Congratulations to Premonition of Alleria on the first kill of the Eredar Twins in the US! From what I hear, it was a tight race to first place yesterday, but Premonition was ahead of the pack.
I must add, it's neat to see some of the old school sets in many of these first-kill shots. They're still way cool, but you can see Blizzard's trend of making things more and more over the top as WoW evolves. I can't honestly say I have a problem with that. As much as I adore Faith, Absolution blows it away as far as style and the smaller details.
As we continue down the road to Wrath of the Lich King, we get more and more information about what factions we'll be coming across. The Taunka, the Tuskarr, the Scarlet Onslaught, things like that. The one that seems to have gotten the most people excited is our beloved Silver Hand. The inclusion of the Silver Hand has even sparked a great amount of debate on the official Wrath forums, yammering for or against the Horde being welcome in the Order. Because of all of this, I've decided we'll take a little look at the Silver Hand this week!
Contrary to what most people believe/know, the Order of the Silver Hand was not founded exclusively by Uther the Lightbringer. At the time, Uther was actually still an apprentice. His teacher, Archbishop Alonsus Faol, was the true founder of the Order, though Uther was at his side, naturally.
You may remember the raiding guild Risen, from the Alleria server, for their work in Naxxaramas back before The Burning Crusade, being among the first to grab Atiesh and the Corrupted Ashbringer. They're back at the forefront of WoW news again, but this time for a different reason. They've decided to tap out of raiding until WoTLK, and they aren't being very shy about telling us why, with a post on their website under the oh-so-witty title "World of Casualcraft."
A post I saw while crawling the forums during one of my 'no sleep' periods has me wondering the same thing the original poster is: where in the Outland are Turalyon and Alleria? We were told prior to The Burning Crusade's launch that we would discover the fate of the Alliance Expedition, but while we've found out about Danath (running Honor Hold), Khadgar (communing with A'dal in Shattrah) and Kurdran (he's running the Wildhammer Stronghold in Shadowmoon Valley) we've yet to see more of the fate of the two last members than the surprising fact that they have a son who is now grown up enough to wear Pally Tier 2. I wonder if anyone has told the Horde that Sylvanas is an auntie? (And man, I don't even want to think about the kind of gifts Auntie Sylvanas would give.)
Personally, although I can hardly pretend to be the lore expert around here (we all know who that is) I'm enough of a mark for the lore that I want to see what happened to the guy who picked up Lothar's fallen sword and kicked Doomhammer's ass up and down Blackrock Mountain. (My tauren would just like to tell me to stuff it here.) Not to mention all the possible drama of a Windrunner family reunion. Are there any in-game clues to where these two ended up? Does anyone think we'll find out more when the Sunwell Plateau goes live, or are we going to have to wait for Wrath of the Lich King, or maybe even beyond that?
Edited to add: I forgot to mentioin that, despite the Allerian Srronghold bearing her name and having several high elves manning it, Alleria is not to be found there.
I remember fondly the first time my guild managed to take out Ragnaros in Molten Core. It had taken a lot of planning to make a serious attempt at it, and when everything finally came together just right it was a huge thrill. Or the first time we took out Nefarian in Blackwing Lair or Princess Huhurahn in Ahn'Qiraj or... any of a dozen other boss first kills. It may have taken countless frustrating wipes to learn the perfect strategy, but when things finally come together, it's a great feeling.
But does anyone go out and visit Ragnaros (or any of the other big boss mobs in Azeroth) anymore, when the loot's no longer compelling? I've got to say -- the people who started playing since the Burning Crusade was released are missing out on some incredibly fun boss fights. But I'm glad to see that there are at least some players out there who are tackling old world content for the entertainment value. Se7en Samurai points out that the guild Elements on Alleria is running an open Naxxramas raid this weekend. (If only guilds on my realm did things like that!)
So what's your take on it? Is old world content worth going through for entertainment value, or is it all just a waste of time?
So, how are the servers treating everyone a month after the expansion release? Alleria's actually gotten (knock on wood) significantly better, with only one hard server disconnect last weekend. It seems that all of our instabilities are on weekends, last weekend's was Saturday, the weekend previous was on Sunday. There have also been no queues for the last two weeks, even during prime times, lag has been "acceptable" for me anyway.
Finally, I'm sure some of you
are saying. Initially announced on March 24th and delayed three times since,
it appears that transfers to the new Norgannon and Thrall realms are finally going to happen. Begining Monday, April
17th, at 3:00 AM PDT, players from Shadowsong and Azjol-Nerub will be able to transfer to Norgannon while players from
Alleria and Hellscream will be able to transfer to Thrall. Transfers will close on Thursday, April 20th, at 3:00
PM PDT, so get on it while there's a chance.
Because I do not play on any of the affected servers, the fact that Blizzard has opened up PvE to PvP realm
transfers was not immediately obvious to me. Hyjal, Lightbringer, Shadowsong, Zul'jin, Alleria , Hellscream, and
Whisperwind are all PvE servers, and have recently been given the opportunity to transfer to new PvP
servers Black Dragonflight and Dalvengyr. This is interesting, primarily because Blizzard has, in the past,
always kept realm transfers within their realm type. So these new transfers will allow seasoned players from old
PvE servers a taste of the excitement of PvP without the difficulty that faces most players who wish to make such a
switch - rerolling and releveling.
Starting on Monday, April 10th,
at 3:00 AM PST, players on Hyjal, Lightbringer, Shadowsong, Zul'jin, Alleria, Khaz'goroth, Hellscream, and Whisperwind
will have the option to transfer to new PvP servers Black Dragonflight (Hyjal, Lightbringer, Shadowsong, and Zul'jin)
and Dalvengyr (Alleria, Khaz'goroth, Hellscream, and Whisperwind). Transfers will close on Thursday, April 13th,
so if you're interested in making the jump, do it as soon as possible.
While Norgannon and Thrall are
supposed to be two new servers accepting transfer accounts (from Shadowsong & Azjol-Nerub and Alleria &
Hellscream, respectively), transfers keep getting pushed further and further back. At the end of last week, they
were scheduled to come online Monday. On Monday, technical issues prevented transfers from
occurring. On Tuesday, as I'm sure you recall, all servers were offline. On Wednesday, we
were told they were opening on
Thursday. And today we're told that transfers are postponed until
further notice. It's nearly getting to where you can't trust these people...
Transfers to new servers
Norgannon (from Shadowsong and Azjol-Nerub) and Thrall (from Alleria and Hellscream) were set to close this Thursday,
but due to yesterday's extended maintenance (and perhaps the fact that transfers were offline on Monday), the transfer period
has been rescheduled to start Thursday, March 30th, and to run until Tuesday, April 4th. Remember, transfers
are only available between 3:00 AM and 3:00 PM PST. If you're interested in transferring, hit up the character transfer page.
While two new transfer servers were
supposed to go live today, it sounds
like there are some technical
problems. Players hoping to transfer from Shadowsong or Azjol-Nerub to Norgannon or Alleria or
Hellscream to Thrall will have another chance tomorrow, when transfers should re-open at 3AM PST.
I imagine the server folks at Blizzard have had a hard
week - because they've announced another two realms, transfer only, opening Monday. Players on the servers
Shadowsong and Azjol-Nerub can transfer to Norgannon while players on the servers Alleria and Hellscream can transfer
to Thrall. As usual, transfers are open
from Monday to Friday, 3AM to 3PM PST, and the transfer period closes on Thursday, after which point normal
character creation will be available.
So, how are the servers treating everyone a month after the expansion release? Alleria's actually gotten (knock on wood) significantly better, with only one hard server disconnect last weekend. It seems that all of our instabilities are on weekends, last weekend's was Saturday, the weekend previous was on Sunday. There have also been no queues for the last two weeks, even during prime times, lag has been "acceptable" for me anyway. 
Finally, I'm sure some of you
are saying. Initially announced on 
Because I do not play on any of the affected servers, the fact that Blizzard has opened up PvE to PvP realm
transfers was not immediately obvious to me. Hyjal, Lightbringer, Shadowsong, Zul'jin, Alleria , Hellscream, and
Whisperwind are all PvE servers, and have recently been 
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