Veteran readers of the blog will remember when the world first of this baby dropped, but now that everyone's 70, maybe you too can get a raid rolling in Naxxaramas, and obtain for yourself the legendary (literally) weapon of Medivh.

Name: Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian
Type: Legendary Staff
Damage/Speed: 130-243 / 2.90 (64.4 DPS)
Abilties:

• There are actually four different versions of the staff-- Warlock, Mage, Priest, and Druid. You can see all of them over at WoW Wiki-- they all increase spell damage and/or healing of the equipper (the Druid one increases AP in feral forms as well), but they also have a party bonus, too. The Druid gives 11mp5, the Mage increases spell crit strike of the entire party, the Warlock grants 33 spell damage to the party, and the Priest gives 62 healing to everyone in the party.
• Additionally, all of the versions will do something very special: create a portal to Karazhan. Nowdays, players go to Karazhan all the time, so it's not that big a deal, but back when this staff came out, no one had ever been there, and so cracking open a portal was pretty cool
• And the staff grants various amounts of Stamina, Intellect or Spirit, depending on the version you have.
• Unfortunately, the stats are no longer that great-- they're incredible for level 60, but at level 70, it's pretty easy to come by equivalent (or even better) stats, and therefore, not really worth the trouble to obtain the staff. But then again, there is an immense amount of value in the lore of this item, considering that it was owned by Medivh himself.
• Why, might you ask, does something so awesome look so plain? Don't judge a book by its cover, son-- that model, though plain, matches the models used in Warcraft 2 and 3. This is a legendary item, and real power is inside. Also, spectral birds sometimes appear flying around the staff. So that's kind of cool.
• Also, the Shade of Aran (who is of course Medivh's father) will be kind of surprised if you show up to fight him with this thing on

How to Get It: In many ways, this is the final goal of shipping WoW. To get the item, you have to first collect 40 Splinters of Atiesh, which drop from different bosses in Naxxaramas, which means you need to run the place a few times. Then, once you've got those together, you can combine them to make the Frame of Atiesh. Once you've got that, you head off to Anachronos, the great big dragon near the Caverns of Time in Tanaris.

He'll send you in search of the Staff Head of Atiesh, which Kel'Thuzad has gotten his grubby little hands on. He's trying to put the staff back together, and the Argent Dawn is fighting against him, so if you can nab the Head away from him, more power to you. And the Base of Atiesh is the other item you'll need, and it drops from C'thun, the end boss of AQ40. See what I mean about this being the final goal?

After you've done all that, Anachronos will reassemble the staff for you, but wait! It's corrupted! (Figures.) You then take it into Stratholme, and run an event in which you can vanquish the evil spirit from the staff. Along the way, you can pick up another legendary item, a 1h sword that's freakin' awesome, but disappears after only a few minutes. After you defeat the spirit, you're then allowed to claim the staff, giving you the world's phattest loot-- of 2006.

Getting Rid of It: The Greatstaff of the Guardian! The staff of Medivh himself, shattered when Archimonde destoryed Dalaran! Reassembled from shards dropped by ancient demons and cleansed by the most powerful of Azeroth's heroes! And a vendor will give you 18g 45s 58c for it. Go figure.