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WoW Archivist: Memories of Dire Maul
The WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Last week I said we'd be visiting Dire Maul in-depth this week, and we're going to do exactly that. Dire Maul was added in World of Warcraft patch 1.3 all the way back in March 2005. As I pointed out last week, Dire Maul attempted a great number of things that Blizzard has never tried to do since. It was also one of the few instances that was given a lasting relevance throughout an entire expansion phase of the game's life -- from the day it was implemented in patch 1.3 to the final day prior to the launch of The Burning Crusade, players had a reason to venture into the three wings of Dire Maul that wasn't simply grinding for currency. Dire Maul was one of the last bastions of adventure and discovery in our dungeons. That isn't to say all instances afterwards were bad, that's not true at all, but never again did we have a 5-man dungeon that you were free to explore and discover the secrets hidden away in its dark corners. It's a style of dungeon we haven't seen since, and with the prominence of the dungeon finder in World of Warcraft these days, it's one we're unlikely to see ever again.
Crusader's Coliseum tribute rewards are ilvl 272
Patch 3.2 brought with it three new tiers of gear, corresponding to the various difficulty settings available for the Trial of the Crusader raid. The items coming out of the 25-man heroic version, at item level 258, are leaps and bounds above what was available in Ulduar -- and if you thought that those were pretty good, you're in for an even bigger surprise if you manage to complete the dungeon's tribute run. Boubouille, head of the Data Miners' Guild and captain of the starship MMO-Champion, pulled the full list of loot available in the raid from the official Armory site. Players who accomplish the feat of completing the full heroic 25-man dungeon without wiping once will receive a chest with one of several ilvl 272 cloaks in it. At ilvl 272, these cloaks are the best items in the game. Even ignoring their item level, they're extremely well-itemized, and offer something for even some oft-ignored specs ... even Elemental Shamans, thank God. And with the next-highest item level being 258, the cloaks are a full tier above the heroic 25-man's gear. To put that into perspective, moving from 10-man Ulduar to 25-man Ulduar is only a jump of 6 item levels. This also means that, if dungeon difficulties and item levels continue to progress in the same way they have been for the previous two content patches and no half-tier steps occur, we could be seeing the following approximate item levels in the Icecrown Citadel raid:Normal 10-Man: 258Heroic 10-Man/Normal 25-Man: 272Heroic 25-Man: 285, with probable level 298 super-rewards. Though Patch 3.3 is supposed to be WOTLK's last content patch, if it's not, we could see item levels bust 300 in this expansion. Crazy!
