Patch 3.3 Mini-Guide

While you’re toiling away eagerly waiting to get out of work and explore the new patch, here is the Frostheim mini 3.3 guide, for those of you who haven’t been scouring the internet for details. With any luck, the new Hunting Party Podcast will be up a bit later today (we discuss ICC, the talents, the changes, the loots) for your patch downloading entertainment.

3 New 5-Mans

There are 3 new 5-mans available in patch 3.3, and the heroic versions drop ilvl 232 loot (equivalent to 10-man totc) — this includes trinkets, rings, necks, etc. So you may very well find some upgrades in the 5-man that can help us along until you get better from the new raid.

And if you’re still seeking an armor pen trinket, then you can get one from Forge of Souls heroic.  Needle-Encrusted Scorpion should tide you over for your armor pen needs, if that’s the route you’re going.

5-man loot list: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=912

Emblems of Frost
Yes, I have my very own emblems this patch. All heroic and old wrath bosses will now be dropping Emblems of Triumph.

You get Emblems of Frost from:
- Raid bosses (drop 3 each (I think))
- Daily “random” heroic (2 emblems)
- Weekly raid (5 emblems) – more on this later

The gear you get with Emblems of Frost is fantastic. Some of it better than 25-man ICC drops. In addition to being a higher item level, this gear is itemized incredibly well (meaning it has more of the stats you really care about). This gear includes your new tier 10 set (ilvl 251) as well as many others that are ilvl 264. Here is a list of the emblem loot: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=904 You’ll need to click on the “emblems” tab.  These items are pretty expensive:

- Tier 10 Hands and Shoulders: 60 Emblems
- Tier 10 Chest, Legs, and Head: 95 Emblems

- Trinket: 60 emblems
- Cloak: 50 emblems
- Waist: 60 emblems
- Chest: 95 emblems
- Hands: 60 emblems
- Thrown: 30 3mblems
- Relic: 30 emblems

Tier 10 Armor
We will have access to new Tier 10 armor – the unfortunately named Ahn’kahar Blood Hunter set. There are 3 versions of the t10 set armor, and it is working slightly differently than before.

- You must buy your ilvl 251 basic T10 set pieces for Emblems of Frost.
- To get the next step up, ilvl 264, you must already have the ilvl 251 version and then get a token drop from the 25 man that lets you upgrade it. You don’t have to pay anymore emblems to upgrade it.
- To get the best version, ilvl 277, you must already have the ilvl 264 version, and then get a token drop from the heroic v25 man that lets you upgrade it.

Note that unlike TotC, the “trophy” that you get to upgrade your item is specific to a mix of three classes, rather than generic for all classes.

You can view the tier 10 armor Here.

Weekly Raid
There will be a new weekly raid that will award 5 emblems of frost (and 5 triumph, but who cares about those old things). These weekly quests can be completed in either 10-man or 25-man (but not both for double reward) and can be done on normal modes or hard modes.

The weekly random raid boss options are:

• Sartharion
• Anub’rekhan (naxx spider wing 1st boss)
• Noth the Plaguebringer (plague wing 1st boss)
• Instructor Razuvious (military wing 1st boss)
• Patchwerk
• Malygos
• Flame Leviathan
• XT-002 Deconstructor
• Lord Jaraxxus
• Lord Marrowgar (ICC 1st boss)

Icecrown Citadel
Of course the big new thing we get in patch 3.3 is the new raid instance, Icecrown Citadel. ICC will have 4 wings, a total of 12 bosses, and at the end of it we get to fight Arthas the Lich King himself! But not so soon….

ICC will use a gating mechanic similar to what TotC used. At first only the first 4 bosses will be available, and that’s all there’ll be for the first several weeks. Then we get another wing for several weeks, and so on. In theory the soonest we’ll see Arthas himself is in February, and more likely March.

Once the 2nd wing hits, we will only be allowed 5 attempts on the final boss of the wing. Then we’ll gradually be allowed more and more attempts as time passes.

ICC has normal and hardmodes. We are not allowed to do any hardmode until we defeat Arthas himself — and it will be months before he’s available to fight. Also ICC is much like Naxx in that you can’t fight the final boss (Arthas) unless you defeat the 4 toughest bosses first (Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana’thel, and Sindragosa).

Blizzard has also built in a noob-raid compensator. Long after ICC is all available, they’ll have a zone-wide aura that increases your damage and health and healing, and this aura will get stronger and stronger over time. So there will be plenty of time to complete the instance before this kicks in and it’s there for the fail raids that would never get to see the end content on their own merit. For the record, I fully approve of the noob-raid compensator.

The first 4 bosses that will be released with launch today are:
- Lord Marrowgar (http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=897)
- Lady Deathwhisper (http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=894)
- Gunship Battle (http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=893)
- Deathbringer Saurfang (http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=900)

Of these Marrowgar looks really easy. Lady D looks to be challenging.

You can take a peek at some of the awesome loot available in ICC at the boss links above, and here: http://ptr.wowhead.com/?new-items=3.3

Ashen Verdict Faction
The new faction, Ashen Verdict, will be available with ICC. You level your rep by killing stuff within the raid instance, and it looks like it’s going to be a bit of a long haul. However, there are some awesome advantages to AV rep:

You get a ring from the Ashen Verdict, much like the old Kara ring. It starts as the Ashen Band of Courage. It may not look that awesome at first, but as you attain new levels of rep you can upgrade it for better and better versions of the ring.

There are a bunch of crafting patterns that you get for rep, including blacksmithing, engineering, leatherworking, and tailoring.

You can see all the AV rep rewards (purchases) here: http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=910

Shadowmourne
If you haven’t seen it already, go ahead and take a look at the new legendary weapon, Shadowmourne. Marvel at the awesomeness that we will not be allowed to wield. Why, oh why, has the only hunter legendary every been the hardest to get, held by the fewest, for the shortest amount of time? Lament, my bothers, lament for our plight.