomed to working together. Additionally, loot is better used since it generally goes to those who raid rather than those who sit out.

Continue reading Ready Check: Summertime, and the livin' is...

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Ready Check: Summertime, and the livin' is... originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> burnoutguild-managementleadershipraid-leaderraidingsummer-burnoutwow-guidewow-guild-managementwow-raid-leaderwow-raiding (Jennie Lees) Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: I'm more hardcore than you]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/30/ready-check-im-more-hardcore-than-you/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/30/ready-check-im-more-hardcore-than-you/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/30/ready-check-im-more-hardcore-than-you/#comments

Ready Check is a twice-a-week column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. Today, we step back a little and look at endgame in the context of sports.

Firstly, dedicated followers of this column (hi, Mum) will have noticed a new addition - Michael Gray's working his magic to make Ready Check not just weekly, but twice-weekly! Is that more than enough Ready Check to keep anyone happy? I think so.

Today's column is inspired by a question we've been discussing internally: is WoW a sport? Specifically, as so many of the externally validated goals in-game relate to raiding, how does raiding stand up to other, more traditional sports? We're not talking eSports, but good old fashioned team games. How do the attitudes in raiding differ from those you'd find in the sporting-as-a-hobby world?

Continue reading Ready Check: I'm more hardcore than you

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Ready Check: I'm more hardcore than you originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 30 May 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> casualelitismhardcoreraiding (Jennie Lees) Sat, 30 May 2009 20:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Hard modes and progression]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/24/ready-check-hard-modes-and-progression/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/24/ready-check-hard-modes-and-progression/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/24/ready-check-hard-modes-and-progression/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Archavon or Algalon, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at the hard modes in Ulduar.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a raiding guild, in possession of a good enough fortune to cover repair costs, must be in want of a challenge. Rather than make bosses difficult by default, the design of Ulduar is liberally sprinkled with the sort of challenge we only saw hints of before -- hard modes.

The idea behind hard modes is to cater for every type of raider. Whether you just want to see content, have difficulty killing it as-is, or fancy spending several evenings wiping to artificial constraints, you can do so. (Note that when I say 'normal mode' from now on I mean non-hard-mode, not 10-man.)

Continue reading Ready Check: Hard modes and progression

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Ready Check: Hard modes and progression originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 24 May 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 25-manachievementsalgalonhard-modestrategy (Jennie Lees) Sun, 24 May 2009 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Casual meets hardcore]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/16/ready-check-casual-meets-hardcore/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/16/ready-check-casual-meets-hardcore/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/16/ready-check-casual-meets-hardcore/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Archavon or Algalon, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, I attempt to find common ground with a casual player who's never raided and doesn't want to.

This weekend, I spent several hours talking shop with a woman who, as well as being a casual player, also has the unfortunate privilege of having given birth to me some time previously. As well as being my mum, Lynn is a gamer, and a few years ago I managed to lure her away from Guild Wars -- where she never got past level 10 -- to WoW. She now plays a level 80 enhancement shaman, as well as uncountably many alts (far more than me, and I'm an altoholic).

However, she's very cautious about group play. She socialises with her guild and has run the odd 5-man dungeon, but doesn't really understand the scene beyond that. Despite playing more than enough hours to join a raiding guild, she hasn't, and with raiding now very much accessible to all, I was curious why.

Continue reading Ready Check: Casual meets hardcore

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Ready Check: Casual meets hardcore originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 16 May 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> casual-interviewcasual-vs-hardcorefamilyraiding (Jennie Lees) Sat, 16 May 2009 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Progression Recruitment and Roster Churn]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/09/ready-check-progression-recruitment-and-roster-churn/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/09/ready-check-progression-recruitment-and-roster-churn/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/05/09/ready-check-progression-recruitment-and-roster-churn/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we're LF24M Yogg-Saron hard mode PST.

It's interesting to watch the flow of players into and around hardcore guilds, and how it changes during farm, progress and the area in between. Why are so many of these guilds recruiting, and how does it change the meta-game?

There are two reasons for a hardcore guild to recruit: to expand the roster and gain flexibility, or to replace players who are leaving the raiding squad. But what effect does it have on the guild? Let's take a look.

Continue reading Ready Check: Progression Recruitment and Roster Churn

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Ready Check: Progression Recruitment and Roster Churn originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 09 May 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> burnoutcasualshardcoresprogressionraidingrecruitmentroster (Jennie Lees) Sat, 09 May 2009 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Is Ulduar too easy?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/04/26/ready-check-is-ulduar-too-easy/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/04/26/ready-check-is-ulduar-too-easy/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/04/26/ready-check-is-ulduar-too-easy/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we do some homework.

The long-awaited new instance has been live for almost two weeks now, and a lot of the excitement over first kills is waning. Everything Blizzard has thrown at us so far is dead, and even several of the hard-mode kills, nominally on a level with Sarth-3D, are beaten.

So, this leads us naturally on to the question - is Ulduar hard enough?

Continue reading Ready Check: Is Ulduar too easy?

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Ready Check: Is Ulduar too easy? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzarddesignhard-modesmmo-championulduar (Jennie Lees) Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Preparing for Ulduar's Bosses]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/04/11/ready-check-preparing-for-ulduars-bosses/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/04/11/ready-check-preparing-for-ulduars-bosses/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/04/11/ready-check-preparing-for-ulduars-bosses/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Naxxramas-10 or Naxxramas-25, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we do some homework.

With Patch 3.1 and the release of Ulduar fast approaching, it's time to sit down and prepare for the upcoming content. Now, you might be the sort of raider who loves a surprise or two, and as a result you haven't looked at any of the preview coverage of Ulduar; if that sounds familiar, you probably don't want to continue reading this article.

If, however, your guild is going to rush into Ulduar as soon as possible, aiming for server or even world firsts, you need to be prepared. Let's take a look at the resources you can use to maximise your chances of success against the unknown.

Continue reading Ready Check: Preparing for Ulduar's Bosses

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Ready Check: Preparing for Ulduar's Bosses originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> bossesfreyahodiriron-councilmmo-championraid-strategyraidingstrategythorimulduar (Jennie Lees) Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Ulduar and Burnout]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/03/29/ready-check-ulduar-and-burnout/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/03/29/ready-check-ulduar-and-burnout/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/03/29/ready-check-ulduar-and-burnout/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Naxxramas-10 or Naxxramas-25, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at people who are leaving raiding despite Ulduar being imminent.

It's that time of year again. We're hardly as jaded by farming tier 7 content as we were back in the days of Black Temple and Hyjal, but burnout has been rearing its ugly head lately, putting raiding guilds in a difficult position. Ulduar approaching will obviously put a stop to the problem - but for how long?

When all the 25-man content is cleared in a handful of hours, nobody has any reason to run 10-mans and the drop-of-a-hat PTR testing schedule means we're entirely at Blizzard's whim as to when we can poke new content, it's no wonder people are becoming bored. Arguably, it's better that we don't get more than a few limited hours a week on the PTR, in order that the content is fresh when it actually hits. However, the actual effect of this drip-feeding has seemed to dampen enthusiasm for Ulduar rather than heighten it, especially as one of the most available bosses is unfortunately Flame Leviathan.

Continue reading Ready Check: Ulduar and Burnout

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Ready Check: Ulduar and Burnout originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> boredomburnoutdramanaxxramasraidingrecruitmentulduar (Jennie Lees) Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Nearly Immortal]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/03/21/ready-check-nearly-immortal/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/03/21/ready-check-nearly-immortal/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/03/21/ready-check-nearly-immortal/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week's Ready Check was inspired by reader Evan, who wrote in to tell us of some frustrating near-brushes with immortality.

Among hardcore and casual guilds alike, the achievement 'The Immortal' has caused nothing but a headache, even though finally pulling it off puts you in a very elite group of raiders. We misguidedly hoped that there wouldn't be a similar achievement in Ulduar, but 'The Immortal, Part Two' puts paid to that hope. However, it's substantially changed in difficulty.

Currently, you have to complete Naxxramas without a single raid member dying on any boss encounter within a single lockout. This makes for incredibly tense raids when things are going well, and incredibly frustrated raids when something goes wrong and puts paid to that week's attempt. We'll take a look at some of the things that can go wrong in Naxxrams a bit later.

Continue reading Ready Check: Nearly Immortal

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Ready Check: Nearly Immortal originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievementsimmortalraid-leadingthe-immortalulduarulduar-achievements (Jennie Lees) Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Know your raiders]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/28/ready-check-know-your-raiders/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/28/ready-check-know-your-raiders/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/28/ready-check-know-your-raiders/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we get psychological on your posterior.

We're all familiar with caricatures of raiders, from the aggressive aggro-hungry warlock to the placid, gentle priest. Generalising to quite this extent is perhaps a little unfair, but it's certainly true that many raiders share common personality traits; by looking at research into personality and learning types, we can understand our raid force better and perhaps even find out a thing or two about how to manage them.

Have you ever wondered what makes your raid group tick? Why people with seemingly conflicting behaviour and goals get on just fine when there are dragons to be slain? Psychology research explains it all.

Continue reading Ready Check: Know your raiders

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Ready Check: Know your raiders originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> guildguild-managementpersonalityraider-personalityraiding (Jennie Lees) Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Sartharion plus 3 Drakes]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/22/ready-check-sartharion-plus-3-drakes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/22/ready-check-sartharion-plus-3-drakes/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/22/ready-check-sartharion-plus-3-drakes/#comments
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we take on a dragon and his mates. Yeah.

Last week we provided an outline of the Sartharion encounter, promising to deliver more detail this week on how to beat the boss with all three of his drake companions alive at the pull. This is commonly called 'hard mode' and, although it's not for the faint hearted, it's by no means impossible either. However, excellent co-ordination and DPS are required in order to keep the fight under control and things can quickly degenerate into chaos.

When to attempt 3 drakes

Is your guild or raid group ready to even try 3 drakes? There's no hard-and-fast rule that says 'you need to be this awesome to leave three drakes alive'. If you're thinking about trying it, we'd hope that you've already killed Sartharion, probably with one or two adds already alive. You've cleared Naxx and are decked out in gear, you have a diverse pool of people to draw from, and you can communicate with each other. That's all you need, really, although a couple of things can help, including a well geared tank and complementary DPS.

Continue reading Ready Check: Sartharion plus 3 Drakes

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Ready Check: Sartharion plus 3 Drakes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> obsidian-sanctumraid-strategysartharionshadrontankingtenebronthree-drakesvesperon (Jennie Lees) Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Sartharion]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/14/ready-check-sartharion/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/14/ready-check-sartharion/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/14/ready-check-sartharion/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we try to avoid dying in a fire. Again.

In keeping with this weekend's theme, we all know there's nothing that shows your love for another pixellated avatar as sincerely as slaying a dragon for them. Throughout history, knights in shining armour have triumphed victorious in the face of fire-breathing monsters, and this week's Ready Check is no exception. (We'll deal with Sartharion's frost-breathing compatriot in an upcoming week, don't fret!)

Sartharion the Onyx Guardian is a 'standalone' boss located in the Obsidian Sanctum below Wyrmrest Temple. Accompanied by a trio of lesser drakes, this encounter can be approached a number of ways, making it challenging to a wide audience. Although clearing the trash is necessary, killing the drakes before engaging Sartharion is optional; any drakes left alive before beginning the fight will join in during the encounter, adding extra challenge (and loot) to those who desire it.

Continue reading Ready Check: Sartharion

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Ready Check: Sartharion originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dying-in-a-fireobsidian-sanctumraidingready-checksarth-plus-3sartharion (Jennie Lees) Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Preparing for Ulduar]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/07/ready-check-preparing-for-ulduar/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/07/ready-check-preparing-for-ulduar/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/02/07/ready-check-preparing-for-ulduar/#comments
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look to the future...

In amongst detailed tactical explanations of the various bosses currently residing in the available level 80 raid instances, let's take a break to look at the bigger picture. Many guilds are in a situation several of you can relate to: having cleared Naxxramas, the Eye of Eternity and the Obsidian Sanctum (let's not pretend Vault of Archavon's a proper raid instance), there's nothing left to do but clear them again. And again. And again...

Welcome to farm status. Whether you struggled to defeat the final denizens of these dungeons or facerolled it all in the first week, eventually raiders reach a common plateau with everything killed and these kills more or less easily repeatable. When at this point, there are several different directions you can go, and I'm sure we've all seen other people do one or more of the following: get bored and simply stop showing up; get greedy and focus entirely on loot, playing sloppily and angsting over drops; level an alt and suddenly have the world revolve around that character, trying to get it into raids because your main doesn't need loot; or hunker down and start preparing for the future.

This week's column deals with the latter, but if you're seeing people exhibit less-than-savoury behaviour now you clear everything in one night a week, it can be very telling -- especially if they're a recent recruit. With the leisure of a farm period, you have time to deal with these people as your guild sees fit, although boredom is a real problem when farm periods are long (such as the gap between Black Temple and Sunwell Plateau). With nothing to interest hardcore raiders in the game any more, real life starts rearing its head, and many guilds lose important players at this time, replacing them with untried raiders who might seem great on farm content but whose skill on progress raids is an unknown. There's no real solution to this, it happens, and it's up to your guild how you deal with it.

So how does a guild prepare for a raid instance nobody knows much about?

Continue reading Ready Check: Preparing for Ulduar

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Ready Check: Preparing for Ulduar originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> consumablesfarmingnaxxramaspreparationraidingulduar (Jennie Lees) Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Military Quarter)]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/12/14/ready-check-guide-to-naxxramas-military-quarter/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/12/14/ready-check-guide-to-naxxramas-military-quarter/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/12/14/ready-check-guide-to-naxxramas-military-quarter/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we visit some Death Knights in their natural habitat.

Are you a fan of our new death knight brethren? If so, you're in for a treat: there are plenty of them in store for you in this quarter of Naxxramas, as we continue our journey towards Kel'Thuzad's throne. Our whistlestop tour will pop in and visit Instructor Razuvious, Gothik the Harvester and finally the Four Horsemen, whose charismatic yells punctuate the wing as a whole.

Remember, if you want everything to be a surprise, don't read beyond the cut!

Continue reading Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Military Quarter)

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Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Military Quarter) originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> four-horsemengothiknaxxramasraid-strategyrazuvious (Jennie Lees) Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Plague Quarter)]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/12/06/ready-check-guide-to-naxxramas-plague-quarter/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/12/06/ready-check-guide-to-naxxramas-plague-quarter/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/12/06/ready-check-guide-to-naxxramas-plague-quarter/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we continue exploring Naxxramas by venturing into the territory of plague beasties.

Continuing our journey through the halls of Naxxramas, which began last week with the Arachnid Quarter, this week's Ready Check takes a close-up view of the Plague Quarter. As with last week's guide, don't read any further if you want everything to be a surprise when you venture in.

We'll be looking at Noth the Plaguebringer, Heigan the Unclean and Loatheb. But first, let's talk about trash...

Continue reading Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Plague Quarter)

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Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Plague Quarter) originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> heiganloathebnaxxramasnothplague-quarter (Jennie Lees) Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Arachnid Quarter)]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/29/ready-check-guide-to-naxxramas-arachnid-quarter/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/29/ready-check-guide-to-naxxramas-arachnid-quarter/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/29/ready-check-guide-to-naxxramas-arachnid-quarter/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at the first few bosses in Naxxramas.

Today we'll be looking at a blast from the past, revisiting Naxxramas and providing details on the boss encounters that await those brave enough to enter the dread citadel. For those of you who haven't had a chance to look inside the all-new Naxx, here's your spoiler warning: look away now if you don't want to hear about what's in store.

This week's article examines the Arachnid Quarter, and we'll be visiting the other quarters in upcoming articles. We'll look at each boss on both normal and heroic modes, pointing out the differences (beyond HP increases). Generally, if you've defeated the boss on normal mode, there are only minor changes to adapt to on heroic mode (and vice versa).

Continue reading Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Arachnid Quarter)

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Ready Check: Guide to Naxxramas (Arachnid Quarter) originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> anubrekhanarachnid-quarterfaerlinafeaturedmaexxnanaxxramasnaxxramas-guidestrategy (Jennie Lees) Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Everything's dead, Dave, part 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/22/ready-check-everythings-dead-dave-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/22/ready-check-everythings-dead-dave-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/22/ready-check-everythings-dead-dave-part-2/#comments Continue reading Ready Check: Everything's dead, Dave, part 2

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Ready Check: Everything's dead, Dave, part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Jennie Lees) Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Everything's dead, Dave]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/22/ready-check-everythings-dead-dave/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/22/ready-check-everythings-dead-dave/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/22/ready-check-everythings-dead-dave/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at the sort of people who've already killed everything, and ask "Why?"...

There's been a lot of discussion over the last week concerning hardcore raiders -- specifically those among the raiding corps who've raced to 80 as fast as possible and cleared every instance in game already. To people outside this group, it's quite easy to get a bit carried away when discussing raiders: these people don't have jobs, they ruin the game for themselves, they can't be actually enjoying a moment of it...

None of the above is true, of course. This week's Ready Check looks at the current raiding game from the perspective of one who's cleared it all, and attempts to inject a little myth-busting and reality into the hyperbole.

Continue reading Ready Check: Everything's dead, Dave

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Ready Check: Everything's dead, Dave originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> endgamehardcoremalygosnaxxramassarthariontwentyfifthnovember (Jennie Lees) Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Preparing for Wrath raiding]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/16/ready-check-preparing-for-wrath-raiding/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/16/ready-check-preparing-for-wrath-raiding/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/16/ready-check-preparing-for-wrath-raiding/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we venture into new (well, sort of) territory...

While many people are taking a leisurely stroll towards 80, seeing the sights and exploring all the new content, there's a sizeable contingent of players racing to get to the level cap as soon as possible so the real fun can begin. Many of these are aiming to raid immediately, but there's a lot of catching up to do before our WotLK endgame knowledge matches the depth of its TBC counterpart.

So if you are planning to raid early on, and are wondering about gear, preparation and whether you should buy that mammoth or not, we're here to help.

Continue reading Ready Check: Preparing for Wrath raiding

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Ready Check: Preparing for Wrath raiding originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> endgameeye-of-eternityfeaturedjoystiqfeatureslevel-80naxxramasobsidian-sanctumtweet-thiswrath-raiding (Jennie Lees) Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding part 3]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/08/ready-check-a-look-back-on-burning-crusade-raiding-part-3/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/08/ready-check-a-look-back-on-burning-crusade-raiding-part-3/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/08/ready-check-a-look-back-on-burning-crusade-raiding-part-3/#comments Continue reading Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding part 3

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Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding part 3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Jennie Lees) Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding part 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/08/ready-check-a-look-back-on-burning-crusade-raiding-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/08/ready-check-a-look-back-on-burning-crusade-raiding-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/08/ready-check-a-look-back-on-burning-crusade-raiding-part-2/#comments Continue reading Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding part 2

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Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Jennie Lees) Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/08/ready-check-goodbye-illidan-hello-arthas/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/08/ready-check-goodbye-illidan-hello-arthas/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/08/ready-check-goodbye-illidan-hello-arthas/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we sing a swansong to TBC raiding in all its glory.

With less than a week to go before we all start frantically levelling and leaving Outland behind for good, let's not forget the ups and downs raiding during The Burning Crusade has brought us. From Attumen to Kil'jaeden, we've run the gamut of raiding, killing anything from pit lords to corrupted naaru with nary a blink.

We've shed blood and tears over rare drops, wiped countless times until the small hours, decked our alts out in epics and moved servers to find a better guild. We've rerolled, watched ourselves and our raid instances get nerfed, hung out in Shattrath showing off our gear, and gotten to grips with major class changes in the last two weeks. So let's look back...

Continue reading Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding

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Ready Check: A look back on Burning Crusade raiding originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> black-templefeaturedgruulillidanjoystiqfeatureskaelthaskarazhankiljaedenmagtheridonmount-hyjalserpentshrine-cavernsunwellsunwell-plateautempest-keeptweet-thisvashj (Jennie Lees) Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Kil'jaeden (and friends), post-3.0.2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/10/25/ready-check-kiljaeden-and-friends-post-3-0-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/10/25/ready-check-kiljaeden-and-friends-post-3-0-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/10/25/ready-check-kiljaeden-and-friends-post-3-0-2/#comments

Kil'jaeden, the Sunwell Plateau end boss, has had a tough time lately. Since the Echoes of Doom patch, plenty of guilds have breezed through Sunwell and many of those have managed to kill him for the first time, signing off TBC raiding with a bang. Congratulations to them!

This is pretty symptomatic of raiding post-3.0.2 in general -- while nothing on the surface has changed drastically, everything's become a whole lot easier, as increased damage output, decreased mob health and relaxing of raid constraints all add up to great effect. Previously complex encounters become almost trivial and previously trivial encounters become hilarious, with a slight twist of nostalgia when remembering how hard they were first time round.

Continue reading Ready Check: Kil'jaeden (and friends), post-3.0.2

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Ready Check: Kil'jaeden (and friends), post-3.0.2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> black-templekiljaedennerfpatch-3.0.2ready-checksunwell-plateauzerg (Jennie Lees) Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Raid composition for 3.0.2 and beyond]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/10/12/ready-check-raid-composition-for-3-0-2-and-beyond/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/10/12/ready-check-raid-composition-for-3-0-2-and-beyond/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/10/12/ready-check-raid-composition-for-3-0-2-and-beyond/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. While enjoying sparkly new raid buffs...

Once the upcoming content patch hits, our raids are going to look pretty different. Or are they? Currently, balancing your raid is a delicate game that involves weighing up various gains and tradeoffs, while simultaenously placating people who are all competing for the same spots. While this micromanagement doesn't appeal to everyone, looking at a raid and acknowledging it as a feat of min-max perfection does bring a certain warm glow to one's heart.

Of course, knowing the exact DPS increase from putting a feral druid in the melee group or running perl scripts to calculate a retribution paladin's RDPS contribution is considered overkill by many. Perhaps it's with a sigh of relief that we look forward to 3.0.2's new buff system, where such things will be unnecessary - though I think the logicians among us will always look back slightly wistfully at the way things are now.

So, how do you optimise your raid when the patch hits?

Continue reading Ready Check: Raid composition for 3.0.2 and beyond

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Ready Check: Raid composition for 3.0.2 and beyond originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> compositionpatch-3.0.2raidingsynergy (Jennie Lees) Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Leading the fray]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/10/04/ready-check-leading-the-fray/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/10/04/ready-check-leading-the-fray/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/10/04/ready-check-leading-the-fray/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. Or motivate 24 other people to do so!

For many guilds, raiding is in a bit of a lull at the moment, with far more focus on the future rather than the present. One of the things that can keep raiding life interesting is to try out different things; play an alt, try a weird setup, revisit old content...

How about a slightly different challenge? Something that will stretch your ability to multitask, to communicate, to deal with people; it'll try your patience but provide immeasurable rewards when that patience pays off.

No, I don't mean running for an election. I'm talking about raid leading.

Continue reading Ready Check: Leading the fray

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Ready Check: Leading the fray originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> leadershipmanagementraid-leaderraid-leading (Jennie Lees) Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: First steps into Naxxramas-10]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/09/13/ready-check-first-steps-into-naxxramas-10/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/09/13/ready-check-first-steps-into-naxxramas-10/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/09/13/ready-check-first-steps-into-naxxramas-10/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we fight lag and Kel'Thuzad.

Being back in Naxxramas is strange. At level 60, Naxx represented the pinnacle of raiding -- hard work, shiny epics and some really interesting boss encounters. At 70, overcome with nostalgia and spare time, revisiting Naxx meant taking a casual disregard for most tactics and simply overpowering bosses with the force of purples.

So what's it like stepping back into the dread citadel as a fresh level 80, over two years since my first adventures therein? Read on for spoilers...

Continue reading Ready Check: First steps into Naxxramas-10

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Ready Check: First steps into Naxxramas-10 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> 10-manbetakelthuzadnaxxramaswotlk (Jennie Lees) Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: In Limbo]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/09/06/ready-check-in-limbo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/09/06/ready-check-in-limbo/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/09/06/ready-check-in-limbo/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look to the future...

Raiding's in an interesting place at the moment. With the upcoming raid changes and dungeons we'll see in WotLK, a lot of people are looking forward and feeling less enthusiasm for the present. Some of those with bosses yet to kill in the game are becoming despondent at ever seeing the end of the tunnel, and people with everything on farm are finding excuses not to raid once they have their desired gear under their belts.

So what can raiders do now to prepare for the expansion, and how can raid guilds deal with the pre-expansion blues?

Continue reading Ready Check: In Limbo

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Ready Check: In Limbo originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> naxxramasraid-leadingraidingready-checkwotlk (Jennie Lees) Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: PuG Raids and You]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/22/ready-check-pug-raids-and-you/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/22/ready-check-pug-raids-and-you/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/22/ready-check-pug-raids-and-you/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we brace ourselves and enter LookingForGroup.

Fancy a bagful of badges and maybe a bit of loot too? Are the words "Anyone for Kara?" met with deathly silence in your guild? Do you despair you'll ever get that vial from Vashj?

Never fear, because PuGs are here to save the day. Instead of raiding with a group of guildies who are mostly competent, know the instance inside out and have a unified set of strategies, you too can spend an evening with random people from the LookingForGroup channel who think green is the new purple. Who's with me?

Continue reading Ready Check: PuG Raids and You

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Ready Check: PuG Raids and You originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> pugpug-raiding (Jennie Lees) Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:30:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: M'uru]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/19/ready-check-muru/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/19/ready-check-muru/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/19/ready-check-muru/#comments
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at a nerfed guild-killer.

The prize for this week's most-talked-about Sunwell boss goes to... an imprisoned naaru. Formerly resident in Silvermoon City, in patch 2.4 M'uru was captured by Kael'thas and taken to the Sunwell Plateau, where he now holds the place of fifth boss in the instance. After defeating the Eredar Twins (which gives you a handy teleport to their room) and clearing a few trash packs, you'll find yourself at the doorway of M'uru's circular room.

Initially a fairly unimpressive looking boss -- discounting the 'wow, it's a naaru' factor -- as the encounter gets into full swing you begin to marvel at its clockwork complexity. Killing M'uru isn't the end of the fight, either; instead of dying, he transforms into a void god called Entropius, who you have to burn down as quickly as possible. It's a very intense encounter, even post-nerf.

Continue reading Ready Check: M'uru

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Ready Check: M'uru originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> entropiusmuruready-checksunwellsunwell-plateau (Jennie Lees) Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:30:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Alts and Raiding]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/15/ready-check-alts-and-raiding/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/15/ready-check-alts-and-raiding/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/15/ready-check-alts-and-raiding/#comments
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at the issues around taking other characters to raids.
Whether you're currently raiding Karazhan or Sunwell, you've likely run into the alt issue. You spend night after night playing the same character, pressing the same buttons in the same environments, and reach a point where you don't need loot from certain instances and are bored stiff of taking your main there. Yet there's that level 70 alt that could do with some drops, and playing it will also bring a new dimension to liven up an old instance.

It's not usually as simple as just playing another character for the night, though. There are a number of issues that raid leaders and guilds run into when the concept of alts coming to raids rears its head, which this column will look at.

Continue reading Ready Check: Alts and Raiding

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Ready Check: Alts and Raiding originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> alt-raidsaltsjoystiqfeaturesloot-drama (Jennie Lees) Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:30:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[M'uru nerfed in 2.4.3]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/15/muru-nerfed-in-2-4-3/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/15/muru-nerfed-in-2-4-3/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/15/muru-nerfed-in-2-4-3/#comments An interesting change to Sunwell raiding cropped up in today's patch notes: in short, M'uru, Entropius and adds are all taking a health hit, and a couple of things have been smoothed out in the Kil'jaeden encounter.

Let's talk about M'uru first. Countless guilds have had trouble with this fight, yet those that have beaten it have praised its unforgiving tuning.

With some guilds reporting over 500 wipes on this boss alone, no wonder Blizzard felt some need to change the encounter. Although it's not known quite how much their health will be reduced (speculation ranges from 5% to 20%), the tuning as it stands means that any significant reductions change the entire pacing of the fight.

Continue reading M'uru nerfed in 2.4.3

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M'uru nerfed in 2.4.3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> kiljaedenmurunerfsunwellsunwell-plateau (Jennie Lees) Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:30:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Mother Shahraz]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/12/ready-check-mother-shahraz/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/12/ready-check-mother-shahraz/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/12/ready-check-mother-shahraz/#comments
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, it's all about shadow.

Six down, three to go. Our next Black Temple boss guide looks at a lady with more arms than should be strictly comfortable, Mother Shahraz.

Upon killing the last of the previous three bosses, which can be killed in any order -- Teron Gorefiend, the Reliquary of Souls and Gurtogg Bloodboil -- you'll see a message indicating that the door to the Den of Mortal Delights has been opened. This means it's time to pay a visit to Mother, although you don't need to iron your shirt for this particular drop-in.

What you will need, however, is shadow resistance -- and lots of it. The encounter is primarily resistance-based, and requires the epic craftable shadow resistance gear. This in turn requires Hearts of Darkness, which drop from Black Temple (and occasionally Hyjal) trash, so if you've blazed through the instance so far, chances are you won't have enough to kit out your raid group.

Continue reading Ready Check: Mother Shahraz

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Ready Check: Mother Shahraz originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> black templeBlackTemplemotherready checkReadyCheckshadow resistanceShadowResistanceshahraz (Jennie Lees) Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Moving On]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/08/ready-check-moving-on/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/08/ready-check-moving-on/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/08/ready-check-moving-on/#comments

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and get mad purpz. Today, we look at what happens when a raider moves guilds.

In a previous Ready Check, I posted about some of the problems many Sunwell raid guilds have been experiencing, ranging from member attrition and an unsatisfactory recruitment pool to divided aims and skill levels within the guild itself. This column will look at the aftermath of some of these issues, nearly a month later.

A suggestion from commenters that was overlooked both by myself in said column, and by those of us discussing future options within the guild, was simply to break for the summer if summer was taking such a hard toll on us. However, in a guild where a core of members are very active and want to kill Kil'Jaeden whatever it takes, an enforced summer break would likely have caused more key players to leave for other guilds. This might work if you aren't so close to 'beating the game' or if other alternatives aren't viable, however, so I wanted to quickly touch on it as an option that I'd omitted previously.

Continue reading Ready Check: Moving On

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Ready Check: Moving On originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> guildsraiding (Jennie Lees) Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check: Gurtogg Bloodboil]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/06/ready-check-gurtogg-bloodboil/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/06/ready-check-gurtogg-bloodboil/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/07/06/ready-check-gurtogg-bloodboil/#comments
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at an orc with some serious breath issues.

Continuing our journey through the Black Temple, the next boss we encounter is Gurtogg Bloodboil. A fel orc with an attitude problem, Bloodboil awaits after a room and a half of trash clearing; if you've killed Teron Gorefiend and the Reliquary of Souls, this is the final boss you need to defeat in order to open up the Den of Mortal Delights and make your way towards Mother Shahraz.

This fight depends heavily on two elements: output and execution. Your raid needs to be able to deal with some strenuous healing and threat requirements, as well as co-ordinated movement, so while learning you need to bring along players that can actually perform as well as multitask.

Continue reading Ready Check: Gurtogg Bloodboil

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Ready Check: Gurtogg Bloodboil originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> black-templeblack-temple-stratsbloodboiljoystiqfeaturesraid-boss-strattweet-this (Jennie Lees) Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Join WoW Insider on Xfire, 1800 CEST]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/join-wow-insider-on-xfire-1800-cest/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/join-wow-insider-on-xfire-1800-cest/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/join-wow-insider-on-xfire-1800-cest/#comments

If you're a speedy reader, you've got a few minutes to get yourselves down to Xfire. We'll be taking part in a live chat with them starting at 1800 CEST/12:00pm ET (that's in a few minutes!). To sign up for the event and join in, add Chatteox to your Xfire friends and you'll get an invite to the chat room. You'll be able to ask us anything about the invitational you like, so fire away! The chat ends at 1830 CEST/12:30pm ET.

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Join WoW Insider on Xfire, 1800 CEST originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzard-worldwide-invitationalwwi08xfire (Jennie Lees) Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:55:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Ready Check, WWI Edition: Watching Nihilum Raid]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/ready-check-wwi-edition-watching-nihilum-raid/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/ready-check-wwi-edition-watching-nihilum-raid/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/ready-check-wwi-edition-watching-nihilum-raid/#comments

This week's Ready Check comes live from the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, where top raiding guild Nihilum were shown live on stage doing what they do best.

The Worldwide Invitational is all about spectating. Watching live Starcraft, Warcraft III and WoW arena tournaments brings fast-paced action to anyone who cares to drop by, and even if you don't play the games themselves, it's fascinating to watch the experts at work. But does the same apply to raiding?

Yesterday Nihilum took part in a Kil'Jaeden raid live, over two 30-minute sessions. Kungen, Hath and Sniffy were raiding on stage, with Marilyn providing commentary. We never saw the raiders' screens; instead, three cameras inside the room provided multiple views of the encounter to give a cinematic feel. With commentary pointing out various aspects of the fight, the raid was a rare glimpse at a boss many players are unlikely to see.

Continue reading Ready Check, WWI Edition: Watching Nihilum Raid

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Ready Check, WWI Edition: Watching Nihilum Raid originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> nihilumraidingspectator sport (Jennie Lees) Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:30:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WWI '08 Notes from the Dungeons & Raids Panel part 4]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel-part-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel-part-4/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel-part-4/#comments
11:31 AM: CoT: The Culling of Stratholme. Player response to CoT was overwhelming, allowing players to play through story rather than just read it. CoT: Stratholme located in CoT, Tanaris. Removing faction requirement on CoT teleport. Level 80 instance. Scripted experience, similar to Old Hillsbrad. Experience "The Culling" mission from Warcraft 3 in the WoW universe.

Fight alongside Arthas (before he falls to the Lich King) to see how Stratholme fell, what exactly went on with Arthas to get him where he is today. Really want players to get to see more of Arthas. Timed encounters, some completely new things. Non-linear. You're actually in Stratholme, used a good portion of the original Strat dungeon, looks and feels as you would expect and tried to stick as close to lore as humanly possible. Using original voiceover acting from Warcraft 3.

11:35 AM: Infinite Dragonflight storyline from TBC will be continued in Stratholme, popular storyline, this was the perfect place to do it.

11:37 AM: Entrance in CoT similar to other dungeons, entrance reflects Lordaeron art and Strat style buildings. Plaguewood transformed. Really wanted city to feel alive, on the brink of something bad but feeling that the city was fully functioning, player arrives at a crucial moment.

11:39 AM: Player Q&A. Will there be a change in legendary drops? Atiesh-style or random drops?

A: For the most part they like the Atiesh style. Sometimes they have to deliver content and don't have time to implement quests like that hence simplified drop system. Case-by-case basis.

Q: Attunements lifted in TBC. Any in WotLK, or just gear checks?

A: Plan to reduce any complexity on attunements, don't plan to add new attunements to dungeons/heroics and entry level Naxxramas, will still have an attunement path once you get into raiding that takes you to the end but goal to make sure it's simple to understand and not as complicated as the attunements TBC shipped with.

Q: Wipe management - will there be closer graveyards, shorter run times through dungeons?

A: Yes, definitely something we constantly think about. We play all the dungeons too. If we feel like something's too far we'd move it. In most cases the distance of graveyard is based on difficulty, want to make sure there's some price for death, but not too annoying.

Q: Being a hardcore raider, you could see content that not a lot of people can see. With 10-man dungeons being the same as 25, will you reward hardcore raiders beyond just loot?

A: Want to make sure 25-mans feel like the pinnacle of raiding, hence the one tier loot separation, so you know for sure someone's done that raid, they'll wear different gear. Titles is something we're looking into working more with, titles from kills, title just from being able to get into one specific area. Definitely aren't trying to merge the two, like the first kills, videos etc. Want to keep that feeling, if you get that first kill it feels great for you.

Q: Will there be an expansion of the token system or will loot be randomly determined?

A: Don't plan to move away from token system but some of the randomness can be alleviated by simply dropping more loot.

Q: With all this talk of heroics, there are some people who can't even manage normal dungeons, is there any idea of bringing in new dungeons for them?

A: I don't think you're alone. There are a lot of players who find that first 5-man a barrier to entry, it's something we've been talking about a lot. We're not going to make everything easier but we do want to make things more accessible. It might not mean a creature is easier to kill but easier to understand, easier for new players to learn advanced techniques.

That's the end of the panel, some interesting developments in the pipeline for all levels of raiding. Keep checking back for more invitational live coverage throughout the day!

Gallery: Worldwide Invitational 2008

Gallery: Wrath of the Lich King

Draenei Warrior and Tauren ShamanBeef versus beastDeath Knight and Shaman face-offPlague Spitter vs. Death KnightAn orc warrior in the Nexxus
WoW Insider is on the ground in Paris at the Blizzard Invitational bringing you the big announcements and latest Wrath news as it happens. Check out our latest coverage!

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WWI '08 Notes from the Dungeons & Raids Panel part 4 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cot-stratholmeculling-of-stratholmedungeons-and-raidsinifinite-dragonflightwwi08 (Jennie Lees) Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:45:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WWI '08 Notes from the Dungeons & Raids Panel part 3]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel-part-3/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel-part-3/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel-part-3/#comments
11:13 AM: Faction. Want to make it not feel like a grind. Championing -- Earn faction outside of your current dungeon. Choose a specific faction to earn rep with, system will use tabards, put tabard on in any heroic and every kill will give rep towards the faction whose tabard you're wearing as well as dungeon faction. Small bonus if you wear the tabard of the dungeon faction too. Details not final but this is the direction. Don't want you to feel you have to grind certain dungeons mindlessly.

11:15 AM: Remove faction requirements for heroics. Don't want people to feel like there are so many barriers.

11:16 AM: PvP rewards will show up in faction too. Similar to current lowlevel pvp faction sets. Will continue this trend. Greater variety of faction rewards full stop. Only a certain amount of items they can make in the time they have. Items that fit different specs and classes. More recipe plans, something done in TBC but not all trade skills were represented in factions. More rewards in general from faction.

11:17 AM: How does the Death Knight fit in? Will be able to tank both raids and dungeons. Not intended to be 'the new tank' but is a unique tank and want to make sure they can tank raids and 5-mans, heroics, as well as DPS. Just going to do it in a different way, keeping classes unique. Looked at what players need -- people always need a tank. More tanks = more dungeon runs.

11:19 AM: Sneak Peek: The Occulus. Level 80 dungeon located in Borean Tundra (Coldarra). Unique; first dungeon players can fly in. Get a drake partway through the dungeon and do mounted combat as if it were a vehicle, individual spells on different drakes. Tank drakes, heal drakes etc. Nonlinear; started as a high fantasy pitch and has become a high concept design.

Occulus is a series of rings floating in the sky, can pick and choose bosses. Concept art shows circular and frozen themes. Dungeon design shown, they design on paper and try to feel how big the space is, is it big enough to fight the boss, the trash. Layouts turn into concept art and 'blockout' phase, turning 2D image into 3D so they can run around it in 3D. Dungeon is complete, internal playtesting at the moment.

11:24 AM: Halls of Stone. Part of Ulduar, located in Storm Peaks. Tied to Titan lore. Level 77-79. Will need a flying mount to access. Nonlinear. Want to make you feel like you're infiltrating Titan area, feel like it's something new even though scope is very different. Epic scale. Level 80 dungeon in Ulduar (Halls of Lightning) and raid dungeon too, but Halls of Stone is first dungeon players will experience

Wanted the scale to be big but not annoying (to the level of wanting a mount to travel through it). Showed blockout, walked 5 players through game to see if there's basic things like enough room to pull mobs, enough room for cameras etc. Platinum Discs quests from Uldaman -- this is the next evolution, continuing the story. Location where we can read the discs and maybe find out information about how Azeroth was created, deliver lore to players.

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WWI '08 Notes from the Dungeons & Raids Panel part 3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> borean-tundrachampioninghall-of-stonehalls-of-lightningstorm-peaksthe-occulusulduarwwi08 (Jennie Lees) Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:45:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WWI '08 Notes from the Dungeons & Raids Panel part 2]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel-part-2/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel-part-2/#comments
11:01 AM: Lessons from TBC. A big project, heroics were an interesting tuning problem, hard enough to be a challenge but easy enough that people just starting out could do them. Were a great success. But too hard, want to make them more accessible. Don't want e.g. lacking a prot spec tank, holy priest, etc to bar people from doing heroics. Should be available to more players, open up to different classes and groups.

Some dungeons were too long. Took longer than they planned. Like to keep dungeons to ~1 hour long. Not their intention to have players stuck in dungeon in 3 hours. Going to really check length before releasing new dungeons.

Quests did not feel as connected as they should (kill end boss/kill 10 creatures). Really trying to allow dungeon quests to have interesting goals. Gundrak is cumulation of a long questline encompassing the whole zone. You know why you're killing the endboss, and what the outcome will be, connects players to dungeons beyond killing bosses for loot. More of an impact on the world.

Summoning changes worked out great. Stones/warlocks summoning into instance (audience applauds). Main reason was to remove barrier to entry to dungeons that were annoying to get to. Wanted to make it convenient.

Patch order. Has an impact on what players have available to do, have to make sure things feel right when releasing patch. They wanted to get Black Temple out asap so Zul'Aman ended up being released later, probably would have been better to deliver ZA first since most players weren't ready for BT but keen for 10-man content. Learned that lesson with WotLK. Arthas is final endgame boss so delivering content in the order they thinks works best for the players, whether that's a new 5-man, raid etc.

11:07 AM: Naxxramas... Again? Audience cheers; 'that's about the same way we feel about Naxxramas'. Huge labour of love. Always felt it was a dungeon that WoW needed. Most players never got to experience it because of the release timing. Loot was still really great but TBC superceded it. Made sense to come back to it and give everyone a chance to experience it. 10-man accessible. Extremely proud, want everyone to play it.

Lore-wise Naxx fits in perfectly, with Arthas/Northrend, history behind Naxx lends itself well to being a part of WotLK and something players can get into really early. Chance to retune it and make it even better. Huge dungeon with a ton of bosses, over 15 bosses in one raid dungeon, non-linear (wings) giving players a lot of choice.

11:10 AM: Itemisation. PvP gear will be available through PvE as well as PvP. Spirit shard system. Players that want to get started in arenas who love dungeons can get started through PvE. Won't be the best gear, but will give you a chance. More items per boss kill in 25 player raids. More items desired by more classes, big project. Trying to remove unnecessary stats because there are too many different types of loot, what if a ret paladin item drops and you don't have one? Merge some of the stats so that items will work across a group of ~3 different classes. Players can get loot that's more useful and accessible, killing a boss feels better.

11:12 AM: Recipe drops, pretty rare right now. Specific plans only drop off one boss at really low drop rate. Doesn't mean they won't put unique plans on hard to reach bosses but want most plans to be accessible, earlier bosses, easier dungeons. Might not feel like such a grind to get that one rare pattern.

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WWI '08 Notes from the Dungeons & Raids Panel part 2 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> dungeons-and-raidsnaxxramasspirit-shardwwi08 (Jennie Lees) Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:45:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[WWI '08 Notes from the Dungeons & Raids Panel]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/wwi-08-notes-from-the-dungeons-and-raids-panel/#comments
At the Worldwide Invitational, the Dungeons and Raids panel is about to begin. We'll be bringing you updates on the anatomy of dungeons and raids straight from Blizzard's mouths, and of course any tidbits of information about dungeons and raids to come, all after the jump. Stay tuned!

Continue reading WWI '08 Notes from the Dungeons & Raids Panel

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WWI '08 Notes from the Dungeons & Raids Panel originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> blizzard-worldwide-invitationaldev-paneldungeons-and-raidsjoystiqfeaturestweet-thiswwi08 (Jennie Lees) Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:45:00 EST WoW Insider