Patch 3.3 PTR: Icecrown to introduce new hard mode toggles
by Zach Yonzon 
Oct 7th 2009 at 10:58PM
It's also interesting to note that Blizzard plans to scale up the Emblems found in older dungeons to Emblems of Triumph the way Emblems of Conquest are dropped in raids now. Newer, higher version emblems will drop in Icecrown, allowing advanced raiders access to the newest gear. This emblem upgrades will allow players to better catch up on gear and consequently explore Icecrown. Of course, Bornakk reminds everyone of the caveat that "Things can still change."
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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Lokasenna Oct 7th 2009 11:06PM
Seriously? My raid can't be the only ten people in the universe who think activating hard modes right now is crazy fun (not to mention much more lore-realistic). We only have the DPS to start XT-002's hard mode around 1/4 of the time, but even when we fail it's still a blast.
jam Oct 8th 2009 4:11AM
Ulduar had some good, not so good, and bad hardmodes.
Good---
Mimiron: Push the big red button to activate. Nice and simple.
Freya: Kill x Elders to make it easier.
Yogg: With 0-4 helpers. Works fine.
Decent---
Thorim: It was okay, but if for some reason (during the early raids) you wanted to do the easy mode, the gauntlet group had to wait for a minute or so until Sif left.
Iron Council: Okay too, but not very intuitive "why does killing the big guy last give you better loot??!?"
Horrible---
Hodir: "No no no STOP DPS STOP DPS WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT. Aww **** now it died, no hardmode for us this week. Sooo stupid, and making the encounter a lot harder AFTER one guild had already done it was extra stupid.
So yeah, being able to activate hard modes simply from the UI sounds pretty nice to me.
Clbull Oct 8th 2009 9:12AM
Three other good ones:
XT-002 - Nuke the heart to 0 health, then watch as Tantrums begin to wipe your raid.
Flame Levaithan - Speak to the Lore Keeper of Norgannon. Then destroy 0 - 3 towers depending on the hardmode you will attempt.
Freya - Leave 1 - 3 Elders alive, then engage Freya.
Tzivya Oct 7th 2009 11:07PM
Sorry, I liked the ToTC way much better. I could run normal mode with newer guildies or for fun with people, and save my hardmode lockout for a dedicated group. It was good for the guild, too, as we could have a set 'hardmode' group without seeming elitist or excluding people; people seem to get touchy when the same 10 people always raid together and 'ignore' the rest of the guild.
Viper007Bond Oct 7th 2009 11:45PM
Agreed. We clear ToC 25 EZ with 2 groups each week -- 1/2 mains, 1/2 alts. We then use all mains for ToC 25 Hard.
Valt Oct 8th 2009 8:33AM
ToC was fine as it is because it was short. If they would continue to do that on Icecrown that would be major time waste for some people and would burnout a lot of people. I mean if theres 12 encounters and 4 different lockouts (10man, 10man heroic, 25man, 25man heroic).. would you want to do 48 encounters and for how long?
"Today 10man for alts/new guys and you need to come because you are in major role in guild(MT or healer etc), then later 10man heroic. Then we do 25man tommorow for everyone and after that that we try 25man heroics. You must attend or thats less dkp for you and you are the one making it happen".
That would be nightmare for smaller progress guilds and future farmers. Specially for guilds that would still raid ToC+ToC heroics (why not, people still raid ulduar for pesky slots like weapons, trinkets and offhands/shields).
S?hrtogg Oct 23rd 2009 5:53PM
Don't make yourself feel like you need to farm everything. That was not how it was meant to be played in the first place. Raid the way you enjoy yourself most. Sadly, many 25-man guilds go for overzealous farming of the same fights over and over again on different lockouts, while they could have imho more enjoyably spent their time trying new fights or hard modes on just 25-man, while on a voluntary basis letting those who honestly *want* to farm 10-man do so outside of guild raid times.
havitech Oct 7th 2009 11:16PM
I loved the way hard modes were toggled in Ulduar/Obsidian Sanctum. It added depth to the encounter, and ensured in most cases that raids wouldn't attempt hard modes if they weren't capable of first activating them. It's too bad they tried to fix something that wasn't broken, and ended up with the convoluted system that is used for ToC/ToGC.
Anyways, I guess this new system is a good middle-ground.
Heii Oct 7th 2009 11:34PM
I'm real happy for you Icecrown Citadel (Raid), and I'mma let you finish, but Ulduar had the best hardmode activations of all time! Of all time!
chylilith Oct 18th 2009 4:56AM
LMAO @ Heii!
Nixtro21 Oct 7th 2009 11:46PM
Emblems of triumph from heroics? am i reading that right?
Microtonal Oct 8th 2009 12:03AM
Yes.
Jeff Oct 8th 2009 12:09AM
Yes. Here is a bucket for your tears. Please ensure they all drop into it so we don't stain the floor.
Nixtro21 Oct 8th 2009 2:14AM
no i'm not complaining, dindt mean to come off that way. I really dont care if they change it or not. i like the change, just wanted to confirm.
Purechaos Oct 8th 2009 12:01AM
I Prefer the TOC way currently. The Main reason being that you where never prevented of doing X boss cause of Y. In short i could kill all bosses on normal then more up to hard, rather then say get stuck in a limbo of wanted to start hard modes / finish the instance. Where its a "hey we need to progress and finish this place" vs "lets work on hard modes it gives better loot" then you end up either waisting time not finishing or waisting time trying to get a few higher pieces.
Perfect example is when trying to get my bronze drake we would just do the hard mode once and be done with it since once it was done and got the achievement, there wasn't much use and just happened to take longer or be more difficult. So rather then put up with a rocky kill(something no on farm but not fresh sort of status) just not do it on hard and work on another hard.
Daewoo Oct 8th 2009 3:04AM
dear players, were happy for you and were gonna let you finish, but all that work you do for gear makes us laugh so we are giving it free to the kids.
Eternauta Oct 8th 2009 3:41AM
I think you don't get the most basic concept of WoW PvE:
"You don't raid to get gear, you get gear to raid"
The "reward" is killing the final big bad boss (and now, an achievement that proves it).
Any other "material" reward is crap, since it's gonna get useless when the next tier/patch/expansion arrives. Have you seen anybody wearing Tier 6 Black Temple gear these days?
jam Oct 8th 2009 4:18AM
I guess you must be angry since you're not good enough to get the ilvl 258 loot from ToC 25 hard.
PeeWee Oct 8th 2009 7:43AM
You need to scroll back and take a look at what counts.
Can you see anyone giving a crap whether him or her has T9 or iLvl 258? Or can you see anyone caring about a guild getting the achievements linked to the instances?
Let me know when you find that out.
I'll give you a hint: Gear is irrelevant, anyone can get it. But not anyone can get the achievements done.
Clbull Oct 8th 2009 9:14AM
@Eternauta
Raiding is often like a catch 22 though.
"You need gear to be invited for raids, yet you get this gear from raids."