I see it more as the Sphere being part of his magic can remember the status of the master. So you take the sphere and leave his body. Kiljaeden comes and retrieves his new servant. You turn in the orb to A'dal and he notices that the sphere notices his master as alive.

The maimed part just screams 6 million dollar man to me. We can rebuild him, we have the technology.

I assumed A'dal meant that Kael's mind was what was maimed.

I interpreted that as meaning that the information that he lived was in the sphere.

The way I read the Kael'thas verdant sphere quest text is that he is left for dead, but not quite, and you find out he didnt really die through the sphere.

Did Blizzard give any more information on timelines? Assuming 2.2 goes out mid August with new sound engine and VOIP, 2.3 comes out in mid October with ZA, guildbanks, new dailies, then 2.4 is Sunwell out in late January, and 2.5 is the new "3.0" engine with 51 point talents in April. That would imply a WLK sometime at late May or later?

I also wonder if Blizzard is only going to allow 1 DK "clone" per server, character, or ? The clone mechanism is a wonderful system to create alts, which really allow you to fully maximize your WoW experience. But I wonder if they will let you clone your main 7 times, or what about level 80 alts that you want to create DK's out of...

I really like the idea of the rune system for combat. It gives a unique game play no other class has and introduces planning ahead before combat which I think is lacking in WoW. We're all wizards that can use all of our abilities and have every single spell memorized. I think I will like the limitations, like 8 spells in EQ, of the Death Knight and it appears more dynamic than simple 8 spell limitation of EQ.

I also think that if they introduce each hero class with its own unique spellcasting and combat system, just as the DK will have its very own unique combat system that no other class has, that they can in fact not only appease the "OMG WHERS R HERO CLASSES!11!!" people and truly justify and actually make them seem heroic with unique and more difficult, intricate, involved and planned playing.

I do worry about the difficulty. I want it to be very difficult but worry that with the difficulty will come a lack of confidence needed for them to be accepted into raids as there may be many sub par Death Knight players. This is coming from my experience as a feral druid.

All in all, while I am not particularly interested in the Death Knight, other than understanding it mechanically to combat against and plan for their use within my groups. Its' complexity and unique nature may in fact sway me away from my druid, which it has nothing to do with, simply because it may keep me interested and most importantly, challenged in WoW.

The 2.0 patch that preceded BC was done to placate the player base during the holiday season. BC was originally planned to release in time for Christmas, and when it was delayed to January, they tempered that news with the announcement that they would release the 2.0 patch prior to the expansion, so that players could enjoy the new talent trees, et cetera, and hopefully not be lured away by other games during the holiday. I would tend to doubt that they would do the same with WotLK, unless they find themselves in a similar situation.

And my understanding is that DK's will not be "clones" of existing characters, but rather that once you complete the DK questline, you will have the option to create DK's just as you would any other class, with the difference being DK's do not start at level 1.

This is how I read into it as well. Basically it looks like Kael'Thas had betrayed Illidan in the end and is now Allied himself with someone 'higher', who I assume is Kil'Jaeden. I sincerely hope we see Kael'Thas again, whether he is a separate boss from Kil'jaeden, or a part of the Kil'Jaeden encounter itself. Regardless of the outcome, I am looking forward to it.

I dont like the idea of recycling Naxx to become the entry dungeon raid in expansion 2. All the bosses and strats are knowned, the magic of the zone is lost. Its been beaten last year, just let that zone or any other old zone rest in peace.

I like the philosophy of moving foward with new content and new places. How many people are getting tired of Karazhan like they did with Molten Core. Naxx is different because its live cycle was shorter then other instances, lets just keep Naxx knowned as the best lvl 60 instance there was and not the molten core of Northrend with dated art, fights and feel.

That said alot of guild made in at least half way into Naxx clearing at least to Patchwerk. For those people the experience will be even worse. As is right now Naxx must be extremely easy for 40 lvl 70s. If people are soo interesting in running it, the zone is very accessible.

Far more people did NOT complete or even enter Naxx than the number that completed it over a year ago. Its a smart business model on Blizzards end, and I helped out with a Naxx pug yesterday on my server with almost 30 people who'd never been there before. Theyw ere ecstatic about it. People have been hearing forever about how good Naxx is, this will give them a reason to go back and do it, and actually get items they can use for doing so. I'm sure Blizzard would do slightly more than just copy/paste Patchwerk there and we'll see some new additions to the fights.

How about doing Patchwerk at the required DPS level, and dealing with adds at the same time? The possibilities are endless.

Or even better, they could fix alot of the fights that were broken to begin with like Grobbulus! Lets hope they change Loatheb somehow as well into a more "fun" encounter. I do like the mechanic (no healing, etc al.) I don't like the fix (shadowpots). It feels like they attempted to do something alot more with the encounter, but couldn't due to time constraints/coding issues.

And anyway, Naxx 2.0 sounds like an "entry" dungeon to the expansion. It will probably get steamrolled by anyone who did Naxx pre-TBC anyway.

In the raid and dungeon panel there was a slide they put up showing the preliminary dungeon list for the expansion... it was shown alongside the original planned list for TBC, and the list that eventually was finalized. However, the only picture I've seen of it so far on the web was too blurry to read, and at the panel itself I was *way* too far back. Did anyone see a good picture or copy of the slide at the R&D panel?

It could very well be put in a place on the itemization/progression ladder where T7 == Naxx 2.0, so the forefront guilds could opt to skim over it totally if they don't want a re-hash of previously beaten content.

(I realize that not all the current TBC forefront guilds have cleared Naxx pre-TBC... but most would have. Hey, whaddya know? Majority of minority... bahahaha)

Well my guild cleared everything except Horsemen, Sapphiron, and Kel'thuzad and I'm already excited about going back. And it's not just to beat those last three fights. While I'm primarily motivated by experiencing new content, I'm also a huge perfectionist with a high tolerance for doing the same thing over again to get things "just right".

What this means in practice is that I still enjoy boss fights we've done before because I love hammering through a previously difficult boss to see how well I can optimize my role in the fight and improve on previous attempts. I love Black Temple from the little I've seen of it, but I also love one-shotting 10 bosses in a row, as long as I feel like I still have room to improve my play.

What I'm saying is that even people who have seen most or all of Naxxramas could have a lot of fun going back, because so many fights were genuinely interesting to execute. (Heigan, Thaddius, and Gluth stick out in particular.)

Knowing how well the Ner'zhul + Arthas = tiny god thing worked out, maybe Kil'jaeden has similar plans to go super saiyan as well.

When I discussed this with some of my guildmates, the idea I came up with was:

-Moving Naxx back to Northrend (lorewise say that it needs to be repaired, needs reinforcements).

-Reduce the number of bosses. My idea was to have a 'doorwarden' type boss as you enter, then have each wing only have 1 boss. Utilize the best boss from each wing, retune for 25 people, and leave Sapp/Kel'thuzad as the final 2 bosses.

-Some of the bosses I could picture awould be Patchwerk as the 'doorwarden' type boss. have Thaddius in the Abom wing, 4h in the Deathknight wing (reduced to 3 or even 2 Horsemen for balance reasons), Noth or Heigan in the Plague wing, and Anub'rekan in the Spider wing.

This would put it at around 6-7 bosses, which would make a fairly nice entry dungeon. It would allow guilds who didnt see the fights in vanilla WoW to experience the best of them and allow Blizz to reuse the content, rather than letting it sit discarded and forgotten in the EPL.

Could even have a cutscene after defeating Kel'thuzad (for real this time ) of the Lich King projecting himself and telling your raid he's none too happy about your interference and that he is going to make your life quite miserable in Northrend if you intend to try and stop him. Would help to really tie in Naxx to the expansion and also allow the Lich King to show a heavy presense in the raiding scene. Could have him constantly harassing your raid as you progress, always there taunting and aiding his forces in fighting your raid force.

I wonder if my Head of Atiesh will still drop from KT in Naxx 3.0... (since I failed to get it in 1.0...)

Surely you'd just re-etch your weapon back to the min-max ideal while the uber moves are on their long cooldown?

From Tigole:
Great news! :oD Entry-level Naxx, tuned for 80 with new loot and (presumably) alterations of some encounters (speculation, but based on discussions here and the fact that some fights may have to change slightly for 25 players).

Change Thoughts: (Disclaimer - having not done Naxx yet, these are not particularly informed musings, so please correct me where wrong if necessary)
- Would they change Patchwerk due to Hatefuls being a more common mechanic now? Or is the gear check enough of a reason to keep it as is?
- What about Sapphiron remaining a resist-based fight? Encounters in TBC seem to have moved away from raid-wide resists (with the notable exception of Shahraz) towards encounters that require isolated resists on tanks. Even Al'ar (the obvious FR boss) doesn't call for it - so possible changes here? Is the Frost Aura the only thing that really calls for major raid-wide resists?
- The standing question of changes to 4H to mitigate the need for 6-8 tanks in a 25-man raid (alternatively, with DKs, Druids, Warriors, and Paladins, finding stand-in tanks may be easier; still, are you going to be rolling with a total of 6-8 classes that can tank?)
- 25-man encounters are typically less forgiving of deaths than 40-man (due both to raw numbers and due to fewer of the class that's dying - losing one of four priests is very different than one of two). Any encounters where deaths are difficult to avoid that might need some changes?

I think the current number of bosses would be fine - with the first 2-3 bosses of each wing tuned to be relative pushovers (as it was with old naxx, except for Patchwerk), then have the final boss of each wing be fairly difficult (the "door warden" as you put it), then have Sapphiron and Kel'thuzad as still fairly difficult fights (Prince in Karazhan, Majordomo and Ragnaros, etc.) and you have a compelling, fun dungeon with lots of loot that will drop, that people can farm for a long time coming. Just get a new faction going instead of AD, and you can even keep the same loot in there except buff the iLVL and change the stam coefficient to 50% more, and throw in a few new toys like haste rating/armor ignore.

Thats a metric *ton* of "new" content, that a vast, vast majority never got to experience that would appeal to everyone. Hardcores would go to gear up for level 80, farm it for a while, and move on. Newer guilds could kill bosses, gear up and eventually clear the instance. The trash is short and sweet, the bosses vary wildly and are compelling, and the lore is top notch. I see no reason to diminish the stature of the zone - and the fights themselves were originally designed for 25. I bet they can just dig up the old design docs, brush them off - revamp them for newer content since I am sure they have learned so much since TBC release in regards to what works, what doesn't, and what is "fun." and you have a Molten Core level introductory dungeon for the Expansion that no one will ever want to leave. All they need to do besides the above, is make the lore matter. Have alot of 5man stuff tie into Naxx, huge questlines all pointing to the resurgence of Kel'thuzad and other minions of the Lich King regaining power. Maybe have more Arthas talking during Naxx. Really build this up, and make the Kel'thuzad fight have more of an "Ooooo" factor like Kael'thas Phase 5.

Hail to the King Baby. Naxx is back.

Has anything been said about the order of runes mattering? It would be even more interesting if the placement of rune affected how long it takes for them to regen, or if certain combinations of runes gave a bonus to certain spells.