PTR schedule updated
by Eliah Hecht 
Mar 31st 2009 at 4:00PM
As you all probably noticed, there was no patch 3.1 today. Evidently they're not doing testing Ulduar yet - three more hard mode tests are scheduled for tonight and tomorrow night.
On the North American PTR:
- Hodir (hard mode): tonight, 7 PM EDT
- Iron Council (hard mode): tomorrow night, April 1, 7 PM EDT. Daelo specifies that they want Steelbreaker done last.
On the European PTR:
- General Vezax (hard mode): tomorrow night, April 1, 7 PM CET
Shirts of Uber will once again be available to simulate the raid having Ulduar gear.
Do we conclude that they're more or less done testing normal-mode fights, and that therefore the patch is pretty close? Everyone seems to be thinking the patch will be here in the next few weeks. If I were to guess, I'd say two weeks from today.
I haven't been playing on the PTR much, so I don't know myself: how hard are these hard modes? If you were going to compare them in average difficulty with a pre-LK fight, what would it be?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mastique Mar 31st 2009 4:04PM
"If you were going to compare them in average difficulty with a pre-LK fight, what would it be? "
I would say... 11
tee hee.
No clue, haven't been there either. Want it to be a surprise.. that I can read about... here.
Daisil Mar 31st 2009 4:08PM
The best part is:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16019954774&sid=1
"The test servers will be coming down today at approximately 3pm PST. The maintenance period should last between 1-2 hours. Thanks for your patience. "
Knowing bliz; we most likely won't get any testing in tonight.
Kvothe Mar 31st 2009 4:14PM
My guess on patch release day is that they're aiming for the 7th, but it will very likely be delayed till the 14th. The patch seems mostly done at this point; just needs a bit more tweaking.
As for difficulty, I'm guessing Ulduar non-hard will be about the difficulty of Kara, maybe a bit harder. Ulduar hard mode, however, will be coming much closer to Sunwell, although obviously not quite as hard because Blizz has explained their reluctance to ever repeat the challenges of SP.
sleevenote Mar 31st 2009 4:32PM
Having been there, I would definitely rate it harder than Karazhan on normal mode (don't know about the first incarnation of Karazhan, but compared to the way it ended up).
Yes, the earlier bosses are pushovers, but once you get to the watchers, and especially Vezax and YoggSaron, you will pretty much have to know what you are doing. It's not exactly as easy as everyone makes it out to be. Having said that, normal mode definitely doesn't compare in difficulty to previous second tier raiding experiences, eg Serpentshrine and TK. Those were harder than Ulduar is now.
I do question wether we are rating it too early though, a lot of bosses were changed in the last PTR build, for example, and every single one of them buffed. We shall see.
Ed Mar 31st 2009 5:17PM
April 12th is Easter. A lot of folks take vacation around this time. I'd be very surprised if the patch was released anytime prior to this as Blizzard would likely have a reduced work force at that time. April 14th might be doable, but again a lot of folks are comming back from vacation or still on an extended vacation. My crystal ball says April 21st.
hold up Mar 31st 2009 5:41PM
LOL @ Ulduar Hard Mode = Sunwell. I seriously doubt it. Having done some encounters on the PTR I would place it somewhere between Kara pre 3.0 nerf and SSC.
If I remember correctly a good number of the achievements are timing encounters. Meaning "Beat Hodir in under 3 minutes". And that's not as much of a skill factor as a gear factor. I mean, skilled players will be able to improve kill times with good execution, but as gear gets better the Hard Mode will become more of a brute force.
One of the hard mode encounters is modeled exactly like Sarth 3D (Freya + 3) so I expect hard mode to be on par with those types of current achievements.
tonedeff Mar 31st 2009 5:50PM
LOL, so you think the gap between normal & hard is Kara to Sunwell? Have you ever ran anything befor?
Of course this is going to be harder then anything we have ran in LK> BUT just all previous raids it will eventually be on farm for a lot of guilds!
Gritiron Mar 31st 2009 4:31PM
I'm not sure if people have talked about this but according to the 3.1 PTR patch notes, it includes a new extended Noblegarden holiday which starts on April 12th. So wouldn't that really imply they have to patch before that, i.e. next week?
Fingers crossed!
Daisil Mar 31st 2009 4:40PM
They stated that they would push back Noble Garden *IF THEY HAVE TO*; which I am sure they really would rather not deal with.
Gritiron Mar 31st 2009 4:53PM
It's true but as it's meant to be a fake Easter, I'd say they will strive to avoid that at all costs. And regards the point below, I think Willias was trying to say the changes in the PTR update patches are small, not the overall 3.1 patch.
Also since they are on the hard modes testing now, I'll bet they'd push out 3.1 as is on the 7th and then do a hotfix or minipatch if something was wrong with the hard modes. After all even the l33t raiding guilds have a one week lockout right? They won't be tackling the hard modes for the first week with no Ulduar gear.
Now people just better buy my auction house stuff so I have the money to dualspec and glyph all my toons :-p
Willias Mar 31st 2009 4:32PM
They're looking to get this patch out on the 7th.
I don't think they want to have to deal with pushing Noblegarden back, and the amount of things being changed in patches has dropped to almost nil.
BulletzBill Mar 31st 2009 4:44PM
Uh, what? I'd say this patch is pretty substantial in size..
DruidGuard Mar 31st 2009 4:50PM
BulletzBill, he means the amount of new stuff being thrown out on the ptr is slowing down to almost nothing, so it's logical to assume the aptch is nearing completion and could very well be ready next week.
BulletzBill Mar 31st 2009 4:55PM
Ohh in the latest builds, gotcha. The use of "patches" is what threw me.
Slyght Mar 31st 2009 4:55PM
As a previous poster stated, April 7th is the target release date. April 14th would probably be if some game-breaking issue came up.
1) April 7th will be 43 days on the PTR, which is the typical lifespan of a PTR (I think TBC's raid patches were like 40-46 days on the PTR)
2) The whole delaying Noblegarden thing
3) Very limited testing of hard-mode only at this point. Where testing was pretty much daily a few weeks ago, we went almost a whole week with zero testing now. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if tomorrow is the last batch of testing.
Slyght Mar 31st 2009 5:29PM
Also, meant to say this in my last post, but all guilds should be treating this week as if this is the last reset before 3.1, because it very well could be. Especially those going for Glory of the Hero. I know personally my guild is aiming to get Sarth 3D down this week, if not tonight.
dean.speedway Mar 31st 2009 5:07PM
Given that the arena tournament realm finishes on the 6th, I would be surprised if they drop the patch the very next day.
But then again that might be exactly the reason to drop it on the 7th.
I'd rather they delay it til the 14th and get it right than spend a holiday weekend dealing with a screwed up, buggy patch.
Zul Mar 31st 2009 5:41PM
Why would they make us test hard content?! I've been testing it for weeks and I am really annoyed with the idea that NOTHING will be new in Ulduar (except 1 or 2 bosses big woop). This is sickening, I thought the fun was learning and wiping. My guild already plans to do Hard Mode for a lot of bosses right off. I suppose we should start basing progression speed off of the PTR.
ita a game Mar 31st 2009 6:18PM
Blizz didnt make you do anything, you chose to run on the PTR. If you wanted the new content to be new to you then you shouldve stayed out of the PTR. Dont blame Blizz cause you couldnt keep yourself out. Self control would have done you wonders.
Akhi Mar 31st 2009 6:21PM
Wait...you've been on the PTR for weeks and you find it "sickening" that you've already seen the raid you've been testing? I keep trying to reread your post but all I get out of it is that you went over to learn the fights but now you're upset that you learned them. Lol. Maybe I'm reading it wrong?