The Lich King and the Ruby Sanctum
The Lich King was killed almost 2 weeks ago on the first day he was accessible. Vodka and Paragon, two world class raiding guilds, quickly started clearing hard-mode Ice Crown Citadel and are already facing the heroic Lich King. We’ll likely see the world’s first kill of the Lich King on heroic early next week. Casual raiding guilds are already reaching the Lich King on regular mode and people are wondering, what’s next for the Wrath of the Lich King Expansion?
An interview with Tom Chilton was first to reveal a new raid boss in the Ruby Sanctum under the Wyrmrest Temple. Later Zarhym confirmed that it’s scheduled to release with patch 3.3.5, probably a few months from now.
“A powerful war party of the Black Dragonflight, led by the fearsome Twilight dragon, Halion, have launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple. By destroying the sanctum, the Black Dragonflight look to crush those that would stand in the way of their master’s reemergence into Azeroth and to ultimately shatter the Wyrmrest Accord – the sacred bond that unites the dragonflights.
The battle that is to come will surely deal a crippling blow to the Red Dragonflight, however, it is up to you to stop this unprecedented offensive and defend the Ruby Sanctum. First you must face the assault of Halion’s servants, Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn, and General Zarithrian, before squaring off against Halion the Twilight Destroyer, a new and deadly force in this realm.
The Ruby Sanctum will feature 10- and 25-player content, Heroic difficulties and all-new rewards! Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to its release.”
There are more details posted by Zarhym in this forum thread. Most notably, the Ruby Sanctum’s rewards will be ‘on par with ICC’ and drop top-tier raiding pieces.
There are also some rumors going on about patch 3.3.3 or 3.4 including world events to help the transition towards the Cataclysm. Read about these, including the recapture of Gnomergon at mmo-champion. I’m predicting at least 6 more months before its release. With a lot of things to test, the Blizzard Friends & Family Alpha test still hasn’t started. We saw this stage of testing in May of 2008, 6 months before the Wrath of The Lich King expansion hit stores. With no official information other than a 2010 release for Cataclysm, it’s safe to say we’ll see it in the late third or fourth quarter of this year.
Expanding the Looking For Dungeon System to Raids
The other big news in the interview with Tom Chilton was his mention of expanding the Looking For Dungeon system to include 10 man raids. He said, “Being able to extend that into raiding would be awesome if we could do it.” A system like this would need to include something to filter out players without the gear or experience to complete the 10 man raids or it might just mean easier 10 man raids. Remember when Stratholme was originally a 10 man dungeon?
The New Battle.net
Blizzard is hard at work designing and finishing the new Battle.net for the release of both Diablo III and StarCraft II. They are promising integration between all Blizzard games. You will be able to talk to players in Azeroth at the same time as you queue up for a 2v2 game in Starcraft II. We should even be able to talk to online character cross-realm.
WTB Frozen Orbs
Finally, the big news today is that in the next patch Frozen Orbs will be exchangeable for Eternals, Crusader Orbs, Runed Orbs, Frost Lotus and Pattern: Frostly Flying Carpet. This has already had an immediate impact on the price of Frozen Orbs, and will eventually have an impact on the prices of all the items they can be exchanged for. Expect a decrease in Eternal prices especially Eternal Fires. More information can be found here.
Thanks and see you next month,
- John Hunter