Patch 4.2 Preview: The Firelands
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
For ages, the Elemental Plane served its purpose as a secure realm to imprison Azeroth's primordial spirits... until the Cataclysm ruptured its boundaries. Without warning, Ragnaros's armies surged toward Mount Hyjal, intent on burning the World Tree of Nordrassil to the ground. In the ensuing conflict, many brave heroes gave their lives to protect Hyjal from destruction. By their noble sacrifices, the impossible was achieved: the Guardians of Hyjal pushed Ragnaros's minions back into the Firelands.

Now, the battle to protect Hyjal rages in Ragnaros's smoldering realm. As territory is gained and Azeroth's champions edge closer to the Firelands' inner sanctums, a monumental task lies ahead. Entrenched around Ragnaros's lair -- Sulfuron Keep -- are his most trusted guardians, including the turncoat Druids of the Flame and their mysterious leader. Yet Hyjal's defenders cannot afford to shy away from any of these dangers. Should Ragnaros prevail against the incursion and succeed in destroying Nordrassil, Azeroth will suffer a blow from which it might never recover.


World of Warcraft patch 4.2 will offer hardy adventurers an opportunity to turn the tide in the Firelands, a huge outdoor raid of the highest difficulty, with 10-person and 25-person normal and Heroic modes. It will be a scorching opportunity to delve into this Elemental Plane, where six unique bosses stand between you and the reinvigorated Ragnaros. The great fire lord's chamber is shielded by:

Beth'tilac

Her fiery webs reach far overhead, daring her adversaries to simultaneously face their fears of both spiders and heights. Only by taking hold of her webs and climbing into her domain yourself will you find a way to thwart her evil designs.


Lord Rhyolith

Heroes face a difficult challenge: attack this massive magma giant's bulk while forcing him to move against his will among volcanic eruptions that ultimately spell his doom... or yours.

Alysrazor

Are you ready to fly the fiery skies? Catch her singed feathers and use them to soar above the inferno, or perish at the whim of this swift firehawk.


Shannox

The ferocious flamewakers of this Elemental Plane are terrifying enough, but Shannox has brought companions to his side in defense of the Firelands. This mighty hunter will require that you find a way to deal with his blazing pets before he burns you to a crisp.


Baleroc

Baleroc stands before the gate to Sulfuron Keep, amidst a river of combustion that serves as the Sulfuron moat. The bridge to Ragnaros’s blistering chamber can only be crossed by those who find a way to put an end to this towering elemental monstrosity.

Majordomo Staghelm

Ragnaros's latest chief lieutenant stands before the door to his master's chamber in Sulfuron Keep. Majordomo Staghelm's treasonous efforts will all come to a head before the very seat of his new master.


Defeat his guardians and a memorable battle with the enraged Ragnaros awaits you in his chamber. Ragnaros's normal and Heroic modes offer two completely different encounters for raiders to conquer.

Because the Firelands raid is outdoors, players will be able to mount and attempt to avoid the highly dangerous groups of enemies milling about. The order in which you engage the first four bosses in the zone will be up to you.




This will also be one stop of many in a quest to build the legendary staff Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest. A weapon of unsurpassed quality, Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest will not only require a spectacular effort by its owner to construct; it will reward the entire guild with a new and unique non-combat pet upon completion.

A tantalizing collection of unique rewards await those who brave the heat, and defeat the lords of the Firelands. With a new raid tier of armor and weapons, three new mounts (including the rare and highly sought flaming Anzu), a slew of new personal and guild achievements, an epic storyline, a grand musical score, and seven unique boss encounters, 4.2 and the Firelands raid will burn an indelible mark in World of Warcraft history.

Are you prepared to taste the flames?

This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 4.2 Preview: The Firelands started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 118 Comments
  1. Yosheh27's Avatar
    Alysrazor? I'm guessing that's the green dragon Alysra who's been Razorscale-ified by the elementals of the Firelands.
  1. Nak's Avatar
    Flaming Anzu sounds cool O.o
  1. mmocb993fecc6e's Avatar
    wait so Firelands has 7 bosses and not 6 ?
  1. Brosemon's Avatar
    Staghelm's gonna get bitch slapped like Executus?
  1. Littleraven's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Scratches View Post
    What relevance does this have to the story with the expansion's antagonist? Does this mean we'll get raids for the other 2 remaining elements too, before we finally get back to the epicly mediocre "story" with the big bad dwagon?
    ragnaros is working for deathwing....so is al'akir....this is why we are fighting the 2 of them. they want to tear shit up on azeroth so they can rule it again. they think that working for deathwing will accomplish that. therazane and neptulon are on our side (for the time being)

    deathwing is more or less pulling all the strings here (except for his old god master). if you cant see that by now you either dont pay attention to the quests or just dont care. this expansion is not exclusive to deathwing in its theme....it is heavily elemental based so i dont see how this isnt relevant to the story.

    OT: i am very excited about this. everything looks amazing but like people are saying i hope they do add at least a little something more as far as raid bosses go. if not, oh well....firelands looks like it will keep people busy for a while
  1. Klonkq's Avatar
    So much for Blizzards statement about wanting to make several smaller instances per tier rather than one bigger one, now we only get one small one.

    The time frame for the release of Firelands will likely be similar to what was with Ulduar, and Ulduar had double the content. (Not to mention that Ulduar was alot more appealing concept-wise than "lol big bad fireguys", but I guess thats just me.)

    So far, I'm not impressed.
  1. Vasti's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Yosheh27 View Post
    Alysrazor? I'm guessing that's the green dragon Alysra who's been Razorscale-ified by the elementals of the Firelands.
    Hmmm I knew it had some connection to razorscale, but you just nailed it I think.
    Lame name though. Alysra+zor........

    Hope to see pictures of that legendary and the flaming Anzu soon.
  1. Brosemon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Scratches View Post
    Eh. Not excited.

    Sure, I love Sulfuron Keep's architecture, the "legendary" effort required to forge the legendary staff sounds cool, and I kinda like the idea of a giant free-roam arena that houses the first 4 bosses, but the whole package, the sum of all its parts, just seems very lacklustre to me. What relevance does this have to the story with the expansion's antagonist? Does this mean we'll get raids for the other 2 remaining elements too, before we finally get back to the epicly mediocre "story" with the big bad dwagon?

    The color palette for this place is bleh too. Look at it. Nothing but red, orange, black, and then more red, orange, and black on top of that... with spikes. They've effectively turned Ragnaros into a Marvel supervillian and Firelands into his secret hideout.
    As a point of contrast, look at the Skywall - not everything is just eggshell (the color) and clouds - or even Vashj'ir -- there's way more than just blue and water there.

    And Flaming Anzu? ...really?
    FIRElands too red? Really? Are you serious? Are you SERIOUSLY serious?!
    Hurr Durr, fire am red. Moar blue and purple and green fire imo.
  1. mmoc6976f30cf4's Avatar
    Man peopple are crying about not enough bosses etc, Its not even on PTR! maby we get 1 more raid who knows
  1. Collected's Avatar
    Y'know.. honestly.. had they re-worked MC and upgraded the bosses, loot and some of the mechanics.. I would have looked forward to that just as much as this.
  1. The Last DJ's Avatar
    ...okay, so, did Beth'tilac make anyone else but me pee a little?
  1. oatmealpoet's Avatar
    Many people tout Sunwell as one of the great raid instances....it also only had 6 bosses. I don't understand the fuss. If the content is challenging enough, we don't need 12 bosses in there.
  1. volar's Avatar
    antichrist =( ah well..
  1. babyback's Avatar
    I wounder if Ragnaros one shots the "new" Majordomo this time. That would be hilarious
  1. ScorchHellfire's Avatar
    Looks like they decided to change anthricyst's name... makes me wonder how blizzard doesn't catch these things before hand...
  1. Phaidrae's Avatar
    This looks interesting...altho I have to say that I'm not entirely thrilled with the flaming/lava-y aspect of everything. Not my favorite element in the game. And I can definitely see this being an FPS nightmare!

    The encounters do look like they'll be nice. I really hope that they'll be better tuned for each raid size tho. As it stands right now, it's glaringly obvious that a few fights in BoT and BWD are WAY more suited for 25man groups...which sucks because I really REALLY dislike 25man raids. /shrug

    Will just be patiently awating the new content. It'll be nice to have a new raid to set up.
  1. ScorchHellfire's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Lihonessa View Post
    I agree, Ragnaros looks a lot better without those hideous legs.
    Well, unless he still has them of course, but they're below the platform... But at least we won't be forced to see them, I hope.
    They already said in a blue post that the legs model is for a heroic mode only phase where he lifts himself out of the swirly lava and moves around doing whatever it is...
  1. Mukki's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Lihonessa View Post
    I agree, Ragnaros looks a lot better without those hideous legs.
    Well, unless he still has them of course, but they're below the platform... But at least we won't be forced to see them, I hope.
    You realize that Blizzard didn't change anything and their intent was for the legs model to only be part of a heroic phase, right? The QQ did nothing but show how ignorant the playerbase was.
  1. Bankrupted's Avatar
    you are not prepared!
  1. Ciscokidd12's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Brosemon View Post
    Staghelm's gonna get bitch slapped like Executus?
    From what he did to Malfurion he won't get woke up too soon.

Site Navigation