Greetings bloodthirsty tormentors of the Alliance!  Are you ready for the next era in the continuing saga of the Thundering Hammer?  We’re six weeks out from Warlords of Draenor and here are just a few of the things you need to know to stay up to date with your guild!

Too lazy to read this whole post?  How ’bout a TLDR version?

• Read this article on WoWInsider with links to all the major changes coming in WoD
• Watch this video on Ashran
• Plan your Garrison with this guide and this calculator – it will actually impact your PvP!
• Read up on the Class Changes at this overview on WoWHead and get in game to figure out who you will be playing in the new XPac.
• We’re running BGs nightly and Rateds weekly to help you figure out how to play that dusty alt again.
• Watch the Lords of War Videos from Blizzard to get a feel for Lore in the new XPac.   We’re thinking of Joining the Iron Horde.  Got a thought on that?  Hit us on FB or Twitter.
• There’s a host of new events up on the guild calendar.  Read below or check them out in game.

 

Lets Get Ready to Rumble – Prepping for WoD

Warlords of Draenor is right around the corner and that means its time to prep for the influx of returning players, the massive number of gameplay changes, and the new opportunities for slaughter presented by all this new content.  How can you prepare and what are some things you should do?

First thing’s first: knowledge is power.  You need to familiarize yourself with the big picture changes coming at you full speed.  It’s not just all the new zones, but a host of new gameplay is on the way.  In a very real sense we will all be learning how to play the game all over again with the massive number of changes being introduced by things like the ability trimming, number squish and inevitable class re-balancing that always accompanies an expansion.  If you haven’t been keeping tabs on the changes already, you to get on the ball!  Rather than re-invent the wheel trying to link a hundred different articles on changes, I’ll just point you to this excellent overview on WoWInsider.

You should also know by now that Blizzard has given us a custom wrapped 10th Anniversary present for the guild’s birthday this Christmas in the form of the Ashran World PvP zone.  As you can imagine, a good portion of our guild have already decided that they are just camping out there.  Let’s start out on Day 1 with an advantage: make sure to go watch this overview of how Ashran works and some of what you can expect to see there.

Last but not least you should be aware that your Garrison choices will seriously impact your PvP outside of Battlegrounds this expansion – that includes inside Ashran!  Mount speed increases, bodyguards, special abilities, goblin workshop toys and even siege vehicles which come from Garrison buildings are all currently enabled for all World PvP encounters and the Ashran zone.  It remains to be seen how big of an impact each of these things will have, but we do know from experience that even small things like mount speed can have a dramatic impact on objective based maps like Ashran.    Check out the Garrisons guide and calculator on WoWHead for details and start planning your build order and final layout now!

 

Alts are the New Mains – Should I Switch or Not?

It happens every expansion pack.  Your main gets nerfed, some unexpected alt becomes suddenly overpowered.  Five other people switched and now the rated team needs a new healer.  Gone are the days of players staying on one class and toon for years.  Fortune favors the prepared, so its time to start thinking seriously about whether or not you want to switch.  It’s better to get that muscle memory down now and get used to being in combat with that new character before 6.0 drops and the final mad dash to 100 gears up than to wait until November 13th to figure out that you don’t know how to rogue anymore.

To help you wrap your head around the upcoming upheaval, you can check out this curated list of changes for each class at WoWHead.  The original article was posted back in May but each individual page has been continually updated as new info emerges.  For example, the Mage page was just updated today (October 2nd).

Then once you’ve got a general idea of where your preferred classes are heading, get in game and spend some time with the guildies so you you’ll know what’s needed and how to proceed.  Regular Battlegrounds are still going nightly, as is World PvP, and Rateds are running once or twice a week currently.  Contact Kriegsteir in game for more info and a calendar event invite if you’d like to get into some rateds and get an alt ready for the Warlords progression.

 

Remembering the Old Ways – Where we stand on story

Have you been watching the Lords of War series of animated videos?  If you care about Lore (and we do!) and want to get a sense of the tone that is coming your way in Warlords you should definitely see them all.

Once you are done watching these, hit our Facebook or Twitter and tell us if you don’t feel the same way we do: We’re ready to join the Iron Horde!

Here at Thundering Hammer we’ve always had a deep respect for the culture and history of the Horde and these videos do an excellent job of capturing the life and ways of the old Clans.  These are the ways we honor in our membership rites and our roleplay events.  This is who we are.  Right now there’s a general consensus emerging in Guild chat in in Vent as we talk about it and we’re seriously thinking of taking the guild in the direction of aligning themselves with the Iron  Horde in the new expansion pack.

Got thoughts about that?  Want to help us plan some awesome lore-centric events?  Then get in game, or get with us on social and lets talk about it!

 

For the Good of the Clan – Upcoming Guild Events

So what can I do in game right now?  Glad you asked.  We have several things on the Calendar already for this month, and new things get added all the time.

Tonight our newest recruit joins the fold as Karrik (aka Bear to some of you) walks the stones of the Stadium under the eyes of our Ancestors in his Rite of the Thunderlord.  We’ll be streaming it all live on Twitch so you can tune in even if you can’t be there in person!

Next week on the 7th Kriegsteir joins our leadership team, taking his place among the Flame Wardens of the Clan in his Rite of the Dragonmaw.  Kreig has been one of our champions over the summer months and into the fall, organizing rated BG groups and investing time and effort in his guildies.  We recognize his leadership and are thrilled to have him on the team.

As many of you know, the Call to Arms is going away in the 6.0 patch.  That means that next weekend’s Alterac Valley Call to Arms will be the last one ever.  That doesn’t mean the BG is going away, but it does mean you won’t see it as often since its inherent terrain imbalances give the Alliance a decided advantage and result in many Horde blacklisting the BG in their random queues.  So essentially after 6.0 drops, if you don’t queue up for AV, you probably won’t see it since we all have it blacklisted!

As such, we’re sending the AV CtA off in classic style with AV pre-form nights next weekend, starting Friday night the 10th!  Get in game and sign up the guild event calendar and let your essence congeal with Lok’holar!

Last but not least, we have a Pub Night scheduled for the 17th at the normal spot.  A chance to just relax, unwind and spend some time in character not doing anything important other than just RP and socialization with your guild mates.  Its a great way to engage in the life of the guild in a low pressure, non-competitive way and we invite you all to join us.

 

Well that’s whats up in the life of Thundering Hammer this month.  More events will be on the way for the Calendar in the next few weeks.  With new recruits constantly going through the vetting process we wind up with a couple Thunderlords each month, and who knows what mad scheme Malkavet will cook up next!   Let’s get locked and loaded and ready to celebrate 10 Years of Thundering Hammer guild life this winter!