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[Tamanon]

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/underdev/3p1/ulduar.xml

Hard Boiled

Ulduar brilliantly illustrates the new design challenges and innovations that come with the bigger scope of the expansion's raids. In order to make raid content more accessible, it has to offer a lot of variety, but it also needs to include a very granular means for players to adjust a raid's difficulty. This concept was first realized in the Burning Crusade with the introduction of Heroic mode, and Wrath of the Lich King is developing the idea even further with new Hard Modes.

Boss fights that have a Hard Mode are affected by certain variables which players can control and which change the encounter's difficulty. For example, spread throughout Ulduar's vehicle section are four defense towers you can destroy. The more towers you leave intact, the harder the encounter with the Flame Leviathan will be, but the loot will also be better.

Ulduar isn't the first dungeon to include Hard Mode, but it certainly makes the most use of it. Out of 14 bosses, 11 will have a Hard Mode that offers additional challenges and rewards. Ulduar will appeal to a wide range of play styles, but the dungeon also has great longevity and a high replay value.

Raid with vehicles. Awesome.:lol

Also. Ulduar to be in 3.1 confirmed.

 

[Epix]

That sounds WTF awesome.

 

[Tamanon]

One such threat is the Flame Leviathan. After you've plowed through the innumerable ranks of the Iron Army, you will be confronted by an enormous tank. Mimiron built the Flame Leviathan as part of the V0-L7R-0N weapons platform, which means that it packs quite a punch. Normal spells and abilities won't be enough to take down this juggernaut, so you will have to rely on your siege vehicles to outmaneuver and defeat the boss. After wearing the massive war machine down, you will have to launch players onto the tank's back to destroy its defense turrets and sabotage the Leviathan before you can move on. Of course, if you'd like an additional challenge beyond this naturally frantic (but extremely fun) fight, you can try your hand at one of the Flame Leviathan's different Hard Modes (see sidebar).

Voltron joke. Throwing players at the boss. Oh man, that's going to be bizarre. :lol

 

[Epix]

Keep the info coming.....blocked at work.

 

[Flib]

Here it is:

For countless millennia, Ulduar has remained undisturbed by mortals, far away from their concerns and their struggles. But since its recent discovery, many have wondered what the structure's original purpose may have been. Some thought it a city, built to herald the glory of its makers; some thought it a vault containing innumerable treasures, perhaps even relics of the mighty Titans themselves. They were wrong. Beyond its gates lies no city, no treasure vault, no final answer to the Titan's mysteries. All that awaits those who dare set foot in Ulduar is a horror even the Titans could not, would not destroy, an evil they merely... contained.

Beneath ancient Ulduar, the Old God of death lies, whispering.... Tread carefully, or his prison will become your tomb.

Many players have already gotten their Wrath of the Lich King raiding feet wet in Naxxramas and the Sartharion raid, but Ulduar is the first example of the expansion's much larger, truly epic scope of raiding, as will be evident from the second you set foot in the instance. The most obvious difference between Ulduar and its predecessors is that the dungeon actually comprises two separate raid areas. The first section is an epic battle against a vast army standing between you and the entrance of the dungeon proper; in the second area, you will dive into the heart of the dungeon itself and finally discover the secrets of Ulduar.

Ulduar's new master has rallied his own massive Iron Army to guard the entrance to Ulduar and to prevent any unwanted guests - including you, especially you - from reaching the inner sanctum. Thankfully, you'll be able to face the Iron Army on even footing: although the main Horde and Alliance forces are focused on the forces beyond the Wrathgate and on each other, some who are better able to appreciate the true magnitude of Ulduar's threat have managed to scrap together a small fleet of siege vehicles to aid you in the assault.

You and your friends will have to use these vehicles wisely to break through Ulduar's defenses. A mix of motorcycles, demolishers, and siege engines will be at your disposal, each granting unique abilities to the pilot and the passenger. Motorcycle drivers, for example, can create pools of liquid tar that snare opponents and can be set on fire by area effect attacks, while demolisher passengers can load themselves into the vehicle's catapult so that the pilot can launch them into the distance. If used judiciously, these and other abilities will help decimate the Iron Army and any other threats lying in wait between you and Ulduar.

One such threat is the Flame Leviathan. After you've plowed through the innumerable ranks of the Iron Army, you will be confronted by an enormous tank. Mimiron built the Flame Leviathan as part of the V0-L7R-0N weapons platform, which means that it packs quite a punch. Normal spells and abilities won't be enough to take down this juggernaut, so you will have to rely on your siege vehicles to outmaneuver and defeat the boss. After wearing the massive war machine down, you will have to launch players onto the tank's back to destroy its defense turrets and sabotage the Leviathan before you can move on. Of course, if you'd like an additional challenge beyond this naturally frantic (but extremely fun) fight, you can try your hand at one of the Flame Leviathan's different Hard Modes (see sidebar).

Of course, the vehicle gauntlet, the Iron Army, and the battle against the Flame Leviathan are only the start of World of Warcraft's most ambitious raid to date. Patch 3.1 will hit the Public Test Realms very soon, so you will be able to see for yourself what other challenges await beyond the gates of ancient Ulduar.

 

[traveler]

 

[Xabora]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/

Uldaur preview is up.

EDIT:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14990940330&sid=1
Check post #10, I'm so awesome...

 

[Angry Grimace]

Sounds very very strongly like Yogg-Saron IS the final boss.

"Beneath ancient Ulduar, the Old God of death lies, whispering.... Tread carefully, or his prison will become your tomb. "

 

[traveler]

Sounds very very strongly like Yogg-Saron IS the final boss.

"Beneath ancient Ulduar, the Old God of death lies, whispering.... Tread carefully, or his prison will become your tomb. "

Yeah, I think everyone knew that all along. Will be interesting to see if his design is a C'Thun reskin or something entirely new.

Spoiler

Now the wait for Grim Batol and the showdown with Deathwing begins.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Yeah, I think everyone knew that all along. Will be interesting to see if his design is a C'Thun reskin or something entirely new.

Spoiler

Now the wait for Grim Batol and the showdown with Deathwing begins.

I think people would be severely disapointed if it was a C'thun reskin.

 

[Ikuu]

I hope we don't get anymore bosses you have to fight on vehicles, it's bad enough with Malygos.

 

[traveler]

I hope we don't get anymore bosses you have to fight on vehicles, it's bad enough with Malygos.

Did you read the posts above? :lol

 

[Xabora]

I hope we don't get anymore bosses you have to fight on vehicles, it's bad enough with Malygos.

Final boss in Uld is said to use statues that has a sanity debuff.
Each statue you destroy makes the fight easier and lowers the sanity debuff.
Keeping them up makes it harder and you get bonus loot.

Oh and there are vehicles in the fight too.

 

[traveler]

Final boss in Uld is said to use statues that has a sanity debuff.
Each statue you destroy makes the fight easier and lowers the sanity debuff.
Keeping them up makes it harder and you get bonus loot.

Oh and there are vehicles in the fight too.

Ah, I see your linked post above wasn't just a lucky guess. These sources of yours'... what else do they say?

 

[Xabora]

Ah, I see your linked post above wasn't just a lucky guess. These sources of yours'... what else do they say?

Here is a direct quote:

It's really vehicle based from my understanding. It actually has to do with YS, half your raid will be dealing with the boss, who's some prophet or something, while the rest are using a vehicle interface to knock down walls to break crystals or idols or whatever the hell they decided on. If you don't the boss gets juiced up, but like Sarth you get more loot if you don't screw with it, and each idol you don't smash when it activates it makes you go insane or something.

On New Gear:

Armor's usually objective. I know a lot of them are out on the internet already because we just copied NPC armor. Of the few that we're working, I can promise one thing: Paladin isn't shit this time. I can also promise you that it's no longer gay. The main idea thrown around when the guys were designing paladin t8 was to have something the Scarlet Crusade would wear. One of the sets is red. Think like, badass Inquisitor. Fire is a theme in it - you might have noticed, but for all the t8 one of the themes we kind of worked with is that they're dealing with the undead plague - that's why the hunters have gas masks, the warlocks are plague doctors, etc. The deal with paladins is that they say "Fuck your plague, I'm purifying you in fire."

Between Ulduar and Icecrown:

Ulduar has about 9 bosses or so, plus the optional one. I'd say about half of them have "difficulty modes" attached to them that could make them count as a new boss. Does it sound like not a lot? Yeah, I don't think it is either. Whatever.

Don't know about Icecrown, mostly we've just got a ton of concept art floating around.

And yeah, there's a new raid coming in between the two, along with a new zone.

Chance for Kael again:

Kael'thas stuck around because we've got this one dev who loves him and thinks it's really, really funny if he keeps coming back. There's a few joke sketches of him as a lich for Icecrown, actually.

Kael'thas in MGT was sort of a new model, really. The wireframe we ripped from his other model but the rest was work. We actually didn't even just copy over his orbs and then delete one (which I think was stupid).

 

[Milpool]

Nice to hear about the pally gear.

I started leveling a hunter the other day, <3 my bow:

Which tree should I be going down for leveling? At the moment I've just got the improved crit in marksmanship.

 

[Xabora]

Nice to hear about the pally gear.

I started leveling a hunter the other day, <3 my bow:

Which tree should I be going down for leveling? At the moment I've just got the improved crit in marksmanship.

BM BM BM BM for leveling.

 

[Epix]

The main idea thrown around when the guys were designing paladin t8 was to have something the Scarlet Crusade would wear. One of the sets is red. Think like, badass Inquisitor. Fire is a theme in it - you might have noticed, but for all the t8 one of the themes we kind of worked with is that they're dealing with the undead plague - that's why the hunters have gas masks, the warlocks are plague doctors, etc. The deal with paladins is that they say "Fuck your plague, I'm purifying you in fire."

Holy shit. Gimme.

 

[VaLiancY]

Here is a direct quote:

On New Gear: :lol @ The T8 Paladin. The only good Paladin Tier was the T2 set and maybe T4. Bout time they put some damn badass on the Paladin armor.

Between Ulduar and Icecrown: Completely new zone or making use of Crystalsong Forest which is practically barren?

Chance for Kael again: wut? Why?

.

 

[BigJonsson]

Because Kael is awesome and girls who play WoW want to have his babies



And it would be really cool if I could use my Chopper in Ulduar and add weapon attachments to it so it would make the chopper good for something

 

[Tamanon]

The first boss has you enter 1 of 3 different vehicles (Chopper, Demolisher, and Siege Engine) to fight your way through an immense Iron army to the Flame Leviathan and defeat him. After that, there's very little use of vehicles by players. We'll have the fight up on the PTR at a later date, but this fight isn't in the first wave of boss encounters to be tested. (Source)

Actually, the effectiveness of the vehicles in the Flame Leviathan fight changes depending on the quality of the gear. So someone in full Naxxramas epics (or Ulduar epics!) will have an easier time than someone in greens.

OK, so main vehicle use will be on the first fight, then it gets more traditional.

 

[Xabora]

.

The New Zone:

Same thing everyone thought it would be coming in to the expansion, Azjol-Nerub. I don't know what they're going to call it now that they actually called something Azjol-Nerub though

Dances:

Don't even fucking mention it man, those dances are a pain in the ass. I hate when I have to animate one, we all hate that we have to do them, and we all hate that we don't have time to do them so they just sit there, looming. They WANT us to get it down by 3.1, but with how much of Ulduar we still have to do (mostly environment) I wouldn't hold your breath.

Custom Druid Form Glyph:

There are plans to allow form customization, but we haven't been told how they want to do it yet.

 

[VaLiancY]

The New Zone: That's cool, I want to know more about the Nerubians since they are helping out Arthas and the Scourge.

Dances: :lol I totally forgot about that feature. Nothing important, totally meh.

Custom Druid Form Glyph: I remember they data mine the beta and druids had a glyph to change the cat form models to the lynx model in Burning Crusade. I want a bear glyph that looks like the ZA Bear.

.

 

[Wrekt]

Xabora, that interview with the "artist" is almost surely fake.

For one he gave out enough information that any jackass at Blizzard could figure out who he is. Example-

I'm actually going to take full credit for the yeti there. Those guys are based off a cariacture of the yeti things in Alterac I did. Cracks me up.

Which leads me to my second point. He did the yetis in Alterac and yet...

Q: How long have you been with Blizzard? Of that, how long have you been working on WoW?
A: I started at Blizzard about halfway through Burning Crusade. My first jobs were environmental details in Black Temple.

 

[Xabora]

Xabora, that interview with the "artist" is almost surely fake.

For one he gave out enough information that any jackass at Blizzard could figure out who he is. Example-



Which leads me to my second point. He did the yetis in Alterac and yet...

Yeah I know about that part, however some of it has been semi-correct.
Mostly the stuff I posted...
Not sure on the keal thing though.

 

[Flesh Into Gear]

The deal with paladins is that they say "Fuck your plague, I'm purifying you in fire."

 

[traveler]

Seems weird AN would be the mystery raid. Both Anub'Arak and Yogg-Saron- the only major two characters I would have associated with a AN raid- will have been dealt with and I thought that Grim Batol was being set up for a encounter with Deathwing, what with the whole book on that story and all.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Seems weird AN would be the mystery raid. Both Anub'Arak and Yogg-Saron- the only major two characters I would have associated with a AN raid- will have been dealt with and I thought that Grim Batol was being set up for a encounter with Deathwing, what with the whole book on that story and all.

Blizzard would be completely insane to waste it's last, great archnemesis as a pre-Icecrown boss. I would imagine Deathwing is being saved for WoW's final gasps.

They'll just make someone new up, probably. That is, if AN is even the "newest" raid. I somewhat doubt it. I'm guessing it's more likely we'll see the main building in Gundrak than AN. The Ice Troll's Frost King was never even brought up as far as I know. Not that it matters since there's so little story involved in the raids these days.

 

[Angry Grimace]

First four bosses to be tested in Ulduar will be Freya, Hodir, Thorim and "the Iron Council"

Ok, we're getting close to the point where we will need testing of Ulduar boss encounters on PTR, so let's talk about Ulduar testing!

We're going to be performing testing differently than in the past. We're looking for much more targeted feedback, and we don't want to just have the zone freely open and allow extended, unsupervised testing to take place. So, when the PTR servers come up with 3.1.0, by default Ulduar will be turned completely off. We'll instead enable Ulduar and specific bosses during times where the encounter team can observe testing.

Shortly after 3.1.0 PTR is up and running, I'll post a schedule that will indicate when we will open specific bosses to testing. We'll have testing opportunities for both EU and NA region PTRs in their respective prime time playing hours. There might also be a boss or two we do leave up for extended testing, and some bosses will only be tested in either the EU or NA. Some encounters won't be up on the PTR at all! There's 14 boss encounters in Ulduar, there will be lots to test. The schedule will be quite flexible, check in the Dungeons & Raids forum and on the PTR forum for updates.

The first set of boss encounters to get testing will include:

Freya
Thorim
Hodir
The Iron Council

Both 10 player and 25 player versions of the encounters will be open to testing, and we expect players to have nearly full Naxxramas gear. While Jillian McWeaksauce might make appearances on the PTR to provide testing consumables, please try to bring your own.

I hope to see raid groups of many different skill levels on the 3.1.0 PTR servers when they become available!

 

[traveler]

Freya, Hodir, and Thorim?!?!? Holy crap! I knew they had plans for Thorim, but how'd Freya end up working for YS?

Blizzard would be completely insane to waste it's last, great archnemesis as a pre-Icecrown boss. I would imagine Deathwing is being saved for WoW's final gasps.

They'll just make someone new up, probably. That is, if AN is even the "newest" raid. I somewhat doubt it. I'm guessing it's more likely we'll see the main building in Gundrak than AN. The Ice Troll's Frost King was never even brought up as far as I know. Not that it matters since there's so little story involved in the raids these days.

I agree, but the book sets it up pretty obviously and they're keeping their lips shut, so I wouldn't be surprised if he did end up getting wheeled out. (I also thought that they would leverage Anub'Arak as a major raid boss, but, nope, the only other major character pertaining to the Scourge gets a spot in a low level- in terms of the expansion- 5-man. )

 

[Xabora]

Freya, Hodir, and Thorim?!?!? Holy crap! I knew they had plans for Thorim, but how'd Freya end up working for YS?

Couple steps ahead of ya.

Read this post:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=14536655&postcount=24472 (Jan 27th)

As for Ulduar, blizzard stated they would include more Hard-Mode Bosses.
I'm expecting Freya, Hodir, Mimir, Tyr and Thorim to have Hard-Modes there.
Engaging them on Hard-Mode they should drop iLevel 239 items on 25man and iLevel 226 on Normal.

There is a chance they could introduce a new tier of Emblem with Ulduar also.

FREYA

HODIR

Not Tyr or Mimir - Fire Leviathan?

Titan Construct (Built off of the Fel Reaver Frame)

Yes posted above but with names now.

 

[traveler]

Jeez, man. :lol

Is every boss in Ulduar going to be a corrupted hero of some form? (Aside from the Iron Army and Yogg of course)

Edit: I saw that pic earlier but I assumed Freya's role in the raid would be as one of those "who are better able to appreciate the true magnitude of Ulduar's threat."

 

[BigJonsson]

Those bosses look pretty damn big

 

[Cipherr]

God I am so on the test server when this goes live. Theres no chance Ill convince my guild to copy over to 25 man it and thats a shame. PUG'ing content makes baby jesus cry, but I'm sure there will be competent raiders testing the content with open spots.

 

[dave is ok]

To be fair, there was a new Yeti model added in WOTLK - the Alterac yetis look nothing like the Northrend yetis.

 

[Ashodin]

This is going to be fucking awesome! Especially if the T8 for paladins KICKS ASS. I will masturbate to the set every night.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Ugh. Ran a half PUG malygos with some idiot southern-accented idiot who thinks that because he cleared it as a DPSer in Heroic, he actually KNOWS what to do and can raid lead. The fact that he couldn't grasp the concept of death gripping the sparks to the proper location, and then screamed at me (in my own guild run!) for going the wrong direction, non-fatally, once, just makes me glad I'm taking a break from dealing with raid stuff, and just looking to level my DK before I move on to a more serious guild where I won't be expected to tank or lead. It's kind of funny: you come to realize that achievements, especially the 25 man ones, don't really mean shit; you don't have to necessarily understand the fundamentals of an encounter to get through it on those modes on the current content.

The problem is, everything's 10x harder when you're expected to be in charge, because people won't do what they are supposed to. I think I'd like to just sit back, do my DPS and let someone else take the fall now :lol

 

[Kweh]

Fighting Hodir isn't going to harm rep for The Sons of Hodir right?

 

[CassSept]

Between Ulduar and Icecrown:
Quote: Ulduar has about 9 bosses or so, plus the optional one. I'd say about half of them have "difficulty modes" attached to them that could make them count as a new boss. Does it sound like not a lot? Yeah, I don't think it is either. Whatever.

Don't know about Icecrown, mostly we've just got a ton of concept art floating around.

And yeah, there's a new raid coming in between the two, along with a new zone.

14 bosses confirmed and 11 have hard modes.
Seems like this source isn't true, sorry

There is a chance they could introduce a new tier of Emblem with Ulduar also.

Weren't Emblems of Conquest confirmed in some blue post about new archavon wing?

 

[VaLiancY]

God I am so on the test server when this goes live. Theres no chance Ill convince my guild to copy over to 25 man it and thats a shame. PUG'ing content makes baby jesus cry, but I'm sure there will be competent raiders testing the content with open spots.

That's the hard part for me also.

 

[Lord Phol]

Gotta give it to them, they really upped the design/graphics quality with Wrath of the Lich King. That Looks epic.

 

[Oni Link 666]

j

 

[CassSept]

Oh christ, whats is this spec

 

[Oni Link 666]

Again with my spec? STFU about my spec already!

 

[cubicle47b]

Again with my spec? STFU about my spec already!

Stop linking your armory if you don't want comments about your spec.

 

[Oni Link 666]

How about you guys just STFU about it? I'm just showing off my gear. I really don't care what you think about my spec. Especially when all people have to say is "OMG WTF is that? LULZ". I've been playing a rogue for four fucking years. I know what the fuck I'm doing.

Fuck.

 

[CassSept]

I just asked, because on main page i've seen 15/53/3, which is most... unusual.
Especially since it's a spec without Relentless Strikes, a basic talent for all specs, both PvE and PvP....

 

[Macattk15]

So my guild merged with another guild after weeks of falling short of 25 members to raid ... and never trying Malygos 25 or Sarth + Drakes.

Newly formed guild runs in to Maly 25 and one shots him (no one had experience on Maly 25, but most had 10 man Maly experience).

Feels pretty good to finally be getting shit done.

 

[vumpler]

Hey ret pallies:

My wife is a ret pally that is slowly getting geared up. However I feel her DPS could be much higher for the gear she has. What attack progression do you use and are there any tricks I could pass along? She basically just uses what's on max dps and pounds on Seal of Command, judgement of light, crusader strike, devine storm over and over.

 

[Macattk15]

Hey ret pallies:

My wife is a ret pally that is slowly getting geared up. However I feel her DPS could be much higher for the gear she has. What attack progression do you use and are there any tricks I could pass along? She basically just uses what's on max dps and pounds on Seal of Command, judgement of light, crusader strike, devine storm over and over.

It's probably just because she is a woman ... tell her to gather some Holy gear and start healing.


(I kid, I kid!)


I'm not a ret pally, but I've seen them do pretty good damage. Seems to be all about that Seal of Blood and face-rolling.