Posts with tag paragon

Earlier in the day, raiding group Paragon apologized for exploiting a bug in the Raid Finder tool that allowed their raiders to obtain loot from a boss more than once in a lockout period. Blizzard has followed up with a statement of its own, explaining that people who exploited the bug in a similar manner will be receiving temporary suspensions.

Raid Finder Loot Exploit Suspensions

Shortly after patch 4.3 was released, we became aware that some players were abusing an exploit to obtain loot from the same Raid Finder bosses multiple times in a single raid lockout period (one week). The Raid Finder loot mechanic is of course intended to only allow a person to roll on boss loot drops once per raid lockout period. The raid lockout mechanic has been a mainstay of the World of Warcraft rules since Onyxia and Molten Core, ensuring that no one can obtain loot from a boss more than once per lockout. Due to the nature of the exploit and the clear intent of those who abused it, they've been issued notices and given temporary suspensions from the game. We're also working to remove all Raid Finder items from those who used the exploit.

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It's good to see Blizzard taking action on this. Certainly there will be some who will believe this to be too mild a punishment. But given the number of people who abused the exploit (Paragon was far from the only guild doing this) and a need to hand out punishment evenly and consistently, a temporary suspension appears to be the right solution.

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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!

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High-end raiding guild Paragon issued an apology today for exploiting a bug in the Raid Finder that allowed its raiders to accumulate a large quantity of tier 13 gear. The statement reads, in part:

We acknowledge that using this unintended behavior, which was quite clearly a bug, to our gain, was wrong. The fact that others were using it as well is no justification for doing it ourselves. We apologize for doing it, and accept whatever consequences follow.

Paragon had come up with a plan to run the Raid Finder multiple times, once for each raider. While executing the plan, they noticed and exploited a bug that allowed the raid the ability to loot passed gear -- a violation of Blizzard's rules. The exploit has since been hotfixed.

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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!

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Looking for Group Productions has been hard at work on its documentary Race to World First for a good long while now, capturing many top-tier World of Warcraft guilds' attempts at claiming coveted world firsts in the raiding game as well as following Blood Legion's race to a top spot. Set to release in a few weeks, Race to World First looks like it's going to be an introspective look at the time and energy that many of these guilds put into the raiding game, as well as an examination of the multicultural nature of the game and the general excitement that goes along with MMO accomplishments.

Each week, Race to World First looks at clips from players in guilds that have been fighting for or actually achieved world firsts. Looking back a bit, this clip with Narilka of Ensidia chronicles her time spent with the guild downing Kil'jaeden at the end of The Burning Crusade when she was still just 16 years old.

We loved having the Race to World First production team at the WoW Insider reader meetup at BlizzCon in 2010 -- they were some of the nicest guys and had a blast talking to real players and real fans. I am excited to see this documentary. Check out the trailer -- you might even see some familiar faces!

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Earlier this month, Paragon earned the high honor of world-first heroic Ragnaros kill, downing the Firelord after over 400 attempts on his fight. Heroic mode encounters add something new and difficult to the mix, but it is rare that we see an entirely new phase to an encounter. Paragon's heroic Ragnaros kill video shows the final stage of the heroic fight, in which Ragnaros submerges in his lava pool and emerges at full strength on new legs allowing him movement all over the encounter room.

The final stage of the fight involves Archdruid Hamuul Runetotem, Malfurion Stormrage, and Cenarius assisting players in dealing with the entirely new mechanics this new heroic mode phase presents. If you've been trying Ragnaros or have killed him, you already have experienced the hilarious Living Meteor ability. In that new phase, meteors must be kited over patches of ice on the ground to freeze them, and then players must DPS down meteors to control the number up at any time. At that point, players are also frantically running around extinguishing ground fires and trapping Ragnaros in roots on the ground.

All in all, it looks incredibly fun and challenging, and it's very nice to see Ragnaros putting his new legs to good use kicking the crap out of guilds across the world. My favorite part of the video has to be the end, with the custom death animation for Ragnaros. Watch until the very end -- it's worth it. Congratulations again to DREAM Paragon for their heroic first kill and for this awesome video of the accomplshment.

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After just a few weeks of Firelands raiding, DREAM Paragon has defeated Ragnaros on 25-man heroic mode, earning them the world first and the Firelord title. DREAM Paragon announced the news on their website, promising their kill shot and comments in the near future. Congratulations to Paragon for this world first.

The heroic version of the Ragnaros fight adds a whole new phase to the encounter in which Ragnaros regains his full Firelord strength, steps out of his swirling molten pool, and becomes mobile around the platform with his new firelegs. Cenarius, Hamuul Runetotem and Malfurion Stormrage assist the players in tackling Ragnaros' many abilities in this new phase, finally putting out the Firelord's lights for good.

Heroic modes for the Ragnaros fight and others in the Firelands were also not available on the public test realm, making it that much more difficult for these hardcore raiding guilds to get time in on these encounters.

I am excited to hear about Paragon's time with these bosses in the Firelands. At only seven bosses, the Firelands is one of the more accessible raid zones, with a time commitment that feels far smaller than the monolithic endeavors of the past, like ICC or Ulduar. Has Firelands presented enough of a challenge to the top of the top guilds? Whatever the case, congratulations again! I hope that my guild will be at heroic Rag's door in the near future.

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome.

Holy paladins are the pillars that support every raid's healing roster. As long as there are tanks to heal, there will be paladins dropping Light bombs on their unit frames. Unparalleled single-target throughput and powerful defensive cooldowns have solidified our position as the foundation of any healing paradigm. While our shockadin DPS may be laughable, our healing capability speaks for itself.

For the last few tiers of raiding, holy paladins have been ever-present guardians. We ensure that our group makes it through the shadow and flame unscathed. I had the opportunity to speak with one of the most successful holy paladins, Diamondtear of Paragon. He's survived the toughest encounters that WoW has to offer, helping his guild push towards world first after world first.

<Paragon> was the first guild to successfully defeat Sinestra, the heroic-only boss of Bastion of Twilight. After what amounted to a difficult and sometimes buggy encounter, <Paragon> was victorious against Deathwing's consort. Be warned: There are spoilers for the encounter in the video.

The encounter itself looks hectic and challenging, with constant streams of adds and a pretty epic confrontation between Sinestra and an interesting lore figure from Twilight Highlands. <Method>, the second guild to down Sinestra, has also released their video, which can be seen here.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

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Zarhym - Did Paragon enjoy their journey?

I do think you have to take the tone of that post in the context in which it was written. Because Sinestra is a super-hardcore boss, they were pretty much the first ones to really push her mechanics to the limits. It's easy to see from their post that they were understandably frustrated. Not only were they trying to learn the mechanics and develop strategies, but we were watching closely, hotfixing several different issues as they stumbled across them. This meant they had to adapt to the changes we were making on the spot in addition to figuring out how to kill her -- and she's definitely no pushover.

We do wish it would have been a cleaner fight for them, but we really appreciate them pushing the limits of hardcore raiding, and testing us to design new and compelling challenges. :)

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Basically, what this means is very interesting for guilds and players who want to push content as hard and fast as possible. It means when you step into these fights that require unlocking and are intended for the best of the best, you're effectively going to have to accept that with great selectivity comes great unknowns.

EU superguild <Paragon> has scored the world-first Sinestra kill, announced on Thursday. After being beaten to the punch on heroic Cho'gall by <For The Horde>, <Paragon> came back swinging by downing Sinestra after what appears to be a hectic, constantly-changing encounter hotfixed even between their attempts on the dragon. Sinestra is the hardmode-only boss who resides underneath Cho'gall in the Bastion of Twilight. After defeating Cho'gall on heroic mode, the Sinestra fight becomes available.

<Paragon> released a statement on their site about the encounter, describing their first impressions of the fight. Congratulations, <Paragon> -- now tell us what deep, dark secret Sinestra is hiding? I do want to know ...

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

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Day 2 at BlizzCon 2010 saw the two most traditionally popular panels (the class Q&A and the general Q&A) go live, but there was plenty at the convention to keep you busy even if you were among the two or three people there not interested in developer panels.

• Liveblogs We liveblogged the World of Warcraft class Q&A and the World of Warcraft open Q&A panels and transcribed two previously unannounced DirecTV interviews with Greg Street (Ghostcrawler) and Tom Chilton. If you're looking for player complaints, developer snark or news on future game changes, you'll find 'em here.
• People, interviews and events Matticus caught up with Andy Salisbury for a preview the WoW magazine's third issue, and Anne Stickney interviewed both Richard Knaak and Christie Golden. Robin Torres put together a gallery of the items Blizzard auctioned off to benefit Child's Play, one of them a painting of characters in the upcoming DC Horde comic series. We also took lots of pictures of this year's art gallery. On a non-Blizzard note, someone took a nasty spill during Friday's dance contest.
• Friday recaps Lisa Poisso observed some happy realm meetups, we recapped an impressive costume contest, and Matticus wrote about the live raid and Paragon's ill-fated defense of Orgrimmar.
• Future content The Emerald Dream (or should we say Emerald Nightmare?) was confirmed as a future addition during the general Q&A. We don't know if it's going to be an expansion, a patch, a raid or something else, but developers promise that seeing it "is a matter of when, not if."
• New worgen cinematic The cinematic panel was a lovely peek at how the Blizzard team created the recently released Cataclysm cinematic, but it was also notable for the debut of long-missing cutscene that will power the Gilnean leveling experience forward.
• Revenge of the login dragon Angry about being voted out in favor of players' favorite candidate for warchief, Abesik Kampfire, the "login dragon" makes an ear-shattering return for the Cataclysm login screen.
• Closing ceremonies The Warcraft III and StarCraft II tournament winners were crowned (the WoW tournament was still in progress), and Paul Sams, Blizzard's chief operating officer, even started to talk a little about the company's new MMO ... or so we thought.

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BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!

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I finished watching the current No. 1 guild in the world <Paragon> tackle a unique live raid event developed just for BlizzCon 2010! It was a big thrill watching them do their stuff. I only wish I could've heard their communications in real time. I've always wondered what is being discussed on unknown encounters.

Except these weren't unknown encounters. We were fighting past foes like Shazzrah, Baron Geddon and the Beast. It wasn't limited to older encounters. Some newer bosses included Ozumat and Rom'ogg Bonecrusher. Apologies for the image quality on some of these folks; I'll need to select a better location and grab a better camera.

<Paragon> of EU Lightning's Blade has released the video of their world-first kill of the Lich King on 25-man heroic mode. The video itself is in three parts and includes the viewpoints of a combat rogue, restoration shaman and holy priest over the course of the fight. Only one other guild to date has made the 25-man heroic kill; the guild <For The Horde> of EU Nazjatar claimed the world-second kill earlier today. Congratulations to <For The Horde> on the kill, and congratulations to <Paragon> on not only the world first but the absolutely gorgeous video they've put together. Check out part two and part three of the kill video after the break.

• World of Warcraft EPEEN: New from Blizzard, the Equipment Potency EquivalencE Number system!
• WoW Armory Tuskarr Invasion: Folks checking out the armory may have noticed their characters transformed to tuskarr, their achievements reported as 'cheesed,' and a whole lot of gear ninjaed and summarily vendored
• Battle.net Matchmaking Service: Battle.net decides to play eHarmony and place lonely gamers with suitable partners
• Battle.net Neural Interface: New from the Blizzard Store, the Neural Interface promises a lifelike gaming experience
• Blizzard Mobile Games: Up for 2010 from Blizzard Mobile Games are Blackthorne 2: Thorne Harder, and Queen's Quest!
• Diablo Gamer Blanket and Body Pillow: Wave goodbye to the cold as best as you can while swaddled in this Diablo 'gamer blanket!'
• Diablo Deckard Cain GPS System: Now you can listen to Deckard drone while you drive!

• El's Extreme Anglin': El reports on the latest Cataclysm feature: Aquariums!
• MMO-Champion/Paragon/Premonition: MMO-Champion breaks the news that Paragon will be moving to US servers come Cataclysm and merging with the US Guild Premonition. Sponsored by AXE!
• Nihilum: Nihilum breaks some rules and brings us screens and video from the Cataclysm alpha
• Wowhead: Wowhead, er, TACOhead brings news of a new in-game item, the Hellfire Kickin' Taco Supreme!
• Tankspot: Tankspot announces their change to Farmspot
• Warcraft Pets: Breanni fills us in on some new non-combat pet... er... features coming out in Cataclysm
• World of Raids: World of Raids reports on the new Observation Deck and Spectate features coming in Cataclysm
• The Guild: The Guild proudly announces its new foray into the world of animation!
• Curse.com: Curse.com fills us in on Cataclysm -- exclusively available for the IPad
• WoW.com: And of course, there's us. Our day was filled with takeover after takeover, from Twilight to Muscle March to Saturn Six -- we've decided to return to WoW news. For now...

Our tipline has just exploded with tips about the latest raiding news: Paragon of Lightning's Blade (EU) has just scored the world first Heroic Lich King (25-man) kill. GuildOx backs up the tips with a brand new listing for the achievement and you can see it for yourself on the armory. Each member of the raid is now the proud owner of the title 'the Light of Dawn.' Not the coolest sounding title around, but the level of prestige is through the roof. We would include a screenshot of the kill in this post, but their guild website seems to be down for the count.

Congratulations to all of the players involved. The Lich King is a harsh fight on its own, and we don't imagine doing it on heroic is a walk in the park. How did Defile treat you?

Update: Azizrael supplied a kill shot in the comments below.

Are you wondering what has caused all the ruckus in the raiding community the past few days? Have you been typing your fingers to the bone since Wednesday night, arguing for one side or the other in forums and chat channels? Whoever you are, or whatever side you're on, in the still-burning aftermath of Ensidia's ban, I feel some reflection is needed. Thus, I am going explain, to the best of my ability, what happened to cause such uproar in the raiding community this week. I am also going to, as the title implies, offer my speculations.