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Mists of Pandaria: First raid testing schedule announced
Blizzard has announced the times of the first raid testing sessions for the Mists of Pandaria beta. Normal 10-man Stone Guard in Mongu'shan Vaults will be tested for two sessions this Friday, June 22. More details as to how to be ready are in the initial announcement. Daelo For Friday, June 22 we'll be testing just one encounter, the 10 player Normal difficulty version of the Stone Guard encounter in Mogu'shan Vaults. There will be further opportunities to test this encounter. Think of today as a warmup! The encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Beta Test Realms, regardless of suggested geographical region. Early Session: 10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST) Late Session: 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST) As always, this testing schedule is very fluid. We might have to change the time of a testing session due to various issues with bugs, builds, server hardware issues, designers being sick, class issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information. source Will you be joining in on the testing fun? [Via MMO-Champion] 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!
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Raid testing to begin Friday, June 22
If you're itchin' to get your hands on some new beta raids -- and we're sure that applies to none of you, because everyone in the world is totally content just running Dragon Soul again -- there's good news: MoP raid testing begins this Friday, June 22. Testing begins with the 10-player normal version of -- aw heck, I'll just let Blizzard Game Designer Daelo tell you: Raid Testing - Starting Soon We plan to start Mists of Pandaria Beta raid testing this Friday, June 22. We'll begin testing with the 10 player Normal difficulty version of the Stone Guard in Mogu'shan Palace. Available testing times for testing will be posted soon. 25 player Normal difficulty testing should begin next week, with Raid Finder and Heroic difficulty testing to follow in the weeks ahead. You must be level 90 to participate in the raid test, and level 90 character templates will not initially be available. We do have some new technology that automatically raises or lowers your items to the appropriate level for testing. So as long as you have a Mists of Pandaria quest or dungeon item in every slot, you'll be fine. Note that player interface add-ons are disabled on the beta at this time while we work through some technical issues. They'll be available once again at some point in the future. As always with raid testing on beta or public test realms, the schedule is subject to change or cancellation with very little warning. Server issues, build issues, newly discovered encounter, combat, or class bugs, and many other reasons could prevent testing. While I will endeavor to provide warning about future tests, this will also not always be possible. Whatever I do know, I'll post here in the Beta Dungeons forum as soon as possible. source Well, you heard the blue! If you want to get in on the action, you'd better start grinding out that MoP gear now. And if you're looking for raid partners, there are guilds actively recruiting for raiding on the beta -- just keep your eyes on trade chat for details. 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!
Mists of Pandaria Beta: All heroics open for testing
All of the Mists of Pandaria heroic dungeons are available for testing in the beta. While they are not easily accessed in the Dungeon Finder because of an extra-high gear level requirement, you can still test the heroic of your choice by entering it through the front door. Blizzard has planned two changes to help players get into the heroics via the Dungeon Finder: A higher level will be able to be simulated. The gear level of 440 will be lowered via a hotfix. The full text of Daelo's post is below. Daelo Currently for a player to enter into a Heroic Dungeon through the Dungeon Finder system requires an item level of 440. Currently, this is a more difficult bar to clear in the beta that it will be in the final live game. We're going to work towards hotfixing that value down, but at the same time use some new magic we have to simulate a higher level. When that change gets applied, I'll edit this thread with the news. In the meantime, you can actually go old school to test the dungeons. Form a group, then head in through the entrance! I'm making feedback threads for them all, since they're all open. source 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!
Blizzard's post-mortem on Cataclysm dungeons and raids
Blizzard recently released a blog from Dave "Fargo" Kosak that acted as a post-mortem for Cataclysm's quest design. Following on its heels is this entry from Scott "Daelo" Mercer, the lead encounter designer for World of Warcraft. In it, Scott talks successes (Dungeon Journal, Raid Finder) and failures (difficulty level of launch heroics) in the dungeons and raids portion of the game's third expansion and shares what he's looking forward to with the release of Mists of Pandaria. I'm definitely with him in anticipating challenge modes and PvE scenarios. Read the full interview after the break.
Scott Mercer talks redesigning Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman
Blizzard Insider, Blizzard's online newletter, sat down with World of Warcraft Lead Encounter Designer Scott Mercer to discuss the upcoming patch, Rise of the Zandalari. The interview goes into detail about revamping the old dungeon content, what classic dungeons Blizzard would potentially like to tackle next, and the challenges of turning a 10- and 20-man raid into a 5-man heroic dungeon. Hit the jump for the full question and answer session.
Patch 3.3.5 PTR: Ruby Sanctum testing on Thursday
Daelo (lead encounter designer for WoW) updated his post in the dungeons and raids forum last night announcing that the upcoming Ruby Sanctum raid would be back up for testing on Thursday the 20th. This is after a small update to the Public Test Realm client, which should hopefully fix some of the small stability issues and crippling lag. With premade characters able to be copied now and the Lua errors gone from the new Real ID friends list, it appears some kinks have been worked out of the system. If you haven't done so already, be sure to copy over a character and try out the new features and the newest raid under Wyrmrest Temple. Daelo Now that the 3.3.5 patch is available for PTR testing, we wanted to have a round of focus testing for Ruby Sanctum. Only normal mode will be available, with Heroic testing to occur at a later date. Everything related to this zone is implemented for this test, please note any issues with the trash creatures and sub-bosses, loot, achievements, and quests. US Testing Schedule: Thursday, May 20 starting at 19:00 EDT. We plan to allow testing for an extended period. However since this is the Test Realm, unforeseen issues could delay or cancel testing at any time. source
Ruby Sanctum raid testing this Thursday
Daelo hit the Dungeons & Raids forum this afternoon to announce some upcoming focus testing for Ruby Sanctum this Thursday. The blue post with scheduling is quoted below. Unfortunately, copying characters over to the PTR doesn't seem to be functional quite yet, only throwing a "Sorry, but there has been an error with your request" error. If you were planning on preparing for this in advance, no such luck. There's no reason to panic yet considering we have two full days before the testing is set to begin, but the closer we get to Thursday evening without the character copy system coming up, the dicier it's going to be as far as actually getting a character transferred. Here's hoping that little orcish peon on the World of Warcraft website gets to work. Where's my booterang when I need it? Daelo Everything related to this zone is implemented for this test, please note any issues with the trash creatures and sub-bosses, loot, achievements, and quests. US Testing Schedule: Thursday, May 13 starting at 19:00 EDT. EU Testing Schedule: Thursday, May 13 starting at 19:30 CEST. We plan to allow testing for an extended period on Thursday. However since this is the Test Realm, unforeseen issues could delay or cancel testing at any time. source
Icecrown Citadel normal modes no longer limited by attempts
Far earlier than any of us had expected, Daelo has announced that the normal modes of Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King will no longer have limited attempts. The heroic modes of these encounters will still have limited attempts, however. To quote: After each region's maintenance this week, raids will no longer lose attempts on wipes in Normal mode for Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. There will still be limited attempts in Heroic mode. We will continue to monitor developments in Icecrown Citadel in the future, especially since the Heroic difficulty has been unlocked by a significant number of raids. A very interesting development, and I'm curious why they decided to lift the attempts system from normal modes entirely. Is it due to a relatively low number of guilds actually killing these bosses right now, or is there some other reason?
Saronite Bombs and similar items disabled [Updated]
We do not know whether or not this was used in the Lich King kills we've seen so far (Ensidia's kill screenshot suggests they did), but Daelo hit the European forums to make the announcement that they've temporarily disabled Saronite Bombs and the Global Thermal Sapper Charge. What does this have to do with the Lich King? Well, Daelo says... We just made a hotfix that disables the siege damage dealt by Saronite Bombs and the Global Thermal Sapper Charge. The siege damage of the bombs was causing the Frozen Throne platform to rebuild, which greatly decreases the difficulty of the encounter. We'll reenable the siege damage in a later update when the issue with the Frozen Throne is fixed. It is a longstanding tradition for end bosses to be exploited in the most hilariously awful of ways, so seeing something like this isn't all that surprising. Here's hoping nothing else like it crops up. Update: Ensidia has released a statement regarding their use of this bug. Update, take 2: Ensidia's raiding crew has received a 72-hour ban from the game (as well as loss of loot and achievements) for using Saronite Bombs to "bypass The Lich King fight mechanics."
Daelo and Ghostcrawler discuss the Lich King
The latest edition of Blizzard Insider, Blizzard's very sporadic email newsletter (and no relation to our old name, WoW Insider) has been released. Issue 32 features a note that the Starcraft II: WIngs of Liberty site has been revamped, blurbs about the mobile Authenticator and the Armory app, and some calls to buy their merchandise. More interesting for WoW fans, though, is an interview with Scott Mercer (Daelo), WoW's lead encounter designer, and Greg Street (Ghostcrawler), a crab who needs no introduction. They discussed the arc of Arthas and the Lich King from Warcraft II through World of Warcraft (congratulations again to Blood Legion on their 10-man world-first). Please note that here there be spoilers for some details about the Arthas fight, so stay away if you want it all to be a surprise.
Icecrown Citadel testing for this weekend
Come, my tan-faced children. Follow well in order! Get your weapons ready! Because Icecrown Citadel raid testing is back on track for both the US and EU, according to Lead Encounter Designer Scott Mercer, AKA Daelo. His post on the official forums has scheduled the following encounters for testing on the Patch 3.3 PTR, barring any unforeseen difficulties, including build changes, server status, or capricious developer whims. US Servers Friday, November 6 at 7PM EST / 4 PM PST – Valithria Dreamwalker Saturday, November 7 at 4PM EST / 1PM PST – Icecrown Gunship Battle EU Servers Friday, November 6 at 19:30 CET – Lady Deathwhisper Saturday, November 7 at 19:30 CET – Professor Putricide And be sure to let us know if you catch a glimpse of that legendary sharp-edged axe, pioneers, o pioneers! Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
Patch 3.3 PTR: Raid testing schedule this week
Daelo has posted this week's raid testing schedule for the patch 3.3 PTR, and we're going to get more looks at what the Icecrown raid has in store for us: US Servers Monday, October 26 at 7PM EDT / 4PM PDT – Festergut Wednesday, October 28 at 7PM EDT / 4PM PDT – Icecrown Gunship Battle Thursday, October 29 at 7PM EDT / 4PM PDT – Sindragosa Friday, October 30 at 7PM EDT / 4 PM PDT - Valithria Dreamwalker EU Servers Tuesday, October 27 at 19:30 CEST – Lord Marrowgar Wednesday, October 28 at 19:30 CEST – Lady Deathwhisper Thursday, October 29 at 19:30 CEST – Professor Putricide Friday, October 30 at 19:30 CEST - Rotface A little bit of analysis about the schedule after the break. Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
Icecrown Gunship testing cancelled (Update: for the EU)
Excited to jump in on the Icecrown Gunship battle today on the PTR? Too bad -- Daelo has posted on the forums that due to instance server issues, today's testing has been canceled. He posted that on the EU forums, so we're not sure if that means it's also canceled on the North American realms, but we'll presume so. If we hear otherwise (as this is the PTR, all testing and data is subject to change at a moment's notice), we'll let you know. As for what this means for the testing cycle, probably nothing at all -- delays and changes are pretty standard for the test realm, and even as they said in the original announcement, bosses can go up and down whenever the devs want. I do think we will see the gunship battle tested on the PTR at some point, though -- it seems like one of the more complicated encounters in the instance, and Blizzard will surely want to put it under a microscope sometime before the patch goes live. Update: Apparently the gunship battle is live right now (4:40pm Pacific) on the test realm. If you want to see what it's like, get yourself a raid and head on in.
Patch 3.3 PTR: Icecrown testing starts tomorrow
Lead Encounter Designer Daelo has posted over on the forums that the testing of Icecrown for patch 3.3 will begin tomorrow, October 15th, with the Lord Marrowgar encounter. Blizzard will also have the trash before him up and working as well -- the Icecrown raid preview describes the fight as an army of undead guards, commanded by Marrowgar, "a monstrosity fused together from the bones of the undead." Sounds like good times to us.Stay tuned -- we'll definitely have a few players available to test the encounter and give you some impressions from the PTR tomorrow, and if we can get enough folks together, we might even stream it again. As Daelo points out, the testing schedule will be extremely flexible, so Blizzard will likely pull bosses up and down at a moment's notice -- they've got a lot to test and probably less time to do it than they'd want. Note also that this is for US PTR servers only -- the EU will have a seperate testing schedule that will be available on their forums when it's ready. To Icecrown! Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
New PTR raid testing schedule
The patch 3.2 PTR went down for maintenance today, but it's scheduled to be coming back up soon (if it isn't already). The 5-man dungeon will be available for testing "shortly after the PTR coming up." The main event for this PTR testing period, the Crusader's Coliseum raid, will have three bosses available for testing in each region (North America and Europe), on the following schedule: North America: Lord Jaraxxus (Normal only): tonight, starting at 7 PM EDT. Northrend Beasts (Normal and Heroic): Friday, July 17, starting at 7 PM EDT. Faction Champions (Normal and Heroic): same as above, Friday, July 17, starting at 7 PM EDT. Europe (all fights available on Normal and Heroic): Val'kyr: Friday, July 17, starting at 19:00 CEST. Lord Jaraxxus: same as above, Friday, July 17, starting at 19:00 CEST. Anub'arak: Saturday, July 18, starting at 19:00 CEST. Tank and DPS Patchwerks will also be back again. Daelo notes that much of the loot does not have its final art yet, and that most of the achievements should now be implemented. 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!
Updated PTR Crusader's Coliseum testing schedule
Lead Encounter Designer Scott Mercer, a.k.a. Daelo, posted an updated testing schedule for the Crusader's Coliseum on the Patch 3.2 PTR today. The good news is that EU players get to try another set of bosses -- this time the Faction Champions. The bad news is that the US PTR instance servers are still broken following last night's aborted testing attempt. Not good.The updated schedule is as follows, with Daelo's full post after the jump: Here's the current schedule for Trial of the Crusader PTR testing: On the European test realms: Faction Champions - Saturday Night, July 11, starting at 19:00 CEST. The issues that were preventing raid testing on the North American PTRs are still not fully resolved. We're looking into alternative means of enabling testing on these realms. I'll update this thread when I have more information.
Trial of the Crusader testing off to a rough start
For those of you hoping to get in on some PTR testing this evening, you'll be happy to know that you're not alone in your "Trials of the Instance Not Available" raid. Lord Jaraxxus was supposed to be available for the US this evening, which is the 10/25 man raid boss.Daelo has posted that Blizzard has had some technical issues with the testing tonight, and that things are being delayed until they get fixed.WoW.com has a group assembled and will be going in when the darn things works, and hopefully we'll have some good guides for you in the next couple of days.Check back for updates on this all. Fingers crossed, we'll bring you good news.Update: Daelo (Me say Dae-ooo) has canceled the testing for tonight. Check back for later for an updated schedule.
Testing of Crusader's Coliseum starts tomorrow
I was just bemoaning that we haven't gotten a chance to see patch 3.2's new raid content yet. It looks like that chance will come sooner than I expected: tomorrow night! Daelo has just posted a testing schedule for Trial of the Crusader (a.k.a. Crusader's Coliseum). North American realms: Lord Jaraxxus, Thursday, July 9, starting at 7 PM EDT European realms: Eydis Darkbane and Fjola Lightbane, Thursday, July 9, starting at 19:00 CEST Both of these fights will be available in normal mode (10 or 25) only, not heroic. The new 5-man, Trial of the Champion, will be open "later in the PTR cycle." He also notes that Koralon, the new Vault boss, will be up, and you'll be able to access it if your side has Wintergrasp. Tanking and DPS Patchwerks will make a return. Unlike the patch 3.1 PTR tanking Patchwerk, this one just hits really hard ("as hard as Algalon"), all the time (instead of ramping his damage up over time). Oh, and one more thing: there is, apparently, no trash at all in this raid. Woot? 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!
Ulduar testing schedule updated: March 13th-18th
The last couple days of Ulduar testing have been a wash, delays and cancellations cutting things short. As mentioned by the developers when they announced the cancellation of the EU's Auriaya testing, recent tweaks and retuning hadn't yet made it to the PTR, they were contained in a future build that hadn't hit those servers yet. Really, it would be rather pointless to test those bosses. Due to this, they've pushed back all testing and changed up the testing schedule. Testing is now on hold until tomorrow, which means that either this evening or tomorrow morning, we'll be seeing a new build on the PTR.North American realms: Friday, 3/13, 4PM PDT: Mimiron Saturday, 3/14, 4PM PDT: Hodir Sunday, 3/15, 11AM PDT: Flame Leviathan Monday, 3/16, 4PM PDT: Ignis the Furnace Master Tuesday, 3/17, 4PM PDT: XT-002 Deconstructor Wednesday, 3/18, 4PM PDT: Kologarn European realms: Friday, 3/13, 19:00 CET: Mimiron Saturday, 3/14, 19:00 CET: Auriaya Sunday, 3/15, 19:00 CET: Flame Leviathan Monday, 3/16, 19:00 CET: General Vezax Tuesday, 3/17, 19:00 CET: Thorim Wednesday, 3/18, 19:00 CET: Freya Again, this is the new testing schedule for the upcoming week, and the one that was passed around yesterday should be disregarded.
Ulduar testing schedule for March 11th-15th
We dropped the ball a little bit by failing to post about this week's Ulduar testing schedule yesterday when Daelo posted it to the official forums, but that's alright. We didn't miss much. Last night was just more Hodir testing. The rest of the week should prove more interesting, because they're re-testing a couple of bosses that were pretty widely considered much too easy, like Ignis the Furnace Master, which I hear received a little extra testing last night for some reason. Again, both the US and EU realms are getting their own testing schedule.North American realms: Wednesday, 3/11 (today), 4 PM PDT: Mimiron Thursday, 3/12, 4 PM PDT: Ignis the Furnace Master Friday, 3/13, 4 PM PDT: XT-002 Deconstructor Saturday, 3/14, 4PM PDT: Kologarn Sunday, 3/15, 11 AM PDT: Flame Leviathan European realms: Wednesday, 3/11, 19:00 CET: Auriaya Thursday, 3/12, 19:00 CET: Mimiron Friday, 3/13, 19:00 CET: Thorim Saturday, 3/14, 19:00 CET: General Vezax Sunday, 3/15, 19:00 CET: Flame Leviathan I don't believe we've seen anything about Auriaya yet, so that's what I'm looking forward to the most. We haven't seen much of Mimiron either, but we already know he's just another mechagnome. Gotta say, not a fan of the mechagnomes.%Gallery-45995%
