Naxxramas was one of the more pleasant surprises of Wrath of the Lich King. Players were very excited to get a chance to go back into the famous raiding dungeon and retry their hands against the bosses that made up the four quarters and final chamber. However, the raid that so many players remembered so well was no longer the same when they started to run it. Here is a rundown of a few of the more memorable changes between releases. Read the rest of this entry

Before Wrath of the Lich King, World PvP was a pretty simple aspect of World of Warcraft. There were a handful of objectives in Outland that allowed players to do a couple of very simple tasks like retaking Haala or killing their opponents and taking the towers or beacons in Zangarmarsh, Hellfire or Terokkar Forest. The objectives were easy but no one really did them because the reward was minimal and was often zone-wide so everyone got it. There was no reason to join in if a dozen other players did it for you once every hour or two.

But that all changed when WotLK hit and the game started emphasizing more advanced, real time battles in World PvP with their first real time PvP battle zone in Lake Wintergrasp. The new zone had players facing off in epic battles on the live server (no instancing) and getting rewarded with points that would allow them to buy rare and valuable items such as the new Heirloom items that can be used on any character in the account from level 1 to 80 and beyond.

In addition to the way in which the game now works on live servers, many players can get directly involved to include a slew of different ways in which players can take advantage of weaknesses of their opponents, use PvP to get into PvE content and then get rewarded with everything from Emblems of Heroism to the rare and valuable Season 5 Gear.

In the end, while there are new PvP objectives and World PvP options in Grizzly Hills as well, you are only going to hear about Lake Wintergrasp where Blizzard has put into place more options than ever before to get players involved, ensure that the content remains fresh and relevant and to build up a means by which they can grow their PvP options to compete with other MMOs built entirely on PvP like Warhammer Online.

World PvP is here to stay and as the popularity of Lake Wintergrasp dicates, you can expect a whole slew of new options in future patches and expansions as the game gets more depth added to real world PvP. Expect that your skill level now will have a huge impact on how you perform in the future as well, especially if you want to start getting the top rewards and achievements.

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PvP Bible

When WotLK launched, it brought the idea of the 10 man raid to a full head and included a number of new options for smaller guilds, casual players, and those with less time than large guilds to enjoy raiding content that they could not enjoy previously. It has made the game more accessible to many players and yet the quality of play in the 10 man raid has not been raised as it needs to be due to the completely new format and style of play that so many players are having trouble with.

What a 10 Man Raiding Group Looks Like

A 10 man raiding group is going to fundamentally look a bit differently from any other group out there. While the 10 man raids are technically considered to be easier than the 25 man raids (and currently are pretty easy when you get it down), they do require quite a bit of flexibility from every member on your team. You’ll be going up against 1 million HP bosses with two teams of players and if a healer goes down you may have one extra on your staff. The same is true for your tank, so it is important that every single person on your team can play at least two roles. This is much easier these days with stats compounding for casters and tanks.

For tanks, you should have two tanks for every 10 man group and at least one off-tank who will act as DPS but can step in for tanking if necessary. Feral Druids, Blood Death Knights and Retribution Paladins are all good for this.

For healers, you’ll need two for most groups – this provides one for each tank but can make it hard to maintain the healing you’ll need to keep your group members alive against AoE bosses or ones with diseases or DoTs. Three healers is better, though you then need to consider whether you have enough DPS coming from the remaining 5 DPS members, especially against bosses with enrage timers that are shorter than most.

The best way to balance this out is to have two dedicated healers and an off healer who can throw out heals as needed for DPS members when they get hit – Shamans, Druids and Paladins can all play this role if they are properly specced. Shadow Priests are also good here because the Priest gear is all pretty close to the same now since Spell Power covers healing and damage.

Keep in mind that when you go into a 10 man raid, you need to flexible and versatile. Keep your eyes open, build up a group of highly talented, multi-functional people and bring the player not the class and you’ll do well.

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