Older version (diff) | current version (diff) | Newer version (diff)
wow zone:Icecrown Citadel
 |
This page needs more information! If you'd like to contribute, please edit this page (free ZAM account required)! |
Icecrown Citadel, the new instanced content in patch 3.3 will be in two varieties: a 5-man dungeon complex composed of 3 wings (The Frozen Halls) and a raid (Icecrown Citadel).
| Contents [hide] |
The Dungeon
On the dungeon side, players will initially only be able to access the Forge of Souls, this is the first wing of the Frozen Halls. When it is cleared, it will serve as an attunement and the Pit of Saron will then be unlocked. Players will be able to access the Pit in two ways - via the dungeon portal directly, or through a teleporting device at the end of the Forge of Souls to be transported to the Pit directly. The latter method adds a nice feeling of continuation. The same applies for the Halls of Reflection. When a group clears the Pit of Saron, its members will be able to either go through the now unlocked gate at the end, or use the dungeon portal in the portal room.
The Forge of Souls
The Forge of Souls is the first wing of the Frozen Halls. The instance portal is located on the left side of the portal room, and brings the players directly inside the citadel.
At the very entrance, players meet either Lady Jaina Proudmoore, or Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, depending on their faction. Jaina and Sylvanas will command Alliance and Horde players respectively to enter deeper into the Forge, disturb the engines known as Soul Grinders and defeat any foes that try to stop the attack.
In the instance, the players will meet two of the Lich King's stronger minions - Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls, and the Devourer of Souls. Bronjahm is the vrykul overseer of the Soul Grinders, whose death is required for the engines to be stopped. The Devourer of Souls is a being of unknown type that resembles (visually) the Reliquary of Souls in the Black Temple.
After defeating the Devourer, players will see Jaina or Sylvanas rush in the room with a score of Argent Crusade and Ebon Blade members, ready to secure the area and make sure that whatever little ground you have earned is not taken back by the Scourge. A teleporting device is set up so players can continue the advance into the Citadel and assault the next key "base" - the Pit of Saron.
The Pit of Saron
The Pit of Saron is the second wing of the Frozen Halls. It is an open area, seemingly underneath the Icecrown Citadel - it is definitely not accessible from the outside. It is also the second wing of the dungeon complex, accessible through the portal on the right side of the portal room, but only after you have completed the Forge of Souls (attunement-like process).
Immediately after entering the Pit, players encounter Scourgelord Tyrannus, the overseer of this area. He makes a quick work of the champions from the Crusaders' Coliseum, but retreats soon before Jaina/Sylvanas wrecks havoc on his soldiers. Players are informed that the objective this time is going to be to free the slaves working in the area, defeat Tyrannus' lieutenants, and finally face the Scourgelord, exposing a passage to the Halls of the Reflection.
Another two of the Lich King's more powerful minions stand in the way - Forgemaster Garfrost and Krick. Players will find Garfrost, a flesh giant and a smith, by his giant forges, crafting armory and weaponry for the armies of the Scourge, alongside with about a dozen other skeletal smiths. Defeating him will allow the slaves to start equipping themselves with weapons, so they can be ready for the battle against Tyrannus.
Krick is a leper gnome who supervises the assembly of new aberrations - flesh giants, zombies, and plague eruptors namely. Players can find him in an improvised laboratory, riding his own plague eruptor by the name of Ick. Dealing with the leper will require the elimination his ghastly mount first, while being exposed to the rider's poisonous mixtures and arcane spells. Before his death, Krick (hoping to save his life) admits that he knows what makes the Halls of Reflection so special - Frostmourne lies there.
After eliminating Tyrannus' two subordinates and surviving a cave nearly destroyed by the Scourgelord's frostwyrm, players engage the overseer. During the battle with him and his frostwyrm, the freed slaves freed hold off undead forces that try to help their master. After the fight Jaina/Sylvanas save the entire party from a cold death by Sindragosa's breath, and inform the survivors that the gates to the Halls of Reflection lie ahead. Players are now ready to enter the place that holds the Lich King's private chambers.
The Halls of Reflection
The Halls of Reflection is the third and last wing of the Frozen Halls. The secrets it holds are unimaginable, and even the very existence of such place is a secret well-kept by a handful of the Lich King's servants. As usual it can be accessed by players through a massive gate unlocked after the Pit of Saron has been completed, or through a portal in the portal room, placed between the other two dungeons' portals.
Immediately after entering the instance, players will find Frostmourne hovering on a pedestal in a room few yards away. Uther's ghost stands besides it and asks the entire party to leave and not risk their lives. This is where players with the Quel'Delar quest get to temper the blade. Jaina/Sylvanas require more information about the Lich King, and while Uther speaks, the Lich King himself appears. He summons Falric and Marwyn, his two most trusted captains in life and death, commanding them to destroy your party. They in turn summon waves of undead to attack the players.
Falric & Marwyn, the first boss encounter, is similar to the Culling of Stratholme - 5 waves of 3-4 ghosts will attack the party, and then one of the commanders (Falric) will decide to take care of the players himself. After he is defeated, another 5 waves of ghosts will precede Marwyn's attack.
After defeating both captains and moving on, players will find Sylvanas/Jaina being overpowered by the Lich King. She urges you to all run for your lives, starting the second boss encounter. It is a gauntlet during which players will need to protect Sylvanas/Jaina from waves of undead summoned by the Lich King. He himself follows, but is slowed significantly. The objective is to defeat a number of waves before the Lich King catches up with the party - if he does, it's a wipe.
The Raid
The raid instance, Icecrown Citadel, has no attunement. Spread over four distinct sections (in addition to the Frozen Throne), the saronite citadel features twelve encounters, ranging from a multi-boss encounter to a gunship battle and the Lich King himself!
Per Daelo, the Lead Encounter Designer, over at the O-Boards:
'''...Icecrown Citadel testing has been progressing very well over the last few weeks, and this has been a huge help to the encounter design team. I want to thank everyone who has logged onto the PTR and tried the encounters there.As we're now getting closer to the release of 3.3.0, I wanted to talk about our plans for access progression within Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. At this point I can't give precise dates for these release dates as they are determined by when patch 3.3.0 goes live. Once dates are known with more certainty, I'll update the community so they can plan appropriately.The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. Progress beyond that point will be prevented for several weeks. Then the Plagueworks will open with Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide becoming available. After another period of time, the Crimson Hall will open and you can then fight the Blood Princes and Blood-Queen Lana'thel. The final Frostwing Halls unlock then occurs after that, making Valithria Dreamwalker, Sindragosa, and the Lich King available. We believe a staggered release of the content will allow players to experience Icecrown Citadel at a sustainable, measured, and ultimately more enjoyable pace.There are other elements that gate access along the way. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. Similarly, players must defeat the Lich King in a 25 player raid before they can attempt a Heroic 25 player encounter. So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.The Lich King may not be attempted until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, and Sindragosa are defeated. Furthermore, the Heroic difficulty of The Lich King encounter may not be attempted in any week unless the three aforementioned encounters have been defeated in Heroic difficulty that week.The Ashen Verdict provides reinforcements and material for players to assault Icecrown Citadel, but this support is not endless. Raids will have a limited number of attempts total each week to defeat the four most difficult encounters in Icecrown Citadel: Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. As these boss encounters are unlocked, the number of attempts available per week will increase. The initial number of attempts provided for defeating Professor Putricide is only five. When Blood-Queen Lana'thel unlocks, the amount of total attempts remaining will increase to 10. Then when Sindragosa and the Lich King unlock, 15 total attempts will be available to defeat all four bosses. After a raid has exhausted their attempts for the week, the Ashen Verdict must withdraw their support and the four most difficult bosses all despawn and become unavailable for the week. The limited attempt system is a feature of both Normal and Heroic difficulty.There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available. This represents the Ashen Verdict growing more powerful and gaining a stronger foothold in Icecrown Citadel. To further help raids, Varian Wrynn and Garrosh Hellscream will begin to provide assistance by inspiring the armies attacking Icecrown Citadel. This is represented as an additional zone wide spell effect applied to all players that will increase their hit points, damage dealt, and healing done. This effect will also increase in effectiveness over time. Players may opt out of the spell's effect if they so wish.'''Icecrown Citadel will be released in patch 3.3 and is the last raid of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
An instance wide debuff called 'Chill of the Throne' will affect players who zone in, this debuff lowers dodge by 20%.
The difficulty setting for Icecrown Citadel will be defaulted to normal, after clearing the entire instance you will have the ability to switch any given boss to Heroic, without having to zone out into another instance. This will effectively prevent the 'double dipping' on loot that Trial of the Crusader and Trial of the Grand Crusader now allows.
Bosses and Floors
The Lower Spire
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 Plagueworks
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 Halls
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.
Frostwing Halls
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 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...
Achievements
Meta Achievement
Wrath of the Lich King
required!Categories: ZAM Network | Northrend (WoW) | Wrath of the Lich King | WoW) Stubs | World of Warcraft | WoW Zones | Zones and Regions (WoW) | WoW Group Instances | Geography (WoW)This page last modified 2009-12-08 12:25:51.