Naxxramas and Dungeon & Raid News

[nobbie]

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Karazhan

Karazhan is slated to be a max level, 10 person raid instance in the expansion. Its absolutely massive. Its also non-linear although it does become linear at certain points. There are at least a dozen bosses in there so far. Using the raid saving tech, well be able to make a small raid dungeon (only 10 people) where players can save their progress if they cannot do the whole thing in one night. We're trying to implement ways for them to quickly get back to where they were if theyve already made progress in the dungeon. For example, after you kill certain bosses, you can open a door thats a shortcut from the entrance.

Hellfire Citadel

This is the first dungeon players will encounter in the expansion. It lies in Hellfire Peninsula, the zone just beyond the Dark Portal. We're planning on making this a winged dungeon. Right now, two of the wings are scheduled to be lower level level up wings (for players leveling to 70). One of the wings is slated to be a maximum level 5-person dungeon. And lastly, there's Magtheridons Lair, a raid wing similar to Onyxias Lair in size and scope what I like to call a quick raid. Of course, during the development cycle this could all change. Same goes for the Beta. But thats how we're approaching this dungeon currently.

Naxxramas

Naxxramas will come out in Patch 1.11 and will be previewed at E3 in a couple of weeks. This raid dungeon is massive and hosts more bosses than you can wave a stick at. And a really big stick at that. Currently, Naxxramas is in internal testing. After a few more weeks of internal testing, well put it on the PTRs for an extended test period so that you guys have time to hammer the encounters and provide us with feedback. We'll also be doing a lot of tuning during internal testing and during the PTR time. Expect the difficulty of encounters to fluctuate a lot on the PTRs. Expect a lot of info regarding Naxxramas to come out during E3.

Other Dungeon/Raid stuff

We're working on a bug fix thats preventing people NOT on the upgrade quest from seeing the Barons additional loot table in the event that they kill him in under 45 minutes. We're hoping to get this out sooner than 1.11 but it might take a client patch to fix.

Also, Patch 1.11 has some great interface improvements coming. More info on that later.

[Hedon]

Well, I really, really hope, that Naxx is going to be the big hit, AQ failed to be.

Some of what we know doesn't sound bad: it will be a winged dungeon and winged dungeons are always popular as you chose certain raid objectives whithout going through the full eventually boring dungeon crawl each time.
Also Blizzard have announced that there will be no new faction to grind, as they will use Argent Dawn as the corresponding faction for Naxx.



I hope they have learned their lesson from AQ:


1. Visuals matter.
AQ itself is rather dull looking (this true for all natural, cave like dungeons in WoW, perhaps with the exception of Maraudon; the architectural ones look often much better) and the set items you can obtain there are simply awful. People lost interest in their AQ Set Items, the first time they saw the designs.

2. No more forced massive resistance fights
Farming up a certain type of resistance for one dungeon, to then farm up another resistance for the next dungeon is not fun. It is a blatant time sink. No more Huhus, thx.

3. No blowable encounters
This more a criticisim of BWL then of AQ and referring to the 15 min cooldown on Nef tries. Another blatant time sink.

4. Timely finetuning of encounters
I think everybody understands that it is nearly impossible to finetune every encounter before the respective release of the dungeon, but things like the C'thun desaster where encounters remained unbeatable for months really should be avoided.

Lastly I would like to see more quests surrounding Naxx that go beyond: bring me X,Y,Z loot tokens and certain level of reputaion to get this item. I'm, rather thinking of the plethora of Quests surrounding Stratholme oder Scholomance. These quests really added depth to these places and made them a part of their zone (plaguelands).


In a certain way, Naxx will be a make or break content patch for me. If it doesn't deliver, I think I might take a pause up to the release of Burning Crusade.

[MongoJerry]

2. No more forced massive resistance fights
Farming up a certain type of resistance for one dungeon, to then farm up another resistance for the next dungeon is not fun. It is a blatant time sink. No more Huhus, thx.
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I would start stocking up on shadow and frost resistance from what I've heard.

[Zarathustra]

the set items you can obtain there are simply awful. People lost interest in their AQ Set Items, the first time they saw the designs.

You and I travel in different circles. It seems to me that Druids in general love the stats on Genesis UNLESS they choose to be a solely healing character (in which case I wonder why they're a Druid). Fury & Arms warriors seem to be all over their AQ set, and the three or four I've spoken with inguild are really looking forward to it. The rogues are about 50/50 either loving the new set or saying they'll stick with Bloodfang.

Mages don't see much of an upgrade, and the Priest set is more geared towards Shadow priests (or the newly-emerging holy handgrenades).

But I've not seen people losing interest immediately. It's a different build of character that would use these sets.


What would I like to see from Naxx? I want to see new Argent Dawn stuff! Right now there's little reason to reach Exalted with them, as the shoulder enchants from the Zandalar tribe are both more useful and easier to obtain. Additionally, the crafted goods generally make one scratch his head and go "urgh?" A couple pieces are nice... but they're generally not worth the materials.

[Hedon]

You and I travel in different circles.  It seems to me that Druids in general love the stats on Genesis UNLESS they choose to be a solely healing character (in which case I wonder why they're a Druid).  Fury & Arms warriors seem to be all over their AQ set, and the three or four I've spoken with inguild are really looking forward to it.  The rogues are about 50/50 either loving the new set or saying they'll stick with Bloodfang.

Mages don't see much of an upgrade, and the Priest set is more geared towards Shadow priests (or the newly-emerging holy handgrenades).

Ehhm, I don't mean the stats. I'm referring to the graphics of these items, which are simply craptacular.

The stats on the AQ sets are fine, and people have been pretty hot about them, until they saw how they look like. Interest in those items dropped then to zero. I don't know anyone who is willing to acquire his AQ40 class set now.

[oldmandennis]

Ehhm, I don't mean the stats. I'm referring to the graphics of these items, which are simply craptacular.

The stats on the AQ sets are fine, and people have been pretty hot about them, until they saw how they look like. Interest in those items dropped then to zero. I don't know anyone who is willing to acquire his AQ40 class set now.
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Really? Are you on a role playing server? Most people I know would gladly swing a Giant Corn on the Cob if it had stats they liked. They might bitch about the looks, but they would still use it.

[Artega]

I would start stocking up on shadow and frost resistance from what I've heard.
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Scourge = Liches.

Liches = Frost and Shadow.

I've been stocking up on bargain-priced FR and SR rings since Naxx was announced; I expect I'll be the richest non-60 on the server after Naxx hits and people start looking for ways to chisel out some of the tedious resistance grinding :)

[Artega]

Never forget that WoW is a business first, and a game second.

The timesinks are there for a reason: to make more money for Blizzard.

As for C'thun, I think that it was partly unexpected (you figure it's going to take a month or two just to get to him and figure him out, let alone start going for the throat) and partly planned (the bit with constant changes that really didn't change anything.)

[Hedon]

Really?  Are you on a role playing server?  Most people I know would gladly swing a Giant Corn on the Cob if it had stats they liked.  They might bitch about the looks, but they would still use it.
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No, I'm on a PvP server. The more important it is to kill an die in style ;)


Oracle Set from AQ40 (Bracers and Gloves from the Prophecy Set):




Hands down [Giant Corn on the Cob] doesn't look that bad compared to that, does it? :P

[Wogan]

I actually quite like it. Much better than the druids, and better than Arcanist too IMO.

[Zarathustra]

I'll have to dig up the picture I took in WoWviewer of my Druid in full Genesis (along with 3 more pieces of artillery gear). It actually looked pretty damned slick. Granted, that's ONLY because of the nature (pardon the pun) of the class and the fact that the green colors aren't as horrible as the purple of the hunter set. But still, I'll be taking off the guild tabard to show off my Genesis Vest when I get it (ambitious, I know).

[MongoJerry]

No, I'm on a PvP server. The more important it is to kill an die in style  ;)
Oracle Set from AQ40 (Bracers and Gloves from the Prophecy Set):

Hands down [Giant Corn on the Cob] doesn't look that bad compared to that, does it?  :P
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It's sooo much better looking than prophecy and transcendence. The robe is particularly nice looking comparatively. I'd probably take off the helm graphic, but everything else looks good. The only priest set that looks really good imho are the PvP sets. They're sheer black and all around cool looking.