Patch 3.3: The Oculus receives a welcome nerf

by Michael Sacco Nov 10th 2009 at 5:00PM

Ah, the Oculus. The bane of every PUG's existence since Wrath launch. Not a bad instance, just loaded with too many gimmicks and not exactly friendly to ... less erudite players. But, I mean, I have a bunch of 80s and even I still hate running Oculus. And I would never PUG it in its current state. In fact, upon hearing about the new Dungeon System and its daily random dungeon, I thought "well, bad news if you get Oculus."

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.

Heck yes! Smaller trash packs, HP nerfs, and even an increase the drake scaling that they already implemented to make them not as much of a pain in the keister. Will it make people not complete abhor the Oculus? Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. But maybe it'll stop people from willingly giving themselves the Random Dungeon deserter debuff just to get out of the place.

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.

Tags: nerf, oculus, patch-3.3, patch-3.3-changes, patch-3.3-wow, the-nexus, world-of-warcraft-patch-3.3, wow-3.3-changes, wow-new-patch, wow-patch, wow-patch-3.3, wow-patch-news

Filed under: Patches

Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)

jbodar Nov 10th 2009 10:33PM

@MazokuRanma

I don't know though, as annoyingly implemented as the drakes are, their static abilities were intended to test player skill, because you couldn't outgear the fight and you had to adapt to the unfamiliar mechanics. It's a good idea, I think, just executed poorly.

Tyras Nov 10th 2009 5:06PM

But everyone likes 2 Cs! To keep the other company. =(

(cutaia) Nov 10th 2009 5:10PM

You mean "ccompany."

Nick Nov 10th 2009 6:17PM

2 c's is not enough! let's make it occculus.

or occulucs

or cocculus

MightyMuffin Nov 10th 2009 6:55PM

The problem with just saying OC might make people think of a tv show that some of us would not ever like to think about...all those times my sisters controlled the TV...such horrible memories...so...cold now...

Please say Occ or oculus...for the sake of us who know what OC means...

Note: This is no offense to the real place, but simply a bad taste of American TV shows.

swampsquatch Nov 10th 2009 6:56PM

I always called it "Occy" because of the weapon from Diablo 2... Which still only has 1 "C!"

WHO KEEPS ADDING THESE C'S?

Kleptov Nov 11th 2009 6:53AM

"He may have obsessive compulsive disorder. Or, as we physicians like to call it, the 'OC disorder'."

"Don't call it that."

/tobias

uncaringbear Nov 10th 2009 5:06PM

OMG, now all the casuals will be handed out free lootz from Oculus! Seriously though, there have been times I've wanted to punch that place in the balls.

Radioted Nov 10th 2009 5:07PM

Seems like this'll be welcome. Oculus was the heroic daily on my server last night and the following exchange played out over guild chat about half a dozen times:

[Soandso] has come online.
[Soandso]: What's the daily?
[Guildie]: OC
[Soandso]: Ugh.

Avrus Nov 10th 2009 5:12PM

Yup that's how it goes in my guild too. Most people don't bother if that's the daily. A clear indicator of how 'unfun' this particular heroic dungeon is.

Tyras Nov 10th 2009 6:23PM

Burning Steppes EU had it 5 days in a row once. We were crying by day 2, dead by day 3, burried by day 4, rotting by day 5 and day 6 was the day of rebirth for the server.

What a Long Strange Week it had Been.

drocket Nov 10th 2009 6:54PM

Standard way it works on my server:

[4. LookingForGroup] [Person A] What's the daily today?
[4. LookingForGroup] [Person B] Occ
[4. LookingForGroup] [Person A] DPS LFG H Nex, VH or UK!

Nobody on my server does Occulus. Everyone did it once, back when they were a fresh 80 a couple of weeks after Wrath came out, and refuse to ever go back. The thing is, its actually not that bad. It definitely did suck like there was no tomorrow back then, but anymore, with everyone running around with 226/232 equipment and with the mounts scaling with equipment, the difficulty isn't all that bad.

One dungeon that I WOULD like to see adjusted is AK. Another one no one does because the entrance SUCKS. Once you get in its not that bad, but that first boss with his groups of guards... I've never been in a group there without 2-3 wipes, and that's in guild groups with all people wearing ToC 10 gear.

el ranchero Nov 11th 2009 9:25AM

Boss with a bunch of guards? Elder Nadox has some, I guess, but it's not that bad. Are you thinking of Krik'thir the Gatewatcher in Azjol-Nerub?

kubien Nov 10th 2009 5:13PM

I never found Oculus difficult because of the health, or number of mobs, or item scaling. I found it difficult because it was a !%$^ing pain in the ass to try and coordinate people in a 3d plane for where to go, and what to do. Not to mention, most people just don't understand the abilities of the drakes to any great degree.

Oculus didn't need a nerf, it needed a revamp. Its a great idea, but it just didn't work. I'm really looking forward to the pugs in 3.3. Until they make it a lot more obvious what order you kill things in, and where you go, I'm still not looking forward to a Oculus pug.

kadield Nov 10th 2009 5:13PM

huh...

I always see it abbreviated on our realm as OCC so I just assumed it had two C's....

I feel so stupid for never, EVER noticing that before!

catharsis80 Nov 10th 2009 5:13PM

It's about time. I get tired of walking up to the daily heroic quest giver, seeing Oculus, and then saying, "Well, I guess I'll go do something else instead."

krizzlybear Nov 10th 2009 5:14PM

What? Oculus has only 1 'c' now? This is a travesty! They're making instances way too easy to spell nowadays. I freaking hate casual spellers with a passion, and damn Blizzard is catering to their whining. Call me elitist if you will, but it was better when it had 2 c's, and anyone who says otherwise is just plain wrong.

Hendrata Nov 10th 2009 6:21PM

Disagree all you want, quit Wow if it makes you rage, but the day Blizz makes dungeon names solely for the spelling bee champions are over. These are the days of the casual spellers. Why would you want to devote 90% of your education budget for the top 10%? It doesn't make any sense. With this change, everyone and their mother will be running around spelling the correct instance, but thankfully Blizz will have a new dungeon called "supercalifragilisticexpialodocious" for the elite spellers to prove themselves.

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