Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWrath 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 2 of 2)
WoWie Zowie Dec 8th 2009 2:25PM
does everyone in a 10 or 25 man need to have completed the regular mode or is it more like algalon, where the person with the raid ID can access for everyone?
Bit Bucket Dec 8th 2009 3:03PM
What the heck?? I paid to play, not to sit idly twiddling my thumbs waiting for the servers to boot up. Annoying, very annoying.....
Athzar Dec 8th 2009 3:00PM
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 3:02PM
Sorry, 1Password posted this twice. Downrank please ;)
sprout_daddy Dec 8th 2009 3:01PM
I like the idea of lockouts, even though they'll never apply to me (it will be a small miracle if I see any of the Icecrown content before next year or even post-Cataclysm). I'm certain it will annoy a few of the mega-guilds spoken of before, but I think there's something to be said for the metering of content so that people have a chance to explore it before it's rendered less-novel by guild server firsts.
When Ulduar came out, I was excited to see the brand new content, and we clomped through it at a slow (some would say pathetic) pace. Before we made it past the second boss, all the realm firsts were completed. Were we competing for them? No? Did it matter? Well, I guess not. But somehow that content felt just a little bit less new.
Staggering the content lockouts isn't going to enhance the experience of those mega-guilds - they're only interested in "beating" the content, not experiencing it - but it may make it seem a little more like new stuff for the schlubs like myself who enjoy seeing new stuff and make up the lion's share of the population.
Massa Dec 8th 2009 3:06PM
I totally agree with you.
I enjoy going at those slower paces through raids sometimes because you actually see what's going on. Most people nowadays just run straight through everything as fast as possible (I understand there are time constraints--I have plenty of them), but if you actually looked at some of the artistry and architecture in some of those places--WOW! That's a lot to miss out on because no one wants to run the "old" stuff.
A few days ago, there was a server first in Ulduar and someone said--"Psh, that's old content." Makes no sense to me--yeah Ulduar may have been out a while, but this person obviously hadn't gotten the achievement since it was a server first.
Servo Dec 8th 2009 3:02PM
Okay, so I'm a little lost here. Will the 10 or 25 man raids be available at all once the servers go back up? I'm trying to read up on the boss encounters and I'm not sure how far to go.
jasonkidd1234 Dec 8th 2009 3:30PM
So...
Just wondering, how difficult are the regular versions of the 5 mans going to be?
My priest currently is in mostly h-toc(5) epics, with a few conquest pieces and nearly a triumph piece.
Should I take advantage of the random pug feature to get a boatload of triumph emblems before I try it? Or can I already got and get myself some of the gear from the 3 five mans ahead of time.
Also what gear type will the heroic versions drop? 10toc level gear?
Sky Dec 8th 2009 4:21PM
You are way behind on gear.. I would say you need to be decked in badge of conquest/valor gear and about two pieces of t9 (you just need 60 triumph badges for the poor man version = shoulders and gloves). Which if you play around 2 hours a day for a month you should have by now. I play around 2 hours a day on weekdays and around 4 -5 hours a night on weekend because of my tight school and work schedule and im decked in 245's. I have no idea why you are so behind on gear.
The normal mode will drop 226 heroic mode will drop 232 hope this helps. If you have been lvl 80 for a month or so and been allocating your playing time properly (doing dailies rather than trade chatting) you should be wearing majority ilvl 226 and a couple t9's and should be able to 1 shot the new 5 mans on normal mode.
ahedofu Dec 8th 2009 5:09PM
Normal mode drops 219 ilvl gear, equiv to Uld10 and H-ToC5
Melvyl Dec 8th 2009 5:25PM
> I have no idea why you are so behind on gear.
For those of us who aren't in raiding guilds, have leveled more than one character to 80, and haven't been totally focused on gear it doesn't sound so surprising to me.
I started in the game last December and now have 3 80s and lots of other alts at various levels across 3 realms. The best geared one (4 Conquest pieces) is a character that I started the last day of the Mid-Summer Fire Festival.
203 days to get 405 Emblems of Frost from 5 mans = July 1st
I would love to think that before Cataclysm arrives, I will have at least one of my characters decked out in lvl251 Tier 10 gear. But I am not going to count on it.
necro Dec 8th 2009 4:31PM
my server is up and cant log in z.z
i log in and it goes to load and sits at loading screen
Dudegar Dec 8th 2009 5:40PM
How about a new VoA boss? I can't find any info about him or whether there even is a new boss... I've only noticed someone mentioning a 'Frost Watcher' but nothing more. Is there a new boss and when is he going to be available (ie. when the next pvp season is likely to start)?
Super Healer Dec 9th 2009 8:29AM
Regarding the delayed availability of the raid bosses, I wonder if its because they havent finished programming them yet, or just to keep the subscribers interested in light of a few others MMO's being released beginning of next year?
Will Dec 11th 2009 10:46AM
I, for one, don't care if it's considered too easy. I just want to be able to help down Arthas. If it is too difficult, it will make the win all the more satisfying.
I just posted more of my thoughts on dropping the Lich King here: http://averagespacegoat.blogspot.com/2009/12/death-to-lich-king.html
As for it being gated, I also don't mind waiting a bit to reach the main baddie, but being a casual, I think it would stink to only let the uber players tackle the Lich King.
timejumper