Wrath 101: Attunement & Gating in patch 3.3
by Adam Holisky 
Dec 8th 2009 at 2:00PM
We've collected some of the most common questions and put them in an F.A.Q. format for you to look at. After the break we'll answer them, or you can click on the links to be immediately taken to the answer.
- How do you define gated content?
- What content is gated in patch 3.3?
- Can I do heroic Icecrown right away?
- How long until Icecrown Citadel is completely open? When will I be able to fight Arthas?
- What content requires attunement in patch 3.3?
- I'm still confused about the 5-man attunement, can you phrase it another way?
- Will the Dungeon Finder let me ignore attunement (or other requirements)?
- What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the heroic version of the Icecrown Citadel raids?
- What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the normal or heroic version of the 5-man Frozen Halls dungeons?
Question: How do you define gated content?
For the purpose of this article, we define gated content as content which has artificial real-world time restrictions in place in order to prevent it from all being attempted upon release. Examples of some previous gated content include a few bosses of the Sunwell Plateau and a few bosses of The Tournament of Champions.
Question: What content is gated in patch 3.3?
The Icecrown Citadel wings are gated. You can only do the first wing and all the bosses therein. This first wing is called The Lower Spire. It has the following encounters: Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang.
Question: Can I do heroic Icecrown right away?
No. You have to clear all of normal 10-man Icecrown Citadel to do any heroic 10-man Icecrown Citadel. You have to clear all of normal 25-man Icecrown Citadel to do any heroic 25-man Icecrown Citadel. Because Arthas is part of the gated content, and because you have to kill Arthas to attempt any heroics, you are going to have to wait a while to do any heroic Icecrown.
Your attunement to 10-man heroic ICC does not mean you are attuned to 25-man heroic ICC. Likewise, your attunement to 25-man heroic ICC does not mean you are attuned to 10-man heroic ICC. Each heroic attunement must be completed on its own.
We have more information about the heroic gating and requirements available for those who are interested.
Question: How long until Icecrown Citadel is completely open? When will I be able to fight Arthas?
We don't know. Blizzard has previously said several weeks will go by before the next wing becomes available. We speculate that Arthas will be enabled sometime in February 2010. You'll see the news posted on WoW.com as soon as we know an exact date.
Question: What content requires attunement in patch 3.3?
- Heroic 10-man Icecrown Citadel
- Heroic 25-man Icecrown Citadel
- Pit of Saron (normal and heroic)
- Halls of Reflection (normal and heroic)
Forge of Souls -> Pit of Saron -> Halls of Reflection.
Question: Will the Dungeon Finder let me ignore attunement (or other requirements)?
No. When you use the Dungeon Finder to find random group members, or attempt a random heroic, you can only go into instances for which you are attuned (or meet the requirement).
Question: What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the heroic version of the Icecrown Citadel raids?
None that we know of at this time. From all the information we right now, it is a straight attunement that you just get when you've defeated Arthas. However remember, you only get access to the heroic version of the instance you've killed him in (ie: 10-man Arthas kill on normal gives access to 10-man heroic ICC only).
Question: What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the normal or heroic version of the 5-man Frozen Halls dungeons?
You don't need to do quest chains to access the heroic versions of the instances once you have access to the normal versions. However, you must complete the attunement quest chain to do access any version of the Pit of Saron or the Halls of Reflection. See the walkthrough for more information.
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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
shade780 Dec 8th 2009 2:10PM
That is awesome, now what about maintainance and when it will end?
Just A Canuk Dec 8th 2009 2:11PM
It's been extended, and we won't know for about another hour.
Kooshi Dec 8th 2009 2:12PM
From realm status forums (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=21626384170&sid=1):
We are performing extended maintenance while we resolve some additional issues. We do not have an estimate on when the realms will be available for play but we will provide another update in approximately 1 hour.
Thank you for your patience.
Sadistic4 Dec 8th 2009 3:09PM
Silly you! Dont you know that it will be some unconvienent time like dinner, bed time, 4 am, when your doing any thing that requires you away from your computer by now? :D yay patch day!
Zet Dec 8th 2009 2:10PM
Do you have to attune to normal and heroic 5 - mans separately, or can you just do heroic and you'd be automatically attuned to normal?
Tes Dec 8th 2009 2:19PM
You do a quest chain to attune, allowing you to enter the normals.
Once you can enter the normals you can enter the heroics with no further attunement necessary.
Unexpected EOF Dec 8th 2009 2:10PM
Interesting. I like the return to a gated content system. I haven't followed the PTR stuff on account of spoilers, so I just have to hope the early content is worth it
NOV14 Dec 8th 2009 2:20PM
OH GOD IS IT WORTH IT.
erick Dec 8th 2009 2:12PM
with all the headaches patch day usually brings i do look forward to all the incoming content :)
Gadrick Dec 8th 2009 2:13PM
Good job, very helpful!
Netherscourge Dec 8th 2009 2:15PM
So to prevent the Mega-Guilds from beating the end-game content in a matter of days, Blizzard has opted for artificial, multi-week lockouts as opposed to actually making the encounters challenging and difficult to beat.
In this way, they keep you subscribed based on THEIR terms, as opposed to YOUR terms.
Poor show Blizzard, poor show...
Massa Dec 8th 2009 2:24PM
Heaven forbid that the creator of the game have you do something on their terms.
I believe this could also be to help other people get in on runs. Instead of those "Mega-Guilds" rushing off to the next content, groups will be formed of people who don't get to see raids as often that will be running with really good players--yes they may get carried a little, but if it's so easy that shouldn't be a problem for them now should it.
Plus it also builds suspense when killing off this major character. Would it really be that cool if someone killed Arthas tonight or tomorrow. Who knows, maybe he'll be so hard, those "Mega-Guilds" will actually require everyone to be decked out in 277 ilvl gear (as well as being skilled) to actually kill Arthas.
Netherscourge Dec 8th 2009 2:33PM
Well, why don't they let us see what the Mega-Guilds can do? It's as if Blizzard has thrown in the towel on challenging these players and is instead re-focusing on keeping them subscribed for as long as possible, as opposed to letting them have access to it right away.
Can't say I blame Blizzard though, from the business point of view. Most of the big guilds aren't recurring subscribers anymore.
They re-up their accounts for 1 month after each new content patch, beat down the new raids until they are on farm status, gear up and then cancel their accounts and go do something else until the next new content patch comes out.
Once these guys beat IC, they'll cancel their accounts again and come back when Cataclysm is released.
The only way to prevent this is for Blizzard to physically prevent them from accessing the new content and only trickling it out little by little to them.
Scott Dec 8th 2009 2:52PM
Honestly, why do you care? From what I've read it's apparent you're not in a Mega-Guild, and thus, will continue to pay the monthly no matter whether it's gated content or not.
jealouspirate Dec 8th 2009 2:53PM
"In this way, they keep you subscribed based on THEIR terms, as opposed to YOUR terms."
Your subscription has ALWAYS been on Blizzard's terms, right since launch day.
Every single WoW player has clicked "I accept" on a document that states this.
Athzar Dec 8th 2009 2:56PM
There is virtually NO WAY that Blizzard, nor any company, can reasonably satisfy the uber-mega-guilds while still making the content realistically difficult. While I think that gated content is a bit silly, I don't really care, especially since I can't raid ;)
That said, I do think the real reason for gated content isn't so much to c***block the mega guilds as it is to stem the bad press that comes from mega-guilds successes. Every time 25 November or Nihilum or whatever beats a boss within a month, blog posts and comments and official forum posts alight with "GUILD BEATS WOTLK IN 17 HOURS THIS XPAC SUCKS" and the like. It's not so much that Blizzard minds them beating it, it's that they mind the reputation that WotLK's raiding is short & easy and all the trolling on the official forums and blog posts about that reputation.
Athzar Dec 8th 2009 2:59PM
Example of the press I mean:
"We are proud to declare that all WOTLK PVE raid content has now been cleared. This is both a moment of triumph and a cause for concern. The question in all our minds right now is if we could do this, how soon until the rest of the top guilds in the world clear all the raid content that WOTLK has to offer? Did Blizzard miscalculate in the tuning of these encounters? Or is this Blizzard folding under the weight of a large casual player base that demands to be on equal footing with end-game raiders?"
(This is when Twenty Fifth November beat Naxx & OS, IIRC)
Massa Dec 8th 2009 3:01PM
I actually agree with some of your second comment. They do want people to stay subscribed for as long as possible because they are a business. If people stayed subscribed, Blizzard would have more profit, and therefore more money to hire employees--therefore getting patches/new content out faster. So it's kind of counter-productive for those people who want only new content to unsubscribe. (Yes this is oversimplifying everything--I'm an accountant and I understand this.)
Plus they have given us plenty of extra content to keep us busy for what 3 weeks or so. They have given us 3 new 5-mans (which we will play on normal, and then probably farm for emblems on heroic) and a new raid (not to mention all the bonuses for leveling characters and PUG'ing). But that doesn't mean they didn't work like crazy on all of that. Blizzard wants us to stay subscribed and actually experience the game we pay for. I go back and 2-3 man the raids in vanilla and Burning Crusade because I never got to see them, and I like to see all aspects of the game.
clundgren Dec 8th 2009 4:26PM
"Can't say I blame Blizzard though, from the business point of view. Most of the big guilds aren't recurring subscribers anymore."
Yes, I'm sure the subscription patterns of the elite 1% (or less) of players is Blizzard's primary concern. Clearly, their business model hasn't been working, or they would have at least 20 million subscribers, not a puny 10 million or so.
Docp Dec 8th 2009 6:31PM
@Athzar
In fairness to Ensidia (which is what Twentyfifth november go by now) the original wrath content probably was too easy, with the exception of Sarth with drakes and Maly it was all really easy, and had Blizzard kept it at that level I don't think I'd be playing right now. I think in Ulduar and ToC they found their stride again in making content just the right side of challenging so that it could still be pugged, thereby making it possible for casual players to experience some/all of it, but still provide enough challenge to allow guilds to 'progress' in it and not just 'conquer' it.
Their real master stroke was in the development on hard modes, that can be challenging enough to keep all but the very top guilds struggling for months, thereby keeping a lot of people happy (I was about to say everyone but let's face it, with wow you'll never please everybody.