Monthly Archives: September 2011

More 4.3: Deathwing Raid and Tier Sets

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I’ve been getting more writing work as of late. Not enough to pay the bills, still, but enough to give me something to do every day. I feel as though I should make mention of it, since this blog is supposed to be about my writing as well as my interests, but there isn’t much to say about it. I’m writing about ovens and automotive clear bras (that’s a thing, trust me); it’s not very exciting. So, I guess that just means another WoW post.

The Deathwing Raid:

Because they seem to like screwing with me, Blizzard released the preview for the Deathwing raid, Dragon Soul, almost immediately after my previous post covering the 4.3 dungeons. More details were revealed in an interview with lead encounter designer Scott Mercer, but because it contained plot spoilers, I only skimmed it.

To be honest, this didn’t tell us much we didn’t already know. The battle will take place at Wyrmrest as Thrall and the Aspects seek to empower the Dragon Soul, also known as the Demon Soul, to destroy Deathwing. The Dragon Soul is an artifact very familiar to lore fans, though it may not be well known to the more casual fans–the game will likely provide its backstory in 4.3. There will be two encounters with Deathwing, one of which will involve parachuting onto his back and riding him across the ocean whilst trying to pry chunks of his armor off.

Still, a few things did jump out at me.

First is that, in 4.3, Blizzard seems to have completely abandoned the idea of dungeons being, well, dungeons. None of the new instances are really about exploring specific buildings or locations and are more instanced events. Indeed, Dragon Soul’s encounters will supposedly take place across a good chunk of Azeroth. This is a nice new take, and I hope they do more of this.

Next, there is mention that one of the new bosses, a faceless one and servant of N’Zoth called Warlord Zon’ozz, “waged endless war against the forces of C’thun and Yogg-Saron” in the distant past. This is actually an important revelation for lore; this is the first time there’s been any hint of conflict between the Old Gods in the past. Now, this isn’t hugely surprising, considering we’ve seen the modern servants of the Old Gods beating the snot out of each other since WoW launched, but it’s still an interesting insight into life on Azeroth when the Old Gods ruled.

This may also be a final confirmation on the number of Old Gods. Since it only mentions C’thun, N’zoth, and Yogg-Saron, it may be safe to assume those are the only Old Gods to have come to Azeroth. Three is one of the many figures given for the number of Old Gods in the past.

Finally, they’re saying that this will be the most story-driven raid to date, featuring multiple cinematics as players crisscross the world in their final battle with Deathwing. We’ll even supposedly make a return to the Eye of Eternity at some point to recover the Focusing Iris to use against Deathwing.

This all sounds very interesting to a lore fan like me. I like the connectivity of it all. One of my complaints about World of Warcraft is how each expansion always seems to ignore the contributions of previous expansions. How many times have we seen the Naaru since Burning Crusade? How often has Darion Mograine shown up since Arthas died? But the Dragon Soul raid is pulling elements from all across lore–Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, the novels…

It’s not Icecrown Citadel, but this is definitely a raid I’d like to experience, and it would be nice to finish a raid in the expansion it was released for once. Once again, I must place all my hopes upon the Raid Finder.

More Tier 13:

Two more tier 13 previews have been released, and these are the two I was really interested in: rogue and paladin.

The rogue set, Blackfang Battleweave, appears to be what would happen if Batman joined the Burning Legion. I think it’d look good on Blood Elves and Forsaken, but I can’t see anyone else pulling it off. If I get any for my rogue, it’ll be transmogged into my beloved T9.

Looking back at the retrospective, it seems that nearly every rogue tier set has been ugly. Only tiers 2, 4, 9, and 12 look halfway decent to my eye. And they say druids have it bad…The paladin set, Battleplate of Radiant Glory, is another matter. It’s absolutely beautiful and perfectly captures the idea of being a beacon of hope and justice. Definitely my favourite T13 set so far, and if I get it for my paladin (she has the best chance of getting a T13 set of all my characters, but it’s still a big if these days), I won’t even need my carefully crafted transmog set. It might even become my new transmog set for future tiers.

4.3: The Good Dungeons, the Bad Decisions, and the Ugly Sets

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Patch 4.3:

Blizzard just released another big dump of news about the upcoming patch, and it’s very mixed news. Rarely have I felt such a mix of joy and anger.

The Good Dungeons:

First, the positive news. Blizzard has announced the three new five man dungeons 4.3 will bring, and they sound utterly amazing.

The first, End Time, will involve traveling into future to visit the Hour of Twilight predicted in “Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects.” In that future, Deathwing has won, and every living thing on Azeroth has been killed–including Deathwing himself. Hey, he is insane.Deathwing impaled on Wyrmrest Temple in End Time dungeon

End Time looks like it might also feature the conclusion of the Infinite Dragonflight story — and perhaps a battle with an alternate Nozdormu.

It’s embarrassing how excited about this dungeon I am. I literally did a happy dance after I read the preview. Thank god no one was around to see.

But that’s just the start. The second, Well of Eternity, has players traveling back 10,000 years to battle the servants of Queen Azshara and steal the Demon Soul, an artifact that may hold the key to Deathwing’s demise. Cue nerdgasms from every lore fan on the face of the Earth.The titular magic font from the Well of Eternity dungeon

The last, Hour of Twilight, has players escorting Thrall to Wyrmrest Temple for the final battle with Deathwing. This sounds the least interesting of the three, but hey, at least we get to see Northrend again.

I never thought anything would beat the Icecrown Citadel dungeons, but if anything can, these just might.

The Bad Decisions:

Now we come to the less positive news. According to an interview with Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street, tier 13 will not be at all available from valor points. Rather than rewriting my thoughts, I’ll provide a copy of the angry rant I posted on their forum:

“This is a very bad decision. There is a severe rift in this community, with the raiders and the non-raiders pitted against each other. This will make that much worse, as the raiders will be able to lord over the rest of populace with their tier sets. Meanwhile, the casual players — justifiably or not — will grow jealous of the raiding community. It doesn’t matter who you see is the issue here — the casuals or the hardcores — it’s a conflict that harms the community, and restricting tier gear to raiders will only make it worse. You think the scraps over needing tokens for helm and shoulders are bad? Wait until all tier pieces are from tokens only.

It feels like Blizzard is endorsing the player-held notion that those who don’t raid should be treated as second-class citizens.

Furthermore, this will destroy dungeon queues, unless valor can be used for something equally essential (though I can’t quite picture what that could be — tier gear is about as good as it gets). I really don’t relish the idea of four hour dungeon queues for DPS. And if valor will be just as essential, then what’s the point of doing this at all?

I never understood what the harm is in allowing tier gear to be purchased with points/emblems. In Wrath, all pieces of the last two tiers were purchasable with emblems, and it didn’t break the game. In fact, quite the opposite. Subscriptions were at their peak, and PUGs thrived. Blizzard is fixing something that was never broken.

This also throws cold water on those who had hoped to use the raid finder as a stepping stone to normal mode raids. Good luck going far when T13 is limited to those who’ve already done normal modes. Yes, I’m sure you will be able to clear normal in dungeon/LFR gear, but try telling that to elitist PUGers and guild leaders. ‘I want a fast run, sorry.’

If raiders really need something to make them feel special (you know, beyond the mounts, titles, and achievements they already get), make the valor version of T13 have slightly lower stats and ilevel than the normal and heroic versions. At least the non-raiders will still get the set bonuses”

Now, to be fair, I did overreact a bit when I posted this. We don’t know the details of this, so maybe it won’t be as bad as it sounds. Zarhym has confirmed T13 will drop from the Raid Finder, so that helps a bit. I’m still really worried about what this is going to do to dungeons, though, and I still see this as completely pointless and unnecessary. I don’t like how Blizzard seems determined to reinforce the elitist attitudes of the raid community, either.

The Ugly Sets:

Actually, they’re not all that ugly, but I needed to complete the reference. While I was covering 4.3, I figured I’d make mention of the latest T13 sets released: mage, shaman, and druid.The tier 13 set from patch 4.3

I’d say the mage set, Timelord’s Regalia (Go go Doctor Who jokes!) is my favourite so far. The head’s a little goofy, but the shoulders and colours are great, and the “techno-mage” concept is very original.

Shaman is definitely my least favourite T13 set to date. The shoulders are decent, but those orange crystals are hideous, and the head looks like something you’d buy at Petsmart for your dog.

The Zangarmarsh-inspired, bioluminescent Druid set is very middle of the road. It’s pretty, and very druidic, but a little simplistic for a set for the end of the expansion. But I suppose that makes sense for a druid.

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So, what do you think, dear reader? Are you as excited about the new dungeons as I? What do you make of the new tier restrictions? How are you liking the new set looks?