Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSecond wing of Icecrown Citadel to open in 28 days
by Matt Low 
Dec 9th 2009 at 4:06AM
Already, a number of guilds have cleared out the first bosses in the lower areas of Icecrown Citadel. After taking down the Deathbringer, talking to your friendly faction hero yields some information as to when the doors will open. In Trial of the Crusader, one new boss opened every week. In Icecrown Citadel, it seems like they're increasing the time between gates. As reported by Stratfu, the next area will open in 28 days (which is expected to be the Plagueworks containing Festergut, Rotface, and Professor Putricide). January 5th is the target date for the next set of bosses.
At the rate we're going (28 days between gates), we won't see Arthas until April.
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.
At the rate we're going (28 days between gates), we won't see Arthas until April.
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: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Raiding, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Broken_toes Dec 9th 2009 5:09AM
This doesn't bode well for forums- those epiccy hard core raiders are goin to have nuthin to do fairly soon.
Does anyone know anything about that buff I heard about that goes on after Arthas unlocks? I can't mind the details but i'm sure I read something about that.
One hour till european servers go up- Time to wipe!
Elix Dec 9th 2009 5:16AM
Not sure what the fuss is about. 4 weeks means 4 reset. And 2 of these resets will probably be drowning in season festivities and Christmas celebrations. I say we all chill, relax, enjoy the holidays and come back ready to kick ass in 2010!
Lissanna Dec 9th 2009 8:04AM
Ya, my guild probably won't raid more than 10-mans in the weeks of Christmas & New years.
Racci Dec 9th 2009 5:20AM
We cleared the first four in 2 hours D:
wildwinds Dec 9th 2009 5:38AM
I guess theres several aims at work here. Firstly Blizzard wants to give everyone a better chance, so by gating ICC they are stalling the hardcores and letting the rest farm the first bit for a few weeks to get some gear.
Secondly, and perhaps more crucially, Blizzard don't want to have spent months and months on this patch, only to see Ensidia down Arthas tomorrow.
Dead Dec 9th 2009 5:49AM
Highly disappointed that it has to come to road-blocks such as these to prevent people from completing ICC in an artifical manner - perhaps it's an indication that even on the upper tiers of this raid, things will be quite the walk over?
If this is the way Catalysm is heading into, I rather not pick up the next expansion - throughly gutted (geddit ? ) I am.
I know this is a tad bit of QQ, and I do apologise in advance to any Blizzard apologetics, but Blizz, please remember: it's Game first - Business second.
Clbull Dec 9th 2009 7:56AM
Why is Dead being downvoted by people who think that this is just 'mindless QQ'? I think he has a very good point.
Its going to be very boring to raid if the opening of different bosses/wings in Cataclysm is going to be delayed THAT long. Sure, Ulduar's normal modes got cleared in almost a day by Ensidia, but Hard modes were a step in the right direction. It took the top guilds ages to get the harder encounters down.
I liked the design philosophy around 3.1 that raid content should be made accessible with optional hard modes which offer better rewards and progression. But since 3.2, its been getting more and more ridiculous.
Trial of the Crusader was laughably easy... until you got to Grand Crusader, and even then you were still forced to wait a week for the next boss to be unlocked, but with icecrown, 28 days is ridiculous.
Robert Dec 9th 2009 6:32AM
I'm pretty sure it's like the second commenter said: it's Christmas. We got this much as a Christmas present. Now go visit your family for a few weeks and you can worry about real progression in January.
kjmd1988 Dec 9th 2009 6:40AM
Hell Bring in the Goblin Engineers... Everyone knows Goblin engineers are the best at blowing things up! If you continue to use the gnomes they might blow up something else by accident and have to wait another 28 days lol.
Gren Dec 9th 2009 7:17AM
I kind of liked the thing with ToGC - one boss every week etc. But this sounds silly - 28 days? Guilds already cleared ICC first wing on first day afer patch.
We clear normal TOGC+ Onyx +VoA in one night, Hms in 1-2, and first wing ICC in one night. Is this some kind of parental control from Blizzard: "we do not want you to play to much, you can do all instances in 2-3 nights - go outside RL and play". I honestly believe we might see a lot of players quitting game now. This might be the breaking point - I am considering leaving the game soon. I wish this didn't happen - I love WoW - but I do want more challenges!
omedon666 Dec 9th 2009 7:34AM
Yes, it's parenting, and the poopsockers brought it on themselves.
In a world where people sue McDonalds for obesity, people apparently need others to think for them.
People that quit the game because "QQ blizzard wants my lifestyle to be more healthy!".... Well, it's win/win.
N-train Dec 9th 2009 12:37PM
Look the point of this, as I see it, is threefold:
One is to make the hardcore raiding guilds suck it up, yeah the top Horde guild on my server had 10 and 25 man cleared about 4 hours after the server got stable. Weeks and weeks worth of work on the Dev teams part blown through in 4 hours. They're making you suck it up and enjoy the effort they put in, as opposed to /sighing as Arthas goes down in three weeks. The dev team has stated many times, this isn't just another patch x.x, this is their crown jewel.
Secondly is to kill time until Cata, that seems pretty obvious. There was no real way around that. It's either put a large amount of time inbetween patches (yawn), gate content to spread it out until our new expansion is ready, or release it all in one big chunk and then have everyone bored and leaving cause there is nothing new to do for the 8 months until Cata comes.
And Thirdly, it's to assure that as many people as possible get to see ICC. When you set it up so that players only need meet the gear requirements for 4 bosses (and subsequently only need to learn 4 fights) at a time instead of 12, you give a lot more players who aren't in top 10 raiding guilds a fighting chance to see the content. That's why they're giving you triumph badges on everything now and basically shoving the frost ones down your throat. They want everyone to enjoy and take part in ICC.
Pemberton Dec 9th 2009 9:05PM
Not til next year????
Acestor Dec 9th 2009 7:26AM
28 days! Yeah right. They're engineers right? Speaking as an engineer myself we are taught to always over estimate project completion time. That way we never worry about being getting done later than our estimation and when it's early we look like gods.
I am fully confident Blizzard is just blowing smoke up our #$@. We will see Arthas much sooner than April! I suspect January-February: the coldest months for the coldest boss.
Dean Dec 9th 2009 7:37AM
I like this, but don't see why hard mode (with limited attempts) can't be opened up at the same time? This suits my casual raiding guild fine - we'll just have the first wing down pat when the new one opens, but sucks for the people already in 25-man hard-mode t9 gear that'll just run through it in no time.
Clbull Dec 9th 2009 7:50AM
No offence, but it just feels like a cheap way to make content last longer by expanding the gap between the opening of wings that long.
Bosses being unlocked a week later was bad enough in Trial of the Crusader, but a WHOLE MONTH before we can see the next wave of content???
Hardcore raiders literally nom the normal mode content down pretty quick. They're going to be a bit pissed off if they have to wait a month before the Plagueworks is opened.
jrizutko Dec 9th 2009 11:22AM
Why does everyone throw a pity party for hardcore raiders? They can take of themselves.
Gating the content keeps the best raiders in YOUR guild from leaving YOU behind to guild hop somewhere the progression is faster.
Zeds Dec 9th 2009 7:54AM
28 days may seem like a long period, but remember that Blizzard employees also need to have their holiday vacation.
Afterwards, hopefully, the other wings will open with shorter delay.
Mr. Crow Dec 9th 2009 8:02AM
I believe that this gate will take 4 weeks to get us past the holidays, not only because Blizzard doesn't want us wiping our way through Christmas, but because Blizzard's made up of people too. People who want to be with their families and not debugging content.
That being said, I also think that we won't see a consistent rate of 28 days per gate. There are three gates to open, and I think Blizzard will likely shorten the unlock time for future gates to get us into that content faster. If we even shorten Crimson Halls and Frostwing Gates to three weeks...
The Plagueworks opens on January 5th.
The Crimson Halls opens on January 26th.
Frostwing Lair opens on February 16th.
(How were estimations of 28 days per gate putting Arthas in April? There are only three gates...)
Normal Arthas goes down within a week, and Heroic Modes will likely keep everyone nice and busy while they bring up the Cataclysm beta somewhere in Q2.
James Riggs Dec 9th 2009 8:10AM
Maybe by then they'll have the new LFG system working.