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 newsPatch 3.3: Icecrown raid preview
by Adam Holisky 
Oct 6th 2009 at 3:00PM
Some of the key pieces of information from the preview:
- "Join the legendary heroes Highlord Tirion Fordring, High Overlord Saurfang, Muradin Bronzebeard, Highlord Darion Mograine, and King Varian Wrynn in an epic battle against the Scourge and their master."
- "Icecrown Citadel features 10- and 25-player versions of the raid dungeon, and each version has 12 encounters. Each encounter can be fought in either normal or Heroic mode, and players can use a new user interface feature to toggle easily between difficulties."
- "The rewards in the raid dungeon start at item level 251 in the normal mode with 10-player encounters, increase to item level 264 in the Heroic mode mode with 10 players and the normal mode with 25-player encounters, and then finally reach item level 277 in the Heroic mode with 25 players."
- "...two new forms of abomination in Festergut and Rotface, who currently protect their devious creator, Professor Putricide."
The entire text of the preview after the break.
From Blizzard's Preview:
All across the lands of Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and Horde first reached the frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward. Now Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an alliance with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. The strongest combatants of this coalition, along with the champions of the Alliance and Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel.
This dungeon reveals the culminating story events and battles of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack. Join the legendary heroes Highlord Tirion Fordring, High Overlord Saurfang, Muradin Bronzebeard, Highlord Darion Mograine, and King Varian Wrynn in an epic battle against the Scourge and their master. Icecrown Citadel features 10- and 25-player versions of the raid dungeon, and each version has 12 encounters. Each encounter can be fought in either normal or Heroic mode, and players can use a new user interface feature to toggle easily between difficulties. The rewards in the raid dungeon start at item level 251 in the normal mode with 10-player encounters, increase to item level 264 in the Heroic mode mode with 10 players and the normal mode with 25-player encounters, and then finally reach item level 277 in the Heroic mode with 25 players.
Grand Entrance of the Citadel
After breaching the fortress, players will face a legion of undead guards directed to repel any invaders. Commanding the defenders is Lord Marrowgar, a monstrosity fused together from the bones of the undead. Supreme Overseer of the Cult of the Damned, Lady Deathwhisper is the next opponent. She bolsters the faith of her followers by promising them the opportunity to give eternal service in undeath.
As they continue their ascent, the Alliance and Horde heroes ultimately end up outside of the citadel where their hatred for one another erupts into a battle for dominance over the Rampart of Skulls. Players will join in battle alongside High Overlord Saurfang on the Orgrim's Hammer gunship or Muradin Bronzebeard on The Skybreaker in a unique encounter. Each faction will protect its gunship and try to destroy the other one in a back-and-forth battle to see who is truly worthy of facing the Lich King.
The Lich King's most powerful death knight then stands as the final obstacle for the heroes to enter the upper reaches of the citadel.
The Wings of Icecrown Citadel
After the heroes of the Alliance or Horde defeat the other faction on the gunships and wipe out the creatures near the entrance, players will venture into an area with three separate wings. Here they will face a multitude of terrors that must be vanquished in order to confront the Lich King.
In the Frostwing Halls players will battle alongside the Ashen Verdict and push into the lair of the deadly frost wyrm Sindragosa, who continues to strengthen her brood with the help of Ymirheim's vrykul. Along the way, the heroes will stumble upon Valithria Dreamwalker, a captured green dragon whom the Scourge is using as a test subject for their own ends....
The Plagueworks contains the most twisted experiments ever produced by the Scourge. In this wing players will face two new forms of abomination in Festergut and Rotface, who currently protect their devious creator, Professor Putricide.
The Crimson Hall contains the leaders of the San'layn, undead blood elves who oversee the Scourge's operations throughout Azeroth. The blood-princes Valanar, Keleseth, and Taldaram were raised into undeath by the Lich King to avenge themselves while protecting their blood-queen, Lana'thel.
The Frozen Throne
After clearing all three wings, players will ascend to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King and his runeblade, Frostmourne, await to deliver them to their deaths....
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 the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.Filed under: Patches, News items
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 8)
sarnzzle Oct 6th 2009 3:08PM
I find this site very strange. In my experience, no other blog so blantantly copies and pastes entire blocks of other website's content, especially Blizzard's.
Not to mention I have to scroll over 2-3 links to make sure I'm clicking on the source of the content instead of some other internal link to a WoW.com article.
Just an observation.
bushkanaka86 Oct 6th 2009 3:25PM
I for one like that they do. My work blocks anything associated with worldofwarcraft.com (besides wowarmory for some reason) and I can't see all this stuff. So Wow.com is my only way of slacking off at work to read about WoW.
Thank you WoW.com for posting verbatim so I can get a chance to see it before I get home.
Adam Holisky Oct 6th 2009 3:30PM
bushkanaka86 is the exact reason we do this. Numerous, I dare say the majority, of medium to large businesses block access to worldofwarcraft.com, so readers are not able to get a hold of information.
And we're not the only site that does this. MMO-Champion and World of Raids do it as well.
I've linked the source of the article twice. Both in the "source" link in the article, and in the text of the article.
Wavemancali Oct 6th 2009 3:34PM
I'm with the buried guy. I'm not impressed with the blatant copy paste from other sites.
Mordockk Oct 8th 2009 4:35PM
Interesting complaint....have you ever visited worldofwarcraft.com?
It's a goddamn culsterF*** of info....
wow.com gives you the hot topical information without having to get asked to download a free trial ors croll through 600 links that just open a window to another link...that open a window to another link....not to mention that worldofwarcraft.com is a lag-toad of a site.
gboyd Oct 6th 2009 3:54PM
Adam,
Are you in Europe? I've noticed your source link points to wow-europe rather than http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/3p3/icecrown-raid.xml
kabshiel Oct 6th 2009 4:07PM
I don't mind the copy-pasting, since some people can't view Blizzard's site at work. I do wish they would post a link to Blizzard's site above the fold, though.
Hitek Oct 6th 2009 4:40PM
You guys (the buried guys) clearly fail to realize that as a WoW blog website, we (the MAJORITY) as fans and readers want both access to a consolidation of "BIG" facts, pulled directly from WoW and Blizard, as well as the opinion of the bloggers we come here to read and enjoy.
I don't go ANYWHERE other than WoW.com because I EXPECT that they will copy and paste information of this magnitude straight from the source.
It's a "one-stop-shop" for all my WoW needs whether it be a quick run-down of patch changes, interesting blog entries or, as in this case, information in regards to THE biggest dungeon in WoW's history.
If you fail to understand what this website provides then I'm afraid there's really no helping you.
sarnzzle Oct 6th 2009 10:13PM
Still, no reason to bury the source. Put it in brackets before the fold so that I don't have to click through a million AOL add-ridden pages to get to it. All I'm asking for is the option.
[Source] via WorldofWarcraft.com
Muse Oct 7th 2009 9:29AM
How about just clicking the big link that says SOURCE?
rr5582 Oct 6th 2009 3:11PM
EPIC!
jealouspirate Oct 6th 2009 3:10PM
Looks amazing!
I only thing I wonder about is the Airship battle, and how that affects lore. In the Warcraft "canon", who wins that battle? Presumably in the raid the "other" airship gets shot down, no matter what faction you play.
Slaytanic Oct 6th 2009 3:21PM
If you watch the video on youtube from the BlizzCon panel, they describe the airship battle in much more detail.
What I'm curious about is whether the opponents on the other ship will use the same fight mechanic and style as Faction Champions.
Roland Oct 6th 2009 3:10PM
Ashen Verdict...Ashtongue Deathsworn...
I expect some more awesome rep trinkets.
Microtonal Oct 6th 2009 3:10PM
"The rewards in the raid dungeon start at item level 251 in the normal mode with 10-player encounters, increase to item level 264 in the Heroic mode mode with 10 players and the normal mode with 25-player encounters, and then finally reach item level 277 in the Heroic mode with 25 players."
Yay, more pointless item-level bloat!
t0xic Oct 6th 2009 3:23PM
Blizzard is working an employee exchange program with Microsoft.
Valt Oct 6th 2009 4:00PM
Im very very excited about this but normal 10, heroic 10, normal 25, heroic 25 with 12 encounters is way too much, atleast for me. Its stretching way too much. Ok ToC raid was ok because it has 5 pretty simple bosses with no trash. But we shall see. It just feels stretching a lot and just keeping progress guilds busy unwantedly long, most guilds progress thro raid and then take break after they get geared. Now you need to possibly do 48 encounters for best loot (since some 10man stuff can be BiS even if you do 25mans) every week.
But we shall see, I guess they want to keep us busy for "couple" months with this.. longer than ulduar. If its enjoyable, im fine with that.
bushkanaka86 Oct 6th 2009 4:25PM
Actually, if I am reading it correctly, there won't be an entire instance that is "Heroic" mode. But it sounds more like when you get to a boss, you can turn on "Heroic" and then turn if off again when the boss dies. So you can do "Heroic" on whichever bosses you choose but you can pick individually and it isn't the whole instance...
Maybe not though.
Sedna Oct 6th 2009 3:12PM
"The Lich King's most powerful death knight then stands as the final obstacle for the heroes to enter the upper reaches of the citadel."
I think I smell Fordragon and Saurfang...
Also: "the San'layn, undead blood elves"
I thought "blood elf" was a recent (post-Third War) term; does this imply the San'layn are relatively recent? Or am I just getting lore everywhere? Or is nobody really sure what the San'layn are yet and I should just stow it and await further developments?
Matthew Rossi Oct 6th 2009 3:20PM
We don't really know much about the San'layn aside from the fact that they seem to be Blood Elves or High Elves who sold out to Arthas around the time he made the Sunwell go asplode. (Technically they would have been High Elves, I guess.)