argent-coliseum
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Patch 3.2 brings universal tier armor tokens
I had concerns when Blizzard first announced the way bosses would be unlocked in Patch 3.2's new raid instance, the Argent Coliseum. Blizzard has announced that while the first boss is available immediately, other bosses will be unlocked week-by-week. It's not the first time an artificial barrier has been put up for raid progression -- hello Sunwell -- so I guess I'm not shocked by it, but progression wasn't really what I was concerned about.In our current raiding system, each boss drops a pre-determined set of loot. Some bosses drop a token which can be turned in for a piece of armor matching that particular slot, and the boss will always drop this same slot token. Thorim will always drop a shoulder token in Ulduar 10, for example. So the issue is, with the Coliseum officially being our new tier of raiding, with gear that far outclasses Ulduar gear, and with the Coliseum bosses being unlocked each week, it means that players could get screwed out of upgrades. Your chestpiece might not be the greatest, so if you were looking forward to upgrading it, you'd be pretty crushed to find out that the T9 chest token only drops off of the final Coliseum boss -- which will only be available (at best) a month or (at worst) several weeks more than that due to RNG. It turns out that Blizzard was thinking the same thing I was. That's why, with 3.2, Coliseum bosses all drop one of three universal armor tokens -- the Regalia of the Grand Protector, Vanquisher, or Conqueror.
Breakfast Topic: Did the Patch 3.2 news bring you back to the Tournament?
As you've probably seen on the site before, I grew bored of the Argent Tournament really fast. I still think the mind-numbing repetition is a pretty big step backwards in their world design thus far, but all of the recent Patch 3.2 news has been making me hopeful that it won't always be the overly repetitive mess I see it as right now. It's driven me back to doing the Tournament quests, even!The fact that the Crusader title and Exalted with the Sunreavers/Silver Covenant are required to take part in the new Argent Tournament solo content is playing a big role in my decision to play through the current dailies again. I stopped doing them just shy of Crusader, with no real intent to go and finish it off. As much as I wanted the title, I really could not bear doing those dailies anymore. One can only joust so much! I'm very much interested in the new content and items though, so with those two goals being the gateways to it, I'm not given much of an option. Crusader or bust. I do not like to bust.
Patch 3.2 PTR now live
The wait for the new content patch may have just gotten a little shorter! The files for Patch 3.2, Call of the Crusade, are now available for download from the official site (or any number of other mirrors, at this point), and the PTR realms are up.MMO-Champion and a number of other sites have datamined information from the files, including new achievements, holidays, and names of the Coliseum bosses, which we've compiled for you. We'll keep you updated with any new information we get regarding 3.2, including the current status of the PTR, as events warrant. Get psyched! Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!
The Queue: Roll out the barrel
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Many of our questions today are related to Patch 3.2 again, but don't take that as an indicator that it's all you can ask of us! We'll field pretty much anything WoW related in The Queue, so don't be intimidated. Just hit the comments and ask away!Also, I'm going to make all of you listen to the Beer Barrel Polka because it has been haunting me since Polish Fest this past weekend. Augh. Get it out of my head.Sedawk asked..."Will there be more things to buy for Champion's Marks? Or should I go ahead and buy that hippogryph?"
Patch 3.2 Argent Coliseum details
Yay for more Argent Coliseum news! Our European brethren get the lowdown on the Argent Coliseum with a brand new under development page highlighting what is to come from this patch 3.2 raid and dungeon instance. As we were already given to believe, it's similar to the Ring of Blood/Amphitheater of Anguish questlines from BC and WotLK. Also, in order to access the 'hard mode' 10 and 25 man heroic versions of the raids, you apparently first have to defeat the normal mode version. In the "Heroic" version of the Crusaders' Coliseum, you and your raid only have a limited number of attempts for each raid lockout period, and each time your raid wipes, one of your attempts will be used up. To embark on the epic Trial of the Grand Crusader, you must first prove your worth by clearing either the 10 or 25 player version of the Crusaders' Coliseum's normal mode. After you have dealt the killing blow to the coliseum's final heroic mode boss will you be able to collect the Crusaders' Tribute, and the fewer attempts you needed to complete the Trial of the Grand Crusader, the better your reward will be. They go on to list the kinds of fights you'll encounter in general terms: while we don't really get any names, we're told the general breakdown will be beasts like magnataurs and jormungar wyrms and poweful Scourge minions of the Lich King. "How the Argent Crusade managed to capture these fiends remains a mystery; what's less mystifying is your fate should you fail to overcome this challenge." I have to admit, I'm very curious about the lore behind these encounters.If you're looking for more details, scoot on over to the under development section and take a look. You can also take a look at the accompanying screenshot of the Argent Coliseum.Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!
Patch 3.2 changes the tiered Emblem system
There are a lot of things in the patch 3.2 test realm notes that jumped out at me, but the changes to the Emblem system seem like an especially big deal. The developers made it quite clear that they wanted a tiered token system in Wrath of the Lich King, they didn't want players just farming Heroics all day and night to get the best possible gear. In patch 3.2, it looks like they're backing off on that pretty heavily, likely an attempt to reignite interest in running Heroics. If you haven't seen the patch notes, here are the points I'm referring to: Any dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Heroism or Valor, such as Naxxramas or Heroic Halls of Stone, will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead. Emblems of Conquest can still be converted to Valor or Heroism. Both the 10 and 25 player instances of the Crusaders' Coliseum drop a new Emblem of Triumph. The heroic dungeon daily quest will now reward 2 Emblems of Triumph and the normal daily dungeon quest will reward 1 Emblem of Triumph. The existing achievements to collect 1, 25, 50, etc. Emblems of Heroism, Valor, and Conquest have been converted to Feats of Strength since Heroism and Valor Emblems are no longer attainable.
The Queue: Sometimes you just want to be a superhero
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Preambles are for suckers. Let's get this party started.Anarax asked..."Okay well, I have a bunch of friends and apparently they think City of Heroes is 10x better than WoW. How can I get them to change their minds over to WoW? The main reason I want them to play is because I plan to make a reroll Hardcore Raiding Guild, in June, and it's always good to have a small group of players to start with. The problem is though that one of them tried out WoW and is actually influencing the others, telling them that WoW is "too repetitive, too serious, and full of rage." He is the one telling the others to play CoH."
Ghostcrawler on the future of 5-mans
Snowyfox of the US Vek'nilash server recently brought up a point on the forums which is near and dear to my heart: 5-mans really feel like they've lost their heart. In both Vanilla WoW and Burning Crusade, you could usually count on having the motivation and reward for running a 5 man no matter what your level. In Vanilla WoW, you might do a tribute run for potions and buffs or a Stratholme run for Abomination stitchings for an enchant. In BC, you'd run for badges. In Wrath of the Lich King... not so much. Badges don't stretch so far since most of the good stuff requires badges only obtained in raid dungeons, and even the daily quests aren't even close to as lucrative as just heading up to the Argent Tournament or over to the Sons of Hodir and doing some dailies.
More information on 3.2 release date, Coliseum, new Battleground
Hot on the heels of the Under Development page for Patch 3.2, we received a few more tidbits of information from Community Manager Zarhym, responding to posts on the official forums. In bold are the players' questions. The Argent Coliseum: Does this mean a raid and a instance will be in there? Yes, there will be a 5-player version, then a 10/25-player version. The bosses will be different for the two versions. Think Ring of Blood or Amphitheater of Anguish, but more epic. The new Battleground (Isle of Conquest): So, it's WG combined with AB? If anything, Wintergrasp combined with Alterac Valley with a few more twists. Do you really think Ulduar achievements will last a year? Instances become stale after 6 months even with achievements. Yea 3.2 won't be till later this year and by then Ulduar will have been played to death and people will want something fun and new to do and not some small joke instance since we won't see Icecrown till April/May next year probably. Would it help if I told you that your presumed timelines are way too inflated? :) I was expecting most of this information, and I'm glad that my suspicions that the Coliseum would be a Ring of Blood-style event were confirmed. This isn't really an avenue Blizzard has used for a raid before. The hinting that 3.2 will come a lot sooner than we think is also comforting -- since it means that 3.3 and Icecrown are even closer.I'll have a speculation post about what we can expect in the Coliseum soon. Until then, keep your eyes peeled -- we'll update you as soon as we get any more news!
Disappointment with the patch 3.1 game world
The last few days I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out why I'm not particularly enjoying Patch 3.1 when I'm doing something besides raiding Ulduar. I should be enjoying it! When I first checked it out on the PTR, I was extremely excited about it. The Argent Tournament especially. The whole jousting deal, the Arthurian themes, the potential for story progression, the whole thing. It looked great! Unfortunately... I'm finding it pretty boring.The Argent Tournament feels lifeless. Completely and utterly lifeless. I say it all of the time, but patch 2.4 was my favorite patch of World of Warcraft thus far, no contest. Patch 2.4 brought me more joy than even the Wrath launch. Not only did it have content for absolutely every aspect of the game, but it also actually changed the world. Storylines progressed in an in-your-face way. Sure, patch 3.1 moved the Ulduar and Yogg-Saron story forward, but would you know it if you didn't read fansites or watch the patch 3.1 cinematic? What's different? What indicator is there that something new is happening in the Storm Peaks?
