Project Lore

Likely in accordance with the raid testing today, 3.3 has been updated yet again. Though it's a full 181 MB, the documented changes are minuscule, as they have been over the past few builds. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm happy about the changes being made to Murder. The description below isn't just Blizzard being cheeky, it's a legitimate concern. A talent whose chief functionality is providing extra damage when faced with a variety of enemies is rendered impotent when nearly an entire raid instance is filled with nothing but the undead. And it may be one piece of the puzzle as to why Rogues have seen their DPS dip a little bit when testing encounters in Icecrown Citadel. [caption id="attachment_7705" align="alignright" width="240" caption="He's waiting for you..."][/caption] Of course, this makes the talent a flat damage increase, which is exactly the kind of thing Blizz has said they want to shy away from in Cataclysm. This is almost certainly a stop-gap measure for Icecrown Citadel alone and Murder may yet be evaluated again when expansion time comes. Other than that, there are some other small class changes, another nerf to the Oculus, and that's about i-- oh, wait, what's this? Could that be where most of the 181 MBs went?! Readers, it seems that Blizzard has done something I didn't entirely expect them to do: open the Halls of Reflection. As of the time of this writing, you still can't enter the dungeon, but it's assumed that it will be open very shortly. 4PM PST sounds good, as that's when the raid test content will be available as well as when PuG With The Blues (Take 2) will be occurring. If you didn't get in on the action last time, now's your chance to run an instance with a company employee, as long as you make use of the new Dungeon system to do so. If you don't have the PTR client at the moment or haven't transferred any characters, you may not be able to make it online in time to participate, but if you're more or less up-to-date, it's a really cool opportunity. A couple of us bloggers might be around, so don't be afraid to say hi (or tell us how much we suck) if you happen to see us! By the way, something else I noticed (and it may have been there since I haven't visited the ICC 5-man area in a few weeks), is that there is now a Meeting Stone smack dab in the middle of the three new dungeons. Convenient, huh? Here are the rest of the notes:

General

• Icecrown Citadel
  • All three wings of the 5-player dungeon are currently available for testing.

Dungeons and Raids Oculus

• Azure Ring Guardians aggro distance changed from 50 to 40 yards.

Druid Restoration

• Gift of the Earthmother: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste by 2/4/6/8/10% and reduces the base global cooldown of Lifebloom by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effects.

Paladin

• Sanctified Light - Reverted due to changes being made to Lay on Hands.

Rogue Assassination

• Murder: This talent now provides a flat damage increase of 2/4% against all targets, instead of only targets which do not appear in Icecrown.

Warrior

• Glyph of Victory Rush: This glyph now increases the critical strike chance of Victory Rush by 30%, regardless of the percentage of the target’s remaining health.

That's it for the documented changes today (though there may be more lurking beneath the surface). If you're antsy about Halls of Reflection and can't make it onto the PTR, don't worry. Project Lore will be bringing you coverage in one form or another in the near future! Stay tuned!