Jagiya

People seem to forget that every single patch release comes with it's own set of bugs, fixes and balance changes. Whether Wrath is rushed out the door 1 month from now, or they delay it for another 3 months, it's gonna have bugs and rebalancing which can only be brought to the surface via mass testing. As long as the servers are stable enough to play on, we're fine.

 

Cuer

With some of the new info rolling out from Blizzcon already, it sounds like 3.1 is already done as far as major content goes. They certainly seem to have a better handle this time around on the pacing and scheduling of content, compared to BC.

 

Liebestod

Yep. I've maintained for a long time that we'll probably see 3.1 go on the PTRs right after WotLK goes live. The Ulduar raid has been pretty much finished in the datafiles for months.

Odd that they don't just say that 3.2 is the Yogg-Saron raid. Maybe they haven't decided on a name yet.

 

• Falk

Possibly the same reason they couldn't give out the 'official word' on Sunwell even after people guessed it - so that it can be dished out as 'exclusive information' to various media, officially.

Or it could actually be something that's NOT Yogg-Saron! Who knows?

 

Verimon

There is an off-chance that Yogg-Saron is a single-boss instance tied to tier 8 (Ulduar) considering the already well documented ties to the place with Loken in the 5-man Ulduar wings.

That does however pose the question of what it would otherwise be that would make out the tier 9. I can't quite recall reading anything that would have a significant enough impact lorewise for it in what has been described as the main storyline arcs in WotLK.

Then again, it may as well be that Ulduar acts like a firing platform for Yogg-Saron similarly to how Vashj and Kael did it for Illidan.

 

Shatter Combo w/ Fries

I think it's something else, as those articles describe it as being something the players will find very cool that will be a surprise.

I don't think most players know what Yogg Saron is.

Just throwing this out there: Caverns of Time: The Scourge of Lordaeron

 

Dancing Wu Li Master

The only thing I can think of would be a follow-up to the betrayal at the Wrathgate. Mal'ganis, Varimathras, Putress and a mixture of undead and demons. It's not like death is much of a barrier in Warcraft.

I'd love to see a redone version of the C'thun fight somewhere in Wrath, for the same reasons that Naxx got reused: it's a regarded as one of the better designed bits of raiding that not many people got to experience. It'd fit perfectly as a 1-shot in a Yogg-Saron tier.

 

Stopokingme

It could very well be Zul'Drak as well, there's a pretty big unused temple there that'd fit in perfect. Besides, an expansion wouldn't be complete without another raid instance with trolls

 

Liebestod

Don't remind me. I'm still annoyed that they removed Azjol-Nerub as a leveling zone for another dumb troll zone. The thought that they'd go and remove the Azjol-Nerub raid for more trolls is maddening.

I really really doubt Yogg-Saron will be in Ulduar, however. He's supposed to be deep underground. Ulduar definitely does not fit this description, nor is there any part of it that does.

 

zoombini

Not quite true - there's a hole in the mountain under Ulduar that leads to a giant underground cavern full of machinery and gears. I don't know if it has a quest purpose (accidentally flew in there, then realized there was no way out) But it shows that Ulduar extends quite a ways below the ground.

On a different note:

Not that this will be an issue for me, but does anyone have any details on these "loaner" mounts?

 

Verimon

I was specifically referring to Yogg-Saron as a single encounter raid akin to Malygos and Sartharion though, which is plausible. And even then, his exact location is not known. There have been hints of an old god in Azjol-Nerub in WC3, he's referred by Ursoc in Grizzly Hills and by Loken in Halls of Lightning in Ulduar (Storm Peaks). For all we know, he could be vast with tentacles spreading across the continent.

An Azjol-Nerub raid would fit in very well lorewise, but has the problem that Anub'Arak is killed off in the mid 70s. Nothing wrong without him being reincarnated once more of course, but utilizing the same boss this close in progression does not make too much sense.

 

• alcaras

Tigole's post is the first I've heard of them. I know of nothing in beta matching that description.

 

Copernicus

Loaned Gryphon Reins
Loaned Wind Rider Reins

They are probably only available if someone doesn't have a flying mount already.

 

Ultramax

Not this build, a character I was playing without the riding skill to use flying mounts wasn't presented any option to use a loaner when it hit 77.

 

Lysara

Ursoc and his brother Ursol were two bear Demi-Gods that fought alongside Cenarius and the Night Elves in the War of the Ancients, and are revered as Gods by the Furbolgs.

Ursoc and Ursol - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft

It seems that Ursoc was resurrected by the Grizzlemaw Furbolgs, but he and them were corrupted afterwards.

Capitalization is key though. While Ursoc is an old god, he's most definitely not an Old God.

 

ildon

Did you try this guy? I don't have a character over 70 that doesn't have a flying mount to test it.

 

Ultramax

No, and I don't have a character without riding to check that either.

 

Karoo

I believe he means that Ursoc gives us details about their being an Old God (Yogg-Saron) living underneath Grizzly Hills and that this Old God has corrupted the grizzlemaw furbolgs and Ursoc as well.

Yogg-Saron - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft

 

Ukerric

Tigole refers explicitely to Cold Weather Flying. It is assumed that you have normal flying, I would think.

 

Liebestod

The Azjol-Nerub raid wouldn't focus on the Nerubians.. it would surely focus on the Faceless and Yogg-Saron, at least at the end. Azjol-Nerub is said to stretch across all of Northrend, and then Yogg-Saron's domain is somewhere deeper than that, spread from Grizzly Hills to Storm Peaks to Dragonblight to Icecrown, at least. And he's there somewhere.

 

Paprikka

Actually it's more than likely the loaners are for if you have no flying skill whatsoever. The thread in question that was a response to pointed out the fact throughout Azeroth and Outland, you never needed any kind of mount. Barring the TK instances and a few select quests, you could just walk your way to 70.

It's just their way of letting you continue to walk to 80, as the mounts will probably be like the riding turtle, mounted but no actual extra speed.

 

• adamb10

From what I read Wrath of the Lich King went gold(aka RTM). Quite suprised as there still balancing the classes out and fixing bugs in the beta.

 

Rasputin

They can balance and fix the game for another 5 weeks, and we'll just download a patch on release day with the actual release version. They have to get the physical discs to retailers so we can go get them, and that takes time.

 

Dryssa

I seem to remember reading a blue post about how the physical DVDs contain mostly art and music assets, since those are the largest files and would take a long time to download directly. Stuff like spell values is much more easily patched or hotfixed.

 

Mideci

You get that Wrath is one of the few software packages in the world where they can actually download code to you before you own it right? That's an almost unprecedented advantage in the business. There is Wrath code in the 3.0.2 patch that is largely downloaded on your computer right now. There'll be Wrath code in any hotfixes / mini-patches as well. The game will be self-patching -- without a download -- regardless of what's on the discs... And then it'll receive a download, to boot.