November 19, 2009

WoW Icecrown raid access progression

Blizzard has just released a lengthy statement on the way the new Icecrown raid in patch 3.3 will be progressively accessed. Some of the key points:

Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live.

The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. "Several weeks" until the next encounters become available.


Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. The same goes for 25 mans. This means no heroic Icecrown until after the Lich King is defeated, which will apparently be, at the earliest, in a couple of months.


The four most difficult bosses have a limited number of attempts on them each week. Once those attempts are gone, you have to wait another week to try again.

There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).

In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available.

Over time, after all bosses are defeated, players will begin to get a buff, making defeating bosses easier.

This is a jam packed statement from Blizzard on the mechanics of the raid zone, and outlines exactly what your raiding guild will be doing in the weeks and months ahead. If you are going to ever set foot in the Icecrown Citadel raid, you need to know this information.

The full statement after the break.

The full statement from Daelo:

Icecrown Citadel testing has been progressing very well over the last few weeks, and this has been a huge help to the encounter design team. I want to thank everyone who has logged onto the PTR and tried the encounters there.

As we're now getting closer to the release of 3.3.0, I wanted to talk about our plans for access progression within Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. At this point I can't give precise dates for these release dates as they are determined by when patch 3.3.0 goes live. Once dates are known with more certainty, I'll update the community so they can plan appropriately.

The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. Progress beyond that point will be prevented for several weeks. Then the Plagueworks will open with Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide becoming available. After another period of time, the Crimson Hall will open and you can then fight the Blood Princes and Blood-Queen Lana'thel. The final Frostwing Halls unlock then occurs after that, making Valithria Dreamwalker, Sindragosa, and the Lich King available. We believe a staggered release of the content will allow players to experience Icecrown Citadel at a sustainable, measured, and ultimately more enjoyable pace.

There are other elements that gate access along the way. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. Similarly, players must defeat the Lich King in a 25 player raid before they can attempt a Heroic 25 player encounter. So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.

The Lich King may not be attempted until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, and Sindragosa are defeated. Furthermore, the Heroic difficulty of The Lich King encounter may not be attempted in any week unless the three aforementioned encounters have been defeated in Heroic difficulty that week.

The Ashen Verdict provides reinforcements and material for players to assault Icecrown Citadel, but this support is not endless. Raids will have a limited number of attempts total each week to defeat the four most difficult encounters in Icecrown Citadel: Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. As these boss encounters are unlocked, the number of attempts available per week will increase. The initial number of attempts provided for defeating Professor Putricide is only five. When Blood-Queen Lana'thel unlocks, the amount of total attempts remaining will increase to 10. Then when Sindragosa and the Lich King unlock, 15 total attempts will be available to defeat all four bosses. After a raid has exhausted their attempts for the week, the Ashen Verdict must withdraw their support and the four most difficult bosses all despawn and become unavailable for the week. The limited attempt system is a feature of both Normal and Heroic difficulty.

There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).

In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available. This represents the Ashen Verdict growing more powerful and gaining a stronger foothold in Icecrown Citadel. To further help raids, Varian Wrynn and Garrosh Hellscream will begin to provide assistance by inspiring the armies attacking Icecrown Citadel. This is represented as an additional zone wide spell effect applied to all players that will increase their hit points, damage dealt, and healing done. This effect will also increase in effectiveness over time. Players may opt out of the spell's effect if they so wish.

WoW Icecrown raid access progression

Blizzard has just released a lengthy statement on the way the new Icecrown raid in patch 3.3 will be progressively accessed. Some of the key points:

Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live.

The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. "Several weeks" until the next encounters become available.


Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. The same goes for 25 mans. This means no heroic Icecrown until after the Lich King is defeated, which will apparently be, at the earliest, in a couple of months.


The four most difficult bosses have a limited number of attempts on them each week. Once those attempts are gone, you have to wait another week to try again.

There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).

In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available.

Over time, after all bosses are defeated, players will begin to get a buff, making defeating bosses easier.

This is a jam packed statement from Blizzard on the mechanics of the raid zone, and outlines exactly what your raiding guild will be doing in the weeks and months ahead. If you are going to ever set foot in the Icecrown Citadel raid, you need to know this information.

The full statement after the break.

The full statement from Daelo:

Icecrown Citadel testing has been progressing very well over the last few weeks, and this has been a huge help to the encounter design team. I want to thank everyone who has logged onto the PTR and tried the encounters there.

As we're now getting closer to the release of 3.3.0, I wanted to talk about our plans for access progression within Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. At this point I can't give precise dates for these release dates as they are determined by when patch 3.3.0 goes live. Once dates are known with more certainty, I'll update the community so they can plan appropriately.

The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. Progress beyond that point will be prevented for several weeks. Then the Plagueworks will open with Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide becoming available. After another period of time, the Crimson Hall will open and you can then fight the Blood Princes and Blood-Queen Lana'thel. The final Frostwing Halls unlock then occurs after that, making Valithria Dreamwalker, Sindragosa, and the Lich King available. We believe a staggered release of the content will allow players to experience Icecrown Citadel at a sustainable, measured, and ultimately more enjoyable pace.

There are other elements that gate access along the way. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. Similarly, players must defeat the Lich King in a 25 player raid before they can attempt a Heroic 25 player encounter. So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.

The Lich King may not be attempted until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, and Sindragosa are defeated. Furthermore, the Heroic difficulty of The Lich King encounter may not be attempted in any week unless the three aforementioned encounters have been defeated in Heroic difficulty that week.

The Ashen Verdict provides reinforcements and material for players to assault Icecrown Citadel, but this support is not endless. Raids will have a limited number of attempts total each week to defeat the four most difficult encounters in Icecrown Citadel: Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. As these boss encounters are unlocked, the number of attempts available per week will increase. The initial number of attempts provided for defeating Professor Putricide is only five. When Blood-Queen Lana'thel unlocks, the amount of total attempts remaining will increase to 10. Then when Sindragosa and the Lich King unlock, 15 total attempts will be available to defeat all four bosses. After a raid has exhausted their attempts for the week, the Ashen Verdict must withdraw their support and the four most difficult bosses all despawn and become unavailable for the week. The limited attempt system is a feature of both Normal and Heroic difficulty.

There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).

In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available. This represents the Ashen Verdict growing more powerful and gaining a stronger foothold in Icecrown Citadel. To further help raids, Varian Wrynn and Garrosh Hellscream will begin to provide assistance by inspiring the armies attacking Icecrown Citadel. This is represented as an additional zone wide spell effect applied to all players that will increase their hit points, damage dealt, and healing done. This effect will also increase in effectiveness over time. Players may opt out of the spell's effect if they so wish.

Patch 3.3 PTR: The new tier 10 purchasing model

The latest patch 3.3 build on the PTR has yielded tier 10 purchasing information. When players were purchasing tier 9, they had to to use badges to pick up the item level 232 iterations. But to get the next rank up, they needed badges and a token. When purchasing tier 8, all you needed was a class specific token which dropped from different bosses.

That will not be the case here. Tier 10 purchasing has been streamlined further, and I think this is the best solution as it contains elements of both tier 8 and tier 9 models.

Now when you want to buy tier 10, you have to use Emblems of Frost to purchase the item level 251 variants. This is the lowest version of tier 10 you can get. In order to get the next level which is item level 264, you'll need to get a class specific token which presumably drops from Icecrown Citadel on 25. It could drop from Icecrown Citadel 10 after taking down Arthas or doing some heroic versions of bosses. We have no idea yet.


In other words, if I want to get item 264 versions my shoulders, I have to first spend 60 Emblems of Frost to get the Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads. Then I have to raid and patiently wait for a Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification to drop (Paladin, Priest, Warlock). Once I get the mark, I visit the tier vendor in Dalaran and turn both of them in exchange for the Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads.

In other news, tier prices also released. Gloves and shoulders can be bought for 60 Emblems of Frost, while the Helm, Legs, and Chest can be had for 95.

Know Your Lore: Highlord Darion Mograine

Put simply, the Knights of the Ebon Blade are traitors to the Scourge. Like the Forsaken, they've broken free of the grasp of the Lich King due to the intercession of an external source - Sylvanas and the Forsaken escaped the Lich King's grasp when he was weakened due to the crack in the Frozen Throne and had to recall Arthas to Northrend, while the Knights were more autonomous than the average Scourge and regained their freedom following the events at Light's Hope Chapel. At LHC, the Knights were freed due to the actions of their Highlord, Darion Mograine.

If you played through the events of the Death Knight starting area, you already have a basic idea of the origins of the order, especially if you ran around Acherus reading books like I did. Some are funny, some are meaningful, and from them we can glean certain information about the history of the order before the events leading up to its break from the Lich King. If you've read the Ashbringer comic series, you're of course informed of some of this anyway. But there's still devils in those details for us to discuss.



Basically, Alexandros Mograine found a crystal object at the battle of Blackrock Spire in the hands of an orc warlock. We know from Christie Golden's Rise of the Horde that it was most likely one of the fragments of the Ata'mal Crystal captured by the orcs when they slaughtered the draenei. (Possibly Leafshadow, the crystal used to hide the Horde's attack on Shattrath until it was too late for the draenei to defend themselves, although this isn't confirmed.) Whatever the crystal was, in the warlock's hands it was so suffused with evil fel energy that touching it destroyed Mograine's hand. Years later, casting holy magics in an attempt to destroy the crystal instead purified it, making it a beacon of the Light itself. So inspired, Mograine left for Ironforge, where Magni Bronzebeard himself forged a sword out of the crystal for Alexandros: both the sword and its wielder would become known as Ashbringer.

Sadly, it was this man's legend that would cause the ruin of both his sons and the indirect formation of the Knights of the Ebon Blade.


Alexandros Mograine had two sons, Renault and Darion. Both were fairly young when the Scourge first invaded Lordaeron... we see them as old enough to get into trouble going into their father's chest (where he kept the crystal from Blackrock Spire) but young enough to get scolded for it. However, both are close enough to adulthood to be taken into combat at Stratholme some years later on the fateful night when Balnazzar usurped the body of Grand Crusader Saiden Dathrohan. Renault grew up resentful of the attention Alexandros gave to Darion, who reminded him of his deceased wife Elena. (It's also possible Renault resented Darion because his mother died giving birth to the younger boy.) Renault was more like his father, quick tempered and as we all know, the more fathers and sons are akin to one another the more chances they have to butt heads.

Renault's seduction by Balnazzar from within the Grand Crusader's body led to Alexandros' death and resurrection as one of the Four Horsemen of Naxxramas, one of the Lich King's most powerful Death Knights. The potent Ashbringer was thereby corrupted. Note that while the Death Knights of Naxxramas are indeed servants of the Lich King, they are not members of the Knights of the Ebon Blade.

In the Ashbringer series, it's revealed that Darion Mograine doesn't leave things to this state of affairs, but rather joins the Argent Dawn and manages a daring raid on Naxxramas itself. (This raid also is key to Varimathras and Putress' later actions at the Wrathgate, as it provides them the basis for the plague they use against the Lich King, Alliance and Horde.) After escaping from the Four Horsemen with the Corrupted Ashbringer (at the cost of his entire party, which I have to say is kind of cold... basically, Darion ninja's the sword and drops group, not cool, didn't even wait for them to res) he did what anyone who was totally unaware that it was his brother who killed their father in the first place might do and went to his big brother for help.

Yes, that turned out about as well as you might expect. Renault attacked Darion, Alexandros' ghost comes out of the sword and kills Renault, Darion is pretty messed up in the head over the whole thing. A visit to Tirion Fordring out in his shack in the Plaguelands (where Tirion, still in his depressive exile phase, basically was no help at all) ended with Tirion telling Darion that only an act of love greater than the act of evil that bound Alexandros to the sword could free him.

The first battle of Light's Hope Chapel followed hard upon, which is difficult to summarize without sounding somewhat irreverent but I'm on a schedule here. Darion returns to Light's Hope, Maxwell Tyrosus gives him a guided tour of the crypts beneath the chapel containing the thousand protectors who died fighting Arthas at Lordaeron and who were moved to LHC to prevent his perverting them into undead minions. If there's one thing Arthas loves to do, it's perverting someone into an undead. He can't get enough of it. Even when it repeatedly comes back to bite him on the ass, if there's an even half-way decent dead person around Arthas'll raise that sucker in two shakes of an abomination's back arm. So the Scourge attack, the Argent Dawn defend, Darion whips out the Corrupted Ashbringer and bucks wild until he finally reached Kel'Thuzad who snarks at him that not even the Ashbringer can destroy him and Darion decides the ultimate act of love that would redeem his father's soul is to stab himself in the chest with the Ashbringer.

What amazes me is not that it works... I'm sure there's some form of logic there... but that Darion's sacrifice causes those thousand champions of the Light to bust out and destroy pretty much the entire Scourge army except for Kel'Thuzad (guys, please, while you're wiping out the Scourge? Kill the floating skeleton in the headdress and chains too, okay?) and our friend Darion, who is now an undead Death Knight in the place of his father. The reason this amazes me is that, once he's the head of the Lich King's brand new order of Death Knights, Darion leads them into battle at Light's Hope Chapel to be defeated by the very same power of the Light he himself unleased in the previous battle. Apparently undead makes a man forgetful.

From there, Darion heads up the push to create a new order of Death Knights for the Lich King. This leads to the events of the Death Knight starting zone, where your DK plays a pivotal role in wiping out the remnants of the Scarlet Crusade who hadn't managed to get on boats and sail to Northrend, and from there to the second assault on Light's Hope Chapel where the power of the Light (and possibly Alexandros Mograine's redeemed spirit) combined with Arthas' cartoonish super villainy (I mean, seriously, showing up and admitting that you fully intended all of your new Death Knights to die as long as it got you a shot at Tirion? It's one thing to do it, sure, we've all set up complicated long distance schemes to lure our archenemies out where we can attack them, but to just come right out and admit it? Lame, dude) helped break the Lich King's hold on Darion. From there, the Highlord gave up his hold on the Corrupted Ashbringer, allowed Tirion to redeem it, and turned all of the strength of will (some might say 'ridiculously fanatical single minded drive') that helped him beard Naxxramas and rescue his father's spirit to the task of destroying the Lich King.

Throughout Northrend, in fact, it's been members of the Knights of the Ebon Blade who have scored some of the more crucial victories against the Lich King. While the Argent Crusade tried to hold Zul'Drak, it was the Knights of the Ebon Blade who struck down Drakuru. It was the Knights of the Ebon Blade (led directly by Darion) who helped stem the tide of disaster and preserved the first breach into Icecrown itself. And when Tirion Fordring nearly gets himself killed by the Lich King, it's again Darion Mograine and his death knights who have to pull him out.

In patch 3.3 we'll see even more of this with the Ashen Verdict, as following the somewhat dubious events of the Crusader's Coliseum the Argent Crusade and Knights of the Ebon Blade have joined forces to take the fight to Arthas once and for all. Darion's up front inside the Citadel leading in a snazzy set of T10 DK armor. As to the future of our last surviving Mograine? Well, there's some lore spoilers in the new five man instances (and if you've read this far into this post you're probably not terribly concerned about being spoiled but I figured I'd warn you anyway) that indicate that post Arthas, someone else has to step up and take over the Scourge, or it will buck wild and eat everyone. (Why Arthas hasn't already ordered it to do exactly that is probably best explained by his neurotic need to convince himself he's right and that everyone would break just like he did - half of Arthas' appearances in Northrend are basically to taunt you, something he seems to have picked up from Mal'Ganis) Darion's probably not the lead contender for this job, but I'd put him solidly as a dark horse for it. He's also heavily involved in the Shadowmourne questline. So we're certain to see a lot of him in patch 3.3 at least.

Encrypted Text: Leveling a rogue, level 71-80

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about leveling a rogue from level 71 to level 80.

Your goal is firmly in sight: your rogue is ready to being his or her assault upon the Lich King's lands. With only a fleeting few levels between you and the level cap, these last few minutes are among the most important in your rogue's development. With nearly every trick available and our DPS rotations fleshed out, your rogue will be feeling more and more like the level 80 you are about to become.

All three talent trees are fairly viable for leveling, and so this is by far the most flexible period of the leveling process. As I mentioned in the last installment, experimenting with different specs, rotations, and playstyles will only become harder and harder to do once you reach level 80. During these important formative levels, max out your respect costs and give every build a fair shake. You'll be a better rogue for it in the end.

New abilities:
While there's only really two new moves between level 71 and level 80, one of our earliest spells gets a complete makeover. Feint, which we learn at level 16, finally becomes the spell we always knew it could be. If used, it reduces all AoE damage that a rogue will take for 6 seconds. This spell alone will save you a hundred times while raiding, as there is plenty of AoE damage being thrown around. You won't pick up Rank 8 (the version with the bonus) until level 78, but be sure to use it in any dungeons you explore while leveling up.

Prior to that, you'll be receiving one of, in my opinion, our "signature moves". Tricks of the Trade is our threat redirection / damage boost combo, which sees extensive use in both PvE and PvP. In a raid or dungeon environment, it becomes the tank's best friend, and can really make your dungeon experiences much smoother. In certain fights where DPS gain significant buffs (like Hodir), Tricks of the Trade is crucial to a tank being able to maintain aggro on a mob. It can even be a DPS buff to share with another rogue during "burst phases" of certain fights. Tossing this to your partner in PvP can often be enough to score a kill, as the damage bonus is significant.

One of the reasons I see TotT as so integral to the WotLK rogue is its integration into the new T10 set. The 2 piece set bonus makes TotT yield energy instead of costing it, resulting in a significant DPS boost for everyone involved. We want to cast it more often, it allows more threat to be redirected due to increased energy, and it results in a higher uptime on friendly DPS classes. Imagine it as a poor level 80's Renataki's Charm of Trickery: pop it when you're low on energy to give you just enough juice to extend that stunlock a few more seconds.

If you're leveling with a partner (either a tank or DPS), be sure to toss them TotT every time it's up. It takes the pressure off of you for incoming damage (and rogues are pretty frail in that regard) and boosts their damage, making the entire leveling process much quicker. You can check out my guide to macros to find a great TotT macro that will let you set it to an easy keybind and forget about targeting someone to cast it on.

The final move a rogue receives on their journey is also their just reward for reaching level 80. Fan of Knives has become a true game-changer for the way that rogues play. We're no longer relegated to throwing grenades or making campfires in the back of the raid during AoE phases. Fan of Knives has been one of the top AoE abilities in the game today due to its unique scaling and properties. If you want to learn more about this ability, I wrote a full article dedicated to all of its intricacies. Let it suffice to say that if it weren't for FoK, rogues would be nowhere near our current spot at the top 10% of the damage meters. Yogg+0 and Anub'Arak hard mode are two fights where FoK simply outshines every competitor, and resulted in both world first kills of the last two "end bosses" seeing rogues at the top of the meters.

Posterity:
While I strongly recommend you go crazy experimenting with specs while leveling, I would also caution you that due to the repetition of leveling and grinding, bad habits will eventually work their way into your subconscious. If you start letting Slice and Dice drop while you're farming the Scourge, it will work against you later, when it's actually pretty important. Start reading up on raiding rotations and playstyles, and try mimicking those as much as possible.

If you're playing as Mutilate, it's a great time to work on keeping Hunger for Blood up full time, while trying to maintain a good Slice and Dice uptime via Cut to the Chase + Envenom or Eviscerate. As Combat, keeping Slice and Dice up full time should be your goal, while also using your cooldowns wisely to take out 2+ mobs when Blade Flurry is available and destroying elites with Evasion and Killing Spree. Subtlety rogues should be looking out to also keep Slice and Dice up (I told you it was our most important ability!) and keeping the Hemorrhage debuff active while also using good energy management to maximize your finishers.

By doing the little things like keeping the right poison on both weapons, using the right gems (even if they're just green quality), and starting to work on your end game rotations, you'll be building the foundation for a long and prosperous life as a rogue. Take pride in your achievement of nearing level 80, and focus on refining your playstyle to the point that it becomes second nature. I talked about a few combat opener / sequences last time, and finding out how to go from an opener to a dead opponent in the most efficient way should be your objective.

Reputations:
While this will certainly change once Cataclysm is released, the message is still relevant today: focus on reputation quest hubs. There's several reputations you'll want access to once you hit level 80, and working on their quests while they still give experience is simply making them twice as awesome. The Sons of Hodir are key for their shoulder enchants (and decent starting weapons), while the Knights of the Ebon Blade will sell you a great helm enchant if you perform enough of their dirty deeds. Read up on which reputations yield what gear, and then go to their areas and quest your heart out. Anything that you can do while leveling to give you an easier time at level 80 is like pure gold.

Level 70 gear:
One last tip for the leveling rogue, you can often find level 70 gear that players had stashed in their banks available on the AH for mere fractions of their original price. Level 70 BoE gear, epic gems, and consumables will greatly increase your leveling speed, so check the AH for any relics from level 70 that are left over that you can score for yourself. I find that the old DPS flasks and BoE level 70 blues are typically only a few gold total, which should be affordable with all of the questing and grinding you've been doing.

Conclusion:
I know that many of you are already level 80, and you're interested in reading about the things that are affecting us now. However, there are still a ton of rogues that are leveling up, and we honestly need the fresh blood as the "great rogue to death knight reroll exodus" of WotLK left us pretty decimated. Look at the bright side, you won't have to read another leveling column until Cataclysm! To those rogues who are just entering the fold at level 80, we welcome you with open arms, and we look forward to stabbing those cursed cloth-wearers and praying for Armor Penetration trinkets at your side.

Patch 3.3 PTR: Shadowmourne revealed

The latest build on the PTR has uncovered the stats of the World of Warcraft's newest legendary weapon, the two-handed axe Shadowmourne. Apparently bandied around by random GMs on the PTR, players were able to see the highly impressive stats of this weapon, which requires an epic quest to complete. MMO-Champion also has it in its database, the entry of which can be viewed here.

Notable among its features, aside from the ridiculous +223 Strength and 344.1 DPS, are three red sockets and an interesting proc. The sockets can combine for a total of 68 Strength when socketed with Bold Cardinal Rubies and obtaining the +8 Strength bonus. If we understand it correctly, the proc also stacks Strength for a total of 360 before firing off a damaging effect, presumably resetting the Strength bonus to 0. Needless to say, even without the proc, this Item Level 284 weapon is the best two-handed melee weapon in the game and should serve players well into the next expansion.

Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
http://wow.com/guide-to-patch-3-3

Patch 3.3 PTR: Armored Frost Wyrm mounts are rewards from Icecrown

Ancilorn over at the European forums has confirmed that the armored Frost Wrym mounts mined from early builds of the Patch 3.3 PTR will be rewards for achievements in the Icecrown Citadel raid. Much like past raid dungeons have awarded mounts for completing meta-achievements, such as the Ironbound Proto-Drake for Ulduar, the Frost Wyrms will be "up for grabs," for dedicated raiders.

MMO-Champion previously unearthed this armored Frost Wyrm model along with spells named Frostbrood Vanquisher and Frostbrood Vanquisher Flight, which could give some insight into some Icecrown Citadel encounters. Despite the confirmation of new reward mounts (expected to grant 310% flying speed, as well), there is currently no word on the removal of the Ulduar reward mounts, which Blizzard has said to stay for "the foreseeable future".

Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.

November 15, 2009

Patch 3.3 PTR: Limited attempts to clear Icecrown

During my time in the upcoming patch 3.3 raid instance Icecrown the other day, I managed to notice something peculiar at the top of the screen. I didn't recall seeing this before anywhere else.

You know how in Trial of the Grand Crusader, you only get 50 attempts before the instance is shut down for your raid group? It seems like a similar mechanic is being implemented in here for Icecrown. When I was in it, I noticed we had 3000 of 3000 attempts remaining. I don't think this is the final number. Remember, this is on a test server so the chances are probable that it's just a placeholder figure.

Some ideas

150 - 200 attempts: In Trial of the Grand Crusader, we had 50 attempts to use against 5 bosses. Assuming it's going to be a similar ratio of attempts to bosses, I think we'll see a range between 150 - 200 attempts.

Heroic mode only: We saw this counter on normal mode. But could it just be for the heroic enabled bosses that count towards the meter? Either that, or it could be that any boss attempts on normal or heroic will count toward it.

Rewards and achievements: Lastly, I suspect we'll see some possible item rewards and achievements based on the amount of attempts we have remaining. Right now there aren't any but we could be seeing some added later on.