Icecrown Citadel had once been the final frontier of World of Warcraft raiding, too dangerous for uncoordinated noob guilds to conquer. But last March, Blizzard softened the  challenge of ICC with new faction buffs, which has been scaling upward over the past months.

The Strength of Wrynn and Hellscream’s Warsong buffs which stood at 15% increased total health, healing done and damage dealt has been raised to 20%. The number of attempts allotted for all final ICC wing bosses on Heroic difficulty has also been increased to 50.

This has been the third 5% increase for the ICC buffs since it launched at a small 5%. At the monthly rate the increments have been released, the max 30% buff could go live by end-July.

With such a hefty boost in overall performance for all roles, it’s no surprise the buffs have become a fixture in ICC raiding.Turning them off will only gimp a group relative to their peers since there is no incentive for fighting bosses buff-free–no increased loot, gold or even acknowledgment in-game. But failure will punish them with lost progression ranking and time spent wiping.

While the initial complaint against the ICC buffs has simmered somewhat, hardcore factions still insist the buffs have “dumbed down” the encounters to tank-and-spank levels. Blizzard though seems contented with the increased participation among more casual raiders with the buffs’ help.

A trend seen nowadays is to clear content first with the buffs on, then switch them off to pump up the difficulty next time around. Some even expect the Lich King to be fully PUGgable when the max 30% hits, like it’s a magical pill that can substitute for non-fail coordination. We’ll see–but I doubt it.

Top raiding guild Paragon is showing the rest of the World of Warcraft how to defeat the mighty Lich King in heroic 25-man mode by releasing a three-part, three-POV video and full combat logs. (For now, the only ones exempt from browsing through both are the guild of EU Nazjatar who garnered the second world kill after Paragon).

Raiding guilds preparing for what is arguably the most difficult fight in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion should pick up a pointer—or twenty—while watching the coordinated kill. Paragon chose a mash-up of reels from three members: a combat rogue, a restoration shaman and a holy priest.

Though the outcome is inevitable, it’s hard not to get caught up with the excitement caught on Finnish vent. All three videos are even available via torrent download at the official Paragon website for scheduled viewing or upload.

The guild has also released the combat logs of their successful kill at WoWMeterOnline. Those insecure about their raiding e-p33ns should proceed with caution: the DPS charts for the fight are nothing short of amazing.

The “low end” for DPS breaks at 7,400 and tops at 10,000 with an equivalent 9 million total damage done. Click on the individual bars per class (no mage though) to study their rotation tactics, and maybe you could be that much closer to gaining The Light of Dawn achievement and title yourself.

Seems like a certain World of Warcraft guild is living up to its lofty name. Paragon, an all-Finnish guild in Lightning’s Blade (EU), has clinched the impressive world first by downing the Lich King in 25-man heroic mode after “more than 170 tries” just a few days ago.

The encounter was heroic all right, compared to other bosses in Icecrown Citadel, some of which only took a single attempt to finish. The hard work paid off handsomely though with awesome loots as seen in this kill shot from Paragon’s Azizrael.

Funny this was how the most frequently asked question wasn’t about the fight strats. It was “Who got Invincible?”

Deathly majestic, that’s what I would call Arthas’ beloved horse now carrying his new master, the warlock Tsukky.

With this 25-man heroic achievement accomplished, Paragon will probably take a well-deserved break until the next raid dungeon opens up. Blizzard has said this will be the Assault on the Ruby Sanctum with a tentative release for Patch 3.3.5 or just before Cataclysm.

Maybe then, rival guild Ensidia will have recovered from their controversial exploit ban and challenge the now-dominating EU guild for future world firsts. (And the match up is heating up as we speak.)