The Lords of Nordrassil

Patch 3.3 is here at last and we have now begun to run the new Icecrown Citadel instances and to confront the Lich King. However I for one had missed the trailer that sets the scene until I spotted it in an article commending the story-telling in Wrath of the Lich King on Gamers With Jobs

The Fall of the Lich King trailer is an epic introduction to the new Icecrown Citadel instances, featuring the Lich King, Frostmourne and the army of heroes gathering outside the Citadel seeking justice.

The trailer is available on youtube (and can be switched into HD mode), or for download from the official World of Warcraft website.

Patch 2.4 is coming soon. The test patch notes are now available, revealing some of what is on the way (all subject to change of course). Summarised below are the main features at this point:

• Sunwell Isle which includes a new level 70 five man instance and a 25 man raid.
• New daily quests as part of the attack on the Isle of Quel’Danas, to confront Kael’thas and the Legion at the Sunwell.
• Keepers of Time npc in Shattrath providing easy access to the Caverns of Time
• When you repec your talent tree you no longer have to relearn trainable ranks of talent-granted spells
• Mana regen changed so that as intellect rises, more mana is regenerated per spirit point
• Spell haste reduces global cooldown on spells to a 1 second minimum
• Warlock’s Ritual of Summoning can be used to summon players into instances (that they match the level requirements for)
• In battlegrounds, diminishing returns on honour for kills is being removed – honour will now be calculated correctly straightaway.
• Bad news for fans of the Fires of Skettis daily quest: Monstrous Kaliri have learned how to chase players going straight up.

Patch 2.3 is scheduled for next week (Wed 12th Nov for Europe) according to Drysc at the Wow Forums. So what’s the big fuss about, other than all the addons that I just asked you to install stopping working?

Here’s a quick summary of what 2.3 promises:

• Faster levelling from 20-60 and a new quest hub in dustwallow
• Alterac Valley reworked to stop the rush tactics
• Zul’Aman – a new 10 man raid instance to do once we’ve pwned Kara
• Heroic dungeons can be entered with honoured rep (rather than revered)
• New flight points e.g. Rebel Camp in Stranglethorn to help make that STV grind easier
• ‘Old-world’ instance loot buffed
• Elite mobs outside of pre-Burning Crusade dungeons have been changed to non-elite
• Healing items now grant 1/3 spell damage too

Full details are on the test realm patch notes; final confirmed details as we get them