Icecrown Citadel Raid Info

[shoju]

All across the lands of Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and Horde first reached the frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward. Now Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an alliance with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. The strongest combatants of this coalition, along with the champions of the Alliance and Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel.

This dungeon reveals the culminating story events and battles of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack. Join the legendary heroes Highlord Tirion Fordring, High Overlord Saurfang, Muradin Bronzebeard, Highlord Darion Mograine, and King Varian Wrynn in an epic battle against the Scourge and their master. Icecrown Citadel features 10- and 25-player versions of the raid dungeon, and each version has 12 encounters. Each encounter can be fought in either normal or Heroic mode, and players can use a new user interface feature to toggle easily between difficulties. The rewards in the raid dungeon start at item level 251 in the normal mode with 10-player encounters, increase to item level 264 in the Heroic mode mode with 10 players and the normal mode with 25-player encounters, and then finally reach item level 277 in the Heroic mode with 25 players.

Grand Entrance of the Citadel
After breaching the fortress, players will face a legion of undead guards directed to repel any invaders. Commanding the defenders is Lord Marrowgar, a monstrosity fused together from the bones of the undead. Supreme Overseer of the Cult of the Damned, Lady Deathwhisper is the next opponent. She bolsters the faith of her followers by promising them the opportunity to give eternal service in undeath.

As they continue their ascent, the Alliance and Horde heroes ultimately end up outside of the citadel where their hatred for one another erupts into a battle for dominance over the Rampart of Skulls. Players will join in battle alongside High Overlord Saurfang on the Orgrim's Hammer gunship or Muradin Bronzebeard on The Skybreaker in a unique encounter. Each faction will protect its gunship and try to destroy the other one in a back-and-forth battle to see who is truly worthy of facing the Lich King.

The Lich King's most powerful death knight then stands as the final obstacle for the heroes to enter the upper reaches of the citadel.

The Wings of Icecrown Citadel
After the heroes of the Alliance or Horde defeat the other faction on the gunships and wipe out the creatures near the entrance, players will venture into an area with three separate wings. Here they will face a multitude of terrors that must be vanquished in order to confront the Lich King.

In the Frostwing Halls players will battle alongside the Ashen Verdict and push into the lair of the deadly frost wyrm Sindragosa, who continues to strengthen her brood with the help of Ymirheim's vrykul. Along the way, the heroes will stumble upon Valithria Dreamwalker, a captured green dragon whom the Scourge is using as a test subject for their own ends....

The Plagueworks contains the most twisted experiments ever produced by the Scourge. In this wing players will face two new forms of abomination in Festergut and Rotface, who currently protect their devious creator, Professor Putricide.

The Crimson Hall contains the leaders of the San'layn, undead blood elves who oversee the Scourge's operations throughout Azeroth. The blood-princes Valanar, Keleseth, and Taldaram were raised into undeath by the Lich King to avenge themselves while protecting their blood-queen, Lana'thel.

The Frozen Throne
After clearing all three wings, players will ascend to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King and his runeblade, Frostmourne, await to deliver them to their deaths....

So 12 encounters.

1) Marrowgar
2) Lady Deathwhisper
3) Airship Event
4) Unnamed Death Knight. (blizzcon suggests this will be Saurfang the Younger)
5) Sindragosa
6) Valithria Dreamwalker
7) Festergut
8) Rotface
9) Professor Putricide
10) San'layn Princes
11) Queen of the San'Layn
12) The Lich King

[Lissa]

So 12 encounters.

1) Marrowgar
2) Lady Deathwhisper
3) Airship Event
4) Unnamed Death Knight. (blizzcon suggests this will be Saurfang the Younger)
5) Sindragosa
6) Valithria Dreamwalker
7) Festergut
8) Rotface
9) Professor Putricide
10) San'layn Princes
11) Queen of the San'Layn
12) The Lich King

Rotface and Festergut are probably a single encounter.

[shoju]

Rotface and Festergut are probably a single encounter.

Then what is the 12th encounter. I doubt that they would hold back the name of a fight.

[Lissa]

Then what is the 12th encounter. I doubt that they would hold back the name of a fight.

Well, if you split things out the following way, you will still get 12:

Marrowgar
Lady Deathwhisper
Airship Event
Unnamed Death Knight
Sindragosa & Valithria Dreamwalker (ala Kalecgos encounter in SWP)
Festergut & Rotface
Professor Putricide
Prince Valanar
Prince Keleseth
Prince Taldaram
Queen of the San'Layn
The Lich King

Yes this means that one wing will have 4 encounters while the other two will have two and one respectively.

And I'm not sure it would be Saurfang the Younger as all the Alliance and Horde dead were incinerated by Alexstraza and here flight at the Wrath Gate.

[shoju]

Well, if you split things out the following way, you will still get 12:

Marrowgar
Lady Deathwhisper
Airship Event
Unnamed Death Knight
Sindragosa & Valithria Dreamwalker (ala Kalecgos encounter in SWP)
Festergut & Rotface
Professor Putricide
Prince Valanar
Prince Keleseth
Prince Taldaram
Queen of the San'Layn
The Lich King

Yes this means that one wing will have 4 encounters while the other two will have two and one respectively.

And I'm not sure it would be Saurfang the Younger as all the Alliance and Horde dead were incinerated by Alexstraza and here flight at the Wrath Gate.

Go back and check out the lich king vision in Yogg, and remember that Bolvar was the only one incinerated before LK got his soul. Datamining has also Turned up Bolvar as a voice over in the new files and Saurfang as an Undead NPC. The vision shows that Saurfang has already been turned and when viewed through a model viewer the immolated champ (or whatever he is called) is pretty spot on for being mr Bolvar. Maybe the LK will go truly old school and combine the Orc and Human into one super crazy DK.

The dragon fight could be interesting if done that way, but I don't see them putting such an emphasis on the San'layn after giving us so very little about them. I could be wrong, but I hope I'm not.

I'm very excited for all of this except the airship battle. Horde/ally fighting going on while we're trying to get to the top of ICC doesn't 'fit' for me. It seems to be a distraction, and only 1/2 of the mouthbreathing duo is along for the trip.

EDIT:
Unless we are looking at this all wrong and it is the duo of abominations as one fight, the san'layn princes as one fight, and that frostmourne itself will be an encounter. I just read over the description again, and that could be a nice little tidbit thrown in, and would fit with the ideas posed at Blizzcon that there is more than the LK in play at the end.

[Lissa]

Go back and check out the lich king vision in Yogg, and remember that Bolvar was the only one incinerated before LK got his soul. Datamining has also Turned up Bolvar as a voice over in the new files and Saurfang as an Undead NPC. The vision shows that Saurfang has already been turned and when viewed through a model viewer the immolated champ (or whatever he is called) is pretty spot on for being mr Bolvar. Maybe the LK will go truly old school and combine the Orc and Human into one super crazy DK.

The dragon fight could be interesting if done that way, but I don't see them putting such an emphasis on the San'layn after giving us so very little about them. I could be wrong, but I hope I'm not.

I'm very excited for all of this except the airship battle. Horde/ally fighting going on while we're trying to get to the top of ICC doesn't 'fit' for me. It seems to be a distraction, and only 1/2 of the mouthbreathing duo is along for the trip.

EDIT:
Unless we are looking at this all wrong and it is the duo of abominations as one fight, the san'layn princes as one fight, and that frostmourne itself will be an encounter. I just read over the description again, and that could be a nice little tidbit thrown in, and would fit with the ideas posed at Blizzcon that there is more than the LK in play at the end.

Everything at the Wrathgate was incinerated, only Arthas and Putricence were able to not be burned to a crisp (Arthas re-entering Icecrown Citadel and Putricence returning to the Undercity).

Blizzard has stated that Arthas will die, but the Lich King will survive. Remember, the Lich King is the spirit of Nerzul and it's pretty hard to outright destroy a spirit.

[shoju]

Everything at the Wrathgate was incinerated, only Arthas and Putricence were able to not be burned to a crisp (Arthas re-entering Icecrown Citadel and Putricence returning to the Undercity).

Right, what I'm saying is, The LK took StY's soul before that happened. He is not shown doing the same to Bolvar. He killed StY and then promptly took his soul. In the Vision in the YS Brain Room, you definitely See Saurfang standing there while Arthas tortures the Immolated Champion. The Immolated champion isn't on fire in the vision, and when looked at in a model viewer it looks like Arthas was able to snatch him up, while the Turned champion looks like an orc in Tier8 Death Knight Armor.

The Lich King says to the Immolated champion he is torturing, "I will break you... as I broke... him" Referring to the turned champion, the orc. Further looking at the model viewer will reveal that the skin of the orc is Mag'har Brown, just like Saurfang.

The Immolated Champion is wearing Bolvar's Pants.

If you look at the bug that allowed people of the same race of the server's scarab lord to understand draconic You will find that the conversation went like this:

There is a dialogue between Korialstrasz and Alexstrasza after the Wrathgate event. It goes as follows:
Korialstrasz says: My Queen, do they know?
Alexstrasza the Life-Binder says: No, my beloved.
Alexstrasza the Life-Binder says: [Draconic] Ashj zila gul kirasath lok ante il lok buras danashj Gul gul
Korialstrasz nods.
Korialstrasz says: They will not.
Alexstrasza whispers: Come to me, <name>

The line of text reads:

Alexstrasza: [Draconic] They must not discover the fate of the young paladin. Not yet.

This again points to Arthas somehow getting his grimy hands on Bolvar.

Blizzard has stated that Arthas will die, but the Lich King will survive. Remember, the Lich King is the spirit of Nerzul and it's pretty hard to outright destroy a spirit.

You are going to have to show me where they said that, because ever since Blizzcon, they have been singing a very very different tune. I have read a lot, and there is no Arthas. There is no Ner'zhul. There is only the Lich King. I haven't seen anything where they say that LK gets to survive or that we wont be successful in squashing him. I've actually seen plenty of Blue Posts / interviews / quotes from BLizzcon saying that even though The LK dies, it isn't the end of the game. They are just putting this to bed at the end of ICC. The Scourge portion of WoW will be done.

They have been pretty adamant through Blizzcon, Blue Posts, and interviews that this will be over (from a lore standpoint) when Cataclysm goes live. There has even been vague posts that hint at EPL and WPL being part of the zones that take on a new persona/styling in Cataclysm due to the changes in Lore, while other Blue posts specifically state that the scourge is the kind of thing that even after you destroy the leader, it wont fall over like a house of cards. I take the second comment to mean that they might not redesign the zones.

[shoju]

Spoilers are contained in this post. Proceed below only if you are interested in spoilers.

So 12 encounters.

1) Marrowgar
2) Lady Deathwhisper
3) Airship Event
4) Unnamed Death Knight. (blizzcon suggests this will be Saurfang the Younger)
5) Sindragosa
6) Valithria Dreamwalker
7) Festergut
8) Rotface
9) Professor Putricide
10) San'layn Princess
11) Queen of the San'Layn
12) The Lich King

This was my inital thoughts of the encounters based on how the post read, After PTR testing on several bosses, and the new video and images posted on the MMO-Champ, I'm inclined to change my list of encounters. I'm not quite sure how to change the list, but I'm torn on how things are going to be condensed. I'm almost 100% positive that Frostmourne is going to be its own encounter. The room is there, and it is big enough to hold a raid sized encounter. I don't see them putting that amount of work into a room that isn't going to be used. So far, we know that

Marrowgar
Deathwhisper
the airship event
Deathbringer Saurfang
Festergut
Rotface
Putricide
Frostmourne
Lich King

are separate encounters. the question becomes what is condensed? the San'layn princes + queen? The Sindragosa/Valithria encounter? Will Valithria or Putricide not be an encounter? And how will Bolvar (lavaman also enough evidence to confirm) fit into all of this?