Icecrown Citadel Raid Preview
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Heartbourne on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 36 Comments Tags: ashen verdict, frostwing halls, frozen throne, icecrown citadel, patch 3.3, plagueworks
Heartbourne on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 36 Comments Tags: ashen verdict, frostwing halls, frozen throne, icecrown citadel, patch 3.3, plagueworks 
Blizzard has posted their official preview of the Icecrown Citadel raid instance.Here are the highlights:
- The Argent Crusade and The Knights of the Ebon Blade have formed an alliance called the Ashen Verdict to take on Arthas. It is co-led by Tirion Fordring and Darion Mograine, as well as Horde and Alliance figures.
- Characters that will be making an appearance include Highlord Tirion Fordring, High Overlord Saurfang, Muradin Bronzebeard, Highlord Darion Mograine, and King Varian Wrynn.
- The dungeon comes with a 10 player and a 25 player version.
- There are 12 encounters in the dungeon. For each encounter, there will be a way through the interface to choose normal mode or hard mode.
- The rewards for the 10 man normal encounters start at iLevel 251. 10 man hard and 25 man normal item levels start at 264, and 25 man hard mode encounters reward iLevel 277 loot.
 | Here is a list of known encounters, in somewhat chronological order as you progress through the dungeon:
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Players then enter the upper reaches of the citadel, which contains three wings. The Frostwing Halls have players invading along side the Ashen Verdict, and it contains the following encounters:
- Valithria Dreamwalker, a green dragon corrupted by the Scourge for unknown purposes.
- Sindragosa, the former consort of Malygos who was raised as a Frostwyrm during the introductory cinematic for Wrath of the Lich King.
The second wing is the Plagueworks, which contains the most horrifying experiments conducted by the Scourge.
- Festergut and Rotface, abominations of a new sort.
- Professor Putricide, the mastermind behind the Plagueworks.
The third wing of the upper reaches is named The Crimson Hall, and is home to the upper-ranking San'layn.- Valanar, Keleseth, and Taldaram, three San'layn princes.
- Blood-Queen Lana'thel.
And, of course, the final encounter:
- Arthas, the Lich King.
There seems to be one unannounced encounter, as this only totals eleven, bu the San'layn encounters may be separate.
Check below for the full text:
All across the lands of Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and Horde first reached the frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward. Now Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an alliance with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. The strongest combatants of this coalition, along with the champions of the Alliance and Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel.
This dungeon reveals the culminating story events and battles of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack. Join the legendary heroes Highlord Tirion Fordring, High Overlord Saurfang, Muradin Bronzebeard, Highlord Darion Mograine, and King Varian Wrynn in an epic battle against the Scourge and their master. Icecrown Citadel features 10- and 25-player versions of the raid dungeon, and each version has 12 encounters. Each encounter can be fought in either normal or Heroic mode, and players can use a new user interface feature to toggle easily between difficulties. The rewards in the raid dungeon start at item level 251 in the normal mode with 10-player encounters, increase to item level 264 in the Heroic mode mode with 10 players and the normal mode with 25-player encounters, and then finally reach item level 277 in the Heroic mode with 25 players.
Grand Entrance of the Citadel
After breaching the fortress, players will face a legion of undead guards directed to repel any invaders. Commanding the defenders is Lord Marrowgar, a monstrosity fused together from the bones of the undead. Supreme Overseer of the Cult of the Damned, Lady Deathwhisper is the next opponent. She bolsters the faith of her followers by promising them the opportunity to give eternal service in undeath.
As they continue their ascent, the Alliance and Horde heroes ultimately end up outside of the citadel where their hatred for one another erupts into a battle for dominance over the Rampart of Skulls. Players will join in battle alongside High Overlord Saurfang on the Orgrim's Hammer gunship or Muradin Bronzebeard on The Skybreaker in a unique encounter. Each faction will protect its gunship and try to destroy the other one in a back-and-forth battle to see who is truly worthy of facing the Lich King.
The Lich King's most powerful death knight then stands as the final obstacle for the heroes to enter the upper reaches of the citadel.
The Wings of Icecrown Citadel
After the heroes of the Alliance or Horde defeat the other faction on the gunships and wipe out the creatures near the entrance, players will venture into an area with three separate wings. Here they will face a multitude of terrors that must be vanquished in order to confront the Lich King.
In the Frostwing Halls players will battle alongside the Ashen Verdict and push into the lair of the deadly frost wyrm Sindragosa, who continues to strengthen her brood with the help of Ymirheim's vrykul. Along the way, the heroes will stumble upon Valithria Dreamwalker, a captured green dragon whom the Scourge is using as a test subject for their own ends....
The Plagueworks contains the most twisted experiments ever produced by the Scourge. In this wing players will face two new forms of abomination in Festergut and Rotface, who currently protect their devious creator, Professor Putricide.
The Crimson Hall contains the leaders of the San'layn, undead blood elves who oversee the Scourge's operations throughout Azeroth. The blood-princes Valanar, Keleseth, and Taldaram were raised into undeath by the Lich King to avenge themselves while protecting their blood-queen, Lana'thel.
The Frozen Throne
After clearing all three wings, players will ascend to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King and his runeblade, Frostmourne, await to deliver them to their deaths....
Sylvanas and Jaina are nowhere to be mentioned! Both of this have very strong emotions toward Arthas, so hopefully their stories are continued in the Frozen Halls.
Oh, and for those of you keeping score, here is our updated iLevel chart:
| 10-man | ilvl | 25-man |
| Naxx | 200 | |
| KT, EoE | 213 | Naxx |
| Ulduar | 219 | |
| IC 5 mans | 219 | |
| Ulduar hard | 226 | Ulduar, KT/EoE |
| CC | 232 | Ulduar weapons |
| IC heroics | 232 | |
| 239 | Ulduar hard | |
| CC hard | 245 | CC |
| IC | 251 | |
| 258 | CC Hard | |
| IC Hard | 264 | IC |
| 277 | IC Hard |
Reader Comments (36)
Whoa... O_O
I get goose bumps just reading about the encounter. The gunship battle sounds wicked.
i wonder why sylvannas (forgot how to spell it) isnt there and no mention of bolavar and sarufang the younger maybe
"The Lich King’s most powerful death knight then stands as the final obstacle for the heroes to enter the upper reaches of the citadel."
might be a crossover woooo scary =0
what the hell does Ashen Verdick mean?
how the heck is muridan there he is dead???
It seems Blizzard is taking familiar NPCs (http://thottbot.com/q11898" rel="nofollow">Breaking Through, the first boss of Utgarde Keep, a boss of Old Kingdom) and giving them a shot of über mojo. I wonder if they will share some of the mechanics before they were skewered by players in instances or the end of a quest? Hm...
I have been looking forward to fighting Sindragosa ever since the WotLK cinematic was first released to the world. I foresee a lot of frost/shadow resistance being useful.
The pseudo-PvP phase of the raid is intriguing, but turns me off, both as a game mechanic and as in-game story. (I do not particularly enjoy PvP because it essentially boils down to whose macros and key-bindings are better.) Also, they are deep in enemy territory and then start whacking at each other?! Not very intelligent. The only reason the Lich King doesn't wipe them out then and there is because he is probably rolling on the floor, laughing his armor off. Though, perhaps this Horde v. Alliance encounter will be part of the set-up for internal rank changes in the Horde in the Cataclysm expansion...
Will Valithia Dreamwalker be another boss, or an NPC that assists the raid in some task? I'm hoping for the latter. There aren't many occurrences of NPC assists that are meaningfully helpful.
Ashen Verdict? On the one hand, I am tired of more rep. grinding; on the other... "Why didn't I think of that as a guild name?!"
Blizzard comes up with some fun names for NPCs that are both characteristic of the genre and yet mocking of it at the same time. Putricide? Oh yeah. >:D
"Will Valithria Dreamwalker be another boss, or an NPC that assists the raid in some task? I’m hoping for the latter. There aren’t many occurrences of NPC assists that are meaningfully helpful."
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5 minutes later...
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"The Frostwing Halls have players invading along side the Ashen Verdict, and it contains the following encounters:
* Valithria Dreamwalker, a green dragon corrupted by the Scourge for unknown purposes."
Well, there goes that. /cry
Ummmmm, where's Sylvanas? What the hell Blizzard?
there is also no mention of Jania, if im not mistaken, i would think she would be in there just like Sylvannis (or however u spell her name)
@ bloodraptor
Not sure if you play Horde or Alliance, but over on that pathetic faction known as the Alliance (=P) side of things there is a quest chain involving Muradin and finding out that he didn't actually die blah blah blah.
Didn't Saurfang die at the Wrathgate? WTF
Saurfang the Younger died at the Wrathgate. Varok Saurfang is his father and famous for his cleaves.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Saurfang
!%$!# YEA!!!
KICK SOME ASS DARION!!
Ahem... sorry
I must say, Ashen Verdict = Win (Well...the DK half, that is)
Arthas is gunna get pwnd....HARD
Crap, I really need to get my butt (and armor) in gear for this. I'm so excited for it and if I miss out because I'm not geared enough I'll be so pissed.
Saurfang will be there...so...shall we expect huge on countless enemies? =D
huge cleaves*
"The Lich King’s “most powerful Death Knight”, presumably the spirit of Bolvar in Saurfang the Younger’s body."
I have my doubts with Bolvar being a Death Knight considering Alexstrasza asked her consort if the mortals knew of the destiny of Bolvar, etc.
Awesome!
Varian is only mentioned in the beginning, but not under any of the specific battles. Perhaps he has something to do with the 12th encounter ... or he is the death knight?????or ................ Hogger is the real last boss being the 12th encounter aqnd its him vs. varian???? limitless possibilities
If Saurfang's soul was claimed by frostmourne, wouldn't it be Saurfang's spirit in Bolvar's body? I mean, Bolvar IS the Paladin, and thus Should be the deathknight, but... it doesn't really make that much sense.
man, bolvar was cool, why did they screw him like that??
first of all what the hell does ashen verdict mean? second of all i wonder if thier will be some special achievement to become exalted with argent crusade ebon blade and ashen verdict and will thier be a tittle?
3rd of alll LK stole sourfangs spirit when he cahrged the LK without thinking first and then the forsaken screwed both horde and alliance and killed bolvar and most of his forces so if anything its saurfangs spirit in bolvars body
one more thing what the hell is CC? i would assume its TOC or TOGC since thats the only you havent mentioned thier speaking of whihc IC heriocs have the same item level as toc 10man its going to be even easier to gear your character now
CC is Crusader's Coliseum I would assume. And as a favor to the rest of us Cocopuff, go out and buy a typing program. Paws in Typing Town or Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing are both good ones, I did them when I was about 6-10 years old.
As for the raid, it sounds like Awesome McEpicsauce to me. I am very much looking forward to it. I am glad that they are doing this encounter right, as opposed to the way that they did Illidan in TBC.
As they continue their ascent, the Alliance and Horde heroes ultimately end up outside of the citadel where their hatred for one another erupts into a battle for dominance over the Rampart of Skulls. Players will join in battle alongside High Overlord Saurfang on the Orgrim’s Hammer gunship or Muradin Bronzebeard on The Skybreaker in a unique encounter. Each faction will protect its gunship and try to destroy the other one in a back-and-forth battle to see who is truly worthy of facing the Lich King.
This has got to be the best and most exciting idea I've ever heard in my entire life.