Posts with tag baradin-hold

The good news: Raid testing has begun on the patch 4.3 PTR. The bad news: It's not a Dragon Soul boss. Alizabal, Mistress of Hate, is the third and final (?) encounter of Baradin Hold, and she's downright eager to be slaughtered by Azerothian adventurers. Even better, Blizzard Lead Encounter Designer Daelo wants your feedback, you murderers.

Even if you won't have an opportunity to tackle her on the PTR, you can still find out a fair amount about the encounter from datamining and our new friend the Dungeon Journal. We know Alizabal uses the abilities Blade Dance, Seething Hate, and Skewer. We also know she wields this thing. Good to know, that.

---

Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!

---

Occu'thar is a deranged demon found within the western wing of the Baradin Hold raid instance. Released in patch 4.2, he offers a chance for both hardcore raiders and casual PUG players to get their tier 12 gloves and pants, as well as an assortment of Season 10 PVP gear. This is WoW Insider's Guide to Occu'thar.

When you zone into the post-4.2 Baradin Hold, the first thing you'll notice that last patch's Demon Containment Unit trash have been deactivated. The now defunct Destroyed Containment Unit stand silent in the hallways, leaving room for you to engage this patch's new trash, the Eyes of Occu'thar. If you've learned anything from Cataclysm raiding, it should be that trash mobs will do everything in their power to kill you, and it's in your raid's best interest to be prepared. These optical oddities are no different.

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we return to flogging the guts out of bosses that might puke up a horse.

Today we're going to look at mounts that drop in (or, in one case, as part of a quest within) raids. I'd initially expected to include mounts like the Ulduar proto-drakes and Icecrown frostwyrms, but they're really more the result of a series of achievements rather than encounters themselves. Otherwise, there are more than enough pure drops to keep us occupied today; Blizzard's always been fond of making unique mounts the potential reward of difficult raid encounters, and you'll get a few extra feats of strength if you nab some of these beauties.

Also read:

• Combining The Ambassador and Mountain O' Mounts
• Mountain O' Mounts in Outland
• Mountain O' Mounts in Northrend
• Mountain O' Mounts in 5-man dungeons

A new build is rolling out on the patch 4.1 PTR tonight. Wowhead has really stepped up its datamining game these last few months and has already posted one of the coolest additions to this build: new dungeon maps.

Maps for all of The Burning Crusade dungeons and raids are now available on the PTR, from the lowly Hellfire Ramparts to the mighty Sunwell Plateau. I must say, looking at the maps is pretty fascinating to me. I spent countless hours in all of those dungeons for two years, and I knew how to get through all of them effortlessly via landmarks and simply memorizing the flow. I never had an image in my head of what the overall picture looked like, and now I do -- years later!

In addition to The Burning Crusade maps, there are also maps for the updated Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub, as well as an updated map for Baradin Hold indicating the addition of the second boss. Do note, however, that we probably will not be getting that boss in patch 4.1, since the raid content was pushed back to patch 4.2.

Head over to Wowhead to see the full spread of dungeon and raid maps.

---

WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you. From previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new Valor point mechanics to the new Archaeology items.

---

Tol Barad was promised some changes earlier this month by Cory Stockton, and with the updated patch notes for Jan. 28, 2011, we have our first look at the changes coming to the battle for Tol Barad. Attackers and defenders will be receiving bonuses to their capture speeds based on the number of keeps they currently own. Tol Barad attackers will get a 200% increased cap speed bonus when they control two of the keeps, making taking the final keep easier against a zerging opponent. Tol Barad defenders will be get a 200% increased cap speed bonus when they control all three keeps, in order to force the attackers to try and pry one keep away from the defense and hold it to prevent their bonus.

So far, it's a good start for Tol Barad changes, and I hope that as these new bonuses are tested on the PTR we see a sharp rise in the balance in Tol Barad. Now we're just waiting on the changes that make the towers and siege engines compelling at all.

Also included in the Tol Barad notes was a change to the way the dailies, herbs, and minerals work during the battle. Now, resources will only spawn during the "quest phase" of Tol Barad -- the time when you can do the winner's dailies. There will now be warnings 5 and 1 minutes before the quest phase ends to alert players to turn in quests and get out of the micro-dungeons.

You can view the latest Tol Barad patch notes either past the break below or in our patch notes update post.

There are eight new reputation factions in Cataclysm. Six of those reputations are available to the Alliance or Horde, respectively. Each of those factions offers different items or gear to adventurers who work their way through the reputations. Many offer epic gear to players who have achieved exalted reputation.

You can pick up well over 1,000 reputation by wearing each faction's tabard into a level 85 dungeon; heroic dungeons grant a little more, of course. Some factions have daily quests that will help you fly through the ranks even faster. But the tough part can be deciding which reputations to work on first.

Let's take a tour of those factions and see what kind of epics or notable gear is offered by each. If you see something that's especially appropriate to your class or role, that's probably a good hint that you should start there.

Blizzard's Cory Stockton recently posted an intriguing post on the WoW community site called Tol Barad Balance, highlighting the problems that currently exist with Tol Barad, Blizzard's design intentions and philosophy for the island PvP encounter, and some potential fixes that may be in store for Tol Barad in the near future. Tol Barad should be fun, fair, and meaningful.

Ready Check helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week to get an idea of the latest in killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won't drop.

Ladies and gentleman, welcome back to raiding. It's now been three weeks since Cataclysm has been released, and we're staring down the barrel of an exciting time not standing in fire, killing adds, and watching the tanks swap aggro with unmitigated skill.

There are habits for us to rebuild, of course. Healers have been struggling with mana issues, tanks are finding themselves working to produce good threat, and damage dealers are laying down crowd control for the first time since Burning Crusade. It is a new environment for raiding and everyone's getting a chance to learn the ropes again.

The first tier of raiding content in Cataclysm takes place in four different instances. These four raids are Baradin Hold, Blackwing Descent, Throne of the Four Winds, and the Bastion of Twilight. Raiding progression doesn't really go from one instance to another; instead, most raids will do the first boss of each fairly easily, struggle with the second, and then really work if there are any further bosses in the group.

Tol Barad, the newest contestable PvP experience in Cataclysm, is great fun and provides the winning side with an awesome daily quest hub and a Vault of Archavon-style encounter, Argaloth, that drops the new tier legs and gloves. Using the same style of play as in Wintergrasp, the previous winners defend the island prison of Tol Barad against the invading faction. Tol Barad would be fun if it weren't so horribly broken in its goal and mechanics. The battleground of Tol Barad has only been active for about a week and a half, with most people only having experienced it for the first time within a few days.

There are six distinct problems with Tol Barad at the moment:

1. Defending Tol Barad is too easy.
2. The cap mechanics to secure capture points make it too easy to switch.
3. The towers in Tol Barad that grant extra time to the attackers have no reason to be defended by the defending faction.
4. Tol Barad's victory condition for the attacking faction has created a frustrating environment in light of the mechanics at play in the battleground.
5. The graveyards are skewed in favor of the defenders.
6. The losing side in Tol Barad receives no Tol Barad commendation for participating in the battle, while the winning team receives three.

• Tol Barad is not only an open PvP zone; it's also a daily quest hub.
• Unlike Wintergrasp, Tol Barad won't have a Tenacity mechanic. Instead, players will be matched up at a 1:1 ratio, with a maximum of 80 players allowed in the zone.
• Much like Eye of the Storm, players will have to claim three keeps around the zone. Unlike Eye, if a player dies while defending a tower, that will directly affect the slider bar, moving it in favor of the opposing faction. So stay alive!
• Winning Tol Barad opens a raid, just like Wintergrasp. The Tol Barad raid takes place in Baradin Hold.
• And of course there are reputation rewards, including two brand new mounts with a ghostly look.

---

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.

---