I wonder about the sword. Will we *all* enter its realm (With the Ashen Verdict forces taking Arthas on and us weakening Frostmourne's power from the inside), or will it be a C'Thun/Yogg-Saron-style encounter where we go in multiple times?

I'm actually thinking this might be better suited an enrage mechanic, similar to Teron's constructs. You get marked, you die, your soul gets inside Frostmourne and try to stop the sword from corrupting your raid, while the survivors try to take out the Lich King.

I'm sure the lot of you have seen this

Patch 3.3 PTR: Why are Northshire wolves getting sick

Any theories? I'm thinking Blizzard might trigger mini-world events for 3.3, perhaps Arthas trying to demonstrate the full reach of his powers.

Or maybe something for Cataclysm, already? Old Gods influence, Twilight Hammer sabotage (although they're supposed to be "badass" in Cataclysm).

Perhaps it's the first signs of the Worgen Curse? The gates to Gil'neas are meant to crack for Cataclysm, perhaps it's seeping out to the Wolves in advance. (Fitting considering you'd have wolves getting sick, when the new race will be Werewolves).

Yer I think it is definitely to do with the model being available to hunters. Whether this means they are removing it from Felwood or they just wanted to make it easier to get for Alliance I don't know. Perhaps Felwood has been cleansed? We did some work on that questing there and being on the Cenarion Circle's doorstep makes it a prime target for aid.

You also have Troll Druid's which it is speculated they come from the nearby Shatterspear Village. Perhaps these new recruits aided in cleansing it, or at least bolstered the CC's ranks to reduce the corruption somewhat.

I hope I'm not coming across as dense, but is the diseased wolf pet "easy" to get for any race? The first ones we see, if I'm not mistaken, are in Felwood. Even if those are cleansed, though, there's always the Plaguelands.

For example, if you want a spiny raptor, you need to go to Outland. Frostsaber-like (traditional) leopards are only found in Sholazar. So, while this change in models isn't the ultimate lore-move, I hope it has some deeper meaning.

The quest talks about some unknown disease. Granted, it's a common theme, either that or a questgiver suddendly discovering predators are traditionaly hostile. But there is indeed a change from the previous quest.

Humans can be hunters in Cataclysm. At the moment there are only 3 types of pets in Elwynn: Spiders, Boars, Wolves. While I'm not sure if all the wolves use the same model, they are at least very similar. It makes sense for Blizzard to offer players a bigger selection in hunter pets.

(For comparison: Dun Morogh has boars, bears (in at least 2 colors), wolves and snow leopards. Durotar has crabs, scorpids, boars, raptor, crokolisks, tigers)

It might be a bit dreamy to ask Blizzard for more faithful models, if the change is based on gameplay, but right now, not many diseases in Azeroth leave their infected with their ribs showing, fur in a truly despicable state and with basically undead looks.

It is hard to think of very epic lore introduction to the human hunter combo. An increase in hostile animal activity (due to cataclysm, plague and a lack of military forces in the area to keep them down) would mean a need for a new force to deal with them. Cue the human hunter subgroup. It isn't very epic like the highborne mages coming back into the nightelf culture or the Tauren finding the light but I always liked the RPG story where you started off as some member of a minor force and then went on to bigger things.

What do you mean? There were always human hunters. The questline for slaying Blightcaller says as much. I am sure there must be at least 1 human druid or something lorewise as well.

That said, it would be nice if a High-elf NPC was added to Stormwind as the hunter trainer. (Since presumably Nathanos was trained by the High-Elves as well).

In the latest PTR build, they added the top portion of the spire and its platform to the very top of Icecrown Citadel (the non-instanced external area).



It had always annoyed me that the Citadel was built all around the spire which was shown in all its glory in the Warcraft 3: TFT outro cinematic. I assume that they'll add the Frozen Throne and the Lich King on top of the platform in one of the final builds (he'll most likely be protected by some sort of shield I reckon).