by JR Cook - 3 months ago     show comments

Phase 3 of Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary realms went live on August 27 at 3:00 p.m. PDT, which means Illidan Stormrage is back on the raid calendar just two weeks before BlizzCon. Black Temple and the Battle for Mount Hyjal opened simultaneously, bringing with them the content people remember when they think about late Burning Crusade.

Black Temple is the 25-player raid in Shadowmoon Valley where the Betrayer sits at the end of a nine-boss chain: High Warlord Naj’entus, Supremus, Shade of Akama, Teron Gorefiend, Gurtogg Bloodboil, Reliquary of Souls, Mother Shahraz, the Illidari Council, and finally Illidan himself. Reputation feeds the Ashtongue Deathsworn faction, bosses can drop epic gems, and yes, the famous Warglaives of Azzinoth are still on Illidan’s loot table if your raid gets that lucky.

Mount Hyjal, Netherwing, and Epic Gems

The Battle for Mount Hyjal (also called Hyjal Summit) opened the same afternoon and ends on Archimonde. That raid feeds Scale of the Sands reputation with Indormi as the vendor, and the zone itself is farmable for epic gems. Epic gems are the gear spike that makes both raids matter beyond transmog runs and the Illidan kill screenshot.

Netherwing dailies are now up on Netherwing Ledge in Shadowmoon Valley. That’s the long faction grind toward the netherdrake mount, and you need flying (or flight form) just to land there. Arena Season 3 launched as part of the same phase window, with Season 2 already wound down and the new arena ladder taking over after weekly maintenance.

Attunement Is Still Required

Anniversary realms still use the old attunement logic, so you can’t just show up and queue. Black Temple starts with The Tablets of Baa’ri (Scryers pick it up from Arcanist Thelis, Aldor from Anchorite Ceyla). Mount Hyjal starts with The Vials of Eternity at Soridormi in the Caverns of Time. Get those done before you spend lockout night yelling in voice chat about why the door won’t open.

The timing here is awkward. BlizzCon is September 12 and 13, and half the Classic audience is waiting to hear the words “Classic+” on stage while the other half is logging into Anniversary tonight because Illidan is actually killable. Those are not the same game. One is a rumor cycle, this one has a lockout and an attunement chain.

If you’re behind on the Anniversary realms, finish flying if you don’t have it yet because Netherwing won’t care that your raid is ready. Get the Black Temple attunement moving this weekend even if your raid is only clearing the first two bosses, that chain is longer than people remember once you add Aldor or Scryers standing, instance keys, and the older raid attunes it expects. Split the first lockout if your roster is thin, Naj’entus through Bloodboil is a full night for a lot of Anniversary guilds and Shahraz, Council, and Illidan can wait.

For guilds settling in for the long haul on these fights, a solid HyperX Cloud III Wireless headset makes those marathon progression nights a lot more comfortable. If you’re streaming your Black Temple attempts or shot-calling for the raid, the Elgato Wave 3 Microphone is a clean upgrade over a headset mic and picks up callouts without the background noise.

Mount Hyjal can be the gem farm while Black Temple is still a progression lockout. That’s how a lot of original TBC guilds survived this phase, and the Anniversary version is handing you the same split. Play the content that’s open, because whether Classic+ gets announced at BlizzCon or not, this phase is the game right now and the Betrayer is in the instance.

Source: Game Fragger