 |
| The Forge of Souls |
With
patch 3.2.2 now live, the next major patch on the radar is
patch 3.3. It introduces three new 5-man dungeons with both normal and heroic modes, as well as
Icecrown Citadel, the flagship raid of Wrath of the Lich King where players will face off against
Arthas.
The 5 man instances will be three wings of "the
Frozen Halls." Players will be assisting one of their faction's heroes, either
Sylvanas Windrunner or
Jaina Proudmoore, as they infiltrate Icecrown Citadel through an alternative entrance while the Argent Crusade and Knights of the Ebon Blade attack the main gates. An epic questline will lead players through the three instances, and players must participate in the questline in order to get attuned to the second and third dungeons.
 |
| Scary |
The first wing, The
Forge of Souls, tasks players with assisting their faction's hero to destroy machines known as "soul grinders." The instance has two bosses who operate the machines:
Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls, and
The Devourer of Souls.
The second wing,
Pit of Saron, is home to Scourgelord Tyrannus. Players will free soldiers of their faction to assist them in combating Tyrannus. It is not clear who or what this "
Saron" is. Players will apparently get clues as to where Arthas' private chambers outside of the Frozen Throne are. Three bosses inhabit this instance:
Forgemaster Garfrost, Krick and Ick, and
Scourgelord Tyrannus.
The final hall, the
Halls of Refection, seems to house
Frostmourne, the legendary weapon that the Lich King wields. Players, accompanied by their faction's hero, will ultimately confront Arthas. It is unknown how this encounter will progress. Two encounters exist in this instance:
Falric and Marwyn, and
The Lich King.
More information can be dug up at the
official World of Warcraft website.
| 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
|
|
258 |
CC hard |
| IC Raid |
?? |
|
|
?? |
IC raid |
This information is flooring. Not only is it a lore-gasm, but the loot here is astoundingly good. Players can grab
iLevel 219 loot in the normal version of the instances, and iLevel 232 gear in the heroic version. That puts the normal mode on par with
Ulduar 10-man, and the heroic version gear on par with 10 man
Crusader's Coliseum loot. The full, updated iLevel chart is on the left.
The first two wings seem to introduce new characters as bosses, but the final wing, Halls of Reflection, bring back Arthas' two old commanders,
Falric and
Marwyn as bosses. It was unconfirmed prior to this announcement if they were truly undead. They were last seen accompanying Arthas into
King Terenas II's chamber to slaughter him and signal the downfall of the human kingdom of
Lordaeron. And who knows of what nature the encounter with Arthas will have? He will not be defeated here, as he is the final boss of the 10/25 man raid instance. Jaina is seeking
any humanity left of him, so perhaps this will be some shade of Arthas' soul.
I, for one, look forward to accompanying Sylvanas to hunt Arthas to the death.
Click to read more ...
Heartbourne on 
Another change that has yet to be reflected in the Patch Notes are the addition of race-specific totem models for Shaman. The current models in patch 3.2 are the Horde model that seems to be Tauren-themed and the Alliance model which is Draenei-themed. In patch 3.3, all races that are capable of being Shaman get their own totem model. Tauren and Draeni seem to keep the current models, while Trolls, Orcs, and Dwarves (in preparation for Cataclysm) get their own models:
