Patch 3.3.3 PTR: New mounts, models [Updated]
by Anne Stickney 
Feb 20th 2010 at 5:00AM
Patch 3.3.3 will be bringing about some welcome changes in the user interface, instances, and those pesky frozen orbs you can never get rid of, but it looks like they aren't the only things getting an overhaul. Fishing around in the PTR files found some new models as well.
Two new mounts have been added to the game files, the Blazing Hippogryph and the Wooly White Rhino. Where these mounts are obtained is currently unknown -- we'll update with more information on the new mounts as we learn more.
In addition, it looks like Anduin Wrynn finally got his wish -- a new model has been added for the young king-in-training. With more and more models getting overhauls, does this mean players of male humans might finally get rid of that funky overbite? Check out the gallery for pictures of the new mounts and models, and stay tuned for more 3.3.3 PTR info as it develops!
Update: MMO-Champion is reporting that the two mounts are TCG rewards. However, with the recent developments between Blizzard and UDE, this information may change. Keep that in mind, and we'll let you know if we hear any word from the blues about it.
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
NRD80Y Feb 20th 2010 5:05AM
Judging by comment on MMO Champion, the mounts are from WoW TCG
Ruta Feb 20th 2010 5:06AM
I hope that Anduin will get new sound files to reflect his new appearance.
Banic Rhys Feb 20th 2010 6:05AM
"Greetings citizen, I'm full of angst and growing hair everywhere"
Voiced by Dan Castellaneta ofc.
Marcosius Feb 20th 2010 6:49AM
@Banic: you made a funny. Have thumb up.
Guildenstern Feb 20th 2010 7:51AM
"Greetings, citizen. Enjoying your stay in Stormwind?" is going to be really bizarre in a baritone voice punctuated by high-pitched breaks.
tatsumasa Feb 20th 2010 5:02PM
guess they will have to change his gold coin now. won't make sense to say he feels like he's been ten forever anymore.
Gyussz Feb 21st 2010 5:26AM
Why would they? If you write down a wish to a paper and you put it into an envelope, and for an unknown reason you let it go with the wind (:D) Then some time in the future, your wish comes true... would you go find the paper with your wish to modify it?
Deadly. Off. Topic. Feb 22nd 2010 12:44PM
How old is he suppose to be? I thought he was 13 in a 10 year old body, but that artwork makes him look like he's 16 or 17.
Swifteye Feb 20th 2010 5:14AM
I'm impressed, Anduin actually looks really good! He's got a touch of Varian's facial features, but hopefully it'll be another twenty years, couple of wars and at least one imprisonment before he really gets that true I'm-hella-constipated-and-INCREDIBLY-angry-about-it Wrynn look.
As you say, I hope the male human models in general will follow suit... I wanted a male pally (all my toons were female, as I am IRL), but I finally had to go with a Blood Elf ("dainty" as they are) because I just couldn't stand looking at a human guy in the game as it stands (and I got spoiled having pretty female Draenei; I think the males look ridiculous)...
Gah, too many parentheses. But still, fabulous find, you guys certainly are dedicated to post this stuff in the middle of the night!
Tooay Feb 20th 2010 6:03AM
At least -someone- in the royal Stormwind family will look like he didn't spend months without a memory of his royal past fighting as a gladiator for the barbarian Horde masses.
I'm a little scared, though. He looks princely and dashing and all, but he also looks just old enough to go hang out with Med'an.
We really don't need that.
Tomatketchup Feb 20th 2010 6:32AM
Apparently I am just the only one that think he looks like the Nutcracker.
Possum Feb 20th 2010 6:57AM
I'm glad he's growing up and all, but am I the only one who think his eyes look a little...off?
Banic Rhys Feb 20th 2010 7:20AM
I think the fact that Anduin is only 12 years old yet he looks like that is a little off.
Guildenstern Feb 20th 2010 7:53AM
I'm slightly unnerved by the nude lipstick and toned, jutting chin on that kid.
Also, sideburns on a 13-14 year old. What.
Banic Rhys Feb 20th 2010 8:17AM
At the moment he is 12.
"Lore-wise, Anduin Wrynn was ten when the conflict of the original World of Warcraft game was released. However, given the time change taken into account by the release of Wrath of the Lich King, he would be 12 years of age."
http://www.wowwiki.com/Anduin_Wrynn
Swifteye Feb 20th 2010 8:33AM
You have a point, but keep in mind that WoWWiki is written by the fans, not by Blizzard themselves. I don't think it's impractical to think that he *may* have aged more than just two years. Furthermore, the new model was likely made more with Cataclysm in mind than as any sort of last hurrah for WotLK... even if he *is* 12 at this moment in time, I would peg him at 15-ish lore-wise by the time Cataclysm gets here.
As for his eyes, I think they just look "off" because they very obviously gave him Varian's eyes, yet they're contrasted much differently (with Anduin's pale skin, versus Varian being fairly tanned and having his eyes deep-set, weariness-ringed and surrounded by scar tissue). They're not so much "wrong" in general as "wrong" for being Varian's exact eyes but in a MUCH different setting. If that makes any sense whatsoever, heh.
Banic Rhys Feb 20th 2010 8:43AM
Nope, Anduin starts off 10 years old in Vanilla, by the time we reached WoLK he was 12 ( http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/story/timeline.html it says that BC is 1 year after Vanilla and WoLK is 1 year after that.)
As for the proof that he started off 10, read the flavour text on this http://www.wowhead.com/?item=43641 this joke doesn't work if he starts out another age.
And Cataclysm is meant to start immediately after WoLK finishes, as in we kill the Lich King, we sail back home a few days later and find out that Deathwing trashed the place.
TL:DR, He's 12.
Swifteye Feb 20th 2010 8:53AM
Okay, well... I'm not trying to argue; I was unaware that it had been *officially* stated that BC was one year after vanilla and WotK was one year after BC (though I know Anduin was indeed ten at the start of it all).
In that case, I offer a different view... for one, the model actually looks really young, at least in the face. I don't think it'd be freakish at all for a 12-year-old to look like that, assuming puberty started to hit fairly early (not absurdly early, just early-ish on the generally accepted scale). Also, we are not accustomed to seeing 12-year-olds in such regalia IRL; the clothes by themselves make him look older.
... and if nothing else, if all my other arguments are shot down, I'll offer this: even if the model IS kinda wrong for his actual age, I'd rather have a 12-year-old being represented by a 14-16 year old model than to have a 12-year-old represented by a 4-6 year old model as he is currently.
Tooay Feb 20th 2010 9:17AM
I'm pretty sure it was mentioned somewhere that Cataclysm did -not- happen right after the end of WotLK. I think it was last BlizzCon.
PalominoMule Feb 20th 2010 12:35PM
If I've learned anything, rooting about on wowwiki, it's that it isn't really doing the Warcraft timeline justice to describe it as "muddy". Muddy suggests that beneath the mud there is some other substance or structure. I think it's more accurate to liken its timeline to a mud pile laced with primordial ooze, full of potential and contained within only the vaguest of shapes.