Here I am, me and my dumb dancing bear, continuing this current path of life that is massively consuming the latest World of Warcraft content, even if that means I'm hanging out in my garrison, dancing on the stone bases that will eventually become some sweet monuments. Warlords of Draenor is quickly becoming my favorite expansion Blizzard has put out for their mammoth MMORPG to date, and it's mostly because I have plenty to do, while also enjoying the content on alts. My druid (how else am I going to be a dancing dumb bear?) got to level 100 rather quickly, but now I'm having a bit of leveling ADD with the two characters I've been working on lately (Paladin and Priest) seem to be constantly distracted by finding something new all the time. My Paladin ran into a mini-event that ended in a follower, which naturally I had to log in the bear to go get. Such is my new Warcraft life: massively distracted.

So much cuddly fun awaits you in Highmaul.

Thursday, I'll be catching a first glimpse at the newest content to come from Blizzard: Highmaul. My guild isn't in too much of a hurry, but we don't want to just sit around, either. I mean, we're gluttons for punishment, so it'll be fun dying together. Also, considering that Highmaul is some place that's knee-deep in Ogres, who wouldn't want to go see how many of those goobers can die by your guild's collective fist? We do pretty okay for ourselves, and we're not into server firsts, so we'll see what we can do. I'm pretty sure we'll at least say many swears while having fun. I'll likely cry because I've bene tanking this expansion so far and seem to have forgotten how to heal. Bad bear bad.

Do you like lore? The write-up on Highmaul starts out about like this:

Highmaul is the seat of power for the Gorian Empire, the ogre civilization that ruled Draenor for generations until the arrival of the draenei. A massive city that belies the ogre reputation for brutish stupidity, Highmaul is full of bustling markets, wealthy nobles, and the roar of the Coliseum crowd echoing through the streets of the slums. Visible from everywhere within the city’s walls, Imperator Mar’gok’s citadel casts a long shadow, a reminder of his watchful eye and iron grip.

We learn that these tons of fun are holed up in Nagrand with their ogrey ways (actual word, trust me) and has seven total bosses to play with. Of these seven, three are optional. In order to go play whack-a-mole with ogre loot pinatas, you'll need a minimum item level of 615 to enter (for LFR), which can be accessed via Raid Finder. In order to enter on Normal, Heroic, or LFR when it opens next week, you'll need at minimum, ten people total. If you forgot, or maybe even missed it completely, with 6.0.2, “flex” raids are the new norm, and all but Mythic, which is twenty only, you can run raids with between ten and thirty players. If you're in a guild like mine, this means if you have twelve capable players on for raid night, everyone can participate! You won't have to worry about trying to put together two 10s or see if you can muster up 25. I should note that while the Blizzard blog states that you only need ilvl 615 to enter the LFR, ilvl 615 is recommended for normal/flex and 630 for heroic.

Did you miss this image tweeted earlier? Not exactly the Swiss Army Knife images I've seen of the new lightsaber, but still amusing.

Speaking of LFR, the first wing opens next week, which grants access to Kargath Bladefist and two optional bosses: The Butcher, and Brackenspore. The full schedul is as follows: Today Normal and Heroic are available. On December 9, the first wing of Highmaul becomes available for LFR, and guilds can begin to experience Mythic Highmaul. On December 16, the second wing opens up for LFR, allowing access to Tectus, Twin Ogron, and Ko’ragh, while on January 6, the final wing unlocks for LFR, allowing pick up raids to access the final boss in Highmaul, Imperator Mar’gok.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the raid design for Warlords of Draenor is like! Are you heading in to Highmaul this week with your guild? Are you aiming for Heroic off the bat? Did you sneeze and end up in full Tier 17 Heroic? Let me know all about your Highmaul adventures in the comments!