Project Lore

So far we've cleared the regular version of Trial of the Crusader on 25-man and the heroic version on 10-man. Tonight The Totally Rad Guild will be trying the 25-man version of the instance tonight starting at 7pm PDT/10pm EDT. Once we get through Anub'arak, we might be starting on hard modes of the encounters or maybe we'll do Ulduar. Who knows? After that we will likely try to continue another 10-man run of the instance, so check it out for a night full of raiding! Tomorrow at the same times (7pm PDT/10pm EDT), we'll be continuing our raids, so come back then to see what we have in store next. As usual, I'll be in the USTREAM chat and I'll try to answer any questions that come up whenever I can. The streamed video and chat are embedded below, so come in, join the chat, and check it out. You can also follow Project Lore on twitter or check out our USTREAM channel to find out more! Also, if you happen to miss the stream, there should be some archived videos embedded below!

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Trial of the Crusader has been something of a test-bed for Blizzard's raid experimentation. There's no trash, there are four different versions to complete, (almost) all of the fights take place in the same room, and you can choose from three different levels of tiered gear (not to mention the split between Alliance/Horde-themed equipment, and the resulting similarities of said pieces between classes of the same faction). The devs have made it clear that this dungeon doesn't represent a fundamental change in their raiding philosophy. That's to say that while we may see similar instances at some point in the far future, there are no plans to use ToC as a template for everything they create from here on out. Now that Anub'Arak has been released (and conquered), and we've all had a chance to see the instance from beginning to end, I think it's safe to raise the question: has it been a success? Is the model for Trial of the Crusader a good one to build upon in the future? There's no way for us to tell how Blizzard feels, except for the random bits of information that we can occasionally glean from posts on the forums or the rare developer interview, but that shouldn't stop the rest of us from discussing it amongst ourselves. We hate to love it, and we love to hate it. To me, Trial is a risky proposition. In many ways, it's the idealized form of what a raid should be: several interesting boss fights that drop desirable loot, with as little bullshit as possible. This is, essentially, what many players say that they desire. On Normal mode, with a decent group, you've got a really good chance of clearing it in an hour or so and walking away with some top-of-the-line gear (and even if you don't, those Triumph badges build up real quick). So, why is that a potential problem? My personal philosophy is that, whether we like them or not, we all have to play by the rules of the MMORPG. That means that we're all slaves to the good ol' "carrot-and-stick." It's an odd relationship, for sure. Blizzard's got to figure out how big to make that carrot and how hard to whack us with the stick, while we players have to decide whether or not the carrot's big and tasty enough to make getting whacked by the stick worth it in the first place. What makes it even more complicated is that each and every player has a different level of tolerance. But here's the rub: at the end of the day, I think most of us secretly like getting hit by the stick, because that makes the carrot oh-so-much-yummier by the time we actually get to eat it. Does that mean we're masochists? Well, quite simply, yes. Trash, wipes, and other hardships draw out the experience. If you think of each raid as its own narrative, all of these things help build the story slowly towards its climax. Trial of the Crusader, on the other hand, gives us all the details up front. Which is great, for the short time we get to enjoy it, but the excitement dulls all that much quicker. It didn't help that even the most casual of guilds have been clearing bosses within their first few attempts (my guild one-shot Jaraxxus, Val'kyr Twins, and Anub'Arak the day they were unlocked). I can tell you that, even after banging our heads against the wall last night on Heroic 10-man, I'm secretly happy that we weren't simply able to bowl over the Northrend Beasts encounter as we always have before. Sure, some top-tier guilds have already blown through these more difficult encounters, but I think the margin of success will be much slimmer than it was at first perceived to be. As I mull over these thoughts in my head, I think I've come to the conclusion that while Trial of the Crusader may seem like a misstep right now (aside from the excitement provided by its near-instant reward structure), that's only because it currently represents the highest level of raiding content. When placed in the context of a greater spectrum (for instance, after Icecrown Citadel is released), Trial of the Crusader is going to be vindicated as a great place to blow off some steam for those guilds still intent on exploring everything Wrath of the Lich King has to offer. After long hauls through Naxxramas and Ulduar, ToC is going to feel like a breath of fresh air, and a respite from the arduous nature of your typical raiding regimen. I think that's quite enough rambling from me today, but I'm still interested in what you readers think. This is a subject more central to our gameplay experience than we might initially believe!

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With the entirety of Trial of the Crusader finally unlocked, The Totally Rad Guild will be trying the 10-man version of the instance tonight starting in about an hour at  7pm PDT/10pm EDT. Once we get through Anub'arak, we will be starting on hard modes of the encounters. With just 50 wipes per week to use on the Trial of the Grand Crusader, some Blizzard employees doubt the abilities of raiders to complete the instance in its first week of being available. We'll have to see how far we are able to get. I, for one, can't wait to run into some actually difficult content outside of Ulduar! Tomorrow at the same times (7pm PDT/10pm EDT), we'll be running through the 25-man version of the same instances. So if you want to see the differences, come back tomorrow and see! As usual, I'll be in the USTREAM chat and I'll try to answer any questions that come up whenever I can. The streamed video and chat are embedded below, so come in, join the chat, and check it out. You can also follow Project Lore on twitter or check out our USTREAM channel to find out more! Also, if you happen to miss the stream, there should be some archived videos embedded below!

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This week we get access to boss encounter number four of five in Trial of the Crusader, and tonight at around 7pm PDT/10pm EDT (that means soon!), The Totally Rad Guild will be trying the 10-man version of the instance. Once we get through the four released bosses, we will be heading to Ulduar most likely, so check those encounters out! Tomorrow at the same times (7pm PDT/10pm EDT), we'll be running through the 25-man version of the same instances. So if you want to see the differences, come back tomorrow and see! As usual, I'll be in the USTREAM chat and I'll try to answer any questions that come up whenever I can. The streamed video and chat are embedded below, so come in, join the chat, and check it out. You can also follow Project Lore on twitter or check out our USTREAM channel to find out more! Also, if you happen to miss the stream, there should be some archived videos embedded below!

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It's amazing how time flies! With a new dungeon on the horizon and boss testing already underway, I figured I better get my ass in gear on these second looks! It's been a few weeks since the first article, which covered the Siege area of the dungeon, and I feel like I've gotten a lot more experience with the three fights that make up the Antechamber: Iron Council, Kologarn, and Auriaya. Though the Algalon encounter is technically in this area, it cannot be accessed until after Yogg-Saron, so it will be included in a later second look. Let's move right along, shall we? The Iron Council - I won't lie. I wasn't exactly happy when we made a detour from Kologarn in a raid earlier this week to go pick a fight with the Iron Council first. It's not that it's an especially tough encounter, at least not if you follow the prescribed sequence of Steelbreaker -> Molgeim -> Brundir, but there are just so many easy ways for it to spin out of control. Tanks get their face smashed in by a Fusion Punch, or forget to move Steelbreaker out of the Rune of Power quick enough. People forget to remove the debuff from the tank. Or, maybe, the group in the back lacks the means or forgets to interrupt Brundir's Lightning Whirl. The Iron Council - Steelbreaker, Molgeim, and Brundir A second's misjudgement on the part of the tank, or those that are directly supporting him, can lead to sudden and plentiful wipes, quickly wearing down the raid's morale. And so it is, that whenever we attempt this fight, we almost always get through it, but not before racking up a few losses. One-shots of the Iron Council have been rare for my guild, no matter how experienced with the encounter the players involved may be. As a rogue, there's damage to avoid, but not a whole lot to contribute until interrupts are needed for Brundir in the final phase. Typically, at that point, the fight is already won. The hardest part of the Iron Council is the first third, when resources are spread thin and you have to account for all three generals at once. So how does this fight measure up to my expectations? Honestly, they were pretty spot on. Adds are one thing, but any encounter where you have to control several boss characters at once is going to have consistent challenges to meet (see: High King Maulgar or Fathom-Lord Karathress, both from Burning Crusade). Just as well, it seems that very few guilds have completed this encounter on the hardest difficulty (by killing Steelbreaker last). Why don't we move on to something a little more palatable? Kologarn - Oh, man. Kologarn looked so imposing when we first saw him. He's even the guy that Brann Bronzebeard is running away from the Ulduar preview video. A colossal golem, and a gatekeeper mob at that. He's got to be a pain in the rear, right? Nope. Kologarn in all of his massive glory. This. Guy. Is. A. Pushover. He gets points for looking cool, and he can push some heavy, periodic damage with his Shockwave ability, but other than that, Kologarn is a total piece of cake. Especially on 10-man, where you don't really have to rotate tanks, just keep one on the sidelines to pick up the rubble that spawns when you kill his arm. It's been quite awhile since my guild has wiped on Kologarn and its rare that anyone dies during the fight (only when they idle in the eye beams too long or accidentally fall into the gap). It's not really an issue for ranged attackers, but the only problem I've encountered as a melee dps is that the Rubble that spawns from a smashed arm can dish out a really nasty AoE. Avoid the beams, kill the right arm (four times should be enough), keep your healing steady, and this fight is a piece of cake. Auriaya - We've nicknamed her the Crazy Cat Lady. This fight is painfully simple, perhaps even more so than Kologarn, if (and this is a big if) you can handle the pull. It's dependent on having some really skilled tanks, and even though my guild does, we've still had trouble with engagement. The most typical strategy I've seen is to have most of your raid sit around the corner (down the stairs from Kologarn), and let the tanks stand just out of the line of sight until she gets into melee range. It may be prudent to have a Shaman drop a totem further up to actually pull Auriaya and give your meat shields a little bit more time to react. Her panther adds will immediately pounce the closest aggro targets, which (if we do it wrong) seem to be healers most of the time. The Crazy Cat Lady! To reduce this, I've found it a good idea to have the tanks time their damage reduction cooldowns just right so that they can survive the initial assault presumably without the help of healers. If you get past that point, the encounter is terribly facile. Train everyone to stand in front of her (as opposed to far away or behind her) and dish out the damage. If you're doing this fight on 10-man, you may not even kill the Feral Defender that she summons. Should that happen, simply avoid the large (and very obvious) void zone it leaves behind. AoEs are handy for the smaller adds, but they are not a primary concern. Conclusion - The Antechamber is heavy on quick tank kills, but if your guild has the chops to survive those, it's arguably the easiest section of Ulduar. What may slow you down is exhaustion more than anything. By the time we get to Auriaya, it's usually the end of our first night in the dungeon, people are tired and not nearly as focused as they were in the beginning. This makes managing the pull even tougher than normal because people aren't on their "A-game." It makes a good stopping point, though, because even if you have the energy after killing the Cat Lady, this is where things get real. Ulduar up until this point, believe it or not, has been a cakewalk. The four Guardians, and what lay beyond them, require deeper, more pointed strategies, so its better to tackle them after a good night's rest! I'll be covering the Guardians (Hodir, Thorim, Freya, and Mimiron) in the next edition of the Second Look, and I have to admit that it's my favorite part of the dungeon. There's some good eye candy and dynamic fights to look forward to, not to mention it's the most lore-centric section of Ulduar. All four of these bosses you've met or been involved with while leveling up in Northrend! Meanwhile, I want to hear what the rest of you thought about these fights and the Antechamber in general. Too easy, too hard? Has your guild also been thwarted by the tough pulls or is it smooth sailing all the way through? If Ulduar was an epic trilogy, would this be your Empire Strikes Back? Please let me know in the comments section!

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As we enter the end of the 3rd 'set' of raid instances in the current expansion, I think it is a good time to take a look at Blizzard's new raid philosophy which made another dramatic change in WotLK, not unlike the change from 40 man raids to 25 man raids in Burning Crusade. With the release of this expansion Blizzard essentially made a promise to the entire WoW community that the raid content would be opened up to everyone (in theory). They changed all raids in Wrath to have two separate versions, a 10 man and a 25 man. Within those raids they had even more lines drawn with heroic and standard versions of many of the fights. For better or for worse though, six months into this expansion we can see that they are well on the way to their goal to opening this content up to nearly everyone. On my home server of Cenarius you can find PuGs for any range of content that fits your need without too many problems. Did your side just capture Wintergrasp? It's very easy to find a group for Vault of Archavon which drops some of the best armor pieces in the game (for both PvPers and PvEers). Naxxramas, Eye of Eternity, Obsidian Sanctum, and even Ulduar are all PuG options for both versions. Granted you most likely will not be hitting up the hard modes with these kinds of groups, but you're seeing the content, which is esentially what Blizzard wants. This is why they brought Naxxramas back (which I missed the first time around, so I am a huge fan of the decision) and why they have expanded the types of groups that can attend these raids, and brought around the philosophy of “bring the player, not the class” (which was a problem in TBC, especially with Sunwell). As positive as these changes are there are naysayers, mostly in the hardcore raiding community. They do have a point as they continually clear through normal modes like nothing. Blizzard really changed the raid designs with Ulduar though. There was only one fight with the release of WotLK that gave those who went “the extra mile” incentive and better gear for doing the fight in a more challenging way (Sartharion with three drakes up). With Ulduar though, most fights have a hard mode, better loot and a greater sense of accomplishment. To even clear the whole instance though players must clear hard modes to unlock the extra boss Algalon. Now that Ulduar has been fully cleared (all hard modes completed) we can shift our focus to the future once again with 3.2. The raid philosophy gets a slight shift again, this time with the separation of 10 man and 25 man raids into regular and heroic, all with separate lockout timers, so essentially you'll be able to run Trial of the Crusader four times a week, all on the same character. In the coming weeks though, we will get a lot more information about this raid zone as we will see the zone live on the PTR for testing. Blizzard seems to be opening things more and more for players to experience the raids. With the change to badges helping players gear up fairly quickly to be able to have proper gear for the new content shows a shift in design philosophy. Previously you absolutely had to have cleared old content (within that expansion) to really gear up for the newest, or next tier, of content. The lines have been blurred now and there is no “one” way to gear up properly anymore. Once patch 3.2 drops we will most likely see an emergence of heroics being run once again, and quick clears of Naxxramas (my guild doesn't even have anything besides Ulduar and Wintergrasp on our raid schedule). It seems as if Blizzard is attempting to please everyone with this patch, the hardcore raiders will have their 25 man heroic and regular 25 man to gear up quickly and easily. While tighter knit guilds still have the opportunity to do regular or heroic modes. Blizzard is also introducing a feature that I think every guild will be able to appreciate, with the ability to extend a lockout period an additional week. This will allow guilds to get additional work on a particularly challenging boss, but will require them to give up loot on the “easier” bosses for one week. I think this will be another level of strategy for raid leaders and guild leaders to use their time more effectively for their guild. Possibly the biggest surprise throughout all of this is that there will be absolutely no trash in this instance, purely bosses! I am a huge fan of this and I think more people will be happy over this than just me, no more complaining that mages pad the meters on trash! Will this be how it is in Icecrown Citadel though? I would be very surprised if they did, as I think this is a special case scenario and I think they want the Colosseum feel to feel authentic and not similar to how it was in Hyjal. If we take a look at our preview of Crusader's Coliseum then it appears that it will be just one area that we fight in (this may or not be the case and we should know very soon). Do you like the way Blizzard is pushing their raid content now? There are a lot more options for people (three separate versions of the Tier 9 gear) do you think this will spread the player base out a bit too much? And one more thing, what will you be doing with your guild, just one tier of the new raid or multiple ones?

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Blizzard's raiding model has seen its share of changes over the years. First, it was raids that catered to 10-man, 20-man, and even 40-man groups. Then, with Burning Crusade, a curious mix of 10s and the new 25-man raids. And now, with Wrath of the Lich King, dungeons that can accommodate runs 10 and 25 strong in tandem. Like so many other things in the game, the idea has been to make end-game content accessible to as many people as possible. But I think they're onto something else, something beyond the mere ability to PuG the toughest dungeons in the game. You see, I think I've become addicted to 10-man raids. Forced into them due to low turnout from the membership, it's basically all our guild has been able to run lately. And you know what? I'm OK with that. I'm perfectly peachy. I've learned that the tighter, more intimate setup has led to a relatively stress-free experience. I don't think I'm the only one, either. As my server's population plummets over the Summer (and I'm sure it must have on many of yours, as well), I've found that several notable raiding guilds have fully converted to lean, mean 10-man raiding machines. It makes me think: would the whole game be better off this way? The immediate results would be obvious. Less people to deal with means less fighting over gear, less drama, and less people to round up for the nightly raid. On the flip side, if the "drama dragon" rears its ugly head, the impact on a smaller guild could potentially be devastating. But I find that, out of all the people I've actually played this game with, I feel like I could trust oh, about, ten or fifteen of them, and that means that I can deal with the occasional outburst and tense situations between members can be more easily defused. After all, the number one killer of WoW guilds isn't a raid boss, it's the "d-word." Urging guilds to operate on a more compact skill would be a long-term benefit for the health of the game, in my opinion, though that wouldn't help with cleaning up the messy business that would need to be carried out beforehand (I'm talking about trimming rosters and restructuring, which would no doubt leave many players homeless for awhile). The more people there are in a guild, the more they're going to feel devalued. When people feel devalued, they stir the pot to get noticed, and that's not good for anybody. It would be infinitely easier to understand what every person can bring to a raid when there are fewer bodies to consider. Another thing to take into account would be difficulty. With the exception of several fights (like Grobbulus, where an exponential number of targets decreases the chance of any one person being afflicted by a poison cloud), most encounters are, indeed, harder in their 25-man versions. Currently, 10-mans seem to be tuned chiefly through tweaking of "soft" numbers (reducing the min-max damage of a boss' spell) or "hard" numbers (4 adds become 2, 2 adds become 1, etc.).

If 10-man raids were to suddenly become the standard, Blizzard would have to take a more careful approach tobuilding encounters. I feel as though they could create bosses with more interesting mechanics, or ones that at least require a lot more strategic planning. With ten people, you're forced to "do more with less," but when that number goes up, raiding becomes more about "how many people can you throw at the boss." If you ever went through one of the classic 40-man raids with a full group, you'd know how often players simply got lost in the shuffle. Not to mention the problems with gear distribution. It could take ages to win a single upgrade! Besides, some of my best memories come from 10-mans. Countless runs through the atmospheric ruins of Karazhan or intense bear mount attempts (came as close as one minute) in Zul'Aman are among my favorite experiences in the game. All of this may sound strange coming from me, someone who just recommended not too long ago that Blizzard super-size their battlegrounds. While that may work for a grand melee, I feel that smaller raids empower individual players and make the experience a whole lot more fun for everybody involved. After all, it just seems kind of weird to march into a "dungeon" with an entire army. Haven't you always wanted to be "that guy," the one who just saved the world from utter annihilation? Making this sort of change, permanently scaling down the size of dungeons, would no doubt cause a temporary uproar in the community as guilds deal with shifting membership, but I honestly think it would help maintain the health of the game in the long-term. What do you think, perusers of Project Lore? My opinions on game design have historically been controversial, focusing on streamlined, semi-linear experiences. Do you agree that 10-man raiding is a viable prospect for the future of the game, or is it always better to have more options, even if that means diluting certain parts of the game (i.e. forcing the designers to effectively double their workload when producing both 10 and 25-man versions)? The comment section is, as always, open. I leave the floor to you!

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Yogg-Saron, just another old god. The changes (or nerfs as some of us raiders like to describe them as) for Ulduar keep rolling in. All of the changes should be live, but some may require a realm restart. The first significant change comes to the "end boss" of Ulduar, Yogg-Saron (who's lovely face you can see to your right):

The Yogg-Saron encounter has received the following changes: Death Ray no longer hits players who are under the effect of Malady of the Mind, Guardians of Yogg-Saron no longer use Dominate Mind, the spawn rate of Guardians of Yogg-Saron is more forgiving, and these Guardians will no longer spawn if a player that is protected by Hodir’s Flash Freeze hits an Ominous Cloud.

Now, my guild is working on the fight currently and to really demonstrate the impact of these changes on our first pull of the night we managed to hit phase three of the fight (which we had never done before). If that doesn't really show how tuned down this fight has become, well I don't know what else will. The spawn rate is much slower in phase one, there are no more mind controls and basically there is zero reason for anyone to die in that phase anymore. The change to guardians spawning on a player protected by a Flash Freeze is a welcome change to say the least. There are a few other changes also (which can be read on the World of WarCraft Forums):

• In the opening sequence of Ulduar you can now see Liquid Pyrite from farther away.
• The Flame Leviathan encounter has received the following changes: the bonus health Flame Leviathan receives per tower has been reduced, the ejection height from Flame Leviathan has been reduced, the snare effect of the Tower of Frost has been removed, and the cannons on Demolishers and Siege Enginers should now break Flash Frozen vehicles in 1 shot.
• The XT-002 Deconstructor encounter has received the following changes: the health of the heart has been slightly reduced in heroic difficulty and the rate at which Gravity Bomb and Searing Light are cast has been reduced.

Being able to see the liquid pyrite at a greater distance is a welcome change. The whole Flame Leviathan encounter has gotten what seems to be a massive scaling back and I imagine we will see a lot more hard mode deaths for FL. XT-002 Deconstructor also got a nerf, mostly to the hard mode (which only 350 guilds have beat) because activating it should be slightly easier (although if you couldn't activate it before, should you even be doing it?). The gravity bombs and searing light also got their rate of cast reduced which should make the fight slightly easier or considerably easier depending on the severity of the rate change. While I appreciate the changes Blizzard has made in making raiding more accessible (as has been the philosophy of this entire expansion) it is a little annoying to be working on an encounter and making progress on it, only to see it changed and made much easier. My guild isn't a top guild but we progress fairly well on our 3-day schedule and it almost seems like at this point unless you're in a 5-day a week guild trying to clear as fast as possible you won't be experiencing these fights in their original form. While my guild will soon be one of the 3000 guilds having downed Yogg-Saron, it can't be argued that this is a much easier fight now. So raiders of Project Lore, are you a fan of these changes? Are you happy that the fights have been made easier? Do you think this is the right way for Blizzard to kind of "open up" raiding to everyone?

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While I've always considered myself a strong raider, I've always done my best to keep a handle on the amount of time I dedicate to the game. It is after all, just a game, and it is very important to not spend too much time playing. That being said I am a total completionist, and I'll admit, a bit of an addict when it comes to this game we all know and love. This is why I am beginning to struggle with the new content patch. I know in a matter of months I will likely be QQing about the lack of content available... but for right now, I am overwhelmed! A big part of my problem is I can't decide if I would rather do 10-man progression or 25-man progression. So I do what any good WoW fanatic would do, and try and do both, which in my guild equals out to about 6 nights a week of raiding. That is a pretty large jump up from what I am used to, and the first few weeks I tried to make that happen it started taking a toll on me. Now don't get me wrong, I am not some helpless junkie that can't get a grip on his time... I can quit anytime I want to :) ! But the fact is I want to see both versions of Yogg go down, and there are plenty of loot upgrades for me in both versions on the instance. Fact is I am just stuck in that rare window of new content where 10-mans are still important to farm, and 25-mans still need work to progress. Eventually I know that I will completely outgear 10-mans and have no reason to go back, but I fear the hard modes will extend that window further than it usually gets extended. At this point it is clear to me I am going to have to start making some choices. What is important now, and furthermore where am I having the most fun? 10s or 25s? I realize I can't do it all no matter how bad I want to! How are you other raiders doing in this department? Are you accomplishing everything you want to? Or do you find yourself in the same place where there are not enough hours in the day (or at least enough gaming hours)? I'd be curious to know your choice, because it is time for me to make mine!

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Wings.  What did you think I was getting at?

Malygos, being a Dragon Aspect, is a fight that I would expect to be quite epic.  Not only in its general gameplay design, but its overall presentation.  After running it for the first time last night, I can say that it largely lived up to my expectations.  As soon as you zone into the Eye of Eternity the Lord of Magic begins taunting, teasing and harassing you for being one of the lesser beings.  He also alludes to interference from the other flights, namely Alexstraza and her red brood , which comes into play later.  My big knock against the presentation is his voice.  The dialogue and taunts he tosses at us are well-written, but the vocals just aren't epic enough for me.  They do not command my respect or grab my attention as other dragons have.  In short, Malygos' voice makes me picture a nerd puffing out his chest in a vain attempt to look larger and more confident than he really is. Visually, we are placed on what may be the least laggy battlefield in all of Azeroth, a platform with four pillars that looks out at the vastness of space and a collection of celestial bodies.  Why Malygos would chose to live surrounded by heavenly objects I do not know - seems more like a Nozdormu thing to me - but it looks freaking awesome.  Though, I do love space, so I could be slightly biased in this department.  Blizzard selected the final frontier to enable their designers to go nuts with spell effects and abilities during Malygos' three phases.  And go nuts they did. The humble casual guild I am a part of did not manage to get the Steward of Magic to drop any riches, but we did experience all three of his phases.  The first phase is a glorified tank-n-spank battle with a small twist.  Should one of the summoned sparks get to Malygos, they will grant him a debuff that is almost guaranteed to wipe the raid due to 50% more damage on the tank.  The object is to pop the sparks where the DPS can sit in its debuff pool to receive their own damage increasing debuff.  Like Onyxia, Malygos doesn't just let you smash his face ass during this phase.  Every so often he will rise up and flap his wings, causing a huge tornado which turns all players into a flying cow, albeit one that takes a hefty amount of DoT damage.  The effect is awesome, pushing your camera way out so you can grasp the full size of the twister created by Malygos' wrath. Once the raid burns the blue down to 50% he will lift off, sending a collection of adds on floating discs to destroy you.  During this phase Malygos is untargetable, although he continues to rain destruction upon you.  The floating guys, and the vehicular combat they bring to the table are nice, but the combination of the anti-magic shells and the leviathan's (take that Knaak) Deep Breath collide for some awesome spell effects.  Phase 2 is the coolest phase, but it ends quickly, thanks to the squishiness of the adds.  Upon killing the final add, the floor gives way and the raid falls into the abyss.  As alluded, each player is rescued by a minion of Alexstraza for a last bout of rather boring vehicular combat. As far as raid encounters go, I very much enjoy the overall design and presentation of the Eye of Eternity.  Although his character isn't given the epic treatment that I think he deserves, the encounter is well crafted and fine tuned overall.  At the same time, the fight doesn't feel gimmicky or leave a class or role out of the equation.  To me, the sign of good encounter design is when the success of the encounter hinges on the collective skill of the raid, not an overpowered member or two. Initially, we are hit with something akin to all the previous dragon battles, then we see Malygos' full magical wrath before being tossed into more mundane vehicular combat.  Our night of attempts failed because of poor spark pool placement, 26% was our best attempt thanks to the enrage timer.  I'll be happy to participate in this fun encounter again, even though there is no loot in it for Solidsamm. With Malygos attempted, I only have a single Wrath boss left, Sapphiron.  How'd you like Malygos?

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