No, really. It is. If you've been following MMO-Champion (who isn't?) you know that items from Algalon the Observer, the constellation that feeds on your tears, the hard mode only boss that has yet to be killed, have been added to the Hard Mode loot table of other hard mode bosses.

In all honesty, I have no idea why they've done this. They wanted to make a boss that won't be killed within a day, they did. As far as I've seen everyone was fine with this, they liked the challenge. What I don't understand is why they've added his loot to the bosses hard modes. If they can kill the hard modes, they should at least stand somewhat of a chance against Algalon anyway.

Even the blue post that announced this had "Casuals win again :(" written in it. Now as far as I'm concerned yes, the casuals are complaining and getting what they want. But from my point of view, if they're good enough to kill Hard Modes then they should eventually get Algalon down. This being said, if you can do that then you aren't casual. Casual is raiding 1 or 2 nights a week.

I was fine when Blizzard started nerfing the regular modes of Ulduar, though some of them I thought uncalled for. I still had hard modes, they were a challenge, but giving loot from Algalon, a boss who has yet to be killed by even the highest council of raiders, to players in the form of easier bosses makes absolutely no sense.

Now I don't plan on quitting the game any time soon, but Blizzard is going to lose some of their high end player base if they don't give them the content and rewards they deserve. I don't see anyone leaving the game because they can't kill a certain boss. Blizzard, i'm honestly starting to get upset at the fact that when people aren't good enough to clear content you nerf it so they can. Theres no such thing as "This boss is too hard" if it's been killed before! If it's killable it isn't too hard! You just aren't good enough!

I'll stop on that note, as I don't want to get into a frenzy. Give real raiders some real content.

Omen Threat Meter

This one pretty much explains itself. Omen Threat meter tracks the threat of everyone in your raid. Everyone should have this, as it helps with tank to tank agro during fights where you must switch back and forth between multiple tanks, as well as making sure no one rocks the dps so hard they pull agro from the tank.

Quick Mark

Quick mark is a great addon for tanks, and raid leaders. It helps move things along much quicker on trash pulls and can mean the difference between life and death on bosses. No more right clicking then trying to find the correct icon. It's all easily at your fingertips.

Boss Tactics

One of my absolute favorites. Boss tactics not only provides an easily readable strategy to the boss but also gives you an image showing where everyone should be standing and how they should move. I know before fights where we bring someone new in we have to explain the entire fight over again and it can really slow raids down. I suggest this be on any raiding guilds 'Must have X Addons to raid with us' list.

Deadly Boss Mods

Deadly Boss Mods is an asbolute must have. I can't stress this more, it makes every boss fight so much easier and keeps everyone in the know. It gives timers and raid warnings for boss abilities, and is without a doubt one of the most useful raiding addons out there.

Skada Damage Meter

Some might argue that damage meters aren't a necessity, they're a bragging right. I disagree. Every raid leader should have some sort of damage/healing meter. When you're trying for a boss that you know you'll need the absolute best in the guild on you want to know who that is right? You want to know who can push out the most damage and who can heal the greatest right? Definitely a must have.

A Customizable UI

The most important thing you can have. You need to be able to know where your spells are, where your own frame is, as well as where the rest of your raids frames are. My recommendations: Don't have a bunch of clutter and junk all over your screen. Keep it simple and to the point. Don't have your frame and your targets from half way across the screen from your raid frames. You need to be able to target and cast quickly. Bind your keys, make macros, do whatever you need to do to keep your UI as clear and straight forward as possible.

On that note, I bid Good Luck to you all!

~Aenorn

Blizzard just announced the dates that Blizzcon tickets will go on sale. Tickets will be bought through the Blizzard Storeusing a Battle.net account. Tickets will be $125 dollars a piece. (Up from $100 last year.) Blizzard has also set up a second date, May 30th, for those unable to purchase tickets on the 16th.

If you attended Blizzcon last year you understand how frustrating it was and how many issues kept arising. This year Blizzard has made upgrades to the Blizzard Store including a first-come, first-served queue system and a fixed time limit for completing purchases. You can read further details on the que system here.

Blizzard is also bringing back the coverage on DirecTV. Existing DirecTV customers will be able to purchase the Pay Per View coverage for $39.95. In addition, those who buy this will also be able to view the internet stream of the event coverage. Also, in the weeks ahead DirecTV will be promoting the Blizzcon coverage, allowing anyone who signs up for DirecTV that is not currently a customer to recieve all of this forfree. Those watching on DirecTV will also recieve the in-game item that will be announced at a later date.

Blizzcon is being held on August 21st, and 22nd at the Anaheim convention center in Anaheim, California.

I myself attended Blizzcon last year, and I must say that it's an absolutely amazing experience. Theres nothing like it, I certainly recommend going if you're able to. I plan to attend this year as well, and will likely provide coverage throughout.

Hope to see you all there!

~Aenorn

A question that's been haunting my mind. All of the full fledged, one role classes are able to do only 1 thing; DPS, while the rest of the player base are able to either tank, heal, or do all three roles. As I paid attention to the damage meters during my raids I never really saw a Hybrid do any great amount of DPS higher than a full fledged DPSer such as a Hunter, or a Mage, and vice versa. A Ret Paladin or a Fury Warrior are able to push out just as much damage as a Warlock or Rogue, but they're able to switch to a different role as they please.

Being a Tank, DPSer, and soon to be Healer, I didn't benefit nearly as much on my Hunter as I did on my Paladin, and he isn't even 80 yet. I didn't even bother dual speccing on my Hunter because either way I'll be doing the same thing. There seems to be no point other than switching between PvP and PvE specs, and I don't PvP. I could switch between two PvE specs but one will push out more damage than the other and it just doesn't make sense to switch to the lesser of the two.

Dual specs aren't the only thing that make Hybrids superior, as I stated above I don't really see a damage difference between the 2 class types. This means that a Druid with 2 sets of epic gear that's dual specced for DPS and Healing could likely be more useful than a Mage whom can either DPS or.. DPS.

Some complain that there seems to be nothing that makes up for the fact that one role classes have no advantage in that certain role over Hybrids, which can excel in everything. Every class has it's strength and weaknesses. For instance, you aren't going to get the CC with a Shadow Priest as you are with a Mage, and with Ulduar you can't just faceroll AoE everything anymore. Though you can argue that Hybrid DPS trees have their advantages as well, replenishment in the Retribution tree for instance. In the end I think everything 'somewhat' balances out.

I believe that right now Hybrids have an advantage over one role classes, and I'm sure it's challenging to balance this all out. It's more than just "Make this class hit more". It's complex mathematics and a lot of hard work. We've seen Blizzard Reps state that there won't be many more major class changes in wrath and I'm happy for that. I don't like having to replace all my talents every time a patch that changes them comes along.

Ending note: Make Ret Paladins take more than a quarter of the brain to play Blizz :)

~Aenorn

Yes, friends. Noblegarden is finally over. Whilst others were complaining about eggs being camped and all the 'Boink!' noises going around, I was enjoying this holiday. It may not have been as well thought out by Blizzard as some of the other Holidays, but I had fun nonetheless.

Blizzard has so much stuff that they need to do for this game that they just throw holidays in there for the joy of the players, though I gave up the quest for my Violet Proto-Drake a good while ago I still have fun participating. It takes a lot of stress out of having to get the achievements.

All in all I enjoyed the holiday as just that, a holiday. Not a competition for eggs. Look on the bright side people! You got to wear bunny ears!

~Aenorn

Fight Club is a weekly guide featuring a new instance or boss each Monday.

To enter the Eye of Eternity at least one person in your raid must have completed the quest from either the 10 or 25 man version of the Key to the Focusing Iris from Saphiron.

Malygos

Now, Malygos is a fairly tough fight. Compared to other instances, it's harder than Naxxramas, but easier than Ulduar. It can take some time to get down, but once you do it's a piece of cake.

As you might have guessed, Malygos is the only boss in this instance. To begin the fight click on the crystal ball that's on the platform your raid is on. Malygos has a 10 minute enrage timer.

Phase one

During phase one, the tank should simply keep Malygos in the center of the platform. Don't forget, Malygos is a dragon. This means you should never stand in front or behind him because of his tail whip and arcane breaths. He hits hard but slow, so make sure to keep the tank topped off in case of Arcane Breath.

Throughout phase one Malygos will spawn power sparks. They're large balls of lightning that start at random sides of the platform and move toward Malygos. If these are allowed to reach him his Arcane Breath will likely 1 shot your tank. Ranged DPS should bring these sparks down to around 10% and them let them move nearer to Malygos. Once they're where most of your raid is they MUST DIE. They drop an electric cloud that gives a 50% boost to damage to everyone in it. This is absolutely needed to beat the enrage timer. Stuns and Death Grip work on Power Sparks if you're in a sticky situation.

The other part of phase one is his Tornado. What this dose is throws everyone up into the air, dealing damage to them all. Once it's over everyone will take fall damage, and Malygos will immediately use Arcane Breath most likely killing everyone in front of him. (Except the tank.) Instant cast healing and ranged spells are usable during his Tornado, and sometimes melee attacks as well.

Once Malygos reaches 50% he will begin phase 2. He will slowly take off, so keep nuking him until he is out of range.

Phase Two

During Phase Two Malygos himself can't actually be targeted, instead you'll be dealing with his adds. However, throughout this phase he will cast Deep Breath. This deals 4,000 Damage per second unless you are in one of his anti-magic zones. These are the purple bubbles. Your raid members should ALWAYS be under these. They shrink over time so you must make sure to keep everyone moving to the newest one.

The main part of this phase is killing the Lords and Scions. The Lords come down to the platform and must be tanked, they'll one shot anyone who isn't a tank. Once a Lord dies it will drop a disk, one player can then mount on that disk and fly into the air to kill the Scions (Which don't come down) The suggested order for the disks is melee and then ranged. Also note that the Scions will cast arcane blast on a random target on the platform, it's mitigated by the Anti-Magic Zone but be sure to watch everyones health.

After every NPC is dead phase 3 will begin. Before it starts you will have another chance to burn a good 5-10% of his health . Phase 3 begins with Malygos breaking the platform and everyone falling onto Dragons.

Phase Three

Phae Three is completed on Dragons using a vehicle system. The way I prefer to do it is to have 2 groups of people. One in the east and one in the south, flying left to avoid Malygos' cloud attack. Also, make sure that no one get's in melee range of Malygos.

Use however many healers you feel is necessary here, same goes for DPS. Remember, anyone can heal and anyone can DPS here no matter there spec or class. Healers should HoT raid members up with Revivify and use Life Burst just before it's out of ticks.

The 2 attacks you should use as a DPSer are Flame Spike (this builds combo points) and Engulf in Flames (This is a finishing move) The recommended rotation for this is:

2 Flame Spikes -> Engulf in Flames (Repeat)

The reason for this is that with 5 combo points the Engulf in Flames lasts longer but does little extra damage.

Flame Shield is a finishing move, so if Malygos focuses on you make sure to have at least one combo point up, preferably more. It's also said that you can outrun his attack with the 500% speed boost ability.

Just burn him down until Alexstrasza comes in and finishes the fight. Recieve your loot from Alexstraszas Gift, then exit through the portal.

I've created a few shirts for Unholy Hands so if you have cash to burn.. get one!

Hardcore vs. Casual Shirt



Unholy Hands Shirt