Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Black Temple

I had the opportunity to run the Black Temple the other night. It is a level 70, 25 man raid located in Shadowmoon Valley, that I had never done before. We had a group of 21 players with about 35% level 75+. There is a lot of nice scenery in Black Temple as in most the dungeons/raids. From what I understand a lot of the older dungeons/raids are going to be changing in Cataclysm.

Here's a little history on the Black Temple:

The Black Temple is the fortress of Illidan Stormrage, the lord of the Outlands. It was once known as the Temple of Karabor and has changed hands many times over the years. This raid drops Teir 6 and also drops the legendary Twin Blades of Azzinoth. The entrance to Black Temple is not at the gates but through a breech in the southern wall.

You used to have to be attuned to run this raid but attunement is no longer required.

Before the shattering of Draenor the Black Temple was once called the Temple of Karabor which was a sacred site of the Draenei. Shortly after the formation of the Horde, Gul'dan ordered the temple to be taken and made it into the headquarters for the Shadow Council. They also named it the Black Temple in the process.

Following his defeat to Arthas Menethil, Illidan returned to the Black Temple where he resides today. Neither his activities or mental state are known at this time. While Malfurion has stated that Illidan has become mad and delusional, believing that he killed Arthas and accomplished the mission Kil'jaeden had sent him on. If Illidan has descended into madness and believes he accomplished his mission it would make no sense for him to worry about Arthas or Kil'jaeden coming after him; he would believe the former dead, and the latter appeased. But then again, those afflicted by madness rarely make sense.
**Source: WoWWiki

So that is what we walked into. Overall we didn't really have a problem and moved through it quickly and smoothly. A few of the lower level players died a couple times but we really didn't have that many deaths and no wipes. Due to the higher levels present we were able to pull whole rooms at a time. I can see how this would be a pretty tough raid if everyone was level 70, it sure wouldn't have went as fast and smooth as it did I am sure. Unfortunately the Twin Blades of Azzinoth did not drop. I have been playing WoW for 4 years (December 1st) and have yet to see a legendary drop. Here are some screen shots I took during the Campaign.