Blizzard Insider #39 goes behind the scenes with the art of the Firelands

Patch 4.2 brought back one of the most iconic WoW villains in the game's history -- Ragnaros, the Firelord. Blizzard Insider interviewed two critical members of the dev team, Lead Level Designer Jonathan Dumont and Lead Environment Artist Gary Platner, to discuss the process and philosophy behind the Firelands' design. Dumont and Platner go into detail about the origins of the Firelands, the design decisions that made the cut and some that didn't, and how the environment animates with the new particle and water effects.

Firelands is one of the most cohesive and engaging locales Blizzard's team has brought to life, in my opinion. Much like Deepholm and Vashj'ir, the Firelands exists to bring the realm of fire to life, when the daunting Sulfuron Keep only existed in our imaginations prior. An interesting piece of info was that Ragnaros' model was rebuilt from scratch, completely overhauling his skeleton, animations, and feel. The new Ragnaros is one of those things, to me, that the Cataclysm did right -- create a new thing with the heart and soul of the original. Ragnaros looks like he belongs.

Check out the full interview after the jump.

With Rage of the Firelands (patch 4.2), Ragnaros the Firelord returns with a burning vengeance to challenge players on his home turf, the elemental realm of twisting flames and churning magma.

To get a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Ragnaros's domain, the Insider recently sat down with Jonathan Dumont (lead level designer) and Gary Platner (lead environment artist) from the World of Warcraft team to discuss the creative process and art philosophy behind the game's newest 10- and 25-player raid instance and accompanying quest hub. So read on, and learn how the Firelands evolved from rough concept art to a fully fleshed-out in-game environment.

Where did the ideas and initial concepts for the Firelands come from?

Jonathan: We knew early on that we wanted the Firelands to feel alien and formidable, a place of infinite height and size, and not just an ordinary volcanic cave with lava. We liked the outer-dimensional aspect of it and focused on ideas that involved a lot of floating islands and magma falls. It needed to feel epic and dangerous and, most importantly, like somewhere our players would enjoy exploring. So once we had our initial ideas together, one of our level designers, Victor Chong, created a quick block-out of the geometry, and it triggered a new flood of ideas and concept art from the art team that got us going from there.

Gary: True, though it doesn't always happen that way. Sometimes an artist will create a concept first, and then an exterior level designer will create a rough mock-up from that. Other times a designer will first create a rough map in Illustrator before it goes to a level designer for further development. No matter who starts the process, there's always a lot of back and forth between level designers, encounter designers, concept artists, and environment artists to make sure we're working with the most epic - and feasible - ideas.

How did you focus on the ideas that eventually made it into the final version of the zone? Are there any visual elements that did not make the cut?

Gary: A lot of times we don't know how something will work out until we go ahead and give it a try. One of the early visual concepts we tried for the zone were these octagonal rock columns, which you can find here on Earth in areas with a lot of volcanic activity. You see them in places like the Devils Postpile in California or the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. These rock columns worked great for the spider area in the Firelands, especially after an artist painted them with glowing fiery web textures. One idea we tried that didn't make the cut were fire columns shaped like trees. We have trees in most outdoor zones, so we thought we'd add tree-like flames to the Firelands, but tree shapes – even burning tree shapes – ultimately felt out of place.

Jonathan: Also, we initially wanted to make the Firelands a lot busier by adding lots of floating islands above the main island and having all these crazy lava waterfalls pouring across the playable area. We still did some of that, but we scaled that idea way back because it was making the zone visually confusing. We also tried having a boundless lava ocean under the main island, but that ended up creating a horizon line and taking away from the sense of infinity that we were trying to achieve, so we cut it. It makes the Firelands feel a lot bigger when you walk up to the edge of the main island, look down, and see nothing but swirling clouds of ash below.

What visual challenges did the Firelands present when the World of Warcraft artists began building the zone?

Jonathan: The main thing we had to keep in mind was that the instance is just the stage and ultimately the players are going to provide the action. So in addition to everything we put into the zone, there are also going to be players, monsters, pets, and all their spell effects going off during the raid. We didn't want the action to be overwhelmed by bursting fires and lava explosions, but at the same time, it's the Firelands, so you definitely need some of that! Finding a visual balance between the spectacular and the practical was a challenge.

Gary: As an outdoor instance, the Firelands is actually the work of two different art teams. The dungeon team works on the enclosed interior areas of the instance, such as Sulfuron Keep, and the environment team works on the exterior terrain areas, such as the Molten Fields. Making seamless transitions between both types of geometry was a fairly challenging undertaking. We had some help from our new texture-blending technology that was implemented with Cataclysm, but there were still a few rough edges to smooth out. One of our early bugs that we had to resolve was that the skybox was showing through the walls of the interior areas. You could see the sky through the ashen haze, even though you were inside Sulfuron Keep!

How did the encounters designers, animators, and environment artists work together to bring the Firelands and its raid encounters to life?

Jonathan: Well, I don't want to risk spoiling any of the boss encounters... but I will say that the encounter designers had some really interesting ideas on how to make some of the areas much more interactive. We all thought the boss encounters were distinct and epic to begin with, so it wasn't hard to create supporting areas for them. The Shatterstone area in particular features a volcano boss and full set piece designed by the dungeon art team that also includes animation and terrain work. It's a great example of all of the game-development disciplines working together to create a memorable encounter.

How do you bring the raid instance to life?

Gary: The terrain doesn't actually animate, so we had to create a sense of molten lava using particle effects and props. The lava was created with the game's improved liquid technology... the same liquid tech we used for the new water effects in Cataclysm. We were able to create heat-shimmer effects with animated props and we added a lot of particle flames and fire spouts throughout the Firelands.

How did you tie all of the Firelands' different visual elements and points of interest together?

Jonathan: Players may not consciously notice this, but we framed the whole exterior portion of the raid zone around Sulfuron Keep and tried to make it visible throughout as much of the zone as possible. This gives players a constant visual point of reference on the horizon, and also gives them a subtle reminder of where they are ultimately headed as they progress through the raid instance. For Sulfuron Keep itself, the dungeon art team created an awesome-looking building with a distinct profile, and we used it as a backdrop for a lot of the other areas as well. We also wanted to create unique areas for the boss encounters, while still making sure that they all felt like they belonged in the domain of fire in the elemental plane. The Lair of Beth'tilac [the Red Widow] serves as a good example of how the design and art teams embraced the fiery hot visual themes, while still making a unique and memorable point of interest for the boss.

Can you tell us about the new boss models? How was Ragnaros visually updated for Rage of the Firelands?

Gary: Ragnaros's model was completely rebuilt from scratch. Ragnaros was given a new hammer, new armor, and best of all, legs!

Jonathan: Yup, this is the first time players get to see Ragnaros on his home turf, so we wanted to make him look even bigger, stronger, and tougher than before. He is now much closer to his seat of power and we needed to convey that through his model. There are many other bosses in the instance as well, and we wanted to get away from filling a zone with just elementals. So you can expect to see a lot of variety in the Firelands.

Thanks for your time. Anything else you'd like to share before you go?

Jonathan: I hope players enjoy the Firelands raid and the Molten Front quest hub. We had a lot of fun making them!

Gary: Yeah, creating the Firelands was a great experience. I think we've learned that we get good results when we break with convention and just start running with all our crazy visual concepts. It's a trend we hope to continue in the future.

The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new tier 12 armor!
Tags: art-direction, blizzard-insider, fire-lands, firelands, interview, patch-4.2, ragnaros, world-of-warcraft-patch-4.2, wow-patch, wow-patch-4.2, wow-patch-4.2-news, wow-patch-news

Filed under: Blizzard, Cataclysm

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WoW goes free-to-play through level 20

Welcome! It's a good day to be one of the few remaining human beings who isn't playing World of Warcraft. While previously players who set up a new trial account were limited by 14 days of playtime and a level cap, Blizzard announced today that players on any trial account are able to play the game forever for free. The catch, of course, is that players are capped at level 20 until they upgrade. You can try out any of the races and classes available up through The Burning Crusade expansion, including the blood elves and draenei, with no time limit and no limit on characters created.

If you do get the hankering for more WoW thanks to the trial, you can get the digital Battle Chest, which includes classic WoW and The Burning Crusade, for $19.99 (as soon as the Blizzard site works again, anyway).

Trying out WoW for the first time with one of these trials? Have a friend who's just starting out and needs a push in the right direction? Check out WoW Rookie, our resource for new or casual players, with topics like:

For a full list of the restrictions placed on endless trial accounts, check after the break. Trial Account Restrictions- A level cap of 20.
- A maximum of 10 gold.
- Trade skills are capped at 100 ranks.
- Unable to trade via the Auction House, mailbox, or player-to-player.
- In-game access to public chat channels unavailable. Players are limited to communicating using only say, party, or whisper.
- Characters will be unable to create or join guilds.
- Characters are not able to send whispers to other characters unless they have been added to the characters' friends lists or have received a whisper from a character first.
- Characters will not be able to invite other players into a party.
- Characters will not be able to join parties with other characters above level 20.
- Voice chat disabled on Starter Edition accounts.
- Realms experiencing login queues will prioritize players who have full, paid accounts.
- Starter Edition accounts are not eligible for character transfers
- RealID features are disabled on all Starter Edition Accounts.

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Gold Capped: How do I make money from alchemy?

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Fox Van Allen and Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aim to show you how to make money on the auction house. Email Fox with your questions, or complain to him via the twetbox @foxvanallen social networking facepage web-point-oh!

Hello again. It's shadow priest extraordinaire Fox Van Allen, filling in once more for Basil Berntsen. I guess that baby thing of his is still a baby. Hurry the hell up already, baby. Go out and get a damn job already, baby. Start pulling your damned weight around here!

When I last Mind Controlled Basil and took over his Gold Capped column, I retold my story of reaching the gold cap. Though I played around in a bunch of different markets, I made the bulk of my money through inscription. That's not the only profession that made me money, however. One of the more fun markets I participated in was alchemy. There are hundreds of ways to play the alchemy market and plenty of opportunities to profit.

The basics of alchemy

Simply put, there are three ways alchemists make money: crafting and selling potions, crafting and selling flasks, and transmuting objects of low value into objects of higher value. There are a few low-level alchemy items that still sell thanks to their "fun" value, such as the Elixir of Giant Growth and Pygmy Oil, but for the most part, the alchemy market centers around Cataclysm-level wares.

Master of your (alchemy) domain

Though it's certainly not required, the key to making money through alchemy is to pick a specialization. By choosing one of the three options -- Potion Master, Elixir Master, or Transmute master -- you give yourself the ability to make proc extra copies of whatever alchemy item you're trying to craft.

To choose a specialization, you need to go on one of three quests:
Potion specialization To become a Potion Master, head to the Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh and talk to Lauranna Thar'well. So long as you're an alchemist, at least level 68, and have yet to take a specialization, she'll offer you the Master of Potions quest. Completing it requires 5 Super Healing Potions, 5 Super Mana Potions, 5 Major Dreamless Sleep Potions, and the Botanist's Field Guide. The potions can be made yourself or bought off the auction house; the Botanist's Field Guide is a drop off High Botanist Freywinn in the Botanica instance.Elixir specialization To become a Elixir Master, talk to Lorokeem in Shattrath and accept the Master of Elixirs quest. This one will send you into the Black Morass instance (Caverns of Time) to collect 10 Essences of Infinity from the Rift Lords and Rift Keepers therein. You'll also need 5 Elixirs of Major Defense, 5 Elixirs of Mastery, and 5 Elixirs of Major Agility.Transmute specialization Becoming a Transmutation Master requires the least effort of the three but usually the most money. All you need for this specialization is to visit Zarevhi in the Stormspire (Netherstorm), accept his Master of Transmutation quest, and give him 4 Primal Might. You can either make them yourself (farming a lot of Burning Crusade content is required) or buy them off the auction house for several hundred gold each.Once you complete a specialization quest, you can change to any other specialization by spending 150 gold -- no quest required. Just visit the person you originally trained with (either Lauranna, Lorokeem, or Zarevhi), talk to and pay him or her, and drop your specialization. You can then visit the alchemist you want to train with -- again, Lauranna, Lorokeem, or Zarevhi -- and just accept your new specialization. Simple.

In general, it's the most cost-effective to choose the Master of Potions quest no matter what you want to specialize in, and then pay the 150 gold fee to switch. It's a simple matter of economics. The four Primal Might required to become a Transmutation Master often sell for 1,000 gold or more; the potions (or herbs required to make them) to complete the Master of Potions quest are far cheaper. If you're near level 70, just queue up for The Botanica via the Dungeon Finder after grabbing the quest. If you're level 80 or better, skip the group -- soloing The Botanica is a snap.

Which specialization should you choose? Let's take a look at the risks and benefits of each.

How does a Potion Master make money?

Not to be totally obvious, but Potion Masters make their money selling potions. (You don't say, Fox! You don't say.)

Every time you make a potion as a Potion Master, you have a ~20% chance to proc extra potions -- usually one extra, though rarely as many as four extra.

By becoming a potion master, you can effectively compete in your server's potion market more efficiently than any alchemist who is not a Potion Master. If it costs your competition 10 gold to make a potion, it only costs you about 8 gold, 33 silver on average. A skilled Potion Master can easily price a Flask Master or Transmute Master out of the potion market by listing auctions at or near the cost of materials. If you're not facing substantial competition, then those extra potions you proc merely pad your profits even more.

More so than any other alchemist, Potion Masters make their money off volume. Each potion may bring in only 1 or 2 gold in profit (though often more), but you can often sell 5 or 20 at a time. Your top customers will always be hardcore raiders -- these folks will frequently go through two potions per encounter. That's not to say casual players don't buy potions, too; Deepstone Oil and Potion of Illusion remain decent sellers on my server thanks to their "fun factor," and plenty of 5-man instance runners buy mana and health potions if they're priced attractively.

Demand for DPS potions (e.g., Volcanic Potion) typically spikes on Tuesdays, the most popular day for raiding. Mythical Healing Potions and Mythical Mana Potions seem to be the most popular on weekends, though they sell fairly consistently all week long.

How does a Elixir Master make money?

In Cataclysm, they largely don't. Sad, but true!

There are a number of reasons why this could be the case. Some guilds continue to flood the market with unneeded flasks (elixirs) made while chasing after the Mix Master achievement. Further, with more guilds offering their raiders Cauldrons of Battle, fewer raiders are required to buy their flasks on the open market. Whatever the actual reason, the consequence is this: Flasks often sell for less than the cost of the materials that go into making them.

That's not to say it's impossible to make money as a Elixir Master. Each server is different, and of all the servers out there, I'm sure at least a couple have profitable flask markets.

Like Potion Masters, Elixir Masters get 20% more flasks through their procs. In many markets, these procs are the only difference between turning a profit and selling at a loss. The Flask of the Draconic Mind often flirts with profitability because it's the flask that's in the highest demand; you may be able to make money by exploring that route.

How does a Transmute Master make money?

Transmute Masters make money in three different ways: bonus Truegold procs, bonus Living Elements procs, and bonus gem procs.

Making money off Truegold is like playing a slot machine. Because of the high selling price of one bar of Truegold, when the proc happens, it pays off big. If Truegold is selling at an average of 500g each on your server, you'll average an extra 100g or so per day thanks to being a Transmute Master. With a lot of the new-for-4.2 blacksmithing recipes calling for Truegold, prices could be soon heading through the roof.Living Elements shares a cooldown with your Truegold proc, but it's much less of a gamble. Transmute Masters seem to be guaranteed about five free volatiles every time they use their Living Elements cooldown. It's like free money every day, though the payoff is never as grand as when you hit that "Truegold x 5" proc jackpot. Demand for volatiles is always strong.As of this current point in Cataclysm, making money by transmuting gems seems to be entirely limited to the act of making Shadowspirit Diamonds. There's no daily cooldown on making these, and with tons of new head pieces getting thrown into the mix for patch 4.2, these should see a nice bump in price over the following few weeks. Transmute: Inferno Ruby may also wind up being profitable if the demand for rare gems spikes with the new patch. Keep a close eye on your server's market.
Regardless of whether or not you choose to be a Transmute Master or not, your daily transmutation cooldown is one of the easiest sources of money you have as an alchemist. If the price of Truegold is far above the cost of mats on your server, any alchemist can score by creating bars. If Truegold isn't profitable, you should still be able to do well taking Volatile Life, often the cheapest of all the volatiles, and transmuting it into something more expensive like Volatile Air (do your Living Elements transmute in Uldum to guarantee an Air transmute), Volatile Water (do your transmute in Vashj'ir), or Volatile Fire (Hyjal).

The Undermine Journal: Key to alchemy profits

The secret to making money under any alchemy specialization is knowing how to leverage information. You should only craft and sell that which earns you a profit, and figuring out profit margins is beautifully simple with The Undermine Journal website: Simply visit, choose your server and faction, and click on "alchemy" under the "consumables" tab.

As an example, take a look at the Alliance restorative potion market for my server, Proudmoore (US):

The "mats" column shows your cost to make one of each item by pulling the herbs directly off the auction house; the "price" column shows you how much each potion is currently selling for. Here, green means profitable, and as you can see, almost all potions are currently turning a profit in this market (especially the Mythical Mana Potion, with its 189% profit margin). The "95% CI" column shows you a general idea as to whether or not prices are unusually low (L) or high (H) compared to the mean (average) price of each over the last two weeks.

The fact that all of these potions are selling at strong profits even when priced below the mean suggests that this particular market is ripe to participate in. Indeed, in my past experience, the potion market on this server has been a goldmine, even with moderate competition.

On the other hand, take a look at this at-a-glance view of the Horde-side flask market on the Madoran server:

As you can see by the swath of red, most of these potions are being sold at a net loss. There are a number of reasons why this is possible. Guilds may be making unusual quantities of flasks to unlock their Big Cauldron of Battle. Elixir Master alchemists may be trying to force competition out of the market. Or herbalist/alchemists may just be making flasks, unaware that they could be selling the raw materials for more.

Whatever the reason, the market is ugly. Things are currently selling under the two-week average. The only flask currently selling at a profit is the Flask of the Winds, but that's a dangerous market as the two-week average price is actually below the cost of raw materials. If you're a Horde alchemist on the Madoran server, I'd advise you to explore becoming a Potion Master or Transmute Master:

As you can see, the Truegold proc is a relatively valuable one on the Madoran server right now. Shadowspirit Diamond procs are quite valuable as well, and there's no daily limit. Just be sure not to glut the market.

Know your market

The final note I have for a would-be alchemist mogul: Know your server's market. This goes beyond the pricing data in The Undermine Journal -- you need to know how much demand for potions, flasks, and Truegold/gems is out there and how that demand responds to fluctuations in price.

Why is this important? It's because there's an unusually high deposit required to list a stack of potions or gems on the auction house. Start by listing very few stacks at the start, see how they sell, and then start increasing the quantity you list if they sell out. Keep increasing your quantity until you find the point at which your presence in the market saturates it. If you're seeing 90% of your auctions come back unsold, you've either got a very aggressive competitor or you're listing too many items. Either way, it's time to adjust your strategy to avoid having all your profits eaten up by lost deposits.
Maximize your profits with more advice from Gold Capped as well as the author's Call to Auction podcast. Do you have questions about selling, reselling and building your financial empire on the auction house? Basil is taking your questions at basil@wowinsider.com. Tags: alchemy, easy-gold, elixir-master, farming-guide, featured, gold, gold-farming, gold-guide, gold-making, gold-strat, gold-strategy, gold-strats, gold-tips, making-money-through-alchemy, potion-master, selling-alchemy-stuff, transmute, transmute-master, world-of-wacraft-money-making, world-of-warcraft-easy-gold, world-of-warcraft-gold, world-of-warcraft-money-making-guide, wow-easy-gold, wow-gold, wow-gold-farming, wow-gold-guide, wow-gold-legal, wow-gold-reviews, wow-gold-strategy, wow-gold-tips, wow-money, wow-money-guide, wow-money-making-guide

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Choose My Adventure Live: Late 40s dungeon

Choose the adventures of Robin Torres as Roblinator the goblin shamanator, or join in with It came from the Blog on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H) every Monday at 1 p.m. EDT.

This week, Roblinator the shamanator will be dungeonating with her regular dungeonators. We'll random as usual, and it is doubtful we will have to queue. Join us by watching the stream above and participating in the chat after the break. Also, there's another poll, so please vote.

Update: The stream is now over. You can watch the video replay of Dire Maul by clicking the image above.

My next adventures

I will most likely be in the 45 to 49 range of battlegrounds for next week's PVP session. We'll be randoming it up. If we get WSG again, I'm not going to defend the flag. That was a disaster. I'm obviously better at being or protecting the flag carrier. I do hope for Alterac Valley again, though ... such fun.

My poll for where to go at 50 seems to be incomplete, so I've taken the top to results from last week's poll and added the option of finishing up the Badlands -- as per Pyromelter's request.

See you next week!
Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H) in It came from the Blog. Anyone can invite, so /whisper Roblinator or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details. Tags: dungeon, featured, goblin, guild-event, guild-events, live-streaming, roblinator, shaman, wow-com-guild, wow-dot-com-guild, wow-event, wow-events, wow-insider, wow-insider-guild, wow-insider-guild-event, wowinsider

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Two Bosses Enter: Cataclysm Season 1 finals

In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title.

"Today, in the left corner, stands the guardian of the World's Heart!" Tirion's voice rose to a crescendo to be heard over the explosive cheering of the audience and the music thundering forth from the gnomish sound projectors. "Ozruk!"

Break yourself, break yourself
Break yourselves upon my body
Break yourself, break yourself
Break yourselves upon my body ...

And so it went. A frown grew on Tirion's face, displeased with the so-called hippity-hop, but what the audience wanted, the audience would get. The moment the music faded, the old crusader motioned to the other corner. "In the right corner stands ..." Tirion leaned forward, squinting to make out the form far below. He sighed deeply. "Vanessa, what are you doing here? Where is the Cardboard Assassin? And why are you wearing that chapeau?"

Vanessa shifted her gaze from the rocky behemoth before her, up toward the old man above in the stands. "He's dead."

"What do you mean he's dead?" Tirion demanded. "He was never alive to begin with!"

"Your medical staff is untrained in the care and feeding of paper men, Lord Fordring." Vanessa smiled sweetly. "They tried to quench his thirst and he fell all to pieces."

Ozruk snorted with a start. With all the coherence of an old man waking from an afternoon nap, the stone guardian asked, words slurring, "A protector has fallen?"

Vanessa ignored him. "As our dearly departed assassin's manager ..."

"No, Vanessa." Tirion cut in. "Absolutely not!"

"... I will compete in his place."

"Fine. I don't even care anymore." Tirion groaned and took his seat. "I will allow it."

"Champions," Vanessa mocked, lowering herself into a fighting stance. With a flick of her wrist, a poison vial went soaring through the air toward the ancient of earth. "Begin!"

The rules of the ring The WoW Insider Ring is considered neutral territory, where both combatants are able to access their usual encounter mechanics and abilities. If you can't visualize it inside the squared circle, visualize it someplace else -- but you must take into consideration all of each bosses' abilities and mechanics.Assume that each opponent is intelligent and capable of strategic thinking.All of the competitors' abilities, including crowd control and other effects to which bosses are usually immune, work on their opponents (with apologies to considerations of lore on this point).Assume that the opponents share similar levels, health pools, and comparative overall damage output.Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter.Don't neglect style, story, and scale. Everything is a factor; seeking balance is your goal as a spectator and judge.In Corner One: Ozruk

Break yourselves upon my body!

Ozruk utterly dominated his opponent in round one with 81% of the popular vote. He knocked out Lord Godfrey with just shy of 70% of the popular vote. He took out the unstoppable Eregos with ... not quite 60% of the vote! Ozruk's reputation as being entirely invincible has been slipping over the weeks, but all you really need is one vote more than the other guy to win, right? Can he pull it off?

Ozruk's arsenal includes ...

If you haven't witnessed Ozruk's gleaming, perfectly chiseled body yourself, perhaps you'd like to learn more about his flawless physique or read other adventurers' first-hand reports. In Corner Two: Vanessa VanCleef

Your tale ends here!

Vanessa VanCleef is a cheater. Plain and simple. She was knocked out in the first round by the Cardboard Assassin, but with her skill at intrigue and conspiracy, she managed to find a way to get into the finals. Will her cheating ways be enough to put her over the top against Ozruk, the fan favorite to win the tournament and an all-around scary dude?

Vanessa VanCleef's toolkit includes:

Want to learn more about Vanessa? Read what other adventurers had to say about her, or learn more of her story! Last Week's Winner: Vanessa and the late Cardboard Assassin

You can't please everybody, but Tirion Fordring, Two Bosses Enter Overseer, certainly tried. He granted Vanessa VanCleef permission to compete alongside the Cardboard Assassin in a tag-team match against Whitemane and Mograine, and there was absolutely no question who won -- Vanessa and the Cardboard Assassin dominated utterly. Of course, it also marked the end of the Cardboard Assassin's career, so it wasn't much of a win for him.

Reader Qing Guang knows Vanessa's fighting style well and outlined Whitemane and Mograine's defeat for all of us.

Whitemane and Mograine stood staring in confusion at the odd pair, glancing back and forth from their synthetic foe to their unexpected one. They hardly noticed when Vanessa began to speak.

"I've been waiting a long time for this, you know. Biding my time, building my forces, studying your twisted minds.
Now, cheaters, let us see how you fare when you are the victim of foul play, rather than the instigator..."

As the two Scarlet champions stood baffled, the young VanCleef slipped around behind them and jabbed each with a syringe. Their consciousness immediately slipped away...

They awakened in a room filled with treasure. Something was definitely wrong here. Sally reached up to secure her hat, only to find a filthy turban in its place. Perplexed, she looked down at herself in horror - a wretched little pygmy! Meanwhile, Renault fought to raise himself off the floor where he lay sprawled, only to discover that he, too, had had a transformation... a scaly one. Heavy footsteps padded somewhere to their left. A voice, disembodied, floated in on the desert winds.

"Augh led the pygmies by maintaining fear and awe. But the other denizens of the Lost City were unmoved, and they did not appreciate his theft of their ancient treasures..."

Two Neferset approached from the outside. They stopped in front of the statues and stepped apart, revealing a third behind them, his decorative helmet marking him clearly as the leader. The ram-horned Neferset stepped into the room and forcibly dragged Whitemane and Mograine outside.

"So," he said, "You are the little bit of camel dung that looted our town as we fought, hmmm? Let us see how well your flunkies respect you when they have us to fear instead."

He called out, and several towers of pygmies waddled into view. Shortly thereafter, swarms of crocolisks surged from the water. He left them to their fate.

Fortunately, the Scarlet champions discovered they still retained their abilities. The pygmies and crocolisks stood no chance against the power of the Light, and Whitemane and Mograine easily disposed of them.

The nightmare shifted.

The duo stood chained, held by a trio of Twilight's Hammer cultists in what appeared to be a large smithy. The two champions seemed to have resumed their normal forms, though the value of that given their present situation was unclear. One of the cultists jangled the chain and pointed at an anvil, indicating the hammer lying upon it. The voice bubbled up from the molten metal in the great pit at the center of the room.

"This is life in Khardros' Anvil: work or suffer. A chain of oppression is maintained through fear, even for those at the top of the ladder..."

Pounding footsteps indicated the arrival of their other defeated opponent. Forgemaster Throngus looked at them with an expression of frustration mixed with terror.

"Why you not work? You gotta work, or you get beat... we all get beat! Throngus no want to get whipped!"

He raised a massive hand to smack them. They readied themselves for another difficult fight... but all slipped away into blackness.

Vanessa VanCleef yanked her daggers out of the two corpses, letting them fall to the ground. She had learned from her mistakes. Never rely solely on one gambit when it will enable a surer plan of victory. Turning, she patted the Cardboard Assassin on its flimsy head and strode out of the arena.

The Crusaders never stood a chance. Who wins?Vanessa VanCleef and the Cardboard AssassinSally Whitemane and Renault Mograine

The battle begins!

Remember, Two Bosses Enter matchups are all about substance and style, not gameplay, mechanics, and numbers. Don't base your strategies on player tactics, which opponent has been easiest or most difficult for you personally, or the difficulty of each opponent relative to instance progression. Vote for the spirit of the battle as set forth above. Set aside differences in opponents' health pools, game level, and actual damage output. Absolutely no game mechanics nitpicking!
Set aside the world order -- let the WoW Insider Ring determine who's the champion! Your votes determine the outcome in WoW Insider's series of fantasy deathmatches, Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves. Tags: cardboard-assassin, mograine, one-boss-leaves, ozruk, two-bosses-enter, vanessa-vancleef, whitemane, whitemane-and-mograine, wow-boss, wow-boss-fights, wow-boss-tournament, wow-bosses, wow-tournament

Filed under: Two Bosses Enter

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WoW Moviewatch: Happy Patch Day!

You know what today is, right? Let's ring it in with our old friend Greyfoo's celebratory Happy Patch Day! After all, we're all going to have little struggles getting into the game, downloading the patch, and resetting all our mods ... it's a great time for a musical interlude.

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