Jelentik majd a mókát, kacagást és káromkodnivalót a raidereknek a következő hetekben-hónapokban. A tegnapi blizzardos 5.4 privjúban turkálva találtuk meg a lead encounter designer Ion Hazzikostas kommentárjait az új raid bossaihoz. Van pár érdekes ötlet köztük. Lássuk!

Immerseus

The layout of this area and the visual framing of the boss as players enter the raid zone hearkens back to Lord Marrowgar at the entrance to Icecrown Citadel—we wanted to make sure that the first thing players saw when they entered the Raid was a huge and visually impressive foe. Long-time players (or pet collectors) may find the fight structure somewhat reminiscent of Viscidus in the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj.

Fallen Protectors

 Once we decided to permanently change the face of Pandaria by having the power unleashed by Garrosh ruin the eastern half of the Vale, a natural query was what would become of the beloved Golden Lotus questgivers who had steadfastly tended to the Vale throughout the expansion. This encounter answers that question—you may earn some epic items from the Golden Lotus one final time.

Norushen

Observant Scenario-runners will recognize Norushen from the Dark Heart of Pandaria Scenario. We decided early on in the development process that we wanted to have this Titanic watcher guarding the Vault of Y’Shaarj, and prioritized his model and the chamber for use in the Scenario in order to better foreshadow the upcoming raid encounter.

Sha of Pride

There is a strong conceptual link between the Norushen encounter and this one. Norushen insists on purifying the players of their pride before he will let them enter the Vault of Y’Shaarj, and as soon as players engage the Sha of Pride they will understand why.

Galakras

What better way to begin a war-themed wing than by storming enemy beach emplacements? We wanted the focus of this encounter to be on splitting your raid up to secure enemy towers and anti-air weaponry while holding off waves of attackers, and Galakras himself serves as more of a capstone on the experience.

Iron Juggernaut

This boss was the product of a particularly rowdy brainstorming session. We started with the idea of a siege tank. We ended up with a mecha-scorpion with a laser-mounted tail, flamethrower mouth, a drill and a sawblade for arms, and many, many cannons. We owe the artist who brought this monstrosity to life a drink or three.

Korkron Dark Shaman

One of the precepts of Garrosh’s True Horde is a disdain for all demonic magic, so when we wanted a more caster-oriented boss, we instead delved into the question of what shamanism would look like within Garrosh’s army. The attire for these two wolfriders was inspired by the traditional Warcraft III Shaman unit, and we’re excited to be able to give lucky Shaman players a chance to earn that look for themselves by defeating this encounter.

General Nazgrim

The decision to include Nazgrim as a raid boss was a controversial one—Horde players have seen him rise through the ranks from Sergeant, to Legionnaire, and now to General. Unlike many of our Raid bosses, he is not necessarily wicked, but he is a soldier whose loyalty to Orgrimmar leaves him no choice but to defend its walls. Of course, the Alliance likely has a different perspective on just how “noble” his past actions have been. . . .

Malkorok

Players who stuck around after the completion of the Dark Heart of Pandaria scenario may have had some inkling that they would be facing off against Malkorok someday in the near future. This is our “Patchwerk-style” boss of the zone, though of course he does have a couple more mechanics than Patchwerk did.

Spoils of Pandaria

When we were coming up with concepts for the different rooms and wings of Garrosh’s base, we envisioned a warehouse in which he kept the various artifacts, weapons, and other treasures he had plundered during the Horde campaign in Pandaria. An archaeological conservationist Garrosh is not. It’s been a long time since we’ve made a Raid encounter that didn’t have a single conventional “boss,” but the objective here is simply to shut down the security system before it blows you all up.

Thok, the Bloodthirsty

If the prior chamber contained Garrosh’s inanimate plunder, this is his menagerie of living beasts and native creatures of Pandaria. As we considered what might be found in the cages lining the room, we covered all the bases, ranging from bats to saurok to a yeti plucked from the peaks of Kun-Lai. Oh, and also this unassuming snail that Garrosh came across somewhere. . . .

Siegecrafter Blackfuse

Alongside the hardened infantry who are preparing for war in Garrosh’s underground barracks, Garrosh’s army would need mighty siege engines. The foundation for the concept of this fight lies in the U-shaped conveyor belt that encircles the chamber, allowing players to jump up into the workings of the assembly line and disrupt the manufacturing process. Observant players may recognize the components being assembled as the various parts of the Iron Juggernaut that they defeated earlier, with an extra heaping dose of bombs—because if you’re a goblin, there’s no such thing as too many bombs.

Paragons of the Klaxxi

After mopping up the August Celestials on the Timeless Isle and “freeing” the Fallen Golden Lotus Protectors from their eternal torment, our intrepid heroes soon come upon the Klaxxi Paragons. Go figure. In any case, players who have achieved Exalted with the Klaxxi faction and paid close attention during the tour of their sacred underground chamber probably saw this one coming.

Garrosh Hellscream

Even though you fight him in his throne room beneath the city of Orgrimmar, far away from the verdant shores of Pandaria, Garrosh is still the ultimate villain of the Pandaria expansion, and we felt that it was important to forge a strong connection to the Pandaria story arc within the encounter itself. As Garrosh wields the power of Y’Shaarj—origin of all the sha—players must battle through some of the most memorable locations where the sha manifested in Pandaria. At the end, when his back is up against a wall and he is cornered in his own lair, Garrosh ends up facing the same sort of choice that once doomed his father.