Patch 3.3: The heart and souls of Icecrown Citadel
by Michael Sacco 
Nov 21st 2009 at 7:15PM
There's a lot of great information in there. Where itemization is concerned, they explain that the multitude of bosses in the instance (especially compared to the ghost town that was Crusader's Coliseum) affords the developers the opportunity to really serve players with specific specs and make sure that each boss has a loot table with an item of interest for every raider in attendance. They also talk at length about some popular concepts they've brought back for the sake of keeping things fun and interesting -- like the return of weapon procs, something we've rarely seen since the vanilla endgame. Ghostcrawler says that the main theme of Icecrown's gear is "Epic. Cool things. Proc'y stuff." Sounds good to me.
They also talk about cohesion between the dungeon's art and the gear that drops in it. The compelling look of the instance made it easy to create eye-catching gear to match it, and that's apparently not always easy. The Frozen Halls, the set of three five-man dungeons also releasing with 3.3, will also have gear that shares the same artistic "kit" as the raid, like they wish they had done with Ulduar and its sister five-man dungeons.
Other topics touched on include discussion of non-boss items available -- trash epics, for example, or the Ashen Verdict rep gear that'll be available -- and why Crusader's Coliseum was so, what's the word ... boring. In short, blame Icecrown. Personally, I'm willing to make the sacrifice of one fairly uninspired patch period if it means that the end of the entire WarCraft III arc wraps up in a big, glorious, icy fireworks display. So to speak.
Check out the full interview for yourself here, along with some new screenshots.
Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.Filed under: Patches, Interviews, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jason Nov 21st 2009 7:53PM
Will the Ashen Verdict be a faction we can champion for with a tabard?
MazokuRanma Nov 21st 2009 7:58PM
They haven't said, but I highly doubt it. The faction is specific to the ICC raid, and I think based on how epic they're implying the rewards are, they won't want people grabbing a tabard and then farming heroics to get the items. They want you inside ICC taking Arthas down.
One thing I do with they'd do is allow for the other tabards to give rep when in raid instances. It makes absolutely no sense for instance that the Argent Crusade is so happy that I'm killing trolls in Zul'drak but could care less that I took the time to wipe out Naxxramas, or to finish their Tournament.
Eternauta Nov 21st 2009 8:20PM
Ashen Veredict = new Ashtongue Deathsworn
Valt Nov 22nd 2009 7:43AM
Heck, just give us normal tabard at exalted. You know, the ones BC and vanilla had..plain normal ones that just looked cool, did nothing other than "showed how heroic you are". anyone remember those?
Pugs 'R Us Nov 21st 2009 8:03PM
It starts...
MoarHeroisms Nov 21st 2009 8:36PM
Young heroes, I was once like you.
You have come to this place seeking judgment upon the damned.
You will venture deep into forgotten lands.
You will see wonders beyond imagining.
But, be warned; the land itself will rise up against you.
Long-forgotten terrors will smother your courage.
Sacrifice everything as the final darkness falls.
In the end, all that awaits you is death.
Only then will you understand, you've been following in my footsteps all along.
So come then, you heroes. Come in all your power and glory!
For in the final hour....
All must serve
The one.
True.
King.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Nov 21st 2009 9:18PM
You are not prepared.
schmO Nov 21st 2009 10:14PM
The link on the World of Warcraft site does not render correctly for me in Firefox, but appears to work fine in Internet Explorer. Anyone else have this problem?
Nawaf Nov 21st 2009 11:58PM
Tier 10 is so scourgy.
Hakker Nov 22nd 2009 2:21AM
Seriously did blizz not learn their lesson about proc'y stuff back n naxx? Things like bandits insignia, darkmoon card: death and lightning generators were some of the. Biggest things contributing to the ridiculous damage in season 5.
This just encourages people to use pve gear in pvp which they have already said
they didn't want to do.
MrMindless Nov 22nd 2009 6:37AM
sigh... the most popular and loved items were allways the ones with the cool procs/effects
ICC is not a pvp'ers area its a pve'rs, let us have some fun for once, not just numbers and stats but fun.
Not everything has to be turning around pvp, if it bothers you that much ask if procs are disabled in your precious arena, not ask for them to be removed, I speak for most people that a trinket that increases your whatever stat by X ammount isn't nearly as awesome as one that summons a giant cannon to blast your enemy with
Sword Nov 22nd 2009 9:30AM
Blizzard is done balancing around Arena....
This game is and should always be about having fun...not catering to what a few people find fun and punishing everyone else(Arena..need I say more?) for not enjoying it by balancing the entire rest of the game around it..
No more numbers and calulators in my game please....I'd like a giant cannon trinket :)
Valt Nov 22nd 2009 7:34AM
Im really excited about the raid but waiting till 2010 to face last bosses? geez. Come on man, I know its epic but .
But atleast I might bring my DK back to the living and get her T9 and stuff from 5mans.. might pimp it up for IC! Now if only people would accept DK tanks more.
Nawaf Nov 22nd 2009 7:39AM
I can see the point of the themes in tier 10. Like they said, each set is themed after some scourge type. But I still don't get the paladin set, it's the first paladin set I've ever seen that has a skull. What's with the warrior set? I've seen three or four colors of it, what's the difference between the colors.