Taking the Crucible by Storm

The idea of a mini-raid is cool, it helps bridge the gap between major content patches. It helps blend the line between faction war and the Old God/Naga stuff that’s coming in patch 8.2 and definitely served as an interesting transition. I enjoyed it, but I want more! I think mini-raids are a good idea and really help to carry a theme or story without giving us too much information before a big patch hits. That being said…

I have questions! Where is Xal’atath now and what is her plan? Who does she actually serve, or is it just herself? And why are we, the player, suddenly so important to N’zoth? Or maybe he’s just manipulating us, I hear Old Gods are great at that. And furthermore, why did N’zoth need Xal’atath to free him and not his powerful servant, Azshara? We assume that the Naga are attacking and preparing dangerous rituals to aid N’zoth, but maybe it’s something totally different. Maybe Azshara was never going to free N’zoth. She made a deal with the Old God ten thousand years ago, who at that point was still trapped in his prison. Azshara is known for her cunning, so maybe she saw an opportunity to control N’zoth’s power while he’s still in chains. It would make a lot more sense because I have a hard time believing Azshara would fail at such a task, given she was actually loyal to the Old Gods. Queen Azshara does not serve, she rules. Watching this story play out in 8.2 and perhaps 8.3 will be very interesting.

The raid itself looked pretty neat. It has that creepy feeling that all Old God things do, with eyeballs on the wall and misleading whispers. Or are they? It took me a little while to figure out that, after the first boss when we fall through the Crucible, we are falling into part of N’zoth’s body. I’m not exactly sure what the anatomy of Old Gods are, other than that they’re ginormous. So that’s pretty cool. The bosses were cool for sure, although they aren’t very memorable compared to Battle of Dazar’alor. This raid was exciting to me from a lore standpoint and that it helps to get me into the mindset of Old God/Naga stuff instead of faction warring. I’ve also been doing a pretty good job staying away from spoilers, and especially spoilers about the new raid coming, so I’m excited to see what Azshara’s Eternal Palace will offer.