Project Lore

One of the coolest things of vanilla WoW was the release of the first Old God's lair, Ahn'Qiraj.  Blizzard made a huge deal of the event, going so far as to completely re-design an original zone (it was basically unused at release).  The developers added lore, additional factions for rep grinds, more lore, not one, but two raids, and the most epic questline/launching event in the game.  The line was completable by only the most dedicated of players, only with the support of the most skilled guilds.  And if you think your Achievements mean something, try being one of a handful of people (usually only one or two) on the server with the Scarab Lord title and the super-duper incredibly rare, don't even bother asking where they got it if you don't know, Black Scarab Battletank. It's quite hard to describe exactly how crazy The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj were, but I will try anyways.  The opening of the Isle of Quel'Danas was a nerfed version of The War Effort.  In it the Horde and the Alliance had to turn in separate supplies to their capital cities.  The requirements covered everything, various fish, cloths, herbs, food, metal bars, animal hides, etc.  If it was a collectible, often profession-based, several thousand of them were required for the war effort.  Tens of thousands of gold "wasted." Unlike the Isle's opening events, the event would not progress on a timer either.  If the denizens of the server didn't contribute, then the content didn't become available.  On Magtheridon (US) the largest Alliance and Horde guilds set up trading posts in the neutral auction house to quicken the pace.  To foster additional faction support, the guild I was a part of offered free BWL and MC (best available at the time) loot to those that sent us items to hand in.  It was a massive undertaking, far more than the Isle of Quel'Dans times four, and as far reaching as the infamous zombie invasion of Wrath of the Lich King. When my guild decided to patch up our problems by running some old world content I pointed them in the direction of Ahn'Qiraj.  They bit without a second thought.  Most of the guild members wanted to run it for the achievements, which was fine by me since SolidSamm didn't have any C'Thun gear (anymore) to be retroactively awarded, but I suggested it mainly for the memories.  The Gate opening was the first, and only, time that I woke up at 6:00 AM for a video game.  AQ40 was what made me a min-maxer, it's when I first tried to compete with other members.  The raid made me a hardcore player, rather than a member of a hardcore guild.  I finally began to pull my weight, rather than being pulled. To say I was excited to run across those sands again would be an understatement.  With only one other raid member (of 10-13) having been to AQ40 before, I felt like a tour guide.  Myself and my GM, who cleared most of AQ40 back in the day, touched upon the lore as we tore though AQ20, answering questions, elaborating on how hard this boss was, or how you could graveyard zerg General Rajaxx.  After downing Ossirian we headed off to AQ40 which, thanks to Naxxramas moving, is still the most difficult level 60 raid in the game. Off the bat we received not one, but two Red Crystals, both of which I lost.  I also noticed a few changes, namely the uselessness of said crystals, now that all mounts are usable in the Temple, and a severe reduction in the amount of trash.  Certainly didn't expect them to edit another old world instance. We continued on with Solidsamm pretending to be a capable tank as we progressed to the Twin Emperors largely unfazed.  Although we touched upon the boss strategies for every encounter, more to reminisce and inform rather than being worried, this was to be the only discussion that mattered.  And matter it did. To summarize the battle, the Twin Emps will heal each other if they are within 60 yards, so they must be tanked on opposite sides of the room.  Easy right?  Complicating things a little is the fact that one is immune to physical, and the other magical damage, so a caster tank must be employed.  Oh, and there are bugs in the room that become mutated and must be killed, but they are trivial at level 80 (not everyone was 80), as should the entire encounter.  It wasn't. It turns out that the guildies and PUGs we brought couldn't follow simple directions.  People ran around like headless chickens on every single transfer, which allowed the Emperors to constantly heal each other.  After struggling with the 100% mobs for a few minutes I gave up DPSing in protest.  A few wipes later and it was over, I sad my goodbye, thanks and ran for the hills.  Without the Achievement. I'll be going back to poke C'Thun's eye at some point, but perhaps ProjectLore needs to create an AQ40 video so my pampered guildmates can visually see how the tanking is supposed to occur to show the old content to new players.  We tried the IBM approach, piling on more raids members, but that only added to the headless chicken effect.  I don't regret the repair bill or the time spent.  It was a wonderful experience to express my useless knowledge, pretend to tank and just relax during a raid.  I believe the guildies who attended would agree. Has your guild ever ran old content for soothing purposes?  How about just to check out the old school content, to see what you missed?  I think we all could use some more fun runs in this serious business. Quote of the night:  "How did you guys ever do this with 40 people?"

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I first recall hearing about the Faceless Ones – in World of Warcraft - around the time of Ahn'Qiraj and its faction's leader, C'Thun. While I can not recall why they came up in this context exactly, I assume it was because of the link between Forgotten Ones leading the Faceless Ones. No, C'thun isn't a Forgotten One, he is an Old God, but he looks a lot like the Forgotten Ones from Warcraft 3. Anyways, today isn't a day to dive into their lore, mainly because the topic could take more than a day to cover! Instead, I want to talk about my first interaction with the Faceless Ones via WoW.

While grinding my way to level 80 I skipped over one instance for some time, Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom. I wasn't dodging Herald Volazj or anything like that.  In fact, I much wanted to meet the oddly proportioned end boss, but I could just never get a group going, PUG or otherwise. Finally, many levels over the suggested range and at a time when I logged in to “play for 30 minutes,” I got invited to a party for OK and couldn't refuse. The fact of the matter is that after killing members of the Lich King's Scourge, decimating any spider mob is on the top of my list. I hate spiders, but I love their fangs and femurs.

The following contains ***SPOILERS*** for boss encounters. You have been warned.

The instance is pretty standard fare, feeling much like the earlier Azjol-Nerub. After replacing the tank due to a few bad pulls early on, we breezed through the cobwebbed corridors and on to meet the Faceless Ones and their leader, Herald Volazj. The fight is tank-and-spank with a substantial twist at 66 and 33 percent. At those designated intervals, Volazj will cast a debuff across the whole party. The debuff is quite frankly best one since Vaelastraz in Blackwing Lair, and possibly the best ever.

For the lore nuts, this gives us another link to the use of insanity and C'Thun for the Lovecraft connection.  Although I may be stretching it there since the evil eye is not a Forgotten One.

The spell makes use of the phasing design, showing each party member a slightly different scene. Each player's view has the rest of their party turn on them, playing their previous roles only now you are the target. Before you can get back to the boss fight (or help the slower DPSers) you must dispatch the shades of your friends.

***SPOILER OVER***

The encounter's design saved the instance from being run of the mill.  Launching it ahead of the insanely short Azjol-Nerub and into the realm of fun instances, if only for the gimmick. If you haven't been there already, be sure to hit it up as soon as possible, it is another aspect in WoW that everyone should experience.

Personally, I think the guys are going to go nuts when they finally get to The Old Kingdom. Hopefully someone is new to the instance when they film it so we can see the raw reaction.

Past that, lets get some more Faceless Ones in WoW now that we have opened up the Nerubian empire. I do hear there are some in Icecrown's lands, hopefully they come with some solid lore to boot.

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