Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsFirst impressions: Icecrown Citadel raid and 5-mans
by Allison Robert 
Dec 11th 2009 at 1:00PM
- Forge of Souls is the easiest of the new 5-mans. The most common gripe is that group members don't pay attention to their raid warnings and move in as necessary for Bronjahm, or stop DPS on Devourer of Souls if they get Mirrored Soul.
- Pit of Saron is pretty cool, though quite sad at the end (at least if you're Horde). The trash pulls full of casters are on the tough side if people aren't good about interrupting or moving out of Hellfire on heroic. Also, don't bank on getting Don't Look Up in a pug.
- Halls of Reflection is widely cited for the intense difficulty of the first two bosses (or, more accurately, the trash waves preceding them). The heroic version is not recommended for undergeared groups, and a successful run demands a decently high level of play from all members of the group. The end is really cool.
- Lord Marrowgar is considered a utility fight; it's a gear check for the tanks and a basic competence check for everyone else. This is possibly the result of its being one of the weekly raid quests. Alex Ziebart characterizes Marrowgar as "the first half of Black Temple in review."
- Lady Deathwhisper is the first real challenge for a competent raid and tests your ability to get Deathwhisper's shield to 0% while controlling adds and mind-controlled (on 25-man) players. The encounter punishes players swiftly for a lack of raid awareness, but it's not too steep a learning curve, and once you've gotten her to phase 2, you've pretty much won. Melee DPS are unhappy about yet another set of mobs in the game with nasty cleaves who have to be jockeyed into position.
- The Gunship battle: Very positive reactions in general. On a personal note, I think this is one of Blizzard's best, most unique, and most interesting fights since Sunwell. I want this fight to get married and have kids.
- Deathbringer Saurfang: Phase 4 Illidan meets the spawn of Saurfang. Players everywhere wonder: why can't Saurfang Jr. cleave?
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Instances, Raiding, Bosses
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 6)
birdtongue Dec 11th 2009 6:13PM
Sylvanas had always struck me as more tragic than vengeful towards the living -- she has no loyalty to them since many are happy to kill any undead, Scourge or no, but she seemed willing to ally with any who could discern the difference; her beef was with the Lich King. we haven't had opportunity to see her or the rest of the Horde's reaction lore-wise since Wrathgate, so maybe she's embittered by the implied conflict within the Horde. it's gotta be rough to spend years proving yourself a worthy ally, only to have that overturned by schemers in your own city.
still, i was a bit shocked when she was flippant at the speech being cut off, though i took it more as black humor. my group had freed every slave we spotted, quest or no. might be another faction split for Undead in the near future. :(
Vaulkner Dec 12th 2009 12:34AM
The end (and beginning) of PoS was sad if you were Alliance...
The end (and beginning) of PoS was both sad and infuriating if you were Horde.
Because Sylvanas (the person who is almost single-handedly to blame for all the struggles we've gone through in this expansion other than the LK himself) has the nerve and very poor taste of insulting the massacred horde and alliance forces (made up of POWs that Arthas turned into extremely poorly treated slaves who then turned around and put their lives on the line so your party could defeat the scourgelord).
And it doesn't matter how bitter she might be at the rest of the horde. A leader shouldn't let their personal issues interfere with their judgement, which she clearly does. She has no right to be bitter at anyone either, frankly. Guess whose fault it ultimately was that the RAS were able to pull off the wrathgate incident? Hers. But who could have seen that coming when you make a DREADLORD OF THE BURNING LEGION your right-hand man? Oh, right...anyone. I'd be a hell of a lot more upset if I were Thrall or any other Horde leader - her actions have hurt the reputation of the entire horde.
Valis Dec 12th 2009 2:02AM
Sadly...like I sad...blizzard has pulled cheap ploy with her.
Sylvanas is 'hawt' she wears skimpy armor, she's and elf female, and a total bitch. They turned her into an atypical 'fantasy bad gurrrl' and it's almost sickening to see her cheaped up in this way.
I have a feeling that she could have killed those Horde slaves herself and some would not care because well.....her massive double boob job.
**Any bets on them getting 'even bigger' in Cata? >_<
Ctmcstomperq Dec 11th 2009 2:36PM
I have found Heroic HoR to be entirely different if you use undead CC(ala Fear, Freezing Arrow, Repentance, Turn Evil, I think they're even sheepable) to take 2 or 3 of the adds out of each wave. It's still intense if you are the CC'er(I LOVE being ret spec in this). It is imperative however that the healer stay behind the tank and that dps prioritize getting CC of some kind on any loose adds. Also, the final part is pure, unadulterated win provided you have enough DPS.
Ayiano Dec 11th 2009 2:38PM
H-HoR is my new favorite instance. Yes, it's pretty hard, even for a well-geared group, but it really tests my healing skills to the limit. Plus trying to escape the Lich King himself is just plain epic, from a lore perspective.
Though the other two instances are also pretty fun. My first entry into PoS was with a pretty good pug, and when we first went up against Krick and Ick, he cast poison nova at around 75% health, and wiped out all 3 dps, leaving the pally tank and me, the priest healer, alive. It was an epic fight with just the two of us literally taking this guy down (moar DoTs!). We would have done it too if I didn't run out of his range as I was being chased and reset the boss when he was down to 11k health. I'm still kicking myself over that.
Stormsinger Dec 11th 2009 2:41PM
I really like the new instances (will get into ICC this weekend) on heroic. Thoughts:
FoS really did feel easy. As a tank my first experience with the big pull with multiple casters I would come to know and "love" in PoS. Last boss was pretty, nice to see RoS reused.
PoS was much more fun. The 5 pulls on the ramp leading to the tunnel are just filled with fun. This was where I really started to feel the AI glitch of mobs constantly trying to flank me. Made it more challenging and at the time I assumed it was a feature. Luckily I wasn't running with heavy melee dps or they would have gotten really annoyed with my constant repositioning of mobs. The tunnel is really fun. The last boss is a very fun tank encounter with the Unholy Power kiting and all.
HoR is srz bznz on heroic. The first encounter got damned intense even with a very strong group. I think that retraining people on the concept of LoS will help, but it's still a great challenge. The two bosses felt easier than the trash. The Lich King encounter is very cool, and I really felt the pressure looking back and seeing him coming inexorably forward. Very cool feel too it and I was legit thrilled when the gunship came up.
Even though I'm not thrilled by the loot in all three (lack of sockets FTL), I think it is the appropriate pieces. It will gear people up to 232 but not with the flexibility and bonus power of socketed gear from ToC. The gear in ICC OTOH... nomnomnom!
Hates Dec 11th 2009 2:46PM
If I could form a 10 man group (2 tanks, 2 healers, 5 DPS, 1 spec floater), would it be possible in Naxx25/Uld10 gear to clear trash on a weekly basis for rep alone? I recall the days of casuals doing trash clears in Sunwell for random epics and recipes up to the first boss, I'm just concerned about how hard the trash is to control, how hard it hits. Thoughts? Suggestions?
Neirin Dec 11th 2009 2:57PM
My group died more on Marrowgar trash than everything else combined. This was mostly because it's fairly easy to pull a bunch of extra mobs if you're not careful (I swear those giant skeletons are like rogues, they just sneak up on ya).
uncaringbear Dec 11th 2009 5:59PM
We've already done that, forming PuG 10 mans to farm the trash before Marrowgar. When we hit friendly, we were all rewarded with a nice ilvl 251 ring. We'll probably go back in today to further increase our rep. I wouldn't say the trash is super easy in any way. If you have impatient tanks and DPS who don't feel like interrupting, it can be frustrating. It took us 4 clears of the trash to hit friendly. Definitely worth doing!
thebvp Dec 11th 2009 2:51PM
GIANT....UNDAPANTS..... CLEEEEEEEAN!!!!
Neirin Dec 11th 2009 2:52PM
The difficulty of HoR is completely dependent on the skills of your dps. If they know how to focus fire and let the tank get aggro, it's fairly simple. If they decide that it's ok to open up on that mage on the other side of the room I barely have more threat on than the healer, things go south pretty quickly.
Honestly, the Gunship battle is probably my least favorite fight in WoW, I have more fun in heroics. Maybe it's just because I wasn't manning the cannons or something, but it basically felt like clearing trash. Boring trash - like VH boring. My job was basically to hit tab, nuke a little, tab, nuke a little, move out of that rune, nuke, etc. I spent most of my energy trying to get funny screenshots instead of paying attention to the fight.
machoflaco Dec 11th 2009 2:56PM
I fully enjoy the new content, I really liked HOR and running from the Lich King! I was fighting every temptation to just see if I can do any damage to him.
Sarakin Dec 11th 2009 3:15PM
the sadness at the end of pit of saron is countered by sylvannus being a total bitch about it. The whole group with me was like wow that's cold
Elseer Radak Dec 11th 2009 3:41PM
AS an affliction lock, killing the Devourer of Souls is horribly pedantic. He casts mirror about 3-4 times a minute so that means no dots or any kind, and no pets. Seed of corruption to clear out some ghosts? nope. Shadow bolt spam in all it's glory! or Change to destro, and use chaos bolts and soul fires. My dps, in either play style, is about 600 dps. It's sad, gimmicky and rather frustrating. PTL for Deadly Boss Mod since I now know when to stop spamming shadow bolts so as not to melt my party members.
Another gripe I have is how hard it is to find the dungeon entrance after my soul stone is on cool down. It needs a grave yard much closer since it's quite a haste.
Euphande Dec 11th 2009 4:34PM
I have the same problem with the trash mobs in FoS who cast a spell reflect (the giant skeletons who come in groups of two). "Crap, I'm going to need heals, I just critted myself" (FFB mage). The result is I've pretty much stopped DPS on these mobs. Maybe I should hit them with my dagger? lol.
Although--I went into the Tyrannus fight the first time with a good group but, none of us had ever done it (we like going blind once or twice; it's fun to figure out yourself), and of course we wiped the first time. "Check your combat logs--tank, what killed you?" says heals. Tank replies, "Um... it looks like... Euph killed me?" Hilarity ensues and we figure it out.
Actually I have to say that that is one of my favorite things about the new heroics. If you go in blind you'll wipe a few times of course, but the audio cues and regular game cues/warnings (nevermind DBM, although it helps) are good enough that if you pay attention and remember the Basic Rules of PvE (don't stand in bad) you can figure it out pretty quickly.
Don Dec 11th 2009 4:05PM
Marrowgar is by far the hardest of the 1st four fights. Wiped on him for about 90 minutes, then either one or two-shotted the rest of the instance.
Heroic Halls of Reflection is harder than ToC 10 man imho, especially as a healer.
mokerr Dec 14th 2009 5:16PM
Personally I found the 5mans on par with all the rest of the wotlk instances. Tbh, with the iLevel of the gear that drops, I would have wished for something more challenging, so peeps might for once actually work/earn their gear. Then again I was a big fan of heroics like Shadow Labs, Shat. Halls and MgT in bc.
The 10/25 raid instances are moderate in difficulty (10 being much more easier than 25). At least we got some trash and a proper instance this time after the tribute to uninspired design laziness that was ToC. ToC leaving a bad taste in your mouth just like a water boiled steak, being served w/o even salt or pepper.
Hopefully as we progress into the other wings we'll actually come across some challenges worth more than a night's work to clear.
Walynds Dec 11th 2009 4:26PM
Only done FoS heroic once. Breezed through (warrior tank). Hitting up the others tonight.
10 man ICC. Ahh bosses and trash where DPS actually has to position for cleaves and mind threat! Finally! Loving it. Deathwhisper is a great fight IMO. IF that fight dosent make your guild work as a team nothing will.
As for the LFG in general, IT locked my undergeard pally out of the new heroics. Brilliant stuff. Ill queue with more confidence on my tank. 5 randoms so far, 0 wipes.
Tridus Dec 11th 2009 4:28PM
I see, thanks.
Cabbageloins Dec 11th 2009 4:56PM
I'd just like to point out that Saurfang Jr. chose to spec blood. Choke on that, you frost DW pansies!