Mists of Pandaria Beta: Scarlet Monastery revamp
While the level 90 heroic versions aren't available on the beta servers yet, MMO-Champion and Wowhead both took a look into the lower level version of Scarlet Monastery to see all the revamps. The current four wings of Scarlet Monastery have been slimmed down into two wings, the Scarlet Cathedral and the Scarlet Halls, removing most of the unnecessary trash while keeping what made the monastery a great set of dungeons to begin with.
Scarlet Cathedral now starts with the graveyard. Interrogator Vishas is no longer there; it's just Bloodmage Thalnos, now outside the mausoleum. Before Thalnos among the mobs are Scarlet Flamethrowers, who drop explosive cannisters that players can use to damage other mobs.
Taking a left at Thalnos through the mausoleum brings players to a corridor that turns into the familiar Cathedral courtyard. There's less grass in the courtyard, and Scarlet Fanatics are practicing human monk abilities. The various mobs have been given upgraded abilities, including some priests that heal other mobs in Spirit of Redemption form when killed.
Once you're past Brother Korloff and into the cathedral itself, you'll find the mobs inside have been reduced and Inquisitor Fairbanks is already dead! Mograine is no longer by the altar; instead, you'll find Commander Durand. The ultimate fight is still very much the same, with the addition that Whitemane resurrects all the trash mobs for old time's fun.
The library and the armory have been combined to create the Scarlet Halls. Players start in the halls of the old Library with chained hounds before the courtyard. A new boss encounter has players hold up archery targets as shields to run across the courtyard while archers shoot fire arrows at the group. On both videos, the first two bosses seemed to have incomplete mechanics and included a "dog revenge placeholder event" for Houndmaster Braun.
The corridor to Herod's old room connects the armory to the library, and Herod's been replaced by Armsmaster Harlan. Don't worry, Harlan upgraded the fight while retaining Herod's old look and style of boss mechanics.
After Harlan, it's a short walk down only one library-style corridor to Arcanist Doan's old room. Doan and his arcane abilities are out, and Flameweaver Koegler and his fire abilities are in. Koegler seems to have a soft enrage whereby he slowly burns all the bookcases in the room, until the players don't have anywhere to stand without being singed.
All in all, the revamped Scarlet Monastery looks really fun. Blizzard took out the right amount of unfun things, kept the old goodies, and put in some spectacular new mechanics. MMO-Champion has a video that explores the two-winged instance, and Wowhead has some extra commentary to check out.
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
