Breakfast Topic: Have you tried the Pit of Saron?
by Matt Low 
Oct 5th 2009 at 8:00AM
The PTR has been out for several days now. It's loaded with the latest build of the upcoming patch 3.3 which will feature the Icecrown raid and several smaller 5 man instances. The first instance that's up for testing is the Pit of Saron. I know some players do not like to be spoiled and would rather take in the moment when they first encounter it on their own. Others like myself crave information and wish to know every possible detail on a particular boss or instance. There's no right or wrong answer. PTRs are designed to be a testing ground and it offers a cool preview of what is to come. Some of the other bloggers on the staff along with myself jumped on during the weekend to give the place a shot. I had a fun time in there and learned a few interesting things. I don't think the instance is entirely finished yet, but there's enough in there to keep me busy healing.
Have you taken a look around the place yet? If not, do you intend to at some point?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
skreeran Oct 5th 2009 8:04AM
Yup, but I'm looking forward to FoS and HoR more for their lore. PoS is just the middle, practically filler, while FoS is the beginning and HoR is an end of sorts, even if it's not the real end.
Echohunter Oct 5th 2009 8:09AM
haven't done this yet. just got my main set up on the ptr. looking forward to doing it though, even with no loot!
jealouspirate Oct 5th 2009 8:11AM
I'll continue to enjoy reading impressions and/or reviews of the new 5-mans, but I don't actually have a desire to play unfinished content myself.
Aubrecia Oct 5th 2009 8:21AM
It's like what jealouspirate has said. While I'm anxiously following every bit of information about the patch, I think I don't quite have the mindset (or the time) to test it out for myself. I'm more of a casual WOWer, so I think the PTR is better left to people who know more about what they're doing.
But I'll still hound the new discoveries as they come up. I think my favorite so far is the added running animation for hippogryffs -- long overdue! I know, it's not important at all.
I'm thrilled about walking through an instance with Sylvanas by my side, though. Have to admit. I'm looking forward to that more than most of what else I've heard.
Powar Oct 5th 2009 8:30AM
[Jaenelle]: I think this instance will be enjoyable for me
[The Hippogryph] whispers: I have learnt how to walk and run on the ground.
Amshel Oct 5th 2009 8:39AM
I tested it out, then read a comment on the forums that the last boss is bugged if you stealth to him. He was a rogue, but I made a premade druid to try it as balance. Turns out, balance druids can solo the last boss in normal AND heroic modes =P.
It's wierd, because stealth seems to bug the place up, but you can still loot the last boss when you kill him (Even though he has no loottable yet.) If this isn't fixed before going live, I could see druids farming this in normal to sell epics (easy 20 gold a run? Free epics? Yeah!) I don't know if Blizz payed attention to me when I reported it, so who knows?
talkingmike Oct 5th 2009 2:33PM
If this bug is legitimate, there is no way Blizzard will not fix it. Good find, but don't get your druid-hopes up.
Robmac Oct 5th 2009 8:45AM
I tanked it over the weekend and had enjoyable time with PoS. I like most of the pulls and lore in the instance, some of the beginning pulls were a bit tricky, mainly because i play a mage and a pally tank not a warrior, which i was trying out at the time. So i dont like the mobs were that hard. Just me be and slow learner with warriors. Also having Sylvanas there was pretty awesome.
Kolyarut Oct 5th 2009 8:54AM
I quite liked the lack of a running animation for hippogryphs, I love the way they currently bounce along on their hind legs like kangaroos, while flapping their wings to keep themselves upright. It's adorable!
I've also got no interest in running this content before it goes live, though I'm as curious as everyone else as to what's going on in there. Partly it's the fact that it's unfinished content, but mostly it's the fact that I'll be running it several times a day to gear up my army of non-raiding alts, on heroic and normal, so why run it now and make myself sick of it before it comes out properly?
volrathxp Oct 5th 2009 9:01AM
Ran this on Normal and Heroic this weekend. Its pretty fun. Its obvious they haven't properly tuned it yet, because parts of it were overly difficult and some parts were super easy. Looking forward to the other two instances as well.
rawrawrawr Oct 5th 2009 9:09AM
I transfered my warlock across, but I can't see the instance portals thanks to a bug with phasing, so I've got a premade queued up, but there's a 3 day wait time on premades...
Shelle Oct 5th 2009 9:12AM
Looks like the devs are letting their emo show... giant, glowing Donnie Darko bunny, stage left!
Cyrus Oct 5th 2009 9:19AM
I've never played on a PTR before, but I'm seriously considering the 3.3 PTR, just because, hey, it's Icecrown Citadel. Arthas, Quel'Delar, a raid featuring those hovering airships, whatever's going on with Bolfang... who could wait?
But I'm getting a bit burned out, I think, and at the same time I'm getting tantalizingly close to a big achievement, and I've let some stuff in IRL go for a while. Pity. Why couldn't the PTR have waited a month?
styopa Oct 5th 2009 9:42AM
Maybe I'm the only one, but personally I think the 'opening' of the PTR regularly is hurting WoW.
Look: you have all the cutting-edge raiding guilds/players and many not-so-cutting edge guilds/players racing to get transferred over and push the new content, regardless of bugs, so that they can analyze the encounters to death and be ready to race through it in minimum time once it's released on Live.
Further, we have sites like WoW and MMO-Champion dissecting, analyzing, screenshotting, loot-tabling, and datamining everything from the PTR with the rigor of a forensic pathologist.
Are we surprised that there is a creeping sense of ennui? Is "new" content really new when it's been analyzed TO DEATH for 6+ months before release?
I *understand* the role of PTRs; I understand the point of open betas - in a game that has 11 million players, load-testing is critical. Further, with the OCD elitistjerks shining lights into every corner, it's pretty much the only chance that Blizzard is going to catch that particular bug where a Draenei Shaman doing "choo choo" emote while wearing a mind-control headpiece accidentally summons Ragnaros or gets that unanticipated +.04% dps buff. I understand.
I learned this lesson myself in TBC beta; I levelled my main to Nagrand in beta, then helped my spouse level hers to the same point. Then we did it again in Live (in the same order), then my first alt...and I realized that I'd done the exact same thing FIVE times. No wonder it was getting freaking boring!
So seriously, I know it's my choice as an information consumer about what I read and what I don't. I like wow.com for some good insightful articles relevant to my classes and playstyles. But I anticipate that by the time Cataclysm is released - no matter how much I'm looking forward to it now - I'm going to be underwhelmed because I know that *every* detail will have been announced, screenshotted, video'd, a publicized. Sure, we'll get to walk through the content ourselves, but by that time, we're going to know it so well it will be like we've already done it once already.
I miss the actual sense of wonder and discovery (and yes, even the concomitant frustration and bugs) of patches in nonPTR'd vanilla WoW. What value novelty? Isn't the idea of running an instance blind, or running into a totally unknown mob, or a boss dropping a completely unexpected item worth something? Have the PTRs *really* allowed Blizzard to kill that many more bugs than they'd have had to patch anyway?
Meh, I enjoy reading the news about WoW so it's going to be hard, but I'm deliberately trying to avoid learning about Cataclysm more than I have to. I want to enjoy it when it ACTUALLY COMES OUT.
JPN Oct 5th 2009 9:51AM
But, and I could be wrong, but this isn't really "load testing". To me, load testing is "let's cram as many people onto a server (or some piece of hardware or software) and see how it handles high numbers all at the same time." The PTR is more about fight tuning...so why not hire testers to do that? I mean, that's what we're doing for them (for free) so I guess the trade-off is lack of surprise. I agree though, firsts used to mean something. I mean, there was a period of time when C'Thun wasn't even realistically beatable and he was "in-game" and I have no idea what was wrong with that. There used to be some cool anticipation about stuff. I mean, it's different than spoilers; it's more of, a first doesn't mean anything if a guild has been practicing it on the PTR, no matter if they buff the boss' numbers when it goes live. It's less of "Wow, x guild figured it out" and more "x guild has the top gear and just executed what they were rehearsing on the PTR". I know they tried to fix this last time by having raids open small amounts of times. And we're talking about a 5-man, not the main ICC raid, I get that.
I just don't get it. Hire a core of testers. Do what Nintendo used to do in the 80s and 90s and just hire people out locally to try it out. Sure, things will get out there, but if you can separate the players from the testers (and maybe you can't), maybe it would mean more.
It just seems like since BC/LK, guilds have been rolling content in the first day or two it comes out. It just "feels" less epic.
Goradan Oct 5th 2009 4:19PM
You pretty much nailed why I don't play on the PTR. I do wind up reading a bit too much, and I can't help it, as Raid Leader, I *have* to learn the encounters before we execute so there is no learning in game, just a series of steps where I watch this Tankspot clip, read that strat-fu strat, check all the boss' abilities on WoW-Head and WoWWiki and by then there are no surprises left.
It's still fun. But it lacks the awe and wonder.
Tuttutt Oct 5th 2009 9:55AM
I tried to do it this morning but I have learned that as of this version of ptr if you have done the quest line of icecrown to the end the phasing blocks you out so I'll have to wait till next push or a premade can be copied
Kylenne Oct 5th 2009 10:05AM
I'm actually actively avoiding it. For one, I want to do them in the proper order, and two, this is something I actually want to be unspoiled for. I generally go on PTRs to see how my spells and abilities are going to change, and look at the other changes in the world if any; I figure there will be more than enough people chomping at the bit to try the new instances.
RothKeahi Oct 5th 2009 10:31AM
Honestly, I get nervous trying new things on the PTR. I know, it sounds dumb, but I am admitedly a follower, not a leader, so I like other people to know that is going on and let me know what i need to do so I can learn from that.
Jack Kelly Oct 5th 2009 10:36AM
I've never really been into the PTR but I'm having a great time running the new instance for a few main reasons.
You don't have to jump through hoops to run them. Everyone in in pretty much the same boat and you don't have to deal with "gear score this" and "armory that".
Most everyone just wants to try out things and having a fast, clean run isn't a big deal.
Live WoW is like pulling teeth. Everyone seems so stressed out.