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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPatch 4.3: Blizzard's official preview of the End Time heroic dungeon
by Matthew Rossi 
Sep 19th 2011 at 12:30PM
Unlike previous CoT instances, this one sends the players into the future after Deathwing wins, to help Nozdormu find the reason he's blocked from accessing the past -- specifically, to the time before the Demon Soul was hidden by Malfurion. Along the way, you're forced to battle various former Horde and Alliance leaders, now reduced to echoes of their former sanity, and then the mysterious, malefic maestro of madness Murozond, an anomaly in the timestream not even Nozdormu can unravel.
Check out all the screenshots and get a preview of the experience at the official site, already. Not even a Volkswagen Beetle van full of heavily armed people could stop me now.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back! Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, Lore, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 6)
Orrine Sep 19th 2011 12:50PM
What? Corrupted Nozdormu killed in 5-man? I thought Infinites will be given their own raid -_-
(cutaia) Sep 19th 2011 1:24PM
"What? Corrupted Nozdormu killed in 5-man?"
More like, corrupted Nozdormu encountered (we don't know if killed) in one of an infinite amount of possible futures.
Orrine Sep 19th 2011 1:40PM
Well, ok, but I don't see how it's possible to stop Aspect from doing something having only 5 people
Ilmyrn Sep 19th 2011 1:46PM
There's a screenshot of Nozdormu himself inside of the End Time instance, so presumably he'll intervene to save us, no doubt winding up captured/corrupted himself, a perfectly dangling story thread for next expansion, when we get to save Nozzy, setting up a speech about how mortal determination was able to persevere even against fate/destiny/predestination/Calvinism, etc.
furrama Sep 19th 2011 4:41PM
It is possible that this was originally planned to be a raid, but got cut down into an instance when they decided to shorten the expansion. Not a bad deal, now those who aren't as raid worthy can grind to see good bits of story and less about trolls, who really don't have much to do with anything this expansion.
Fletcher Sep 19th 2011 4:52PM
Keep in mind that killing Murozond in the future will only kill him once. The Murozond from five minutes before we zone in is still alive and free to travel the timelines at will. To truly kill a time traveler, you'd need to kill them before they gain the power to time travel.
And even then you've got to hope that a naked stranger doesn't appear before Nozdormu's mum and say "Come with me if you want to live".
Nina Katarina Sep 19th 2011 12:51PM
Well, looks like everyone who's been wanting to beat up on Sylvanas will get their wish.
I am NOT looking forward to the level of misogyny I expect out of Looking For Group with the new dungeons - Tyrande, Jaina and Sylvanas seem picked specifically to cater to the knuckle-draggers. Maybe I'd better just stick to guild groups for this instance.
Kylenne Sep 19th 2011 12:58PM
No kidding. In the hands of less awful people, this would be a pretty cool idea. Bad End!Jaina is something I've played around with in fanfic, myself, after getting inspired by the Legends manga.
Not looking forward to "LOL SMACK A HO" in randoms on my alts though. :\ Guild/friends list to the rescue.
AutumnBringer Sep 19th 2011 3:05PM
Do people ever even talk in your random groups?
I typically say Hello at the beginning of a PUG and am lucky to get a response besides "r?" when the tank is pulling.
That being said ... if you do get a chatty PUG, yeah, I can see people being stupid.
John Sep 19th 2011 3:11PM
sheesh - I looked at the people they picked to roam azeroth as spirits and thought "why didn't they pick Magni (diamond) or Lorthemar or another lore figure who hasn't been seen so many (too many) times in dungeons?" Jaina isn't even a faction leader, and we got stuck with her in the last 2 ICC 5-mans (where, sadly, she appears to have lost the excellent mojo she had in the Mt Hyjal raid).
I didn't get "3/4 bosses are women, this is rampant misogynist-bait!!"
Fletcher Sep 19th 2011 4:54PM
While I understand where you're coming from ... can one not simply /ignore the mouth-breathing troglodytes?
Imnick Sep 19th 2011 12:54PM
I know I remember reading it (wasn't it in one of the novels?) but I've already forgotten who kills Deathwing in the "bad future"
Orrine Sep 19th 2011 1:03PM
Chromatic dragon Deathwing wanted to animate. I think he will be one of raid bosses
watspr02 Sep 19th 2011 12:54PM
Maybe I'm reading a little too much into this, but it sounds like these will only be heroics. There will be no regular difficulty for these instances. If so, bad form blizzard, bad form.
TheChao Sep 19th 2011 1:13PM
Zul aman and Zul Gurub are the exact same way.
furrama Sep 19th 2011 4:46PM
Yes, but those were trolls, THIS IS IMPORTANT MAN!
So is the nature of tiered heroics. I think blizz did a pretty good job this expansion giving out new content for the strict dungeon crawlers. They could have been more varied when it came to giving out two troll instances at the same time, but there you go.
Minstrel Sep 19th 2011 12:56PM
I can haz reins of the infinite drake drop from Mixed-Up Nozdormu?
"Murozond" looks really awesome. He'd make a great mount. :)
Hillazon Sep 19th 2011 12:59PM
OK, Blizzard, you win. The 4.3 dungeons and Deathwing raid sound pretty awesome.
I quit in January because Cataclysm was such a disappointment, but this might actually bring me back.
Shirubia Sep 19th 2011 1:01PM
Seeing this, I sure am glad I read Twilight of the aspects... Seeing the Hour of Twilight in more than just references is going to be amazing.
Btw... Wasnt supposed that every lifeform, except the Twilight Dragons and Chromatus, was annihilated?
Shinae Sep 19th 2011 1:12PM
Personally, I don't think the Old Gods want Azeroth blown apart. If there wasn't anything left, their "fun" would be over. No, I think they want to rule a corrupted world filled with people in misery. It's much creepier to imagine that the Old Gods "feed" on suffering instead of wanting all-out annihilation.