In-game changes for January 5th, 2010
by Adam Holisky 
Jan 5th 2010 at 1:10PM
Lady Deathwhisper is having her 25-man normal version changed (not the 10-man) to decrease her mana pool and to decrease the health on all the adds. This means that the shield will go down much faster for guilds currently struggling with that aspect of the encounter. Additionally, tanks get a bit of a buff here in that the Adherents will wait a little bit longer before casting, which means there will be more wiggle room in picking them up. We have a feeling the necessity of these changes will be hotly debated.
The ghost waves in Halls of Reflection have also been changed to allow for easier combinations of mobs (no more two mages in one group). The AoE the mage does will also do less damage and be more interruptable, which should make for an easier time staying grouped up.
The complete list of fixes after the break.
From Bornakk:
- The Lady Deathwhisper encounter has seen the following changes in the 25 player normal version: mana pool has been reduced, the health on all adds has been reduced, and Adherents will wait a little longer after spawning before they start casting.
- Interrupting a fireball being cast by the Ymirjar Flamebearers in normal and heroic Pit of Saron will no longer make them instantly cast Hellfire.
- The ghost waves at the beginning of both normal and heroic Halls of Reflection have undergone several changes that should make them easier to defeat such as preventing 2 mages or 2 mercenaries from spawning in the 5 mob pulls, a shorter duration of the spectral footman's shield bash, and the spectral mage's flamestrike having a longer cast time, shorter duration, and (in heroic) doing less damage.
- The Oculus loot improvements have been made.
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: Patches, News items, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
mckibbon17 Jan 5th 2010 1:17PM
The Oculus loot improvements
Barinthos Jan 5th 2010 1:28PM
And I bet people will STILL whine and moan about it.
johnthediver Jan 5th 2010 2:55PM
I like this. Just last night I had Oculus 2 times in a row. But I joined groups that that had the tank leave at the last boss. If I can just do the final boss, collect 3 emblems and extra loot over and over again all night that would be awesome!
Lupius Jan 5th 2010 7:18PM
Every time I get Oculus as my random, my group ended up having someone get Make It Count in the end. I really don't see how this place can be any easier.
zweitblom Jan 6th 2010 2:24AM
And again: it is NOT about Oculus being hard, it is about Oculus NOT BEING FUN. *sighs*
Big Shoe Jan 6th 2010 10:34AM
The above post hit the nail on the head. The Oculus was never particularly hard, and is far less so in its current state. The problem is that Oculus is simply not fun for many players, to the point where DPS are willing to drop group and wait 15 minutes for a different run. Throwing loot at this problem will not make it go away, but it should encourage players to stick around and see the run through. Hopefully, Old Kingdom will get a similar treatment. Despite the extra badges gained by defeating all five bosses, many random groups will skip right to the end, or just drop out immediately, rather than slog through so many waves of tightly packed and annoying trash mobs. Neither instance is particularly difficult, but Oc and OK have become the Shattered Halls and Shadow Labyrinth of WotLK. As one random hunter said before dropping out: "Sorry, but OK is not okay."
zachb1987 Jan 5th 2010 1:14PM
I suppose they had to nerf HoR sometime. Just wish it was the PuG killer a little longer! =P Having not done the Deathwhisper encounter this makes me sad. I guess progression guilds who clear content got their challenge.
jorge_av Jan 5th 2010 1:23PM
Yeah, even though it was more difficult for most pugs, I really liked the idea of of going in and not being 100% positive the group will make it through. It makes the few drops and achievements I already got from there more special.
Although.,. Now that it's been tone downed a bit, hopefully my priest will finally see that trinket and off hand drop.
Ted Jan 5th 2010 1:28PM
Honestly as a tank that enjoyed an overzealous DK DPS'er constantly pulling threat on the caster mobs last night....I welcome our new one-caster-dps-mob-per-wave Overlords
Barinthos Jan 5th 2010 1:31PM
Surprised there's no info or update on the "ledge strat" for the Lich King run in HoR. Is that still possible then? If so I wonder if Blizzard condones it at all.
tatsumasa Jan 5th 2010 1:53PM
four weeks and you didn't go cuz your guild wasn't ready? no. if you didn't go in four weeks time and think the nerf is coming too soon, you simply didn't try to go. my characters (5k+ gs on main and one alt) sit in a guild by themselves and still get pugged into runs. if you don't put yourself in lfr, turn off trade, leave lfg channel, and ignore general chat in cities, you probably aren't going to get to pug raids. that isn't blizzard's fault.
chris Jan 5th 2010 2:34PM
The Lady Deathwhisper add casting time made it pretty essential to have at least one DK tank, if not 2, to move the adds around. This is, in my opinion, a pretty good change as it allows other tanks to do that job, and I'm sure they didn't intend it as a block to other tanks that don't have death grip.
The add health change makes it so that melee are less of a liability for that fight. Right now, just stack that fight and Deathbringer with ranged and YOU WIN. The reduction in mana pool makes a better balanced group less of a liability.
All in all 2 good raid balance changes that won't significantly alter the fight, or make it a faceroll. Still some coordination and control involved to make this come out right.
Angus Jan 5th 2010 3:29PM
You young whippersnappers with your AoE and yer "I hate dying to flamestrike" whining make me mad. Back in my day we had to use CC in 5 mans, AND WE LIKED IT! Well, except the shaman, but we just told em ta shut it and go resto. Uppity enhance shaman thinkin they could take good 1-handers from warriors.. and dem idjit lolrets wit there stoopid wings... where was I?
OH YEA!!! HoR was like shadowlabs pre-nerf. You felt like Karazhan was a let down after having your 3 hour run to get a stupid key fragment next to the Michelin Man. Just cause some idjits don't understand that standin in fire is bad doesn't mean you nerf flamestrike. Heck, all ya need is a tank that knows how ta get dere attention and can run into a corner to group dem all up then AE the snot out of em while someone CCs that annoying rifleman who keeps iceblocking the healer or the mage that seems to think she's Jaina in freakin Hyjal and won't effing die already... Man, I remember havin Jaina tank Loot Winterchill... ya, good times... wait, what were we talkin about? And why are ya on my lawn? GET OFF MY LAWN YA DARN KIDS!!!
Aaron Jan 5th 2010 1:15PM
Back in my day, we fought two priests and two mages and two mercenaries in HoR and we LIKED it! Uphill both ways, too.
zachb1987 Jan 5th 2010 1:17PM
My resto druid actually had to pop Innervate in HoR the way it was before. Now I can take it off my action bar again. =)
Jeff Jan 5th 2010 1:20PM
And barefoot in twelve feet of snow! I tell ya this younger generation is soft....
Pulse_Crawler Jan 5th 2010 1:28PM
When I was your age, we didn't have World of Warcraft. We had World War II, and let me tell you something - when you shot at the Germans, it aggroed ten thousand of them in a 5 mile radius.
Ciel Jan 5th 2010 1:32PM
Damn you Pulse! I almost choked on my sammich.
busuan Jan 5th 2010 1:39PM
Mixed feelings about this. From my experience both as a tank and a dps:
1, With a geared (average 226) and experienced group, H-HoR is a satisfying challenge. It is the only instance at this point that demands crowd control and coordination, instead of spoiling new gamers that they should be able to 'faceroll' every heroics.
2, Tow mages/two mercs are definitely the morale killer. Unless everyone has at least full ToC10 gear and is very experienced and skillful, it is one of the random combos that's impossible to do.
Nitewolf Jan 5th 2010 1:55PM
LOL Pulse! that was amazing!!!