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Icecrown raid buff now at 30%
Good news, everyone! Your faction specific Icecrown Citadel buff is now 30%, meaning things just got a little more lenient in ICC. Now's your chance to capitalize on the content in there to get alts ready for Cataclysm, finish off those drakes you've been lusting after, or just proudly wear that Kingslayer title.
Icecrown Citadel raid buff to 20%
The Icecrown Citadel raid buffs, Hellscream's Warsong and Strength of Wrynn, just went from 15% to 20% with today's maintenance. As always, this means a bunch of raid groups will be able to progress a lot farther in Icecrown Citadel, and we're two thirds of the way to the final 30%. Assuming the schedule remains constant, the last Tuesday in June, the 29th, is when we can expect to see the next 5%. Adam Holisky: I'm doing 10k single target dps right now on my huntard in ICC. today I'll magically do 10.5k. that just doesn't seem right. Basil Berntsen: It's better than suddenly reducing the health of the bosses by 30% like they did in BC While this might cheapen raiding rewards for many hard core players, I'll take a slowly increasing, optional buff against a flat out 30% HP reduction any day. Also, I suspect we might see some new achievements or rewards for players choosing to not use the buff once it finishes hitting 30%.
Icecrown Citadel raid buff to 15%
The Icecrown Citadel raid buffs, Hellscream's Warsong and Strength of Wrynn, have increased from 10% to 15% today. This is great news for those guilds just on the cusp of downing a boss -- expect to see quite a few new Lich King kills and some more progression in the next day or so. The buff is going to keep increasing, so expect it to go to 20% in about four weeks. Enjoy!
Patch 3.3.3: New pet bug on live realms
Patch 3.3.3 is live, and players all over are checking out all the new features -- I myself was busily exchanging battleground marks for honor points on all my various characters when I noticed something... odd. My level 70 pet had a new buff. Not just any buff -- Hellscream's Warsong, the buff from Icecrown Citadel. Upon further investigation, it appears that all player pets are currently running around with this buff -- demons, hunter pets and ghouls are all currently affected, although I didn't get a chance to peek at a mage water elemental. Alliance players are seeing the Alliance counterpart, Strength of Wrynn, also on all pets. While only the 5% version of the buff, players of every level are being affected -- I'm sure the level 42 hunter I saw running around with it was pleased. This is most assuredly a bug that will be fixed at some point in the near future, but pet classes? Enjoy it while you can. I know I will!
Breakfast Topic: The Icecrown raid buff and you
The Icecrown Citadel raid buff has been out for a week now. For the time being, it's only a 5% buff to healing, health, and damage (and let's not forget that it will affect damage absorption spells soon). It'll continue to slowly ramp up as time goes by. I know the question I've asked myself is whether or not we should have the buff active for progression bosses. There doesn't seem to be an achievement or any incentive to take down bosses without it so it becomes more of a question of "Why not?". When we were working on Blood Queen the week before the buff was up, we've had some extremely close shaves where she hit her enrage timer at 6%, then at 2% before we killed her post enrage with 6 players still standing. That 5% damage would've easily given us some extra breathing room. Cutting through trash and taking down the early wings with the buffs up means we can cut through that stuff faster and get to the hard bosses earlier. So I know for me, I'm okay with working on bosses with it up. It's only 5%. Now I just need to figure out where to draw the line. How about you? Have you been disabling Strength of Wrynn or Hellscream's Warsong for your raids just to say that you can do the bosses without it?
Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Build 11643 notes
MMO Champion's got the goods on an upcoming build of patch 3.3.3. Mounts and pets But first, check out Lil' XT! Doesn't your Lil' KT want a lil' company? No idea where this lil' guy will come from as of yet, but it could be a future purchasable pet joining the likes of the Pandaren Monk and Lil' KT! Both the Celestial Steed and X-53 Touring Rocket (screenshot) now have their own spells and have 310% flying speed. Icecrown Citadel There's been some issues with absorption effects like Power Word: Shield not benefiting from the raid buffs that Wrynn and Hellscream provide. That will be addressed shortly with patch 3.3.3. Strength of Wrynn and Hellscream's Warsong now also boost the effect of damage absorption spells. Glyph changes These changes could be temporary and could be reversed at any time. They're not in the official notes. Death Knights Glyph of Icebound Fortitude now always grants at least 40% damage reduction. Priests Glyph of Scourge Imprisonment now reduces the cast time of your Shackle Undead by 1 sec. (Up from 0.5 sec) Rogues Glyph of Feint now reduces the energy cost of Feint by 20. (Up from 10) Glyph of Expose Armor now increases the duration of Expose Armor by 12 sec. (Up from 10 sec) Glyph of Deadly Throw now increases the slowing effect on Deadly Throw by 20%. (Up from 10%) Other changes Warlocks Dark Pact now has a 100 yards range (up from 30 yards) and ignores the line of sight. Patch 3.3.3 brings about small but noteworthy changes to the World of Warcraft. From a faster CoT, to putting those old Frozen Orbs to better use, to changes to the auction house -- there's several things all WoW players need to know. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3.3 will keep you up to date!
Ready Check: To Warsong or not to Warsong
For the first time this week, the Icecrown Citadel raid saw the addition of the "tugboat" buff known as Hellscream's Warsong and the Strength of Wrynn. Essentially, this buff will provide a 5% increase to raiders' damage, healing, and health. Over time, that percentage increase will eventually reach a 30% buff. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm going to call the buff "the Warsong," because "the Wrynn" just doesn't have the same ring to it. While I won't make the fallacy of trying to guess what the developers were thinking when they created this raiding buff, the Warsong will definitely have the effect of helping every person who wants to see Arthas die get the chance. That's a fantastic goal, and I think this buff is a pretty good way to do it. But it does have a few challenges. If you caught our initial post about these Icecrown Citadel buffs going live, you may have caught some of the argument that instantly sprouted in the comments. Is the Warsong tugboat "fair" for guilds that had been working on content previously? Will we be able to tell if a guild completed content using (or ignoring) the buff? Is there additional loot or Emblems of Frost for people who do the Icecrown content without using the buff? Ultimately, all these questions tend to boil down to pride. Many guilds are now struggling with the question of whether to take advantage of the buff, or whether they should skip it. One can easily consider it a blow to their pride if the cascading buff eventually enables you to conquer content with which you previously struggled. Is it your skill improving, or is it simply the spectre of Warsong hanging over your head? Take a look behind the jump, and let's talk about the dynamics of the Warsong a little further.
