Wrath of Lich King Stuff (was 'Blizzcon' thread) - Page 248

Liebestod · 07/31/08, 1:32 PM

Yea, I like that it seems as though they've done a better job of tying in dungeon bosses to the actual stories. Having a bunch of Naxx bosses at Ebon Hold as well is undoubtedly cool, although it sucks that I guess that you don't see them in Northrend as well.

That said, the Scholomance post is interesting. Personally, I'm all for them making Heroic versions of old instances, but that seems like a random place to start, even if it's WotLK... who wants to have to travel back out to WPL? Well, guess it's not more of a hassle than CoT..

As for old world revisions in general, I wouldn't count on it except maybe as a part of the post-WotLK content cycle, like they managed to work on Dustwallow, there are still several zones that come to mind as incomplete... Blasted Lands (probably not going to get a revision since it should have been for TBC if anything), Burning Steppes, Southern Winterspring, and Azshara. I'd guess that they'll work on one of them sometime before the third expansion.

Lunkhedd · 07/31/08, 1:46 PM

Originally Posted by Chicken

I'd actually feel more inclined to spend my time killing one million Tuskarr then I'd want to spend time maxing out weapon skills for an achievement, as it'd at least provide me with some kind of benefit while I'm doing so.

The two actually seem to fit together quite well.

GSH · 07/31/08, 1:46 PM

Originally Posted by Liebestod

That said, the Scholomance post is interesting. Personally, I'm all for them making Heroic versions of old instances, but that seems like a random place to start, even if it's WotLK... who wants to have to travel back out to WPL? Well, guess it's not more of a hassle than CoT..

It might be for the deathknights. After the DK questline you start off at Light Hope's Chapel. A lot of the initially available quests there are Scholomance or Stratholme quests (it was actually a bit annoying trying to find a non-dungeon quest at that hub).

Malleus · 07/31/08, 1:48 PM

Originally Posted by Liebestod

That said, the Scholomance post is interesting. Personally, I'm all for them making Heroic versions of old instances, but that seems like a random place to start, even if it's WotLK...

Not really. Scholo is the nearest instance to the DK starting area. Assuming they'll rejig it to be a fun place for multiple-DK parties doesn't seem to be a reach.

Tacitus · 07/31/08, 2:11 PM

Originally Posted by Liebestod

Yea, I like that it seems as though they've done a better job of tying in dungeon bosses to the actual stories. Having a bunch of Naxx bosses at Ebon Hold as well is undoubtedly cool, although it sucks that I guess that you don't see them in Northrend as well.

In case you missed my edit, here's this fellow again: Commander Eligor Dawnbringer (Wintergarde - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft)

Next, I shall speak of the dread plague wing of Naxxramas, where the scourge seek to improve upon the deadly blight which they spread upon Lordaeron.

* Behold, Noth, the Plaguebringer. Responsible for the creation of the process that distills the souls of the living and places them within the cold cage of undeath, Noth was observed to be refining this process even now.
* Observe, Heigan the Unclean. The mastermind behind the plague cauldrons that turned the wilderness of Azeroth into the Plaguelands.
It is said that Heigan has rigged the very walls and floors of Naxxramas itself with a vast array of traps, which he can trigger at will.
* Loatheb. The hideous result of fusing the living plague of the plaguelands with the bog beasts of Azeroth, Loatheb is said to control the power of healing itself.

Next, I shall speak of the death knight wing of Naxxramas. Within its corrupted halls, the echo of battle rings day and night, as our finest warriors are corrupted and twisted into the Scourge's greatest warriors.

* Pay attention. This is Instructor Razuvius, Kel'Thuzad's appointed trainer of all death knights. It is said that his own technique is so potent, only a disciple of his could possibly withstand his might.
* Gothik, the Harvester. A master of necromancy and conjuration, Gothik is said to be able to beckon forth legions of the undead at a moment's notice. It is with his guidance that even the weakest of Death Knights can raise the dead.
* The most powerful Death Knights within Naxxramas are the four horsemen. They represent the pinnacle of Kel'Thuzad's guard.

The first, Thane Korth'azz, holds the power of flame.
The next, Lady Blaumeux, calls forth the power of shadows, drawing the souls of the living into the voracious embrace.
Sir Zeliek, a paladin in life, so strong in his faith, that even in undeath, the power of the light still heeds his call, smiting his foes in battle.
The final Death Knight, Lord Mograine, was the finest warrior that the Death Knights had ever seen. However, after the events in Azeroth, he vanished without a trace. It is yet to be seen who Kel'Thuzad has appointed in his place.

We'll be seeing them and most likely killing them since he is briefing us on their strenghts to discover their weaknesses (understudies, loatheb healing etc).

Addled · 07/31/08, 2:25 PM

Originally Posted by Malleus

Not really. Scholo is the nearest instance to the DK starting area. Assuming they'll rejig it to be a fun place for multiple-DK parties doesn't seem to be a reach.

As I recall, much of Scholo features caster-only mobs. With just a few nerfs to bosses, a 5-DK party could conceivably handle Scholo easily. Or there could be a NPC healer added to scholo (or an aura type effect) that keeps up a x hp/s HoT upon all members of the party.

Copernicus · 07/31/08, 3:08 PM

WoW-Europe.com Forums -> Wrath of the Lich King: Beta Patch Notes

Hightlights of stuff that hasn't been remarked on yet-

# Quests can be shared with party members at any distance
# Quests can be shared with party members by linking the quest into party chat
# Quests can be shared in raids but not battlegrounds

* Arcane Torrent (Blood Elf) global cooldown removed.

* Silence (Shadow) global cooldown removed.

* Drums now cause a Tinnitus effect, preventing affected targets from receiving beneficial effects from other drums for two minutes. (Known, but finally added to patch notes).

-------------------------------------

WoW Forums -> Alterac Valley WAS a PvP Zone!

Lake Wintergrasp Information

Originally Posted by Blizzard

This is partially true. Alterac Valley was originally going to be its own zone. We do feel Alterac Valley is fairly well tuned at the moment, though we would like to give players a different type of experience that will include large-scale PvP battles, destructible buildings, siege weapons, and more. These are some of the things planned for the new PvP zone Lake Wintergrasp.

There will be a lot of tuning and balancing of the zone done in the coming months. One thing we are looking to do though to help with population imbalances is impose certain benefits for the side with less players in the zone. For instance, since supplies will be necessary to unlock certain vehicles, the side with the population handicap may see a decrease in requirements. We may also offer increasingly more supply benefits for a faction if they are suffering from consecutive losses in Lake Wintergrasp. The goal is to even the playing field regardless of faction population balances across all realms.

We plan to give Lake Wintergrasp a definitive play time where the event may last somewhere around 45 minutes. The event would not start again for a set amount of time after the battle is won. We will tune these times as testing further develops. The plan, additionally, is to provide certain incentives for visiting this zone between battles.

We'll be sure to provide more information about Lake Wintergrasp as well as the new Battleground as we get closer to releasing them for Beta testing.

Liebestod · 07/31/08, 3:27 PM

Originally Posted by GSH

It might be for the deathknights. After the DK questline you start off at Light Hope's Chapel. A lot of the initially available quests there are Scholomance or Stratholme quests (it was actually a bit annoying trying to find a non-dungeon quest at that hub).

That's an interesting point, I suppose.

In case you missed my edit, here's this fellow again: Commander Eligor Dawnbringer (Wintergarde - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft)

Problem is that there was a typo in your edit. You forgot the right parantheses, so it goes to a "page not found" link.

But still, even if the bosses are explained, that's not much. Like, it'd be neat to have quests to stop the reconstruction of Thaddius, or to see Heigan during some plauge cauldron quests, or whatever. Just interspersed as part of the leveling process, like Arthas is. It's not a huge deal, but it'd be nice to see the game keep moving away from the whole "enter dungeon, kill a bunch of random bosses that aren't really important" thing. Like how Pathaleon the Calculator shows up at a few points in Outland... that worked nice, but he's pretty much the only dungeon boss to have received that kind of thorough treatment.

Tacitus · 07/31/08, 3:35 PM

Originally Posted by Liebestod

That's an interesting point, I suppose.

Problem is that there was a typo in your edit. You forgot the right parantheses, so it goes to a "page not found" link.

D'oh, fixed it.

And we do meet them, or at least the newbie Death Knights do. Most DK related bosses are hanging around Acherus before it frees itself from the Lich Kings grasp.

• Chicken · 07/31/08, 4:41 PM

Does anyone else find the placement of the new mount/companion storage odd? It's currently part of the character pane, which doesn't seem like the logical place to me.

As it has to do with the ability to summon mounts and companions, I was actually expecting it to be a section of the character's spell book. To separate it from your normal class abilities, I'd expected it to be accessed through a tab at the bottom of the spellbook (Much like Hunters and Warlocks can currently access their pets spellbook). The right-hand tabs could then allow you to choose between Pet/Minion (That's for class pets), Mounts and Companion (non-combat pets).

The character pane on the other hand is currently for choice of equipment, as well as checking various statistics of your characters. It's also pretty crowded already in between it's character, reputation and pvp tabs (And a pet tab if you're a warlock or hunter).

The key reason I was expecting it to be in the spellbook remains that the spellbook is the place where you typically look for any abilities your character has. So it seems a logical extension to add the ability to summon mounts or companions to it.

Moof · 07/31/08, 4:43 PM

I believe it is simply an extension of the "Pet" tab which warlocks and hunters already had, which now extends to all classes.

• Chicken · 07/31/08, 4:45 PM

Originally Posted by Moof

I believe it is simply an extension of the "Pet" tab which warlocks and hunters already had, which now extends to all classes.

Yes, I know. I'm just wondering whether it's misplaced.

bv728 · 07/31/08, 5:15 PM

Originally Posted by Chicken

Yes, I know. I'm just wondering whether it's misplaced.

My guess is that they threw it there because it was an easy place to slap it while in development. I agree that it would make sense to tab out the Spellbook/Abilities pane for this, but Blizz will do what Blizz will do, and I don't think it's more than a momentary confusion, and no more crowding than any other mechanic.

gia · 07/31/08, 7:28 PM

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the PC MMO's second expansion, will launch between October and December of this year.

"We have said that it will be coming out this year," Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed in a conference call today. "I can tell you it's not coming in the July to September quarter."

WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Releasing Between October and December - Shacknews - PC Games, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii video game news, previews and downloads

I don't really understand how him denying a date before September implies it will be out in Oct/Nov, at least it's some news though!

Edit: vvv You're right sorry, I was reading too fast, guess it just confirms what we already knew then.

Lookit · 07/31/08, 7:33 PM

Originally Posted by gia

WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Releasing Between October and December - Shacknews - PC Games, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii video game news, previews and downloads

I don't really understand how him denying a date before September implies it will be out in Oct/Nov, at least it's some news though!

The article says "between October and December,", meaning 4th Quarter, which is exactly what Morhaime's statement implies.

Mr. Crow · 07/31/08, 7:40 PM

Originally Posted by gia

WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Releasing Between October and December - Shacknews - PC Games, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii video game news, previews and downloads

I don't really understand how him denying a date before September implies it will be out in Oct/Nov, at least it's some news though!

Morhaime stating that it WON'T be released July-September confirms that and that alone. Everything points to a 4th quarter release, but the confirmation will only come when they say "It will be released no later than 4th Quarter 2008."

dlanod · 07/31/08, 7:50 PM

Originally Posted by Tacitus

In case you missed my edit, here's this fellow again: Commander Eligor Dawnbringer (Wintergarde - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft)
...
* Pay attention. This is Instructor Razuvius, Kel'Thuzad's appointed trainer of all death knights. It is said that his own technique is so potent, only a disciple of his could possibly withstand his might.

That seems to read as a pretty big "bring a DK tank or fail" sign...

• Phara · 07/31/08, 7:52 PM

Or that you need to mindcontrol one of his adds, like the original encounter.

Starfire · 07/31/08, 7:54 PM

Originally Posted by dlanod

That seems to read as a pretty big "bring a DK tank or fail" sign...

Or you know... bring a priest. Would be neat if only a Priest or a Death Knight could tank him though. To me, the only thing that was cool about Razuvious was being forced to use Priests to tank him. I accept that in a 10 man its unfair to "force" a 10 man to bring 1 class, but choosing between 1 of 2 classes seems just fine.

Linnet · 07/31/08, 7:58 PM

Or they provide a mind control orb so anyone can do it.

Heffro · 07/31/08, 8:23 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. Crow

Morhaime stating that it WON'T be released July-September confirms that and that alone. Everything points to a 4th quarter release, but the confirmation will only come when they say "It will be released no later than 4th Quarter 2008."

When Morhaime says it'll be released "this year", does he mean this calendar year or this fiscal year? Unfortunately, Blizzard's fiscal year is not the calendar year, but rather begins on April 1 (see here among other places for confirmation; they're already in fiscal year 2009). The July to September quarter is only their second quarter, so when the CEO says this year, but not the July to September quarter, it seems to be that there's a pretty good chance he means it'll be released between October 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009.

Mr. Crow · 07/31/08, 8:26 PM

Originally Posted by Starfire

Or you know... bring a priest. Would be neat if only a Priest or a Death Knight could tank him though. To me, the only thing that was cool about Razuvious was being forced to use Priests to tank him. I accept that in a 10 man its unfair to "force" a 10 man to bring 1 class, but choosing between 1 of 2 classes seems just fine.

Given the nature of the encounter, I don't know if a Death Knight player will be able to tank the Instructor. What would be the result of Unbalancing Strike on a DK with no Shield Wall? (Could this get tested on the Beta to see how the mechanics work with a DK player?)

Incoherence · 07/31/08, 8:34 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. Crow

Given the nature of the encounter, I don't know if a Death Knight player will be able to tank the Instructor. What would be the result of Unbalancing Strike on a DK with no Shield Wall? (Could this get tested on the Beta to see how the mechanics work with a DK player?)

They change his AI so that he does less damage and doesn't Unbalancing Strike when he's being tanked by a death knight, perhaps with some flavor yell about his old student coming back for more training or something. Maybe just the 10 man version does this, and the 25 man version behaves like the old version (since you assume a 25 man will have 1-2 priests).

What are you proposing be tested right now, given that Naxxramas isn't in the game?

Mr. Crow · 07/31/08, 8:39 PM

Originally Posted by Incoherence

They change his AI so that he does less damage and doesn't Unbalancing Strike when he's being tanked by a death knight, perhaps with some flavor yell about his old student coming back for more training or something. Maybe just the 10 man version does this, and the 25 man version behaves like the old version (since you assume a 25 man will have 1-2 priests).

What are you proposing be tested right now, given that Naxxramas isn't in the game?

Hmm... I suppose it would make exactly no sense for Tier 3 Naxx to be on the beta servers right now. I didn't even consider that. It would be an interesting differentiation between the 10-man and 25-man versions, though.

On a related subject, the previous discussion that Mograine would no longer be among the Four Horsemen means that the Ashbringer will no longer be a drop in that battle. Which likely means that the Corrupted Ashbringer event in Scarlet Monastery, with it's dangling ending point to Outland, will be dropped completely as well.

It's disappointing to me that players no longer take any role whatsoever in the redemption of the Ashbringer... at the end of the Light of Dawn event, Tirion seems to redeem the sword just by touching it.

Addled · 07/31/08, 8:53 PM

Originally Posted by Lookit

The article says "between October and December,", meaning 4th Quarter, which is exactly what Morhaime's statement implies.

I would be shocked if WotLK gets released before December. People don't get any free time until the winter holidays, and they need that time to level their toons to 80. Plus, all the children who play WoW need the money from their Christmas day presents to afford the xpac in the first place.

Or perhaps, we get WotLK released in the fall, but players only get access to DKs. The early adopters can get DKs leveled up to 70 in the interim, and then when winter holidays come, Northrend is released and everybody can rush to 80.

Originally Posted by Mr. Crow

On a related subject, the previous discussion that Mograine would no longer be among the Four Horsemen means that the Ashbringer will no longer be a drop in that battle. Which likely means that the Corrupted Ashbringer event in Scarlet Monastery, with it's dangling ending point to Outland, will be dropped completely as well.

It's disappointing to me that players no longer take any role whatsoever in the redemption of the Ashbringer... at the end of the Light of Dawn event, Tirion seems to redeem the sword just by touching it.

Unlikely. I would bet that Mograine comes out in a separate boss encounter, or as the second phase of the Horsemen fight after you kill the 3 remaining horsemen.

Perhaps they're saving him for some kind of surprise raid after Arthas, like the Sunwell.