Changing gears entirely this week, there’s an entire raid we have yet to even examine. Towering high above the Twilight Highlands, raiders will find yet another promising challenge: the Bastion of Twilight, base of operations for the ever-present Twilight’s Hammer cultists. So gather the groups and let’s get this party started… With some trash pulls! Mercifully, the trash in this raid isn’t... 

Ah, Blackwing Descent, old friend. How many tricks do you have left to offer? Is there an end to the number of bosses that await various-sized raid groups? Will the dreaded elevator platform ever become the most dangerous foe in the raid? That last question isn’t entirely rhetorical – that lift can be deadly! Unfortunately, for this week, it’s taking us once again where we need to go, so step... 

We’re back inside Blackwing Descent this week, looking to down another boss and amass a greater collection of shiny equipment (or Maelstrom Crystals, if your luck’s not so great). With Maloriak no longer a threat, the next logical step is, of course, to wander through the Vault of the Shadowflame and see if we can’t mess up some of his experiments. Or, well, mess them up more than he has already... 

Just for fun, we’re trying something different yet again, something perhaps a bit more straightforward than the complexity of last week’s dive into the Throne of the Four Winds. Instead of a platform-swapping high-flying jaunt through the clouds, we’re taking the raid underground, into the extravagant prison of Baradin Hold, located underneath the island of Tol Barad. Veterans of Wintergrasp... 

I know last week ended with the promise of more delightful places to find a fiery demise, but instead we’re going to mix it up. Besides, there’s more than one raid open right now, so why limit ourselves to just one? Changing raids also provides a nice change of pace for the raiding crew. New scenery, new challenges, and possibly new loot can all help motivate a group that’s hitting a barrier... 

Last week we covered our first steps into Blackwing Descent, up to and including an intense battle with the first of the raid’s two bosses, Magmaw. With the giant worm firmly squashed under our metaphorical boot, it’s time to move deeper into the dungeon. Or, rather, across the hall; forging deeper will have to wait until both of these two initial bosses lay defeated. But that’s why we’re here,... 

By now, thousands of guilds have set foot into their first Cataclysm raid. Tens of thousands of individuals players have taken part in climactic battles against towering monstrosities. And I’m willing to bet every single one of those players has spent a significant amount of time face-down in the dirt. Welcome to raiding, where the trash is tough, the bosses tougher, and everything in sight wants... 

I’m excited this week for two reasons. First, my guild is heading into raids this week, which means the focus of this “Raids of Warcraft” column can start to actually be about raiding, not just instances. I know that means that we won’t have a full set of instance walkthroughs, and there’s a part of me that’s bothered by that (the obsessive compulsive completist part) but I’m sure I’ll... 

Another week has passed and many of us still haven’t found our way into raids. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about – frankly, I’m astonished at the number of people I encounter who still haven’t run heroics. I play on three different servers, and on each server the guild I’m in is at a different level of progression. They are all three nearly the same when it comes to guild levels,...