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The WoWphiles Guild
We answer the question about whether or not we will start our own WoWphiles guild.

When will Patch 3.3 be released?
We talk about the possibilities of how soon patch 3.3 will come out.

Icesnake’s Addon Emporium
Icesnake brings us this week’s addon: Omen3. We also discuss another threat meter that we use.

Are you burned out?
Dealing with and avoiding burnout with WoW

Icecrown lore
This week’s lore segment with Evinrue looks at the story of The Lich King, Icecrown citadel and the bosses we will encounter.

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The opposition to having the World of Warcraft movie focus around the Lich King said that this would be a movie that has already been done before. While this may be somewhat true, the story of Arthas and his rise in becoming the Lich King is probably one of the most popular stories in all of Warcraft lore. The book was immensely popular and the story line itself just lends itself perfectly to the feature film format.

I’m very excited to see how the film develops but with Sam Raimi as director and Robert Rodat (The Patriot, Saving Private Ryan) as the head writer. It looks to be very promising and Blizzard is working very hard to keep this movie from being the ultimate letdown.

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Arthas laughed, a deep chilling laugh. “The Light?!? You forget, Paladin, I was once a follower of the Light, naive and blind like you. But now I know. I know its power and I know its weakness. The Light held me back from my righteous vengeance, and from my true power.”

“Your… reign of terror… is at an end.” The dwarf summoned the last of his strength and lifted his mace over his head and charged at Arthas. “FOR BOLVAR!!!!”

Arthas brought up Frostmourne and parried the dwarf’s overhead smash, then arced the blade and tore an open the dwarf’s midsection. Honorshammer fell back and slumped down.

“It is only now, at the end, that you understand. Your feeble skills were no match for the power of the Lich King. You, Honorshammer, are now…MINE!”

“NEVERRRRRRR….!!” Honors fought to stand, then fell, his mace rolling away from his limp hand. The Lich King stood over his inert body.

“Kelesth!”

“Yes, milord!”

“Take this dwarf down to the Fleshworks and throw him in a ghoul pile. Once he is ready, transport him to Zeramas to be raised. He will make a powerful ally.”

“As you wish, my King.”

——————————————————————————————————–

“Where did you find him, Shaman?” asked the stunningly beautiful High Elf.

“In a ghoul pile, Lady Alexstrasza.”, the Draenai answered, “Can he be saved from the Plague of Undeath?”

“It will not be easy, Shaman.”

“But we were able to save Crusader Bridenbrad…”

“Who was only infected by the plague! Your friend has been wounded, mortally, by a cursed blade.”

A night elf, who had accompanied the Shaman interjected, “Please, Life-Binder, there must be something that can be done.”

“Fate can be a cruel master, former servant of the Lich King, but in this case she has chosen Irony to be her consort. Bring the Paladin’s body and follow me.” Alexstrasza led the Shaman, Death Knight and the rest of their friends to an inner chamber on the middle level of Wyrmrest Temple. On a dais lay the body of a Blood Elf.

“Who is that, milady?” Another in the party asked.

“His name is of no consequence, Hunter, but he was a Blood Knight.”

“It’s one of the Blood Elves who were torturing a Naaru to gain the powers of the Paladins.” explained yet another.

“That is only partially correct, Rogue. Muru allowed himself to be drained in order to win back the Blood Elves. His sacrifice allowed the Sunwell to be relit. A’dal himself forgave the Blood Knights and recognized them as full paladins. Your friend here believed that if A’dal accepted the Blood Knights, he could as well. But that didn’t stop him.”

“What are you talking about, Alexstrasza?” the questioner was a gnome.

“You see, Mage, this Blood Knight was slain by your fallen comrade at Uther’s Tomb. He was there to desecrate the tomb as part of his initiation ritual into the Blood Knight order. Your friend found him there and slew him on the spot.”

“Honors loved Uther and would never allow anyone to desecrate the Tomb.” The Shaman declared.

“You are correct, Shaman. But that act bound your friend and this Blood Elf. Now, the only way to save your friend is to impart his spirit into this Blood Elves body before the cursed wound corrupts not only his body but his soul as well. “

“What!?!?!?! Honors would die before he became a Blood Elf!”

“But that isn’t the fate of this noble Dwarf, should we fail, is it, Death Knight? No, his fate is far worse and one you know only too well. He will awake aboard one of the Lich King’s dread citadels, as a Death Knight! Perhaps he will break free from the Lich King’s control as you did, but perhaps he will not.”

“No! We can’t let that happen.” The friends all agreed.

“It will take all of your strength to assist me. Call forth all of your powers. Release their energy in this room.”

Each of the heroes began to recite words of power, summon forth the power of the elements, shouts of battle, blessings, and prayers. The mutterings reached a crescendo and Alexstrasza called out. There was a blinding flash and everyone was silenced. The body of the Dwarf was silhouetted for a moment against the bright white and then crumbled into dust. The Blood Elf cried out in pain and sat straight up, only to fall back again against the pillow on the dais.

Everyone was physically and emotionally drained.

“Will he have any memory of his former life, his former friends?” asked a fellow dwarf.

“No, Priest. He will have snatches of memory, like a dream within a dream, but he will not remember. Such is the high price that has to be paid for what has been done. Now, go down to the lower levels and rest. You have done a heroic service to your friend and deprived the Lich King of what would have been a powerful ally.”

Quietly and mournfully, one by one the friends exited Wyrmrest Temple.

———————————————————————————————————

“Where…where am I??” the Blood Elves asked as he came to consciousness.

“You are safe, Blood Knight. You are in Conquest Hold in Northrend.” the High Elf replied.

“How did I get here, High Elf? I don’t remember a thing, not even my name.”

“You were wounded in battle. Rest now. Your friend, ally, and fellow Blood Knight, Grimadin, Champion of the Frozen Waste, will be taking you back to Silvermooon City to recover. When you are healed, you will return to Northrend and continue your battle against the Scourge.” The High Elf steeped aside and the Blood Elf saw another of his race dressed in full Blood Knight Regalia.

“Man, you look like hell.” the Blood Elf said.

“Excuse me, Sir Elf, but do I know you?”

“You got your bell rung pretty good if you don’t recognize ole Grimadin. We’ve been friends and allies for years.”

“I have no memory of you or anyone else, Sir Grimadin.”

“It’s actually Crusader Grimadin, if you want to get all formal on me, Knight-Lieutenant Honorshammer.”

“Knight-Lieutenant Honorshammer? Is that my name?”

“You betcha, but, you know, we’ve never been much for formal titles. Now you listen to the High Elf here and get yourself all patched up. I’ll take you back to Silvermoon and see if we can’t jog that memory of yours.”

“Thanks, Grim.”

“No problem, Honors.”

“Is there anything I can get for you, Honorshammer?” The High Elf asked.

“No, I’m alright at the moment.” Honors swung his legs over and let them dangle.He shook his head to try to loosen the cobwebs from his brain. “But I tell you what, I have the strangest craving for some Dwarven Stout.”

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Let me give you a sampling from the Under Developement site: Icecrown Citadel will feature a massive five-player dungeon sprawling across three wings of the citadel’s foundation. While the Lich King’s attention is focused on the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade ripping through the front gates, players will be tested as they assist Jaina Proudmoore (Alliance) and Sylvanas Windrunner (Horde) in infiltrating the citadel through an alternate entrance.

An epic quest line will present adventurers with the task of weakening Icecrown Citadel’s forces, requiring that players defeat the challenges in each dungeon wing before venturing into the next one. Normal and Heroic versions of the dungeon will be accessible to players, although each wing will be considered a separate instance; therefore, on Heroic difficulty, each wing will have its own separate lockout timer. All-new rewards — including item level 219 (normal) and level 232 (Heroic) loot — will be offered to those who destroy some of the Lich King’s most formidable allies.

The final boss of the final wing is none other than the star of the Wrath of the Lich King, the big man himself, Arthas!

First of all with the level of drops being Ulduar10 (219) on Normal Mode and ToC10 (232) on Heroic, it would stand to reason that the Heroic will drop Triumph badges. This might be a great way to finish off any Badge items that haven’t been purchasd yet. I wonder if it also portents a new Emblem type in the Ice Crown raid.

The irony here (at least for me) was that I was worried they would only give 25 man raiders a shot at Arthas and as a 10 man Raider, that kind of disappointed me. You can see the initial comments from the Designers here.

How many people do you need in a fight for it to feel epic? Most classic stories and movies end with a mono e mono with the hero and the villain. Even when you have a group (or a party if you will) it’s a very small number of people fighting the ‘big bad guy’.

Now that Arthas is in a 5 man, it’s the same thing, only in reverse. I have to say I’m very excited for the decision the Developers have made. Arthas has been taunting us since we got off the boat. Everyone deserves a shot at him, even if you can’t (or chose not) to raid.

I don’t think anyone expects we’ll actually KILL Arthas in the 5 man. We’ll defeat the encounter, but it will likely end with Arthas taunting us again and retreating further into Ice Crown Citadel, into the Raid portion.

I’m very excited.

And not to go all conspiracy theorist on you, but isn’t is might interesting that this new comes out the day after The Old Republic starts Beta signups? Kind of makes you go ‘Hmmmm.’

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