Patch 3.3: The Oculus receives a welcome nerf
by Michael Sacco 
Nov 10th 2009 at 5:00PM
Well, it looks like all of us are in luck. In the latest Patch 3.3 PTR patch notes update, the Oculus got its very own section! Check this out.
- Many bosses and creatures have had their total health reduced.
- Several bosses and creatures have had cooldowns on specific abilities increased, effect durations reduced, and damage on some of these abilities reduced.
- Ring-Lord Conjurers and Sorceresses now hang out in packs of 4 instead of packs of 5.
- Vehicle scaling on the drakes based on the rider's item level has been increased to make them more powerful.
Oh, and quick thing. "Oculus" has one C in it. Just the one. Spread the word.
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 Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.Filed under: Patches
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
jeremyrush.andrews Nov 10th 2009 5:02PM
Thank god!
Stephen Nov 10th 2009 6:23PM
Maybe they should take a clue from how much people hate that drake fights in Oculus and how few people wanted to run the Malygos raid, and figure out how to make the flying vehicle combat fun instead of just make it easy.
Thundrcrackr Nov 11th 2009 12:38AM
no doubt.
Vehicles in dungeons and raids is the worst thing blizzard has ever done.
Lewton Nov 11th 2009 4:56AM
well if u have good and experience group oculus can be quite fun
jrizutko Nov 11th 2009 10:56AM
I hate the vehicle fights as much as the next Shaman, but honestly Oculus already took a major nerf when they made the drakes scale with gear. At this point, if people don't like it, nerfing it isn't going to get them to run it. Just learn from your mistakes, Blizz and cut vehicle combat out of the game for Cataclysm.
tom99k Nov 10th 2009 5:04PM
It should make Oculus... easier but still, it won't be any less annoying.
Stephen Nov 10th 2009 6:10PM
Yeah. It doesn't need to be easier. It needs to be more fun.
Oculus isn't that hard. It already ranks well below ToC, HoL, or AK, but those aren't nearly as annoying.
Jeff Nov 10th 2009 7:22PM
There's not much they can do to make it less annoying without completely changing the mechanics of the instance. They'd rather put that time into working on Icecrown/Cataclysm/etc., so I understand.
At this point they're doing all they can do, make it easier so it's as painless as possible when you're unlucky enough to end up in Oculus on a random pug.
Dazaras Nov 10th 2009 7:22PM
The annoying part isn't the mobs, it's getting mixed up when flying. It's difficult to get back to your team when you can't tell what ring they are on.
I vote for an arrow pointing you towards either your group leader or your current objective. Barring that, I'd say some way to tell what distance people were from you vertically based on their icons on the minimap would be very helpful, say darker for lower and lighter for higher. This minimap thing could conceivably be helpful in other scenarios as well.
Docp Nov 10th 2009 9:02PM
I'm Docp and I enjoy Oculus.
There, I said it.
Why do I feel so dirty.
Boz Nov 11th 2009 10:12AM
"The annoying part isn't the mobs, it's getting mixed up when flying. " -Dazaras
This; the instance maps are getting better, but a 3d minimap would be more functional. Descent had an excellent wireframe minimap back in 1995 that would suit the purpose of Oculus and other multi-level instances well (think LBRS).
Byron Nov 11th 2009 2:11PM
I like Occ, it's the only 5man with any challenge anymore. It especially rewarding to get Ruby+Emerald Void on five Ambers, I guess it will be a little less so after this patch.
Tri Nov 10th 2009 5:05PM
Oculus isn't that bad :P
Just know how to move in the last fight :)
mysticalos Nov 10th 2009 5:39PM
Oculus was never hard to begin with. it's actually very easy. The problem is stupid players make it hard. Reading complaints about oculus over course it's been out like "The mage guy is hard to heal through if everyones standing in the frost".
Really? Healing people standing in frost,fire,hurricane,etc is hard? Who woulda thought.
Drakes already were fine before even the first scaling buff, they just required a skill called "coordination" Something that also has one c ;) 5 ambers and he practically falls over. I'm assuming he's also too hard because orbs you're supposed to avoid do so much damage, imagine that?
Large trash packs? Nothing a little LoS and a silence couldn't fix. Most tanks can either silence one, or death grip it, and loS rest, if there is one other one that's not coming to you, there is something called 4 other members in party, counterspell, school lockouts, etc. I can tank the instance even as a warrior. what's a little heroic throw one, charge and shield bash silence other far caster, then intervene back to healer and let the two silenced targets follow me back to rest of pack.
In any case it doesn't bother me either way. My opinion on it is simply stating nerfing the content because people can't play isn't the right solution to the problem. Blizz needs to encourage players to get better at playing, not QQ every time simple concepts are hard and nerf it. Make better tutorials or something I dunno.
Chilleia Nov 10th 2009 5:58PM
Don't know why mysticalos' comment is being downgraded, he speaks the truth
danawhitaker Nov 10th 2009 6:00PM
I've done Oculus pre-nerf, and post-nerf. Both times were annoying. I hate the fact that you have to fly from place to place in the instance, someone always ends up getting lost and aggros something else. I didn't mind the drake combat so much once I actually did it. But reading about it and doing it are two different things. It took someone on vent who knew the instance inside out and had done it a ton of times explaining how to use the amber drakes for me to truly grasp it. Trying to explain it on future runs to new people who'd never done Oculus wasn't fun at all. Especially without vent. And that's the problem. It's a 5-man instance that's way too dependent on voice communication to run smoothly. Coordination is a *massive* problem when you're trying to PUG it, even when everyone knows what they're doing. I'm still not sure the changes they're making will solve that. It's still a heroic I dread seeing come up as the daily because most of the people from my guild who know how to run it have no desire to, and I don't want to have to try and explain things to a PUG because I'm bad at doing so.
MazokuRanma Nov 10th 2009 6:07PM
Actually, I think he's slightly off. I don't think it's that everyone is bad, it's that they've all become lazy. Oculus required some extra coordination and planning, and everyone just want to charge in and aoe everything in Wrath.
I don't think this dungeon would have been at all out of place in BC, the trash packs would have seemed completely normal for those dungeons. You just have to take the time and effort to control the mobs.
The only thing I ever hated was the drakes, and they fixed that with scaling. It's very irritating to get all this gear and then have a gimmick fight where it has no impact. I don't think they really needed to scale it more at this point, but I don't really object to that part. Making the rest of the changes seems like overkill, though. I hope things like standing in the Mage Lord Arcane Explosion still one shot people, there are certain things you need to be able to do or you should die. When everyone acts in a competent manner, and is willing to take a few extra minutes to properly drop the trash (kill them one at a time, if you just aoe they drop those stupid icicles like crazy and you get overwhelmed) and avoid/don't stand in fire/frost/lightning/things that are bad then it can be incredibly fun.
Aldarion Nov 10th 2009 6:40PM
Just remember: we're too much used to 2D. Adding the third dimension confuses loads of people, and they just can't help it but feel out of... Bounds.
Thyrial Nov 10th 2009 7:08PM
Mysticalos you miss the point entirely... yes the instance is EASY... especially now with the nerf. That doesn't make it fun. It isn't annoying because it's hard it's annoying because it's annoying. With a group that isn't brain dead it's a breeze but that doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out every time I go near it any less.
Draenors Nov 10th 2009 7:53PM
"5 ambers and he practically falls over."
What? Sure, if you doing the rifting/shocking rotations flawlessly and using Time Stop at the exact same moments, then perhaps. But otherwise, it's far easier to use the other drakes as well (5x Ruby is arguable easier).
5x Amber isn't extremely hard, but trying to figure out how the hell you had to coordinate the rotations was honestly one of the most frustrating things I have done in this expansion. I guess this is to some extend true for most vehicles fight (like Malygos and Flame Leviathan). Some of their abilities and rotations are about as complex as your normal rotations - and why should you bother to learn new abilities just for one single fight? I guess that's one of the basic issues with vehicles.