A new content patch has come out, and with it all sorts of goodies including four new instances. Mr. Nash talks about what he's been doing in WoW since the patch came out.

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Journeys in Azeroth XVII

Well, with the recent release of patch 3.2 in World of Warcraft, I thought it high time to yammer on about my ongoing adventures there. Considering all the new weapons and armor that have been made available in the new patch, Blizzard may as well have called it “Phat Loot for All”. A big function that this patch brings to the table is a means for more casual players to catch up in terms of acquiring better weapons and armor so that they can check out some of the more challenging content in Wrath of the Lich King, such as the 10 / 25 man dungeons like Naxxramus, and Ulduar. Moreover, it also gives the more experienced, hardcore players a chance to get gear with even more obscene stats than that which they already have.

The patch isn’t just a continuation of the loot treadmill, though. We also got the introduction of a bunch of new instances that work on a theme of eliminating as much of the trash mobs as possible, and making it more of a cavalcade of boss fights. This has been received with mixed feelings from the community, as some enjoy the more drawn out instances, while others are pleased to be getting through the things quicker.

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I haven’t tried the 10 or 25 man instances yet (Trial of the Crusader), but have been fiddling around with the 5 man instance, Trial of the Champion, and have found it to be a nice change of pace. The whole thing is based on having the Argent Crusade, a neutral faction in Azeroth, host a jousting / gladiatorial tournament where members of the horde and the alliance can face off against one

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another. The instance starts with some jousting against three specific groups within your opposing faction, followed by jousting against their respective commanders. This entails groups coordinating their attacks with lance throws to ware down the defences of the enemy, while charging them to inflict massive damage. After defeating all of the commanders while jousting, groups must fight them again on foot in a more traditional battle. Interestingly, players can actually flee the instance, and re-enter, causing the bosses to respawn at one of the main gates to the instance, where they wait to engaged before attacking again. This gives groups a chance to put away their jousting lances, and arm their proper weapons, as well as rebuff. There is no word if this is a bug that Blizzard plans to fix, but as it stands every group I’ve seen have hightailed it for the exit once they are dismounted while fighting.

After these three bosses are defeated, players face off against one of two other bosses. This will pit players against either a paladin, or a priest. The paladin is by far the easiest, as he has two main attacks: a hammer throw, and a radiance attack. The hammer throw isn’t too bad so long as you are able to dodge it. If you get hit, it can pack quite the wallop, especially on heroic mode, so keep that in mind. Radiance is easy enough to avoid, as the game warns when he is about to cast it, and all you need to do then is turn away from him then to not be affected by it. The priest can be a lot tougher, as she casts some nasty damage over time spells, and has a heal over time spell that heals for quite a bit. Once the group gets her hit points down, she shields herself and summons a shadow of a boss from a different instance and she cannot be damaged until this shadow boss is defeated. Of course, while players are trying to beat this boss, she is still running around causing damage, as well as healing the boss, so the shadow needs to be defeated as soon as possible. After this, return to attacking the priest, and once she is defeated it is on to the final boss of the instance.

Finally, the group faces off against the black knight, a death knight working for the Lich King. This fight has three phases. First he fights as a standard death knight, and summons a single ghoul to help him out. After he is defeated here, he sheds his skin, and fights as a skeleton, while summoning an army of ghouls to help him. The tank will just scoop up the ghouls, and the damaged dealers will bombard them and the black knight with area of effect spells until everything dies. Finally the black knight changes into a ghost, blasting magical attacks at everyone in the party. This part of the battle is relatively easy as it is just a tank and spank.

Overall, the fight is straightforward enough, and the drops are quite nice for people who don’t do a lot of raiding, or have only just recently hit level 80 with their character. I do wish there was a way to skip over the intro after having seen it once. It’s basically an intro for all of the members of your group, and the enemies that you will fight with Thrall, and King Wrynn yelling at each other the whole time. The first time was alright, but after a sitting through it a dozen or so times it gets pretty stale.

There are plenty of other nifty new additions that came in Patch 3.2 as well, like new emblems that can be earned from running heroic dungeons (and fancy loot to spend them on), plenty of tweaks to the various classes, and a bunch of other stuff too, but I’ll save that for next time.

Mr. Nash
August 18, 2009