The Queue: Allie gets lost in Icecrown edition
by Allison Robert 
Dec 29th 2009 at 6:00PM
Alex is popping out for a RL issue, so I'm afraid, dear readers, that you're going to get stuck with the writer who will spend the entirety of a question today wandering off the Icecrown map. HC SVNT DRACONES. Frostwyrms, anyway.
As a warning, the answer to said question contains what some players will consider a spoiler, so don't read past the cut if you don't want to know anything about an upcoming Icecrown encounter.
TAD asks...
Will experience acceleration go away once Cataclysm drops?
We don't think so, because the 1-85 grind for a new character will still be pretty lengthy even with experience acceleration, but truthfully we don't know. I'd argue that Blizzard doesn't have much of a reason to change current leveling speed, because it's only efficient if the character in question is outfitted in heirloom items (particularly the chest and shoulders with the +experience boost). This obviously won't happen for a genuinely new player seeing the content for the first time. As you've probably also observed with alts on a different realm from your main, leveling's not that fast without being bankrolled by another toon or sitting on a pile of heirlooms.
Then again, I'm one of those crazy people who enjoys questing for its own sake and I'll be doing all the new quests anyway, so what do I know?
Busuan asks...
Where is Angrathar the Wrathgate exactly located in ICC? IAW, where would you be after you enter the gate?
One of the interesting things about Angrathar (and the extreme southern end of Icecrown/northwestern Dragonblight, more generally) is that, past a certain point, the game doesn't seem to be entirely certain about where you are. You don't show up on the map, you have no coordinates, and if you fly straight over the dead center of the Wrath Gate and keep going, the point at which you'll finally show up is at 56,99 in Icecrown despite the fact that you're not actually in Icecrown yet.
So yes. That little strip of land between Angrathar and Icecrown is, to say the least, on the bizarre side and pretty much a no-man's-land. Look around you and you'll see it's clearly a huge mountain that you're flying over/around. Map-wise, it's got to be housing at least a portion of the Icecrown Citadel complex, and the most likely candidates would seem to be one or more of the new 5-mans. However, Pit of Saron takes place in an open area, so it can't possibly be enclosed entirely by the mountain, and the last portion of Halls of Reflection takes place outdoors as well. A combination of the two, plus all of Forge of Souls? But FoS isn't that big, so there's got to be something else there too.
On that note, an equally fascinating development is that, at least as of the advent of patch 3.3, the exterior "set" for the Arthas encounter also seems to be available. If you fly around that no-man's land, the tallest building you'll see there is the spire crowned by the Frozen Throne platform that Boubouille recently datamined. Now, it's possible that this was here earlier and I just missed it, but I explored Icecrown pretty thoroughly both on the beta and more recently (the area was just as odd coordinate- and map-wise then too) and don't recall seeing the Frozen Throne platform being present before. I should mention that the Throne itself is not visible, but the platform on which it rests is there, complete with the floor design and what will be breakable portions of the platform. We think it's the same thing. More on this in another article to come shortly.
Anyway, if you look directly up from Marrowgar's room, you'll see a huge spiral leading up to what I think is the Frozen Throne. This would seem to suggest that the first of the Icecrown Citadel raid encounters forms the base of the complex inside the mountain, and that the spiral housing Marrowgar's room and crowned by the Frozen Throne is at the extreme southern end. The Icecrown 5-mans occupy higher levels on what appears to be the mountain's western side.
Blightmare asks...
My main spec is DPS as a death knight and I was wondering how high my gear score should be to run ICC regular 10-man?
ICC-10 is designed for players who are generally outfitted in i-level 232 gear, which is what you can get from non-heroic ToC-10 and/or most badge pieces (although most non-set Triumph badge items are actually i-level 245). If you have better than that, ICC-10 will be easier; if you have worse than that, it'll be harder, and so on and so forth.
Other than that, I don't use Gear Score so I really have no idea what that would translate into. Honestly, so many classes and specs out there still benefit from the use of lower i-level trinkets and relics (Greatness, anyone?) that play havoc on Gear Score that, at best, I'm ambivalent on the merits of using GS to say that someone is or isn't geared for specific content.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW.com crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer 'em!Filed under: The Queue, Analysis / Opinion, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
rawrawrawr Dec 29th 2009 6:12PM
In HoR, the ledge you end up on after escaping Mr. LK is just above the Wrath Gate. Warlocks can use Glyphed Eye of Kilrogg to take a look around. The instance extends well into Crystalsong and almost to Dalaran.
As for the top of the Frozen Throne being accessible from (noninstanced) Icecrown, that was added in 3.3. I believe they also made the Citadel taller.
Alanid Dec 29th 2009 6:21PM
Aye, I noticed a lot of differences when I flew past the citadel last, all big it was, like the mast of me ship... 'cept... bigger... and spikey..er. Arr.
Tom Dec 30th 2009 6:06AM
That balcony you end up on is one of the few high up locations in instances which you can jump from. As my priest I have taken to leaping off the balcony and levitating down. (Arthas is right behind us after all! Sorry Sylvanas). You can fall all the way down onto the Gunship and ride it back up again as the scripted event takes place.
Anyway, my point is, you can get a very good look around from that gunship and it does appear to be the Wrathgate area.
Itanius Dec 30th 2009 11:01AM
You can still see the pre-3.3 version (the shorter one) of ICC's external model from the Forge of Souls instance. Oops?
Alanid Dec 29th 2009 6:13PM
Very nice, I personally don't consider gearscore a valid form of identifying whether someone is raid viable. It depends partly on their actual stats (gearscore seems like a lazy way rather than looking at someones armory page or inspecting them) and their personality. Someone could have the highest gearscore in the game but if they were an ass I wouldn't hesitate to give them the cutest kitten in the world, and one night when they are are sleeping and least expecting it sneak into their house and punch them in the face treatment.
tl;dr - be a good person and pull your weight or you'll get punched in the face. Good day.
uncaringbear Dec 30th 2009 12:20AM
Gearscore doesn't kill people. People kill people.
otheus Dec 30th 2009 5:42AM
As someone who's safely walked the immaculate sidewalks of Singapore, I can tell you one thing: Caning works.
To all those naysayers out there who say that's illegal, you can't strike mouthbreathers on their bare buttocks with razor-sharp bamboo sticks. To them I say, Yes. We. Cane.
Boz Dec 30th 2009 8:38AM
(High Gear Score + Skill) > (Low Gear Score + Skill) > (High Gear Score + 0 Skill) > (Low Gear Score + 0 Skill)
or
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/02/yogg-saron-in-blues/
Gear score CAN be a useful tool, just like DPS Meters. But just like meters, it has the potential for abuse. It is there to make sure you don’t end up with the lowest common denominator of players and waste the time of your group. Sadly, you may miss out on the second tier of great players using gearscore; THAT is the true issue, and one without any easy tool to quantify that skill.
Viper007Bond Dec 29th 2009 6:13PM
Gear Score is one of the most worthless statistics ever. Case in point: my alt is 85 points behind my seriously geared main.
SINisterWyvern Dec 29th 2009 6:23PM
Or you just gearscore check w/ your main gear set and then switch to the role you're performing if you have multiple roles.
On another note my seriously low geared priest (not even ulduar level) got randomly inserted into heroic Pit. But i believe that's because I already did it once w/ guildies. Not sure how that works.
Snuzzle Dec 30th 2009 3:10PM
Blizzard's checker goes by ALL the gear you have, even stuff in your bags you can't use or that's for another spec. My shaman's enh set is very good, but his resto set is poor at best. Guess who got placed into hHoR as a healer...... -_-
Ninerva Dec 29th 2009 6:16PM
Icecrown Citadel's exterior model was changed in 3.3, it's now much taller and has the Frozen Throne platform. You can still see the old model on the login screen. http://www.wowwiki.com/File:IcecrownCitadelCompare.jpg
Dreamstorm Dec 30th 2009 1:53PM
" However, Pit of Saron takes place in an open area, so it can't possibly be enclosed entirely by the mountain"
Ever flown around and over Ulduar before entering the raid...? Yes, you've seen it correctly, the outdoor fights against Leaviathan, Razorscale and XT are apparantly on some other plain of existence...
Elmo Dec 29th 2009 6:22PM
I was really happy to see the spire after marrowgar.
it is indeed the spire on which the frozen throne rests, the very spire seen in the WarcraftIII cinematic.
I'd love to see it again later on in ICC. (didnt go on the ptr so Idk)
endersdemise924 Dec 29th 2009 6:22PM
As a druid, can I OOC rez somebody after they soul release? I was always under the impression that I couldn't, but some pally harped on me telling me I could.
rawrawrawr Dec 29th 2009 6:24PM
You can, but you need to click their corpse manually, instead of being able to target their corpse or their name plate.
SINisterWyvern Dec 29th 2009 6:25PM
You just click on your rez spell with no target, then your pointer will have a blue glow. Then just click on their soulless body.
Vine Dec 29th 2009 6:24PM
At the end of HoR, I jumped off the airship at speed and used my parachute cloak. I found myself floating into Dragonblight, above the Wrathgate, and even got Alexstrasza's buff. Eventually the parachute ran out and I fell and died, and had to re-enter HoR. Why is the instance this large?
Rapskallion Dec 29th 2009 6:25PM
Gearscore is great for exactly what is says it does... looks at gear and gives you a score. What it doesn't take into account is, as people have mentioned before, if the person behind the score is a decent or intelligent raider.
My rogue could throw on iLvl 272 tree gear and get invited to any raid requiring a high gear score. Would I be a useful raider trying to stab bosses with Int and MP5 (or whatever it is trees use)? Ha ha ha. But I've got a high gear score, so I must be pro.
It's a partially useful metric if used properly... but a full armory (or even imba.hu, which is my preference) is better. Still not a total picture of what quality someone is as a raider... but better.
jbodar Dec 29th 2009 7:23PM
Absolutely right. GS also doesn't account for spec, but it is one of several metrics that you can use to quickly make a decision. The GS addon also lets you "inspect" anyone you've recently scanned, even if you're no longer nearby, so you don't have to alt-tab out, launch your browser, etc.