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Ghostcrawler: There will (not) be at least 31 bosses in Icecrown
Ghostcrawler has posted an interesting little hint at the next patch (we know of) headed to the game. In response to a discussion about "tanking niches," he talks about Icecrown Citadel over on the forums, and just happens to mention that people might think of tanks as waiting outside until "boss 4, 17 and 31 (yes, IC is that big)." 31 bosses? More like Icecrowded, am I right?Blackrock Depths is the largest 5-man in the game, if not the largest instance, and it boasts over 40 bosses (that's mostly counting encounters, though -- you wouldn't count The Seven, for example, as seven different bosses), including lots and lots of optional bosses and even a holiday boss. Ulduar, by comparison, has about 14, and Karazhan is about that same size (though that depends on how you count random bosses, like the Opera Event). No matter how you slice it, 31 raid bosses is a ton of bosses to go through -- Icecrown could be a return to a really epic, large-scale instance.Of course, there will likely be wings involved (Naxxramas' Quarters have worked out pretty well, I think), and with the new changes to raid lockouts, Blizzard no longer needs to squeeze the raiding experience into an average of two or three nights a week (which is what it seemed like they were usually aiming for before). If yours is the kind of guild that likes to clear everything in one night, though, you might want to start freeing up some time now.Update: GC now says he didn't mean the instance would have 31 bosses, he was just throwing in some ridiculous number to prove a point. Our question: why did he say "yes, IC is that big" if he didn't mean it would be that big?
Tuesday maintenance notice and roundup for June 3rd, 2008
Good Morning, everyone. It's 4:30 PDT on a Tuesday morning, and you know by now that that means maintenance. For now, most of us will be sitting pretty, with only an hour and a half or so of downtime from 5am to 6:30am PDT. 72 servers, however, will be getting the full treatment, and won't be up until at least 11am PDT. You can see a list of those servers in our original announcement post here. Since we're coming up on at least an hour of no WoW, if not more for 72 servers and for those stuck at a job or schooling that doesn't allow sneaking in some game time, I would like to, as customary, suggest that you read about WoW, here on WoW Insider. I have a list of some of our best content from the past week organized for your viewing pleasure coming right up after the break.
The Seven takes down Kil'jaeden in China
Our good friend Boubouille at MMO Champion is reporting that the last watermark of the latest content in the Sunwell Plateau has been reached -- The Seven (who, you might remember, also nabbed the first Illidan kill in China), has downed Kil'jaeden over there. Grats to them -- they didn't get Thori'dal, but they did get Apolyon, and who doesn't like rending souls, right?To tell the truth I'm kind of surprised this happened so quickly -- apparently The9, who runs World of Warcraft in China, were able to drop the Sunwell Plateau patch pretty soon after it came out in the US and Europe. Burning Crusade, we know, took a long time to release over there (it came out months after it did on this side of the world), but either The9 is responding to pressure to release content closer, or patch updates are much easier to localize and distribute.Either way, grats to The Seven and all of the other guilds worldwide able to topple The Deceiver. Next up, Northrend!Update: Our commenters remembered something I forgot: All of the Sunwell Plateau gates were released open in China, to make up for the late content releases in the past.
First Illidan China kill by The Seven
Just about a month and a half after they first got access to the Burning Crusade, a Chinese guild has downed Illidan Stormrage over the weekend. World of Raids has more, including the fact that it only took 52 days total, and that a Gnome Rogue picked up the offhand. As many are noting, lots of players are still dressed up in Tier 3 gear, which means they just barrelled right through SSC and TK up into the Black Temple.Incgamers has an interesting point, however-- Chinese players, getting BC so late, supposedly had the benefit of all the nerfs and tweaks that Blizzard added to all the encounters since it first was released here. From Vashj's bugginess to the attunement removal, it could be argued (I'll leave this one up to you guys) that China is playing a much easier Outland endgame.At any rate, downing Illidan is always an achievement, no matter what game you're playing. Grats to The Seven in China-- now here's hoping they go back and actually try enjoying that raid content![ via MMO Champion ]
