Breakfast Topic: Gearing up for the patch
by Amanda Dean 
Feb 11th 2008 at 8:00AM
With all the buzz about patch 2.4 notes and the public test realm it's time to start gearing up for the Sunwell Plateau. Those brave enough to enter the newest high end raid will be getting a shot at some pretty awesome loot. Many players are chomping at the bit to see the new end-game content and add to their repertoire of daily quests.
The patch will feature a brand-spanking-new 25-person instance that finishes off the Burning Crusade raid progression. The new instance will prove more challenging than the Black Temple. Players should be adorned in Tier 6 gear, and can expect better drops including the legendary Thor'idal, the Stars' Fury. Even after the patch goes live, it will take some time for guilds to unlock the final bosses. The first three bosses will be available to all adventurers, but players will have to perform daily quests for Shattered Sun reputation before the last three bosses become available.
Are you ready for the new challenge? If you're interested in seeing the end game content, but not in a raiding guild, be sure to check WoW Insider's GuildWatch. Our Mike Schramm regularly serves up information on guild progression and recruiting. If you're currently in a raiding guild how is your guild preparing for the new raid content?
Filed under: Patches, Guilds, Breakfast Topics, Quests, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Lancetfluke Feb 11th 2008 8:21AM
I'd be interested to know what percentage of the WoW population is anywhere near TK, let alone Sunwell. I have the impression that most guilds stall after Kara because of the big jump in membership needed for the next raid (you have to grow your guild by 150%).
Anyone know of a nifty website that can give server progression stats?
Orno Feb 11th 2008 8:24AM
Wowjutsu.com I guess, but if those statistics are true, they are depressing of how this game has evolved.. =/ I use to be a Naxx raider and to be called a waste of space, a scrub all over the PTR because all I wanted to test was the dailys and the new 5-man...It hurt =/
Lancetfluke Feb 11th 2008 8:43AM
Cheers Orno.
Going by the wowjutsu stats, ~9% of guilds are on BT/MH. Seems a shame that Blizzard is putting so much effort into building content that (a) serves so few players, and (b) will presumably be as popular in WotLK as AQ40 is now.
Patyn Feb 11th 2008 11:11AM
You know, I really don't have a problem with them continuing to make more 25-mans for those people who want to run them. My guild is still on Kara and we're still busy working on it and I know there's still ZA on the horizon. We're also joining up with another guild to work on some of the larger raids on occasion. And then there's daily battlegrounds and heroics, so it's not like I'm running out of things to do. I'd be willing to venture a guess that there aren't a whole lot of people who are stuck in some kind of limbo and have absolutely nothing to occupy their time with.
Orno Feb 11th 2008 8:22AM
Saving up heroic badges for the badge gear that has yet to be found, saving money and going through all those patchnotes on mmo-champ for anything we can prepare for.
We want to be able to do SP trash at least because of the trash drops look amazing. Of course finally enter BT and MH looked awesome last night on the PTR when i went in all alone to look around :P
Zarzuur Feb 11th 2008 12:18PM
How did you enter a raid instance alone?! ( I wanna see too :D )
George Feb 11th 2008 8:40AM
My guild is looking to hop on the PTR to get ready for the new 5 man by learning it. Other than that, not really.
wearedoomed Feb 11th 2008 9:17AM
Yawn. Another 25 man instance. And this one requiring Tier-6 gear. I'm sure all 50 players on my realm who will ever see it will be thrilled.
Move along, nothing to see here.
Zemalf Feb 12th 2008 4:09AM
Boo for the 25-man instance for all those 8-9% of the guilds that are in MH/BT. Yei for the new 5-man instance!
Small and/or casual guilds never see 25-man content, let alone new and shiny Sunwell, but I guess they gotta keep one of the most demanding usergroup of hardcore raiders happy (and probably, long time customers).
springz Feb 11th 2008 9:32AM
@6
LOL so true. I think if they would put more effort into a followup instance to Karazhan it would have much bigger impact on the WoW population. Only a small fraction are actually succesfully raiding all the way through MH/BT. I know that I probably will never see the inside of BT (even with the removal of attunement in the next patch) so i can totally forget about the new instance.
Matthew Rossi Feb 11th 2008 10:05AM
They did do a followup instance to Kara. It's called Zul'Aman. I was just there the other night.
theRaptor Feb 11th 2008 10:56AM
ZA is not a follow up. It is an off progression raid with some nice loot here and there for select classes/specs. Plus you can't even get a lot of the good loot unless you are already in a tier 5 guild, in which case most of it is even more of a side grade then it is for tier 4 guilds.
coil780 Feb 11th 2008 12:05PM
@10: Zul'Aman is absolutely progression from Karazhan. The catch is that (1) you have to be pretty much done with Karazhan and (2) you have to know your **** to make any headway in there. My guild is only (and only recently) 1/4 and 1/6 in T5 content, and I bring a group of ten into ZA every week. We first killed Zul'jin a month ago, and we got the third timed chest the following week.
It's progression, and it's doable. It's just progression in *difficulty* as well as gear, and it's only doable if your 10 people are on their game. If you screw up in Kara, you might die. If you screw up in ZA, your whole raid will probably die.
Verit Feb 11th 2008 2:14PM
ZA is a poor followup to Kara. Its way too hard (and I'm in a guild that can do a full clear of kara in 3-4 hours).
You know something is wrong when the tier 6 guilds say its tuned perfectly, the tier 5 guilds say its a challenge and the tier 4 guilds are complaining.
darian Feb 11th 2008 2:35PM
I find coil's arguments interesting, because they're true of the Mag/Gruul to SSC/TK jump as well.
The jump from Tier 4 to Tier 5 level zones, whether 10 or 25 man, is difficult. The trash in TK, SSC and ZA is a nightmare compared to anything previously, let alone the bosses. A couple loot pinatas exist, but for the most part you're facing bosses that will actively challenge your guild. Often, a single player's mistake can cause a wipe.
ZA is progression, and guilds that don't understand that haven't progressed before. It is hard, but it honestly doesn't seem harder than Karazhan was when I first began there, and half of the people we bring to ZA could still use a half-dozen upgrades from Karazhan.
theRaptor Feb 12th 2008 1:51AM
No it is not progression. You don't need the gear from ZA to do SSC/TK, and some classes/specs will get almost nothing out of there. It is a an off raid for SSC/TK raiders, or those that are finished with Kara and not expanding to SSC/TK (though I don't believe many guilds could gear up enough from just Kara/ZA to do the timed event).
To me "progression raid" implies every class and spec being able to upgrade most of their gear (T4 to T5 to T6 etc). You don't get that in ZA, you get some items that are really nice alternatives to some T4/T5 gear, and a handful of great items. Running ZA does not progress the guild like Kara/SSC/TK/MH/BT do.
Mirina Feb 11th 2008 10:11AM
Mmm...Sunwell....hoping to nail Vashj tonight, and then we're free of SSC and heading over to TK to plow through A'lar and Solarian to get some playtime with Kael. Can't wait to get into MH and BT, and then on to Sunwell...that bow has my name written ALL over it.
Syme Feb 11th 2008 10:42AM
Gearing up for Sunwell? Let's see-- the Prince finally dropped my helm token this past weekend after six or seven months, just in time for our first trip to Gruul beginning of March.
theRaptor Feb 11th 2008 10:58AM
With the new kael loot I should be able to completely deck out my mage in T4 equiv gear (Kara will just not drop trial fire, or the robe off nightbane), and my new shadow priest should get quite a nice boost just from running MT a lot.
Good_Idea Feb 11th 2008 10:59AM
I don't think many people will be "gearing up for Sunwell" unless you are currently doing Hygal and BT. In which case you've probably been farming it for a couple of months now.
Although my guild is on the brink of killing Kael, it seems obvious that I won't see much, if any, of Sunwell before the expansion. At least I'll see Hygal and BT which is good enough for me.
I guess what I'm saying is that for most people, the pvp changes will matter the most. A lot of people will do the 5-man and the dailies, which will be ok, but it's not that big of a deal (imo).