Rep: The Scale of the Sands

I errored last week and posted the Ashtongue Deathsworn when I meant to post this one. Sorry they are out of order.

Hidden down a long tunnel in the Caverns of Time is the entrance to the Battle for Hyjal Summit. Here a secretive sub group of the Keepers of Time lead by none other than Nozdormu's Prime Mate Soridormi. Called The Scale of the Sands  work to protect not only that time line but the World Tree itself from the invasion of the Legion. Of all the Bronze Dragon factions this is by far the SMALLEST containing only four members, beyond Soridormi there are only Arazmodu, Informi, and Tydormu.

Until patch 2.4 you needed to obtain friendly reputation with this faction via the attunement quest before you would be able to enter the instance. This is no longer the case. In addition to this before patch 2.2 only the BOSSES gave reputation, after that patch trash ALSO rewarded it making achieving exalted reputation with this faction the simple matter of no more than an average of six full clears of the instance. (This is at current levels, actual reputation amounts given have varied over time.)

The Battle for Mt Hyjal is an interesting instance in that once you enter you have to be VERY careful as it is difficult to leave. However the majority of the encounters are triggered by speaking to a specific NPC so players could generally enter and explore without fear of triggering the fights. Unlike in the case of Old Hillsbrad and Black Morass there is no evidence of tampering with this time line so players questioned WHY they were there only to later have Blizzard sheepishly acknowledge...because it was COOL and the designers just WANTED to do it. Those familiar with this battle from Warcraft III will note it differs slightly in that Kaz'rogal is now present.

As was the common practice in Burning Crusade this faction gave a Ring as you progressed up through the reputation ranks that was considered one of the best in the game at the time. You could chose the best for your particular class specifications at the start and then once you reached exalted switch to another if you so desired for a price. Beyond the ring and the attunement quest this faction has NO other quests for it.

Before the introduction of the Isle of Quel'Danas reputation with the Scales of the Sand was the ONLY way for Jewelcrafters to get a hold of ANY of the epic quality recipes. In addition there were two types of  EPIC ammo the Timeless Arrow and the Timeless Shell made available when you reached Honored. Hunters EVERYWHERE drooled over them.

The Time has come

The gray mists of morning light slowly made their way across the tournament grounds. Biting wind shook the tent walls and caused the various pendants and banners to give off sharp snaps as they whipped in its embrace. Cream colored Hippogryphs and their riders circled in the air above keeping watch in the hostile environment.

A lone figure emerged from the stables and made its way quickly across the hard packed snow. Watchfully eyes made note of its progress from the coliseum ramparts, weapons at ready but the figure made no threatening moves, just pulled its well worn cloak tighter as it faced off against the swirling snow. Stopping briefly before the Argent Crusade tent the figure seemed to strain to hear the muffled voices emanating from within. The guards on both sides of the door monitored closely, prepared to rebuff entrance. While the cloak had obviously seen better days the leather boots firmly planted in the snow and leggings tucked into them were of recent design amongst the Alliance forces giving the guards pause. Apparently satisfied the figure raised one gloved hand in greeting, nodded then moved off towards a smaller tent not far off disappearing into its entrance like a shadow.

Once inside Daraia pulled back her hood but the dim interior was little warmer than the wind swept landscape she had just left. Placing her helm on a nearby armor rack she picked up a coal filled bucked and began filling the brazer. Soon the glowing coals sprung to flame filling the area with light and warmth. Once that task was completed she turned to survey the paper strewn table. Grimacing slightly Daraia took a seat and began sorting, creating neat piles out of the chaos.

The sound of the tent flap being raised caused her to lift her head from her task. Large blue eyes greeted her as Therigwin’s squire entered baring a large tray.

“OH! Commander Daraia! Thank you!” A grin split his face as he glanced around the now cosy and much neater tent. “I was just going to try to do all of that.” Hurrying over he placed the tray down on a cleared section of the table.

  “Are they almost done then?” Daraia ask, eyes once again scanning the various parchments before delegating them to a pile.

“Yes Ma’am. Sir Therigwin sent me here to relight the blazer and bring breakfast. He said he would be following shortly.”

“Good. Well, since those tasks are completed and I know you have been up since before dawn why don’t you go join the other squires? Wrap YOURSELF around some breakfast and get some sleep. My husband is going to need to take care of some other duties today. That should keep him busy for most of the morning so he shouldn’t need you again until this afternoon.”

“Yes Ma’am. I will put the drinks near the fire to warm then do just that.”

Nodding absently Daraia continued to sort, the table now almost cleared of its earlier clutter.

The sounds of someone in plate armor approaching the tent soon reached both the squire and Daraia’s ears. Scampering quickly the squire managed to have the tent flap opened just as Therigwin arrived.

“Good Lad!” Therigwin boomed, dropping a gauntleted hand down to ruffle the boy’s hair. Eyes alighting on his wife seated at his desk Therigwin sent the boy off with another quick pat. “You really need to replace that cloak Love.” Therigwin continued, “You have had it since well before our campaign on Ulduar.”

Snorting Daraia got up and came to help him remove his own cloak, helm and weapons. “I would if we ever got any in the supplies we request. But so far I have only seen one and someone else was in even more need of it than me.” Therigwin grimaced as he considered that piece of information. “But enough about my cloak, Tirion pulled you all in for a meeting this morning and I saw Darion arrive as well so am I right in assuming we will finally be moving against Ice Crown Citadel soon?”

“It certainly is looking that way. My orders are to let Tirion know who all we have available to participate in the assault after looking at their performance in the trials.” Together the two removed the covers on the breakfast tray and settled down to eat. “So my little organizer, where do we stand? How are we looking as we prepare for the next phase in Tirion’s plan.?”

Sighing, Daraia let her head fall back, hands firmly clutching her steaming mug before replying. “While I understand WHY Tirion came up with this silly Darkmoon faire like event in Northrend, it has had both a positive and negative impact on us directly.

First Fizzlebang’s miscalculation took out the majority of our warlocks and many of the mages. Noddlee and Llano have been off dealing with Violet Citadel business ever since so other than a few brief incidents when she gets a chance to pop in and report we haven’t seen either of them in months. Have to say I miss them both greatly.

Second, with Holysmoke still out with injuries from that same incident and Enok deciding to retire we have a lot of young blood now working to fill those positions. We still are not certain what demands Darion may make of his Deathknights. For Alador and Reibisch especially this is even more personal than for the rest of us.

Over all that is what we are looking at, many of our veterans are down with injuries or have been out right killed these past months. We have some really talented new blood coming in of varying degrees of expertise. The biggest issue is getting them all to learn to work together and trust one another. Add to that the difficulties we have in getting the RIGHT supplies way up here and it is slowing us down a bit. Hopefully that will be corrected shortly but everyone is working hard to do the best they can with what they have....” glancing down she flicked her own cloak at him “even if it MAY be more well worn than we would prefer.”

Waving her hand towards the desk she continued. “The top few papers on your right are Schaikera and Syyand’s report giving their assessment of the various injured troopers and when they think they will be able to report for duty. The forms in the center stack give you a complete run down on where everyone is gear wise according to Banker. The final stack is a collection of reports from all the section leaders giving their assessments of each of the troopers under their jurisdictions. So if you take all that information together you should be able to come up with your list for Tirion.”

Nodding Therigwin looked over the neatly stacked pages. “That is all we can ask for at this point. They are good people everyone of them. It is an honor to lead them but I’m concerned that they may not bind together in time.”

“All we can do is try my love. You lead them as best you can and the up coming battles themselves will do more to refine them into a team.”

“What about you? Do you have any new commissions coming in from SI:7? I know you stepped down but that doesn’t mean they don’t still ask you to do side jobs for them.” Therigwin questioned as he surveyed the various reports.

“You know how I have never been comfortable with the conclusion of the investigation following Wrathgate and the Battle for the Undercity in regards to Bolvar. Mathais has finally given me approval to look into the matter more closely. But I need to keep it quiet as he doesn’t want word to get back to the King that we may have accidently abandoned a man on the field, at least until I have more solid information.

But that is not all. While conducting my preliminary scouting of the Ice Crown Citadel for the Ashen Verdict I stumbled across something that...well I am not quite sure how to take it.” Reaching into her shoulder pouch Daraia pulled out a small scrap of parchment and handed it across to Therigwin. Taking the stained and torn piece he could decipher but a single line: Please Help Me.

“I don’t understand.”

“I found that hidden in a piece of armor during my investigation regarding routes into Ice Crown Citadel. Remember I am a Grandmaster Inscriptionist. One of the things you learn with that is to take note of an individuals hand writing. It tells you a lot about the person. Well I was leader of this company for three years. During that time I saw a lot of correspondence that needed to be forwarded on to specific troops. That handwriting matches packages I have seen that came from Enok’s wife. In addition to that the armor piece I found matches a set I know Enok had custom crafted for her as a Winter Veil gift shortly before her death.

Unfortunately with Noddlee and Llano away I wasn’t sure who to have look at it to see if they could date it. I ended up taking it to Miep. He has shown a lot of promise and despite being a gnome seems to know when I need him to take things seriously. I didn’t tell him anything about it other than I wanted to know if he could give me a general idea as to when it was written.

“What did he have to say?”

“This is where it gets interesting. Miep was more than happy to help and assured me that he could easily do as I requested. He also of his own violation asked if I had discovered anything else WITH the note. Rather reluctantly I admitted I had and allowed him to see the wrist guard as well. According to Miep the letter seems to be no more than a few days old, a week at most and he was SOME HOW able to determine that whoever had last worn the armor piece was still alive. Not in the best of shape mind you but alive.”

Therigwin just stared at Daraia. “Are you trying to tell me that you not only think that Bolvar is alive but Enok’s late wife as well?”

Leaning forward Daraia continued. “I don’t really know WHAT to think. This came completely out of the blue. But I do think that Enok needs to know about it. Miep still has the wrist guard attempting to get as much information as he can from it.”

“I need to send Justin to Stormwind during our next supply run.” Therigwin tapped his desk absently as he thought about what Daraia had just shared with him. “While it would be preferable to send an old comrade that isn’t an option at the moment. Even though Justin may not know Enok personally I think he is strong enough personality wise to make sure Enok will at least hear what he has to say.”

“So you think I should send him our findings?”

“Yes, why don’t you get every last bit of information you can with Miep then find Justin and debrief him. After that we need to focus our efforts on preparing for the assault.”

“So this is it then. The time for us to move against Ice Crown is finally upon us.” Together the two stepped out of the tent and into the morning light.

Rogue Loot 3.3

These lists are not in any way conclusive but what has been discovered so far.

The Frozen Hall is broken into three separate instances (think Scarlet Monastery) but similar to Caverns of Time's Old Hillsbrad to Black Morass progression you have to complete them in a certain order. (At least the first time you do it.) Progression is as follows: you begin in the Forge of Souls with either Lady Proudmore (Alliance) or Lady Sylvanas (Horde) as your guide. This instance only contains two bosses, Bronjahm the Godfather of Souls and the Devourer of Souls.

After completing the Forge of Souls you are ported to the second wing, the Pit of Saron. From now on you will be able to port directly to the Pit whenever you desire from the portal room. Here again you meet up with either of the ladies and continue on for the three boss fight encounters this instance has to offer. The first is Forgemaster Garfost, followed by a SET of bosses Ick & Krick then concluding with Scourgelord Tyrannus.While you encounter Tyrannus soon after you enter the instance you need to complete the others before you will be able to face him.

Once you are rescued from Sindragosa at the end of Pit of Saron you can move on to the final wing of the Frozen Halls, the Lich King's private quarters. Called the Halls of Reflection it is very similar to Black Morass in how the fight goes, waves of adds with three boss encounters. The first is with Falric, the second Marwyn and then finally the Lich King himself.

From the Normal Ice Crown Citadel Dungeon: The Frozen Hall will come the following items that rogues might find useful:

Accursed Crawling Cape -Drops off final boss in Forge of Souls
Bewildering Shoulderpads- Drops off first boss in Forge of Souls
Carpal Tunnelers - Drops off second boss in Halls of Reflection
Crypt Fiend Slayer - Bow from the chest you receive after completing Halls of Reflection successfully.
Flayer's Black Belt - Drops off first boss in Pit of Saron
Ghoulslicer - Main hand Sword drops off first boss in Halls of Reflection
Hate-Forged Cleaver - Main hand Axe from the chest you receive after completing Halls of Reflection
Heartshiver - Main hand Dagger off of final boss in Forge of Souls
Krick's Beetle Stabber - Off hand dagger from the second set of bosses in Pit of Saron
Rimebane Riffle - Gun from final boss in Pit of Saron
Ring of Carnelian - Drops from first boss in Pit of Saron
Shaggy Wyrmleather Leggings - Drops off the final boss in Pit of Saron

From the Heroic version we can expect to discover the following items:
Band of Stained Souls - Ring from final boss in Pit of Saron
Barbed Ymirheim Choker - Necklace from the first boss in Pit of Saron
Black Icicle - Main hand mace from completing Halls of Reflection
Blighted Leather Footpads - Again from completing Halls of Reflection
Blood Weeper - Main hand dagger from second boss in Forge of Souls
Chewed Leather Wristguards - Drops off the second set of bosses in Pit of Saron
Choking Hauberk - Comes from the second boss in Halls of Reflection
Felglacier Bolter - Crossbow from the second set of bosses in Pit of Saron
Fleshwork Leggings - Drops from final boss in Pit of Saron
Frayed Scoundrel's Cap - Comes from the final boss in Forge of Souls
Liar's Tongue - Off hand sword from chest at completing the Halls of Reflection
Needle-Encrusted Scorpion - Trinket from final boss in Forge of Souls
Nighttime - Main hand axe from first boss in Forge of Souls
Papa's Brand New Knife - Throwing weapon from first boss in Forge of Souls
Seven-Fingered Claws - Fist weapon Main hand from TRASH in Forge of Souls
Spaulders of Black Betrayal - Comes from the first boss in Halls of Reflection
Unsharpened Ice Razor - Off hand Dagger TRASH drop from Pit of Saron

The Raid portion of Ice Crown Citadel will be released in five separate sections (think Sunwell) but this time the opening of each is controlled by Blizzard rather than the efforts of a server as a whole.

The first wing is called The Lower Spire and contains four boss encounters. Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, the much discussed Gunship Battle, with Deathbringer Saurfang concluding this wing. The Plagueworks contain three boss encounters, Festergut, Rotface and Professor Putricide. The third wing is called the Crimson Hall but only contains two boss encounters but the first is actually a group of three, the Blood Prince Council is made up of Prince Keleseth, Prince Taldaram and Prince Valanar. The final boss of this wing is Blood-Queen Lana'thel. Frostwing Hall again only contains two boss encounters, Valithria Dreamwalker (which is a unique fight in that you are actually attempting to HEAL her rather than KILL her) and Sindragosa. The final wing is none other than the Frozen Throne itself with only The Lich King as an encounter.

Like The Trial of the Crusader raid Ice Crown has three levels of gear which can be obtained from Normal 10 man raid encounters, Heroic 10 man/Normal 25 man Raids or Heroic 25 man. What is DIFFERENT is that this time rather than having separate lock outs for each the Raid leader can switch from Normal to Heroic WITHIN the encounter thereby only effecting the specific encounter and loot table. This Raid will also drop a new type of emblem called the Emblem of Frost. Like previously these can also be obtained by doing a daily dungeon or by the newly implemented weekly raid quests.

Gear purchasable with Emblems of the Frost:
Cat Burglar's Grips 
Herkuml War Token - Trinket
Recovered Scarlet Onslaught Cape
Shadow Seeker's Tunic
Shrapnel Star - Throwing weapon
Vengeful Noose - Necklace

Also like Karazhan there are quest/reputation rewards you can achieve for completing the instance from a new faction called the Ashen Verdict. These will include rings as well as craft patterns. The Ring that rogues will be going after is the Ashen Band of Vengeance.

There is also the much discussed Quel'Delar quest chain which contains such rewards as the Cudgel of Furious Justice. 

Normal 10 man drops the following items:

Bone Warden's Splitter -  Off hand Axe from first boss in the Lower Spire
Frost Giant's Cleaver - Main hand Axe from the Gunship Battle
Gutbuster - Main hand Mace from first boss in the second wing.
Plague-Soaked Leather Leggings - Again from the first boss of the second wing
Saurgang's Cold-Forged Band - Of course drops off the final boss of the Lower Spire
Scourge Stranglers - Shoulders from final boss of Lower Spire
Shadowblade's Battlegear - Obtainable with Emblems of the Frost
Shawl of the Nerubian Silk - Cloak from first boss in Lower Spire

Heroic 10 Man/Normal 25 drops the following items:

Band of the Colossus -  Comes from first boss in Lower Spire
Black Bruise - Fist weapon from first boss in Plagueworks wing
Bloodvenom Blade - Sword from final boss in Lower Spire
Deathbringer's Will - Trinket from final boss in Lowe Spire
Frost Giant's Cleaver - Axe from Gunship Battle HEROIC ONLY
Gangrenous Leggings - Drops from first boss in Plagueworks wing
Ikfirus's Sack of Wonder - Chest piece from Gunship Battle
Scourge Stranglers - Shoulders final boss in Plagueworks HEROIC ONLY
Scourgeborne Waraxe - From Gunship Battle
Shadowvault Slayer's Cloak - Gunship Battle
Stakethrower - Gun from final boss in the Crimson Hall on HEROIC ONLY
Wodin's Lucky Necklace - Trash drop

Heroic 25 will of course drop the very BEST gear, things that have been discovered so far are:

Bloodvenom Blade - Final boss in Lower Spire
Deathbringer's Will - Trinket off final boss in Lower Spire
Toskk's Maximized Wristguards -  Final Boss in Lower Spire

Newest Crafted Gear -
Bladeborn Leggings - Leatherworking drop pattern
Footpads of Impending Death - Leatherworking drop pattern

Of course we can not forget the newest upgrade to the Runed Band of the Kirin Tor.

So that is it, that is all we know of certain of so far. MMO Champion of course has data mined a whole lot more but as to where exactly those pieces may be located? That is still up in the air.

Patch 3.3

If some how you have missed all the chatter it is looking more and more like patch 3.3 will be implemented this coming Tuesday. So what does that mean for us as rogues? Well for once some BIG changes. I haven't mentioned them before because frankly I couldn't quite believe they would make it to the live servers but it appears that is just what is going to happen.

The patch notes themselves are deceptively simple:

Deadly Poison: In addition to its existing effects, when a rogue applies Deadly Poison to a target which has already reached the maximum number of applications, this will also trigger the poison which the rogue is using on his or her other weapon.

Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.

Stealth: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed.

Talents

Assassination

• Improved Poisons: Bonus chance to trigger Deadly Poison from this talent increased.
• Murder: This talent now provides a flat damage increase of 2/4% against all targets, instead of only targets which do not appear in Icecrown.

Subtlety

• Preparation: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.
• Filthy Tricks: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.

Two pieces of these changes have really caught the rogue population by storm.

1. The changes to Deadly Poison.
2. The changes to Improved Poisons in the Assassination Tree.

Lets look at the Deadly Poison change first. If it goes live as written (and we have no reason to believe it won't) this is a buff to ALL the rogue trees and will cause ALL of us to be (for once) using the SAME poisons regardless of spec. That would be Instant on the Main hand and Deadly on the off. The reason for this is that no other poison gives out such high amounts of consistent damage as Instant there by most benefiting from the Deadly procs.

So now lets look at the second change. Improved Poisons INCREASES the chance for the effect of Deadly Poison to take place. THIS IS HUGE.

When these two changes first hit the Test realms and Assassination rogues began playing with it the difference in Dps was ASTRONOMICAL. To the point that Assassination's dps averaged 2000 points higher than THE NEXT LEADING CLASS. That's right. I am not just talking about over other rogue dps specs I am talking over other PURE DPS CLASSES. No one expected it to go live. For a single spec of a Dps class to have THAT huge an advantage over all others was inconceivable but is just what we are looking at.

So what does this mean for us?

If you thought being shot for Turkey Lurkey was bad it will be NOTHING compared to the general outcry of "Shoot any rogue you see on sight" these changes will invoke. While we may be designed to be the "premier dps class" that doesn't mean we should be the ONLY class pulling those kinds of numbers especially after having Blizzard say over and over this expansion "they like where rogue dps is at."

For the rogue community itself it has caused issues as well. Before the differences between Assassination and Combat dps were fairly minimal. As a result you could truly play what you enjoyed and focus on whatever weapons happened to come your way. The versatility is one of the reasons Combat is SO popular. You can have three rogues all speced combat but one using maces, another swords and a third fists with minimal competition for weapons. (Something we as a class are VERY reliant on for our dps.) With these changes EVERYONE is going to need to pick up daggers. While the enhancement shammys may enjoy the influx of maces and fist weapons those swords will become shards or Hunter stat fodder. Rather disappointing when they JUST introduced an epic quest chain for a SWORD.

Our standard specs are going to have to change as well. Assassination will now be sporting a 51/18/2 spec and those die hard combat rogues (or ones who don't happen to have the gear to switch) will be looking at something more like 20/51/0. While as a community rogues have over all rolled with the punches (I mean come on vanish has been broken for HOW long?) You would think that Blizzard would make a note of the fact that even WE are concerned with the direction these buffs are taking but according to Ghostcrawler this is SUPPOSE to be giving us more options. I don't see it, so far only two specs have come out as viable with these changes. TWO out of how many various options we had before? How is THIS giving us more versatility?

Another thing to note with these changes, where before rupture was considered a stable in your rotation until the very highest of gear levels it is now going to be usurped. While this is nice in the simplification of rotations many are going to need look at re glyphing. The Tricks of the Trade glyph will now be replacing the Rupture glyph in common usage or perhaps Fan of Knives. Also where combat rogues could skimp by with out having reached Expertise and Poison cap this will also no longer the case. Their importance will be such that once again individuals may consider gemming or enchanting for it. (However with the implementation of the Triumph badges in all dungeons and LFG system it really should not be TO difficult to reach these caps quickly with just gear alone.)

As for all the new gear that will be coming our way since the loot lists are still not complete I will save that for another day.

Know Your Rogue Lore: The Deathstalkers

No rogue faction has been more impacted by the lore of Wrath of the Lich King than the one we are going to discuss today. (Yes, I would say that the impact on them is even greater than the impact on SI:7 and the Stormwind Assassins with the return of their king.)

The Deathstalkers (also known as the Darkstalkers) are the assassin's guild for the Forsaken. However their primary function until after the Battle for the Undercity was to serve as elite guards for Varimathras, as well as performing a role similar to that of the Shattered Hand or SI:7 but with Varimathras directing their steps.

These Rogues are some of the most highly trained and dangerous in all of Azeroth. I truly believe that one of the reasons you see SO MANY of the fan based videos about rogues featuring the Forsaken is because of the very thing that makes this group rightfully considered the most deadly of ALL rogue assassin organizations. Not only are their skills unparalleled due to two lifetimes of experience, but because they are undead they have no need for such mundane considerations as eating, drinking, resting, or even to breath air. This allows them to pursue their goals without interruption. As former scourge who have won their freedom their individual willpower is almost unmatched.

Unlike the Shattered Hand, which is fairly unknown to all but rogues, the average Horde player WILL hear about the Deathstalkers. Like the Alliance with SI:7 non rogue players are able to obtain some quests which deal with this particular group at several different levels. Most notably the one that sends players into Shadowfang keep. However as the majority of these quests deal with entering dungeons or facing elites it is easy for others to miss them if they are not working on their Loremaster achievement.

A number of the quests dealing with this particular group are Forsaken Rogue ONLY as they deal specifically with JOINING the Deathstalkers and this is a undead only organization. If some how you missed doing this chain while leveling and decided to go back later (say to work on your Loremaster) there was one glaring issue. After the events of the Battle for the Undercity Varimathras is no longer there. So with the introduction of patch 3.3 Blizzard will be introducing a fix that will allow individuals to turn all of the old Varimathras quests into Bragor Bloodfist.

With Varimathras proven to be a traitor to the Forsaken and out of the picture, the fate of the Deathstalkers is left hanging. Many question where their ultimate loyalty lay as well. Do they support Sylvanas, the Horde or are they just biding their time with some other goal in mind? This line of thinking comes purely from speculation on the origination of the Deathstalkers themselves.

Some feel that the ORIGINAL Deathstalkers are the remnants of the thieves and assassins once lead by Blackthorn. If this is the case then they certainly would have no love for Sylvanas herself and their dedication to Varimathras would take on a whole new level of meaning. Again this is all purely speculation as no one knows for certain what became of Blackthorn after WarCraft 3 and he and his troops are not mentioned anywhere in the current game.

For now once players leave the old world they fall into the realm of legend. How they will be effected with the changes in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion will be very interesting to see.

World of WarCraft: Death Knight

Today it arrived and I quickly snatched it up from the delivery box and sat down to read. The newest World of WarCraft manga World of WarCraft: Death Knight. The story is by Dan Jolley with artwork provided by Rocio Zucchi. This book was suppose to deal with the story of Thassarian and provide the details of his former life. In addition to this it is suppose to "reveal the origins, motivations, and darkest secrets of Warcraft's newest incarnation of death knights."

So what did I think of it?

The book spans from when Thassarian was already a young man (minus a few flashbacks of childhood encounters with his father) preparing to leave for Northrend to present day. So lore wise it really does not give to much new information. However what new information it does provide IS interesting. While it tells you how and where Thassarian originally died it does NOT explain how he came to be a Death Knight. It DOES explain the bond between Thassarian and Koltira, even later going into detail about what happened to Koltira when HE went to Northrend. It also gives greater insight into what occurred to some of the OTHER Death Knights during the Battle at Light's Hope Chapel not just Mograine.

I don't want to go into details as it may spoil it for those who wish to read the book but in a nut shell the focus is more on Thassarian's transformation from follower to leader. From being an individual who simply did as he was instructed to one who is able to question the orders given him and make independent decisions. I am really not sure what this has to do with "the darkest secrets of the newest incarnation of death knights."

As for the artwork of the book, it lacks consistency. The human characters are so thin, pointed and cartoony that it is difficult at first to determine which are Human and which are Elves until you go searching for the ears. Frames meant to convey great emotion completely miss the mark as a result. This is interesting as once the change is made to scourge the artwork certainly seems more effective.

Over all while there were certain parts of the book I enjoyed taken as a whole I was a little disappointed.

Rep: Ashtongue Deathsworn

The story of the Ashtongue is one of grimmest survival. Made up of the largest collection of Broken draenei they are lead by Akama, once the Guardian of the Temple of Karabor, some of his tale is shared in more detail in the short story Unbroken.

To give a quick summery, after the decimation of the Draenei by the Horde many of those exposed to the fel energies and mutated went into hiding. But with the sundering of Draenor they were exposed and were being hunted down by Magtheridon and his minions.  Kael'thas and Lady Vashj come to their aid in hopes of gaining allies for Illidan. Their ploy works. Akama and his followers pledge their loyalty to Illidan but soon discovers that he is little better than the pit lord they have been fighting.

Devastated at his miscalculation on behalf of his people Akama for all appearances remains visibly loyal to Illidan but in secret begins working to to undermine Illidan's connections with his followers. In the Black Temple trailer it is his voice that explains what is going on. At present his job is to guard over Maiev Shadowsong Illidain's one time jailer and he has already assured her that when the time is right he will allow her the revenge she is so desperate to enact. But on HIS time table not her own much to her eternal frustration.

When the Black Temple Raid was first released gaining entry was not a simple process but involved a long and complex attunement quest. That is no longer the case. At that time you first needed to chose either Aldor or Scryer  in Shattrath and do a 4 part chain for either of them in Shadowmoon Valley that would send you to the Warden's Cage and Akama. From then on the chain would be together.  That chain would then send you into the Dungeon of Arcatraz which required a key to enter or at least a rogue to lock pick the door. Then the chain would continue on for a bit and seem to end after giving you some rewards. But it didn't.

It would pick up again INSIDE the Serpentshrine Cavern and this chain would require you to go to The Eye and Hyjal Summit in the Caverns of Time. After you have killed the necessary bosses there you would go to Shattrath City and then finally return to the Black Temple itself.   By the time you completed this chain you would be friendly with the Ashtongue. Once you entered the Temple three more quests would await you resulting in the eventual upgrade in your medallion.

Out side of the attunement chain there is only one other way to gain Asthtongue reputation OUTSIDE of the Black Temple and that is by doing a few quests over on Netherwing Ledge. There you will find a few other Asthongues being used as slaves in the mines as well as Illidan's troops using the Netherdrakes as slaves. As a result you can get to ALMOST friendly just by doing the Netherwing reputation alone.

Once you have exhausted those options that leaves only the Black Temple and like the Violet Eye reputation any and all mobs and bosses in the instance will give you reputation. Full clears grant about 8k reputation and if you are running a party of geared 80's take about an hour.

Happy Grinding!