The Undying experience of a Priest

I wanted to share some thoughts and tips this week on a successful Undying run I participated in with my guild. It continues to be one of the most challenging achievements in the game. To put it bluntly your entire raid group must navigate and clear out every encounter in Naxxramas without dying to any of the bosses. The amount of coordination, luck and skill needed is high. Remember that dying

The Colosseum: Gladiator Lamures

Rogues were certainly a dominant force in Season 4. However, while it's easy to say Rogues were powerful, that does mean that any rogue struggling for the highest tiers of achievements had to fight other, equally powered opponents. In that highly competitive atmostphere, Lamures from Twisting Nether graduated to the Gladiator title.Now firmly rooted in Season 5, however, rogues are struggling.

The evolutionary design of Arena gear

What many players who don't like the sets seem to miss on is that this is something entirely new in the game. Blizzard has always done recolored versions of armor, but this is the first time by my reckoning that they have done evolutionary tier gear. [EDIT: This isn't entirely true. Reader Suzaku pointed out that the leather armor from Level 60 PvP sets evolved. My bad on missing out on that.]

Blizzard's new raid model and why it works

The game is easy now. Really. Naxxramas was a breeze, and the only thing that gave a real challenge to raids in Wrath of the Lich King was the Obsidian Sanctum with three drakes up. Blizzard tuned raids and dungeons to become very accessible, and nowadays pretty much every Level 80 has at least stepped into Naxxramas. You know what? I think it's brilliant. There are those of you who think the

Warlock: Deep in the third tree

For my second foray into non-Affliction specs, I decided it was time to go deep Destruction with 7 / 7 / 57. There aren't a lot of people who champion this spec, or any spec that includes Chaos Bolt really. But I tried the more popular 0 / 31 / 40 earlier in the week and found it far too similar to the spec I covered last week to justify posting about it so soon. So I did some research into what

Level restrictions hotfixed into Wintergrasp

In an interesting note over the weekend, Bornakk updated the list of recent in-game fixes.The Wintergrasp PvP zone now has two level restrictions in place:You must be level 70 or higher to count towards the tenacity tally, obtain the tenacity buff, and get credit for a victory or defeat. You must be level 50 or higher to be able to use the portal of Wintergrasp.The immediate implications of this

Sneak peek at new Wintergrasp raid

Boubouille of MMO Champion was nice enough to send us some screenshots of the new wing of the raid in Wintergrasp, something he describes as "just a corridor" and too uninteresting to take pictures of. Still, he dove in there and took quite a bunch of screenshots of the vault's new wing, replete with Titan ornaments and columnar architecture. It's all reminiscent of things you've probably already

WoW Video: Downside Up by Lex

Lex only says about fifty times that his video, Downside Up, does not make sense. I have to disagree. Wookies on Endor? That doesn't make sense. This video makes sense. It's a music video, with various and meaningless scenes of an orc running. It's a showcase for music, with imagery meant to provide some kind of context to the sounds. It doesn't really have a story or a theme, but that doesn't

The Colosseum: The man known as Varl

The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters in the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Netherdrakes.In the world of the Arena, one Paladin's name stands alone. It is a name of pride and

WoW Article: Ghostcrawler talks about Spiritual Attunement

If you've been keeping tabs on the Paladin changes lately, you might've noticed one thing that jumps out -- Spiritual Attunement will no longer be a skill but a talent deep in the Protection tree. Essentially a mechanic designed to help Paladin tanks keep their mana up, it was also key to Retribution Paladins' mana regeneration as it works synergistically with Seal of Blood / of the Martyr, the

The Daily Quest: Of macros, mother-in-laws and Addon movies

We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.Darraxus the Warrior has laid down the Commandments of Pugging. He only lists six, but they're enough to make the difference between a succesful run and another nightmare PuG..Wulf's Warcraft Weblog has been dreaming of a Wolf Spirit Beast to tame. So

WoW Article: Time is Money: Selling vs. Disenchanting

Kebina Trudough here, offering you the best gold making secrets they don't want you to know about! I was like you once, poor and homely, before I discovered my patented system. Now you too can fill your pockets with the good stuff without ever breaking a sweat! Why spend all your time toiling when you could be vacationing in the Hot Springs? I'm not offering these tips for 100 gold, or 90 gold,

WoW Video: "Ninja-ing mount, sry"

We don't really know how or why you would make an intro movie for a raiding guild, but there you go. That's the intro for Goon of Kil'jaeden, who are apparently currently working on Sarth 3D. I like the music, although as a trailer, it doesn't really work that well. Exactly what is coming soon?Looking for your fix of guild drama, downed and recruiting news for the week? It's right here in GW. If

Barrier may not be coming

I may prefer Shadow as my Priest's primary spec, but the Discipline tree has also made a special little place for itself in my heart. When I need a change of pace, playing Discipline is really enjoyable. I probably pay attention to changes to the Discipline tree almost as close as the Shadow tree for that reason. Even if I don't play it a lot, I love it. When they announced a new spell coming for

It's all in the planning

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.Playing WoW is an exercise in organization. You need to organize your bank, you bags, your gear, even your talents. You need to plan which dailies you need today, which

WoW News:New Cooking recipes coming in patch 3.1

I was excited to hear the other day that leveling cooking will be a little easier, as more recipes are likely to go grey a little later, but Bornakk has more good news for cooks after patch 3.1. He confirms that new recipes are going in as well, and he can think of two off of the top of his head (so hopefully we'll see even more than that).That will, as he says, make the Chef de Cuisine

Spirit Beast pull toy available from BRK

Big Red Kitty may have just created the most ideal training tool for up-and-coming Hunters within an age range of "walking" to "why do you still play with toys?" If you've yearned for the elusive Spirit Beast from Sholazar, you can now own one yourself with this unique Spirit Beast pull toy. I have to admit, I didn't expect to ever see this. Now that I do, it's totally cool, and I wish I'd

The Daily Quest: Of Mage lore, Elemental builds and Player Housing speculation

The Daily Quest brings you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Today we bring you a lot of lists.Foofy has posted part 3 of her How To Moonkin video covering Idols and Enchants.CriticalQQ is exploring the major lore character of Azeroth that are Mages.The Thunderstorm blog has a new guide to speccing Elemental for Shaman.Blessing of Kings has a

WoW: Figureprints in the EU

Our buddies over at Figureprints, the company that makes custom 3D printed sculptures of your WoW characters, have expanded their business yet again -- this time, they're opening the doors to you EU players. Ed Fries, who we have spoken with twice now, says that they are finally ready to expand overseas, and EU players can now order their own custom figurines through the website.There is a small

WoW Video: Forrest GumpDK

I didn't originally think I'd feature Forrest GumpDK. Mojorising created the video to help celebrate the four year anniversary of his guild, The Enigma Order. While I like seeing these videos, it's usually not the kind of thing that appeals to an audience-at-large. After watching it through, however, the warm-hearted nostalgia grew on me. I actually found "Forrest GumpDK" to not only be a "happy

Greening the World of Warcraft?

Online gaming has a real-life environmental impact, whether through a computer's energy usage or the power-hungry server farms owned by game companies. But a media expert at the University of Stanford has suggested harnessing the allure of online multiplayer games such as World of Warcraft for the greener good.Byron Reeves sketched a scenario where a player might get in-game feedback from a smart

WoW 3.1 PTR: Swimming mount video

You may have noticed an interesting little change in the 3.1 patch notes: ground mounts are now able to swim! This made us curious: how does a Mechanostrider swim? How does a Kodo swim? So, Adam and I ran off to the test realms to capture video of it all. And, before you ask, no bears were harmed in the making of these videos. (The Talbuks, though, whose heads seem to be under water even when

WoW Basic Healing Guide

When you go into a group as a holy priest most people will want you to heal (unless they already have a healer). As the main healer in a group, you have the number one responsibility to keep everyone alive. Although you should keep this basic principle in mind, there are exceptions where you have to sacrifice a person in order to keep the group going and win a fight. In this guide I will try to