Some 1.9 Info

[D-Bone]

Saw this on worldofwar.net today:

THE GATES OF AHN'QIRAJ INFORMATION (PATCH 1.9)

14 November 2005 - A great evil is lying in wait in Silithus, ever patient, ever enduring. Mortal hands are at work awakening an ancient menace that, once set lose, will shake the very foundations of this world. Evil is stirring where mortals were never meant to tread. The world is waiting for a champion to step forward and stop the coming darkness before it is too late.

One of the main features of this content patch will be the unveiling of Ahn'Qiraj, an instance in Silithus that will feature a 40 man raid group and a "more casual" 20 man raid group. Please find further information below:

The Ahn'Qiraj area is opened up by opening the gates of Silithus (http://www.worldofwar.net/cartography/worldmap/silithus.php) located at the Scarab Wall in south Silithus ? a structure of truly cyclopean proportions. This will actually be a one-time world event that can be triggered only once per server and it requires the help of everyone on a server to open the gates (both Horde and Alliance). Once the gates have been opened on a server, that server can no longer participate in the gate-opening event.
Once opened, adventurers can enter two new raid instances, one is a 40 man raid group and the other is a 20 man raid group, the 20 man raid group (The Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj) will allow "casual" players to experience new raid content. The 40 man raid group (Temple of Ahn'Qiraj) is said to be slightly harder than Molten Core. Players will also be able to obtain special Silithid mounts that can only be used in the 40 man raid instance.
Most notable about Ahn'Qiraj is the fact that Qiraji have enslaved the Silithid bugs that players have become familiar with encountering around the continent of Kalimdor. The Qiraji are in fact being directed by some unknown power. It is unclear what this power is, but it is clear that the Qiraji are evil and their intentions remain a mystery, though the Qiraji and their enslaved Silithid minions are obviously hostile to all other residents of Azeroth and what they are up to is essentially "not good."
Mobs that look like the Egyptian god "Anubis" is called "Anubisath X (http://www.worldofwar.net/playershots/index.php?type=&id=497)", where X is their job or specification.
The Twin Emperors of Ahn'Qiraj are named Vek'nilash and Vek'lor -- they're the two end bosses in the 40 man.
The Prophet who is found in the very beginning of the instance is called Skeram. (see first encounter (http://www.worldofwar.net/playershots/index.php?type=&id=494) and prophet (http://www.worldofwar.net/playershots/index.php?type=&id=505) screenshot).
The final boss (http://www.worldofwar.net/playershots/index.php?type=&id=499) of the 20 man raid is the blue horrendous looking creature.

[D-Bone]

I also just noticed, there is some more info posted on the "Under Development" page on the official site:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/

[D-Bone]

Even more info!!!!

Meet the Qiraji

We have bad news for you: There are bugs in the upcoming 1.9 patch. Giant bugs. Giant killer bugs that have been trapped and lying dormant behind a wall for thousands of years and will now be set free. Scheduled for release sometime in November, the 1.9 patch will introduce the insectlike qiraji to World of WarCraft in two big instanced zones, one in the form of a smaller, more casual outdoor 20-man raid, the other a 40-man endgame dungeon raid.

Players who have ventured down to the southwestern part of Silithus in Kalimdor may have already seen the gigantic Scarab Wall, which was closed thousands of years ago by the Titans to seal off the qiraji and their city kingdom, Ahn?Qiraj. The Titans feared the qiraji (who are linked to the nerubian spider civilization up north) because of their worship of dark powers and old gods?never a good thing.

Just how fast the gates of the Scarab Wall open so that you can begin kicking qiraji butt, however, is going to depend on you and the other folks on your server.

?This is something we?ve never done before,? says lead designer Jeffrey Kaplan. ?To open the gates, there will be server-wide quests. Everyone on the server will need to band together to get these quests done and open the gates.?

Blizzard doesn?t want this to just be a ?max-level? event for players. According to the current plan, NPC emissaries will begin showing up in Horde and Alliance cities, requiring vast amounts of resources to start a war against the awakening qiraji. So players of all levels can contribute iron, for example, to help the war effort. ?There will be an epic component that will require a raid,? says Kaplan, ?but to get to that point, you?ll need buy-in from the entire server.? Once the gates are opened, they?re open for good, and the reward will be the two instanced zones.

Of course, not all servers will open the gates at the same time?and Blizzard likes it this way. ?It should be a neat competition between servers,? says Kaplan. Just how long it will take for the first server to open the gates is unclear. ?We?re not sure,? admits Kaplan. ?For the best server to go insane, spending 24 hours a day on it, they might get it open in two to three weeks.? And don?t worry, by the way, if your server sucks. ?If you?re on a slacker server,? said Kaplan, ?it won?t take you four years to open the gates?we promise. We?re making sure there are mechanisms to help the slower servers along.?