A great topic came up over at the World of Warcraft LiveJournal Community: today is the corresponding maintenance day that gives us a year after patch 3.0.2, after Wrath, and after a number of new changes that we now take for granted were introduced into the game.

Achievements and achievement points, the currency tab for badges and other things that were cluttering up our bags, Barber Shops and the ability to change your in-game appearance for gold, Dalaran vanishing and leaving behind a crater, Stormwind Harbor and new Zepplin flight paths, mounts and pets being “learnable” and not taking up bag space, the in-game calendar, all of them came with 3.0.2, and it was a pretty monumental patch.

So without changing this into a “How’s that 3.0.2 working out for you” kind of post, I think it’s safe to admit that WoW has come a long way even in the past year. What are some of your favorite changes we’ve seen in the past year?

So the word is out that in patch 3.3, Emblems of Triumph will be the new emblem to have, and that everything that drops Emblems of Conquest now will drop Emblems of Triumph instead. You can still trade down if you want to pick up items from previous tiers, but you won’t be able to get Emblems of Conquest going forward.

The goal here is clearly accessibility, and Blizzard is solidifying its stance that they would rather more people be able to get access to more of the endgame gear and content than they would stratify it and only allow the highest-tier players have access to the badges that get the best gear in the game. What do you think? Is this trend towards making the endgame content and high-tier gear accessible even for casual players the right direction and a boost towards making the game more enjoyable for all players, or is this just another example of Blizzard dumbing down the game and diluting the achievements of its most hardcore players and devotees?

See that guy right there? If you’re Alliance, you know he’s probably been in your way as you’ve tried to raid Undercity. If you’re Horde, then you rely on him and others like him to keep the Undercity safe from invaders and to stand guard.

But over on the World of Warcraft Livejournal Community, lustyevilgnome has noticed something….different about the Undercity. Something….missing.

So, I’ve just been on the PTR…
Has anybody been to the Undercity?

If you enjoy the abominations, go and tell them “goodbye” while you can, because in 3.3 they’re apparently all going to replaced by orcs from the Kor’kron Guard. And they’re all pissed off about the whole Wrathgate thing.

Uh oh! Looks like the Orcs are still pretty peeved about what happened at the Wrathgate, even though it’s clear that Sylvanas had nothing to do with it and barely escaped with her own un-life. But that’s not enough for the new Garrosh-led Orcs – whether or not Garrosh officially takes the reins in 3.3 or in Cataclysm remains to be seen, but it’s clear that the Orcs don’t trust the forsaken one bit right now.

Combine this with the rumor that in the newly rebuilt post-Cataclysm Orgrimmar that Garrosh has kicked out all of the Horde races aside from the Orcs and the Tauren because they are the only two “strong enough” to represent the true might of the horde, and you have some serious faction in-fighting going on in the Horde.

What does it all mean? Are we seeing the breakup of the Horde, no thanks to its soon to be new Warchief? We’ll have to wait and see.

Blizzard hasn’t made the announcement in the United States yet, but up on the EU World of Warcraft site you’ll find tons of details about Icecrown Citadel, part of which is already live on the PTRs, and all of which is scheduled to arrive in the upcoming patch, 3.3 – expected to be the last major content patch in Wrath, setting the stage for a few minor patches to prep us all for the Cataclysm.

Given the speed with which we’re seeing announcements and testing from Blizzard, a couple of things are possible – either Cataclysm is much closer than we thought, there’s another planned content patch before the end of Wrath, Blizzard was listening to the people who look at the Trial of the Crusader and Trial of the Champion as somewhat drawn-out content, or some combination of the above. In any event, The EU site has a rundown on what we can expect in Icecrown, and what the 5-man dungeons and 10-25-man raids within will look like:

Icecrown Citadel will feature a massive five-player dungeon sprawling across three wings of the citadel’s foundation. While the Lich King’s attention is focused on the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade ripping through the front gates, players will be tested as they assist Jaina Proudmoore (Alliance) and Sylvanas Windrunner (Horde) in infiltrating the citadel through an alternate entrance.

An epic quest line will present adventurers with the task of weakening Icecrown Citadel’s forces, requiring that players defeat the challenges in each dungeon wing before venturing into the next one. Normal and Heroic versions of the dungeon will be accessible to players, although each wing will be considered a separate instance; therefore, on Heroic difficulty, each wing will have its own separate lockout timer. All-new rewards — including item level 219 (normal) and level 232 (Heroic) loot — will be offered to those who destroy some of the Lich King’s most formidable allies.

The Forge of Souls
Serving as the first wing in this expansive dungeon, the Forge of Souls will quickly put players to the test of carving through the Scourge stronghold into deeper, more treacherous locations. Jaina will command Alliance forces, and Sylvanas will direct Horde forces. The goal is to ruin the twisted engines known as soul grinders found in this portion of the citadel, and then players can advance — that is, if the Horde and Alliance forces can overcome the foes who confront them.

*** Bosses
* Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls: An instrument of reckoning, Bronjahm watches over the engines in the Forge of Souls. He must be killed if the soul grinders are to be destroyed.
* The Devourer of Souls: As the chief operator of the engines found in this wing, the Devourer stands guard over the souls stolen by the Lich King.

Pit of Saron
Accessible only to those who have laid waste to the Forge of Souls’ unholy operations, the Pit of Saron will bring Horde and Alliance forces deeper into the Lich King’s domain. Players who venture here will immediately be confronted by the lord of this lair, Scourgelord Tyrannus. But defeating him will not be as easy as it seems. Before they can present a threat to Tyrannus, the adventurers, instructed by their leaders, will need to free enslaved allies who have been trapped by the Scourge. Until that happens, Tyrannus will leave all adversaries to his minions, workers of the citadel’s mines. Perhaps the challenges here will lend clues as to the whereabouts of the Lich King’s private chambers outside of the Frozen Throne, deep within the Halls of Reflection.

*** Bosses
* Forgemaster Garfrost: A master of Scourge weaponry, the forgemaster hauls stocks of saronite ore and other precious materials to the cold forges where the mechanisms of death are born. With a host of rime weapons and exotic alloys at his disposal, it could get cold in here.
* Krick and Ick: Zombies serve as mindless muscle in the Pit of Saron’s mines, stockpiling metals for Forgemaster Garfrost, and Krick — a devious leper gnome — supervises the operations from atop Ick, Krick’s ghastly means of transportation.
* Scourgelord Tyrannus: Tyrannus is a terrible force who will no doubt demonstrate his powers to those brave enough to enter the Pit of Saron. The scourgelord must die if players hope to make their way into the third and final wing of this dungeon.

Halls of Reflection
With Jaina and Sylvanas leading the way, adventurers who make it as far as these frigid halls will quickly recognize the weapon that lies ahead: Frostmourne, the corruptive, legendary device of the Lich King himself. The Lich King’s private chambers are within reach, although they may be the death of anyone who ventures there.

*** Bosses
* Falric and Marwyn: Captains for Arthas Menethil in life, Scourge commanders for the Lich King in death, Falric and Marwyn will be summoned to the Halls of Reflection for one purpose: destroying all intruders.
* The Lich King: Sylvanas, thirsty for vengeance against the corrupted prince who sentenced her to an existence as an undead monstrosity, and Jaina, eager to find a flicker of Arthas’s soul locked somewhere within the Lich King, have brought their hand-picked allies to this final confrontation. Arthas’s true power may only now be discovered. Is there any hope in this mission, or does only death await?

Looks like we’re marching quickly to a standoff with Arthas himself. Does he live or die? Do we fnid salvation for him or do we slay him, Ner’zhul (who’s posessing him – voluntarily), and shatter Frostmourne where they all reign?

Also, does Bronjahm get his groove on? Does he remind us all that it’s a man’s world but it don’t mean nothin’ without a woman to love? (Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls, is clearly homage to the late great James Brown, also known as The Godfather of Soul.)

Keep an eye out for more announcements as 3.3 gets closer!

Normally I wouldn’t want to do a “How’s that working out for you” discussion post for an x.y.z patch, but 3.2.2 came with so many changes that have actively effected the way we play the game, it’s worth checking in and seeing how everyone’s doing. Blizzard described it as minor patch, but along with it came a number of pretty big changes, not the least of which being the re-introduction of Onxyia into the game after having reworked her to be a level 80 raid boss, with loot that looks like the old world gear but wears like some of the finest a raid can pick up.

Changes came down for just about every class, too – hunters got some pretty significant changes, as did druids, death knights, and even mages got some reworking – and while some of the changes are pretty minor, others are significant enough to change the way we play the game.

So! How are you doing with all of the changes in 3.2.2? Mad that the Bestial Wrath change went through? Upset you can only queue for 2 battlegrounds at a time? Pissed that they fixed the Kill Shot bug and now you have to be at range to fire it? Or maybe you’re too busy rolling over Onxyia for loot? How are you liking that? Let us know in the comments!

Today’s the day: Patch 3.2.2 is slowly rolling out to the realms and after their day-long maintenance they’re starting to slowly but surely come back online. Some of them are experiencing longer downtime and extended maintenance, but by and large people should be able to play when they head home from work or school today.

So! What’s in store for us other than the Brood Mother herself, Onyxia, returning to her home all beefed up to a level 80+ boss and ready to drop some phat lewts? Check out the full patch notes here to see what we’re in for. Tons of class changes, new mounts, new loot, and maybe some other secrets yet to be uncovered until people get their hands on the patch data…we’ll see!

So we’re two days out from Patch 3.2, and most of the servers are back online for good and aren’t randomly restarting. Blizzard had a bit of emergency maintenance in the US yesterday, and add-on developers are scrambling to make sure their add-ons are updated for the live version of the patch. We’re all still getting used to it, the the bugs list is getting longer, and we’re all geting used to the patch now that it’s live.

So what about you? What are you the most excited about? New druid forms (shown above)? Totem bars? The new dungeons and the Call of the Crusade? Let us know in the comments!

Oh, and if you haven’t seen the trailer, check it out here:

Along with the wealth of changes coming in patch 3.2, one of them stood out for me, since my main is a hunter and spirit beasts are near and dear to my heart. I first learned about Skoll, the new wolf spirit beast, from Mania’s Arcania, who posted a fantastic video of someone who actually tamed him and is running around on the PTR with him.

He’s a gorgeous blue worg, with lightning crackling around his body, and he gets all of the skills that other spirit beasts get, including spirit strike and prowl. I’m hoping that when he goes live he’ll still be a Wolf, meaning he’ll get ferocious howl and other wolf-specific traits (not to mention their DPS) in addition to spirit strike – that might be enough to make me switch back to beast mastery now and again.

Remember when the minimum level for the first land mount went from 40 to 30 and everyone who had slogged to 40 and ground gold to pay for it were all mad? Yeah well, that’s coming all over again.

Blizzard has announced some pretty significant mount changes coming “soon,” which means essentially we have no idea when those changes are coming, but when they do, they’ll make all the difference to those folks who are leveling alts and want the experience of grinding 1-70 a little easier to deal with. Faster speeds, lower costs, easier training, and lower minimum levels await you, thanks to the word that Zarhym let loose in the official forums:

In the next major content patch, we intend to adjust mount requirements to further improve the leveling experience in World of Warcraft. In addition, cast times for summoning all ground mounts will be reduced to 1.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds. The following is a breakdown of the upcoming cost and level requirement changes we are making for each riding skill.

* Apprentice Riding (Skill 75)

o 60% land mount speed
o Requires level 20
o Cost: 4 gold
o Mount cost: 1 gold
o Mail will be sent to players at level 20 guiding them to the riding trainer

* Journeyman Riding (Skill 150)

o 100% land mount speed
o Requires level 40
o Cost: 50 gold
o Mount cost: 10 gold
o Mail will be sent to players at level 40 guiding them back to the riding trainer

* Expert Riding (Skill 225)

o 150% flying mount speed; 60% land mount speed
o Requires level 60
o Cost: 600 gold (faction discounts now apply: Honor Hold [Alliance]; Thrallmar [Horde])
o Mount Cost: 50 gold
o Can now be learned in Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde)

* Artisan Riding (Skill 300)

o 280% flying mount speed; 100% land mount speed
o Requires level 70
o Cost: 5,000 gold (faction discounts now apply: Honor Hold or Valiance Expedition [Alliance]; Thrallmar or Warsong Offensive [Horde])
o Mount Cost: 100 gold

Now when Zarhym says “next major content patch,” a good assumption is that he means it’s coming in patch 3.2, currently in development but not yet on the PTRs. Or perhaps since 3.2 is in development already it’s actually coming in 3.3. Who knows, but I’m sure we’ll get clarification on this in the near future.

And of course, along with mount changes, druid forms and other class abilities that allow for faster travel speed will also have to be modified to keep the playing field level:

Movement Speed Training By Class

* Druid

o Travel Form: Requires level 16
o Flight Form: Requires level 60 (150% flight speed)
o Swift Flight Form: Requires level 70

* Hunter

o Aspect of the Cheetah: Requires level 16

* Shaman

o Ghost Wolf: Requires level 16

* Paladin

o Warhorse: Requires level 20
o Charger: Requires level 40

* Warlock

o Felsteed: Requires level 20
o Dreadsteed: Requires level 40

My alts are jumping for joy right now.

It’s been a few days, 3.1 is out and about, and in some places, some people have managed to tear through the freshly opened Ulduar and even down Yogg-Saron already. Impressive, but that’s not representative of the majority of us. So, how’s the new content patch working out for you?

Last night I saw reports of unstable realms, downed instance servers, and people unable to play entirely – although all of those could have been isolated and simply magnified by the Internet echo chamber. At the same time, I know I spent the majority of Tuesday night patching, and I spent the majority of Wednesday night updating my add-ons and making sure they all work. Maybe tonight I’ll actually get around to playing the game!

How about you guys? Applying glyphs without a Lexicon of Power, shelling out the 1000g for dual specs, getting a full refund of your talent points, signing up for the Argent Tournament, how’s it coming for you, if you’ve managed to play?