Hard mode kills are very hard to talk about. They're not so different from the normal versions of the encounters that they can spawn any new and exciting jokes. Healers are still having heart attacks, just bigger ones. The DPS are still standing in things, there are just more things to stand in. That isn't to say these kills aren't accomplishments -- they are! Every single one of our raiders have worked their tails off for these kills and we're proud of all of them, and they should be proud of the personal improvements they've made over the last few months.

Since our last news update, we've scored a number of kills:

• Al'Akir
• Heroic Magmaw
• Heroic Chimaeron
• Heroic Atramedes

Heroic Maloriak (which I will never call 'Mali' due to his distinct lack of blue pigmentation) has been put on notice, and we've already made strong progress. As soon as he's done being a huge smelly jerk and stops locking our melee in ice blocks en masse, we'll have that kill under our belt, too.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make a trip to the gas station for a bag of ice.

Atramedes, also known as "that blind dragon", fell at the hands of Reprise last week. As we valiantly fought our way through, I couldn't help but wonder what his fire breath actually is. It's called Sonic Breath. Is it fire or sound? Is it both? Is he lighting you on fire so he can hear you scream or is he using echolocation, like bats or dolphins? Man, have you ever played Ecco the Dolphin? Did you know you fight aliens in that game? What the hell. When I was a kid, I swam around murdering jellyfish for days. I didn't know you fight aliens. Dolphins are assholes. I thought murdering jellyfish was a pretty authentic dolphin experience!

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, boss kills. We killed Chimaeron as well. Seriously though, dolphins. What is their deal?