Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPlayer reaction to the 5-man Trial
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 6th 2009 at 8:00PM
All right -- patch 3.2 has been out for a few days now, and I would say that most people who are interested have had a chance to go in and run the brand new 5-man instance. Of course it's not the only change in the patch (far from it), but it's the one I was most looking forward to, and unlike the raid instances, it's all in there and doable, ready for our judgment. So what did we think?I tried it yesterday, and my first impression was "underwhelmed." I definitely don't feel that way about 3.2 as a whole, but the instance itself seems less than impressive, a one-room fight with almost as many boring moments as there are exciting ones. The fights themselves are actually pretty commonplace for a Heroic -- the jousting fight is probably the least-liked among the playerbase (seriously, whoever really loves the jousting mechanic over at Blizzard needs to take a good long look in the mirror for some self reflection), while the best is of course the Argent Confessor, who summons a random figure from our "past memories" to fight. I got Illidan and Onyxia the first few times I ran the instance, but of course Hogger and Van Cleef and Heigan the Unclean also have a chance at making an appearance. I did like the fight, but I was kind of bummed the old memories didn't bring any of their abilities with them -- they all have the same three abilities to throw at the group.
As for the lore, I'm torn. On the one hand, I did like that Blizzard mixed it up a bit, and tried to get us a little more involved in what the NPCs are doing than just having us go off on our own and take down a dungeon. On the other hand, that intro will be even longer the 25th time I'm doing it, and I'm still not convinced that messing around with an Argent Tournament is worth our time. One person dies in the whole instance (spoiler: it's the Black Knight, and he dies three times), and so while it was cool seeing our names shouted and being cheered on by the crowd, I can't help but think that it's still all just fun and games. When do we get to put somebody's eye out?
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Instances, Lore, Bosses, NPCs
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 8)
Microtonal Aug 6th 2009 9:11PM
Everyone in my guild hates the new instance content, and are especially disdainful of the raid, but I actually kinda like it. Paletress is an enjoyable fight (I did think that she summoned more than one memory per fight, though), and the champions encounter is fun and intense, even with the jousting. I thought the Northrend beasts were fun and interesting, too, and everything I've seen indicates that twin valkyr will be really cool when we finally get to see it.
I mean, I was just as disappointed and frustrated by the "one boss a week" hurdle to slow down progression as everyone else, but deep down, I guess I can understand why they did it.
Treos Aug 6th 2009 9:13PM
I guess the part of the article about "Player Reaction" was colored with invisible pixels? I can only find the part where Mike Schramm talks about his own reaction.
Oh well.
millierj Aug 6th 2009 9:38PM
Is Mike Shcramm not a player? I thought it would be more along the lines of what you were assuming it would contain (reactions from multiple players, as opposed to just one who is also the Senior Editor), but technically it's an accurate title.
regisfrost Aug 6th 2009 10:31PM
* Technically* it's one of those misleading titles "journalist" are so proud of. Man bites dog.
Avan Aug 7th 2009 12:53AM
Look to the comments to find more player reactions.
Megan Aug 6th 2009 9:23PM
It's a "meh" instance. Although it seriously needs a Get To The Point button.
Johnnyblaze Aug 6th 2009 9:37PM
I think it's boring as bat shit.
Lokasenna Aug 6th 2009 9:37PM
My only complaints are HOLY CRAP HURRY THE GODDAMN HELL UP, and the jousting is essentially a really buggy deathmatch.
Nate Aug 6th 2009 9:49PM
Way to long to wait and Paletress on heroic is really evil. She hit me twice with smite and I was down.
Ada Aug 6th 2009 9:51PM
I was expecting more from the Black Knight's entrance. When I heard he was crashing the tournament, I imagined him blasting threw the rafters with a bolt of shadow magic, causing rubble to rain down on the spectators and the players. I also expected that the NPCs in the crowd to yell and shout in outrage and that he would hold them in their seats with magic or something. Furthermore, when he dies finally I kept asking myself if that was really the end of the dungeon. I think it would great if all the NPCs were yelling and talking at once and the players get thanked. Otherwise, I enjoy the fights.
RyRy Aug 6th 2009 10:00PM
for jousting Kill last boss next to entrance so everyone can leave and reenter and u can get ready
Shoryu Aug 6th 2009 11:41PM
and your game crashes and your stuck between servers with "a character with that name already exists" bc you zoned while in combat like me, nty, we will just do it correctly.
RetPallyJil Aug 6th 2009 10:01PM
Jousting rules.
Those who dislike it clearly have a case of lances that are too short and mooshy to get the job done.
Volkrin Aug 6th 2009 10:10PM
One thing about the dungeon really drives me mad.
During the black knight fight he kills the announcer, assaults the tournament participants, summons a legion of undead into the arena and generally makes a big unholy mess of things.
Meanwhile the most powerful paladin on azeroth (who is sitting not twenty yards away from all this, mind you!) sits there and picks his nose.
WHAT THE HELL MAN?!
Scott Cabot Aug 6th 2009 10:13PM
man I have never thought of it like this.....thats just plain annoying now you've said that :(
awall Aug 6th 2009 10:19PM
He definitely could turn the black knight to ash pretty easily, but the whole point of these instances is to weed out those who would be throwing themselves at Icecrown Citadel but don't have what it takes. If Arthas had come personally to assault the grounds, then you would see Tirion in action, but the Black Knight is just a pawn.
SaintStryfe Aug 6th 2009 11:17PM
Because he has Champions in the ring to do it. This is a test, and there's no better test then an honest to god threat.
Rollo Aug 6th 2009 11:39PM
They probably rez the announcer when the players have left. No harm done!
Cetyrz Aug 6th 2009 10:11PM
I LOVE the new instance, I farmed it all of yesterday for a ring upgrade that is perfect for my rogue given its current gearing. I have only seen it drop once in about 25 runs and someone need rolled for offspec so I have yet to pick it up. Needless of say I am getting over the new 5 man fairly quickly but it's a great idea for an instance. I love the fights and the fact that as a rogue I have a lot of utility with CC, Disarm and so forth. Heroic also seems to be at an appropriate level. Scrubs will fail, geared players or players with clue are awared with epics.
Well done Blizz! (I love jousting though so all good).
Rob Aug 6th 2009 10:11PM
I really like it. My DK is only in crafted epics/blues and desparately needs gear. So far he's gotten 5 upgrades in 8 runs, however I think i may be coming to the end of the loot table as far as what's available for me. (which is expected of course). All the bosses are very unique, and the Paletress boss is hard but not impossible. I've only done it on normal since we're not that geared yet. On heroic it'd probably be even better if you can handle it, they hit pretty hard when I tried it once.
One thing that I think works is have the tank whack Paletress down until she starts the memory, that I think keeps her off the healer. I'm really not sure what's up with her, does she not have an aggro table? Is it just a heal check? But yeah we had many runs where 'oh i have to heal myself' wipes happened. Eventually we got her down.