Tuesday Maintenance Boredom - Patch 3.3 and You...

Morning blog lovers!

If you are anything like me, you had "a case of the Monday's" yesterday. We made it and we are moving on....

It doesn't get much better, now the servers are down for maintenance. SOB! We can't win for losing can we?

So I figured I would take the time and talk about the new upcoming patch, 3.3. There are a ton of changes and new additions to the game and I am especially excited for this patch. Mostly because my two favorite classes, Shamans and Mages are getting a some pretty neat stuff and the Lich King himself is finally showing his punk ass face.

Oh yeah, that means a new raid instance and it also means three new 5 man dungeons with a 5 man version boss fight the Lich King himself. Woot!

Mages in patch 3.3

• Arcane Empowerment: This talent now also grants 1/2/3% increased damage done by the mage's party or raid for 10 seconds after the mage gets a critical strike with Arcane Explosion, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, or Arcane Blast. This effect is exclusive with Ferocious Inspiration and Sanctified Retribution.

Lets take a second to take that in

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Ok, so I think that all Arcane mages will agree with me by saying F YEAH! Every time you crit with your 3 main nukes, Arcane Blast, Arcane Missiles, and Arcane Barrage, you will grant your entire raid with 3% damage increase? Are you serious? That is f'n amazing! In a 25 man raid, 3 mages will should guarantee that the 3% dmg buff will be up 99.9% of the time. This is a huge pve buff and everyone should be excited, not just Arcane mages.

Shaman

• Fire Nova Totem: This totem has been replaced with a new spell, Fire Nova, which is available at the same ranks as the old Fire Nova Totem. Existing characters will automatically learn this new spell in place of the totem. With a Fire Totem active, shamans will be able to use Fire Nova (fire magic) to emit the same area-of-effect damage as the old Fire Nova Totem from the active Fire Totem, not consuming the totem in the process. Fire Nova will activate a 1.5-second global cooldown when used and has a 10-second spell cooldown. The caster must be within 30 yards of the totem to use this ability, but does not need to be within line of sight of the totem.
• Improved Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Improved Fire Nova. This talent now provides an additional 10/20% damage to the spell and reduces the cooldown by 2/4 seconds.

Uh...I had to read it a few times too, don't feel bad. So how in the hell is this going to fit in our standard rotation? I don't know and truthfully it probably won't unless there is stuff to AoE. It sounds like a very cool spell, but I have no idea how it actually turn out. The original fire nova totem did ok aoe damage at the level cap, but I never messed with it really. Now that it doesn't require its own totem, but just a fire totem, it will be interesting to play around with, but I am trying to stay positive.

Elemental dps rotation is pretty bland and could use some spiciness added to it. However, I highly doubt that it will make it in our dps rotation. It is another spell that we can use for AoE encounters, which is HUGE because lets face it...chain lighting is pretty lame for an AoE spell.

I hope it looks cool. The post just said it was a spell, so I don't know if its a spell like the Moonkin's typhoon AoE spell or something like a Mage/Lock's channeled AoE spell. I am planning on downloaded the PTR, so maybe I can get some more facts about this instead of just talking about it.

LAWL

Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls - Holy F!

First off....before I get into this new raid / 5 man dungeons. I want you to read a quote from Blizzard. Mostly because I can't say it any better then they can.

"Icecrown Citadel will feature a massive five-player dungeon sprawling across three wings of the citadel's foundation. While the Lich King's attention is focused on the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade ripping through the front gates, players will be tested as they assist Jaina Proudmoore (Alliance) and Sylvanas Windrunner (Horde) in infiltrating the citadel through an alternate entrance.

An epic quest line will present adventurers with the task of weakening Icecrown Citadel's forces, requiring that players defeat the challenges in each dungeon wing before venturing into the next one. Normal and Heroic versions of the dungeon will be accessible to players, although each wing will be considered a separate instance; therefore, on Heroic difficulty, each wing will have its own separate lockout timer. All-new rewards -- including item level 219 (normal) and level 232 (Heroic) loot -- will be offered to those who destroy some of the Lich King's most formidable allies."

Did they just say three new 5 mans with loot tables of 219 for regular and 232 for heroic? Holy F! One part is excited for all the new gear and content and the other part is kinda disappointed for all of the nooblets running around in level 219 / 232 gear.

But lets think more clearly...if you are in a raiding guild, you are going to have way better gear then what is dropping in the 5 man dungeons of IC. You are going to have 10 and 25 man raid gear from IC. So I take it back...I am just excited...

and so are my non raiding alts!

Epic quest line and the return of attunement's?

Oh snap...Blizzard did just say epic quest line. I remember the last epic quest line that I had to and it was for SSC back in TBC. Before that it was to gain entry to Onyixa back in the day. MMO-Champion does have some idea on what the quest line is going to entail and I must say, it doesn't sound that EPIC.

I will say that it looks quite long, MMO listed 17 quests chain. Now this could all change, but currently on the PTR, that is how it is currently.

You might have also read in that quote from Blizzard that in order to each of the three new 5 mans, you must defeat the one before it. So we have a possible 17 part quest that involves gaining access to the new 5 man dungeons. Without doing the quest line you will not be able to continue to the next "wing".

Sounds like an attunement to me. What do you guys think??

The Forge of Souls

• First "wing" or dungeon...whatever you want to call it.
• Has two bosses, Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls and The Devourer of Souls
• The goal is to ruin the twisted engines known as soul grinders found in this portion of the citadel
• Seems like a pretty short instance, but only Blizzard knows because it has not yet been up to the public on the PTR.

Pit of Saron

• Second "wing" or dungeon. Only accessible to those who have defeated the Forge of Souls "Wing"
• Has three bosses - Forgemaster Garfrost, Krick and Ick, and finally Scourgelord Tyrannus
• The goal is to free enslaved allies who have been trapped by the Scourge and find out where the Lich King's private quarters is located in IC.
• From reading up on the summary, it seems like a pretty linear and normal flowing instance.

Halls of Reflection

• This is where it goes down! Again, this is the third wing and you can not access it unless you defeated the other two wings.
• Falric and Marwyn are the first boss fight you encounter and then its the big boy himself, the Lich King.
• I think what Blizzard is doing is really flipping cool with the Lich King in a 5 man dungeon. That way everyone that plays pve, the 5 man guys, 10 man raiders, and 25 man raiders will all hopefully have some closure in killing this fool!

I know right...lot of information! There is also new Weekly raid quest and new badges. New badges means new badge gear and I was just thinking to myself that I was getting pretty sexy in my T9.

Watch out because that is going to be old news here in a little bit.

What do you guys think about all these upcoming changes? Any thoughts or criticism