World Of Warcraft: Crash Course in Patch 1.11.

Perhaps the land was cursed. Ever since the Last Guardian had opened the Dark Portal and unleashed the vicious Horde, it seemed as if the plumes of smoke spiraling into the sky had never abated. The land had reeled under the machines of destruction through two wars with the Orcs and their allies. The traitorous Prince Arthas had led his Scourge on a rampage through Lordaeron, and the demonic Legion had followed. Even after the Legion's advances were halted at the great Battle of Hyjal through the combined efforts of the mortal races of the world, the peace had been uneasy.

Night Elf Sentinels and proud warriors of the Warsong clan stood within spitting distance along the Ashenvale border and the lumber mill at Warsong Gulch. The dwarven fascination with archaeology and the mysteries of the Titans had sparked a bloody skirmish with the Frostwolf Orcs in Alterac Valley. The undead Defilers had made an underhanded grab for land rightfully controlled by the League of Arathor-though King Magni under the Mountain and the Orcish Warchief refused to declare a state of war outright, tensions were brewing.

The proverbial powder keg could have outright ignited if the armies of the enigmatic fortress-city of Ahn'Qiraj had not entered the world. Horde and Alliance alike banded together under the banner of the druidic Cenarion Circle to fend off the insectoid menace from behind the Scarab Wall. For a brief moment, there was camaraderie between Orc and Human, Elf and Troll.

Though the stand against the armies of the Old God had occurred in the far south of Kalimdor, a similar situation was now rapidly taking shape in the northlands of Lordaeron. The undead armies of the Scourge marched once more. Floating crypts known as Necropolises materialized all over the two continents, sowing death and decay in their wake. These bastions of corruption spread across the world, from the icy peaks of Winterspring and the peaceful mesas of Thunder Bluff to the fiery wastelands of the Burning Steppes and the stonewrought gates of Ironforge.

Once more, the races of the world joined together. War banners of the Horde flew beside standards of the Alliance. Warriors wearing the tabards of the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn fought side by side, joining together in a Brotherhood of Light. The forces of the Brotherhood bolstered those of the Horde and Alliance, fighting off the necropolises wherever they happened to show up.

The greatest necropolis of them all, however, remained stationary. A leviathan floated silently and ominously above the burning city of Stratholme. It was the vessel of the great Lich, Kel'Thuzad, and its name would only be spoken in hushed, terrified whispers: Naxxramas. Though the forces of the lesser necropolises could be contained by the local guards, Naxxramas was the seat of power. What lurked within the structure's four massive wings, only a handful would dare to know. For, as the armies of the Lich had proven before, there are worse things than Death...

The Scourge marched once more. Azeroth was at war once again.

Patch 1.11 introduces a great many things to the World of Warcraft. First and foremost, of course, is the giant necropolis of Naxxramas, a 40-man raid instance located in the Eastern Plaguelands. Though Ahn'Qiraj, for the most part, contained equipment that was more of a sidegrade than an upgrade to most raiders, Naxxramas is the next level in terms of item progression.

While the equipment and gear found in the halls of the Lich is superior to anything seen thus far in the game, the effort required to obtain that equipment is also a step above what we've been exposed to so far. While there were ten bosses lurking deep inside the Molten Core, eight inside Blackwing Lair, and nine within the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj (counting the optional bosses of the Bug Family, Viscidus and Ouro), the four wings of the Necropolis contain a whopping fifteen boss encounters, culminating in a showdown with Kel'Thuzad himself. Not only is Naxxramas far and away the largest dungeon yet seen in the game, it is also rumored to be by far the most difficult.

While the new raid dungeon is the premier focus of the patch, there's plenty for everyone. Much like the Field Duty quests in Cenarion Hold, the members of the Brotherhood of Light have repeatable quests to obtain rare- and epic-quality gear. However, unlike the clumsy system in Silithus where quests (which required a party) were randomly assigned even to members of the exact same group resulting in a mishmash of different objectives, the quests from Light's Hope Chapel are much simpler.

Each NPC who gives the quest wants a certain number of items, such as Bone Fragments from skeletons or Crypt Fiend Parts from the spider lords. These items, which do not bind on pickup(and can ergo be sold and bought on the Auction Houses), can be found both inside and outside of instances. This way, you can not only farm them on your own, but obtain them while running other dungeons.

Turning in the items to the quest NPC will reward you with either an Insignia of the Crusade or an Insignia of the Dawn, depending on which faction the questgiver belonged to. With enough of these Insignias, you can purchase gear from a vendor at Light's Hope-and the number of Insignias required diminishes with your standing with the Argent Dawn.

At Friendly reputation, you need 60 insignias total (30 of the Dawn, 30 of the Crusade) for a rare-quality item, and 220 (110 Dawn, 110 Crusade) for an epic.
Honored: 40 Rare, 150 Epic
Revered: 14 Rare, 90 Epic
Exalted: 12 Rare, 54 Epic

The rewards are as follows (these are all Bind on Pickup):

(Rare)
Band of Piety
Unique
Finger
+10 Stamina
+10 Intellect
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 22.
Equip: Restores 4 mana per 5 sec.

Band of Resolution
Unique
Finger
+18 Stamina
Equip: Increased Defense +5

Supply Bag
Unique
18 Slot Bag

Verimonde's Last Resort
Unique
Dagger
Main Hand
39-77 Damage
Speed 1.40
41.4 damage per second
+7 Stamina
+8 Intellect
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 19.

Leggings of the Plague Hunter
Legs
Mail
339 Armor
+20 Agility
+16 Stamina
+10 Intellect
Equip: Improves your chance to get a critical strike by 1%.

Sanctified Leather Helm
Head
Leather
149 Armor
+14 Stamina
+19 Intellect
+12 Spirit
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 40.

(Epic)

Amulet of the Dawn
Neck
+13 Stamina
+13 Intellect
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 15.

Bracers of Hope
Wrist
Cloth
41 Armor
+10 Stamina
+11 Intellect
+12 Spirit
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 18.

Bracers of Subterfuge
Wrist
Leather
81 Armor
+10 Strength
+15 Agility
+12 Stamina

Medallion of the Dawn
Neck
+12 Stamina
Equip: +24 Attack Power
Equip: Improves your chance to get a critical strike by 1%.

The Purifier
Gun
71-132 Damage
Speed 3.00
33.8 damage per second
Equip: Improves your chance to get a critical strike by 1%.

Talisman of Ascendance
Trinket
Use: Your next 5 damage or healing spells cast within 20 seconds will grant a bonus of up to 40 damage and up to 75 healing, stacking up to 5 times. Expires after 6 damage or healing spells or 20 seconds, whichever occurs first.

The other major facet of the new patch is the Undead invasion of Azeroth. Necropolises have materialized all across both continents. There is a Scourge presence outside every major city, and the dark towers hover above the Eastern Plaguelands, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Tanaris, Winterspring, and Azshara. Like the AQ opening event, the level of the enemies is relevant to the level of the zone-while the undead outside Stormwind or the Undercity are barely level 10, those in Tanaris are in the mid-forties, and the Scourge in the Plaguelands are all around level 60.

The Scourge are grouped in thick clumps around a crystal, which has a health bar but is initially unable to be damaged. The only way to hurt it is to kill all the undead surrounding it. After over a hundred undead have been slain, the crystal will be damaged, and three or four Acolytes will teleport down to begin to repair it.

A new sort of item known as a Necrotic Rune drops off of the Scourge around the crystal. By using 8 of these runes, you can force the Acolytes to reveal their true form, and then engage them in battle. Once all of the Acolytes are dead, the crystal is finished. Repeating the process at the other points will severely damage the Necropolis, until it is driven off-for a while.

The Necrotic Runes are also used as a currency of sorts. After finishing an initial quest at Light's Hope Chapel to turn 10 of them in, an NPC called the Argent Outfitter will have a series of repeatable quests to turn the Runes in for items. She has the following for sale:

Major Mana Potion (15 Runes)
Major Healing Potion (15 Runes)
Consecrated Sharpening Stone: When applied to target weapon, increases attack power against undead by 100. Lasts for 1 hour. Requires level 50. (8 Runes)
Blessed Wizard Oil: When applied to target weapon, increases spell damage against undead by up to 60. Lasts for 1 hour. Requires level 50. (8 Runes)
Tabard of the Argent Dawn (10 Runes)
Argent Dawn Gloves (30 Runes)

The Gloves are part of the Undead Slaying set, a 3-piece set new to 1.11 consisting of gloves, bracers, and chestpiece. The gloves, as mentioned, come from turning in 30 runes to the Argent Outfitter. The chestpiece can drop off of any of the Acolytes beneath the Necropolises, after you force them into their true form and slay them. Both the gloves and chestpiece are Bind on Pickup. The crystals under the necropolises have a chance to spawn rare sort of enemies, which when slain drop the Bind on Equip wrist pieces of the set. Collecting the full set grants a bonus when fighting Undead.

However, the real treasure of the new patch lies in Naxxramas...

The Black Citadel that the Lich calls home is a massive complex of halls and tunnels. Naxxramas is divided into four wings: the Spider wing, the Abomination Wing, the Necromancer/Plague Wing, and the Death Knight wing. Each wing has three or four bosses to slay. At the end of each wing, after defeating its final boss, you must thaw a rune (much like the dousing of runes to summon Majordomo Executus in Molten Core). Once all the runes have been thawed, the way is open to progress up the tower and fight a truly horrific creature. Fans of the previous Warcraft titles may remember the proud dragon Sapphiron, who fell to the powers of Arthas in Northrend. Raised once more as a deadly Frost Wyrm, Sapphiron now guards the entrance to his master's lair. You must defeat the gigantic Frostwyrm to progress and come face-to-face with the treacherous and deadly Kel'Thuzad.

But prior to that, there are four other wings with some nasty monsters that could use a good pounding.

In the Spider wing, the first pulls of trash mobs can be deadly if the raid is inexperienced. Though the Infections Skitterers that wander in groups throughout the wing look small and harmless, they can easily slaughter a cloth or leather wearer in a matter of seconds, so keeping them off the "squishies" is essential. The large green Venom Stalkers hit with a frontal poison AoE spell, while their companions known as Dread Creepers place a curse on nearby adventurers that severely reduces healing.

Should you make it through the opening trash, the first boss in the zone is a beast by the name of Anub'rekhan. Anub'rekhan is a Crypt Lord from Warcraft 3, and has many of the same abilities. He will frequently use a direct damage Impale that does slightly over 1000 damage and launches people hit by it into the air for extra fall damage. When anyone dies, he spawns several Corpse Scarabs from their body that hit fairly hard on cloth and so must be dealt with immediately, lest they kill more, spawning even more scarabs. Keeping everyone alive is crucial.

Every 90 seconds, Anub'rekhan will use Locust Swarm, an AoE Damage-over-Time spell that starts ticking at 1000 and only increases from there every 2 seconds. Obviously, you can't heal through that... yet when he uses the Swarm, it seems he becomes significantly slower. Perhaps you can use that to your advantage...?

Anub'Rekhan drops the materials to make the Tier 3 set wrist piece.

Continuing on, one will encounter the Grand Widow Faerlina, a frightening woman with a mass of disciples. An enigmatic woman, she also drops the piece needed for the Tier 3 wrists.

Though no one has actually seen her, terrified whispers from the few adventurers lucky enough to make it out of Naxxramas alive spin rumors of a deadly spider queen who lurks within the dungeon. Her name is Maexxna, and she lies waiting in her web for some poor unlucky soul to chance upon her.

Incidentally, she also drops the materials to make the Tier 3 Gloves.

The Plague Wing, filled with choking vapors and fumes emanating from the foul designs of the Lich King, is equally as dangerous as the first. Stoneskin Gargoyles lurk within the shadows, invisible to all but those who wander too close-and by then, it may well be too late. Should they find themselves injured, they will attempt to return to their Stone Form, which will heal them to full nigh-instantaneously. Should you wish to progress, you must prevent that from happening.

Noth the Plaguebringer, the first boss in the wing, appears to be a mere human. However, his abilities are truly frightening indeed. The Curse of the Plaguebringer, if not removed immediately, will transform itself into a disease that will spread instantly to those nearest the afflicted, doing tremendous amounts of nature damage as it jumps from host to host. Even if you should manage to prevent the plague from spreading, Noth is not averse to dealing with interlopers more directly. From the piles of bones littering his room will come a mass of undead minions, with no thought in their head but what their master orders of them.

Heigan the Unclean, the second encounter, is even more deadly than his predecessor. His powers can cause those around him who are faint of heart to flee in terror, possibly succumbing to the deadly green fluid filling his chamber as they run. A powerful sorcerer in his own right, Heigan will often attempt to turn the mana of his foes against them, burning their mana pools in a deadly AoE. Should you defeat Noth and Heigan, both of them will drop the pieces needed to create the Tier 3 belts.

The final encounter in the wing is a shambling monstrosity known as Loatheb. He is the very incarnation of Kel'Thuzad's Plague of Undeath, and should prove to be a most deadly foe. Anyone powerful or lucky enough to best him in combat will receive the materials to make their Tier 3 leg pieces.

The Abomination Wing is a mass of noxious slimes and horrifying creations. Though all of the undead Scourge can be labeled as unnatural, the Abominations are by far the most so. Constructed from the remains of fallen enemies and sewn together in a horrible mockery of life, the brutal creatures are powerful and mindless warriors who live in a state of constant anguish and agony. This wing contains many mad scientists in the service of the Lich, constantly experimenting on their hideous creations in an effort to make the ultimate war machine.

Patchwerk, an enormous abomination, patrols these halls as a guardian. Any group of adventurers seeking to progress in this wing must deal with him first... but naturally, not last. Moving onwards, groups must face the beast Grobbulus. Though you can see Grobbulus spewing out slimes in one of the first chambers, you'll have to wait until after fighting Patchwerk to battle the monstrosity. Both Patchwerk and Grobbulus drop the materials to construct the Tier 3 set boots.

The third monster of note in the wing is Gluth, a half-machine, half-biological hound, caged in a small chamber for all of its tortured existence. Engage the mutt and slay it, in a true act of mercy. Gluth will drop materials either for the shoulder pieces or for the belts. Continue on to meet the master of the Abomination wing...

Thaddius stands high above the room, initially inaccessible by anyone. The raid must deal with his two Wight bodyguards before fighting the master himself. When you do eventually engage Thaddius, he will polarize the raid, giving one half negative charge and one half positive charge. When the two meet... well, that's a bad thing. End his miserable existence to get the materials for the set head.

The final wing is the Death Knight wing. The enemies here were formerly proud knights of Azeroth and Lordaeron who fell in battle and were risen by the evil Lich King and his avatars. Haunted and driven mad in death, they are relentless and unforgiving. Not only will they raise the dead to attack any interlopers, there are rumors of mysterious shades that open portals and spew a neverending flood of deadly ghosts. Be wary.

Though he still lives, Instructor Razuvious is no more than a thrall to the machinations of the Lich. An extremely powerful fighter, he can instantly cut down any man or woman, no matter how strong they consider themselves to be. He has drilled the same toughness into his pupils, though they are not as physically deadly as he is. However, while Razuvious has instilled great physical prowess into his students, they are weak minded and may be subsceptible to mental influence... for the only people who can possibly stand up to his blade are those he has trained himself.

Continuing through the halls, one might encounter weapons with no one to wield them, floating mysteriously through the air as though they possess a life of their own. These haunted weapons guard the way to Gothik the Harvester, a powerful necromancer overlooking a pit of bodies. Both Razuvious and Gothik drop the materials for the Tier 3 Shoulders.

Anyone who manages to slay both of those henchmen of Kel'Thuzad will encounter his chief lieutentants-the Four Horsemen. Four knights of great renown who have been twisted and warped into their pallid Death Knight forms, you must fight the quartet all at once. Thane Kor'thazz is a brutish former dwarf, seated to the side of Lady Blameux, a bloodthirsty female duelist with a lightning-fast blade. The former Paladin Sir Zeliek serves the Lich King unwillingly, hoping against hope that his enemies will survive his deadly strikes and finish him once and for all. The leader of the Horsemen is the legendary Highlord Mograine, known as the Ashbringer. Once a Paladin of glory and fame, he met his end by the betrayal of one he held dear, and was made into a servant of the Lich King. The sword that bore his name is now corrupted by the traitorous deed, a shade of its former self. Perhaps it could be possible to restore it to its former glory, but to do so might be beyond the mortal scope of Azeroth. The Horsemen will drop the pieces for the chestpiece of the Tier 3 sets.

Finishing all four wings will unlock the road to Frostwyrm Lair, where you will meet the undead dragon Sapphiron. Beyond Sapphiron is the twisting path to the citadel's peak, where the Lich waits, commanding his forces all across the face of the globe. Kel'Thuzad is the most sinister and deadly force to grace Azeroth ever since Archimonde led his Burning Legion in the demonic invasion. Can you face him? Do you dare?

The path is open to Naxxramas Necropolis, but enter at your own risk-for there are always things worse than Death.