Original Blue Post
We have opened the 3.4.3 PTR for initial testing.
The PTR initially has many closed and non-functional aspects. Please continue reading for more information.
The Icecrown Citadel (ICC) will open for testing at 2 PM PDT (5 AM Beijing time today). Thank you for your patience as we address the issues encountered in the first few hours of this test.
In addition to Icecrown Citadel, we have several other features that will soon be available for testing, with more features to be released in future PTR updates.
1. Icecrown Citadel Raid
Testing began at 5 AM Beijing time today, and the raid testing will conclude at 5 AM Beijing time on September 2.
Icecrown Citadel is the final large raid in the Wrath of the Lich King classic, featuring twelve bosses spread across five different areas.
Lower Spire:
- Lord Marrowgar
- Lady Deathwhisper
- Gunship Battle
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King Saurfang
Plagueworks:
- Rotface
- Festergut
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Professor Putricide
Crimson Hall:
- Blood Prince Council
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Blood-Queen Lana’thel
Frostwing Hall:
- Dreamwalker Valithria
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Sindragosa
Frozen Throne:
- Arthas Menethil, the Lich King
Each area will be fully unlocked and available for testing in both normal and heroic modes.
Additional Adjustments:
Similar to the Trial of the Crusader (TOC), the heroic mode of Icecrown Citadel will also have a limit on attempts. When the team’s attempts run out, they will be forced to leave, and no additional attempts will be allowed for that week.
Currently, the number of attempts will be set to 50, consistent with the attempt counter in patch 3.3.5.
Additionally, there will be no restrictions preventing access to subsequent parts of the raid, and all content will be fully unlocked at launch.
Editor’s Note: It is currently unclear whether this limit on attempts is only present in the PTR or will also apply to the live version.
PTR Equipment Vendors:
In the first round of PTR testing, we have intentionally not updated the equipment from the Trial of the Crusader and the Grand Crusader for the PTR vendors.
If you wish to test Icecrown Citadel, we recommend using the character copy button on the character selection screen to copy your character from the live server and use your current gear. It is important for us that players and teams use their own gear for this test to help us establish a realistic benchmark for team performance when this content is released.
After the initial testing, we will test the ICC raid again, and if we are satisfied with the data obtained from the first test, we may update the vendors with additional gear.
2. Adjustments to the Shadowmourne Questline
Several significant adjustments have been made to the Shadowmourne questline:
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The Shard of Shadowmourne no longer requires players in the raid to complete the prerequisite quest “The Shattered Throne” for it to drop.
- The drop rate of Shard of Shadowmourne on 25-man normal difficulty has been adjusted to match that of 25-man heroic difficulty.
- Now, regardless of whether it is 25-man normal or heroic difficulty, each area’s final boss (Saurfang, Lana’thel, Professor Putricide, Sindragosa, and the Lich King) will always drop a guaranteed Shard of Shadowmourne.
- Primordial Saronite will also be easier to obtain, as it can be purchased from Frost Emblem vendors and can also be bought using new tokens obtained in the “Titan Rune Dungeon: Gamma.” We will share more information about the new Titan Rune Dungeon and its reward structure soon, so stay tuned for these updates!
Developer Note: Early access to Primordial Saronite required a significant opportunity cost, as many guilds might choose to allocate all Primordial Saronite to players working on Shadowmourne. Primordial Saronite is also a key material for many new crafting recipes, making early access to this material very challenging. Therefore, providing an alternative method to obtain this resource makes sense.
The purpose of these adjustments is to significantly increase the acquisition speed of Shadowmourne. The original Icecrown Citadel lasted over 11 months in 2009/2010, and we believe it is important to allow more players to enjoy the fun of Shadowmourne. In the original game, obtaining Shadowmourne could take 18-24 weeks. Similar to our adjustments to the Algalon’s orange hammer, we do not want to create a situation where only a few players in a guild can have Shadowmourne before the next major content update. We expect that with these changes, the crafting time for Shadowmourne is estimated to be 8-10 weeks.
3. New Dungeons – Soul Forge, Saron’s Depths, and Hall of Reflections
All three dungeons are now available for testing and can be found on the upper balcony of Icecrown Citadel.
By default, the heroic versions of these dungeons will benefit from the extra rewards of “Titan Rune Dungeon: Defense Protocol Gamma,” but will not see additional mechanics or difficulty adjustments like other dungeons in Defense Protocol Gamma.
Developer Note: These three dungeons are some of our favorites from Wrath of the Lich King, and we are concerned that if we add extra mechanics to these dungeons in “Defense Protocol Gamma,” many players may never experience the original content in its pure form. Most other Wrath of the Lich King dungeons were provided in their original form during the first phase of WLK classic, and they had once shone brightly before the introduction of Titan Rune Dungeons in patch 3.4.1. However, since these dungeons are just now available and represent an upgrade in difficulty compared to regular heroic dungeons, we believe it is important to preserve the original experience from 2009. We will release more information later discussing how these three dungeons will fit into Titan Rune Dungeons.
4. New User Interface
- A new collection interface has been added in WLK classic, allowing pets, mounts, and heirlooms to be collected in one convenient location.
- Most pets, mounts, and heirloom items are now account-wide.
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You can find the collection interface in the micro menu here.
Please note that to access your heirlooms in the collection interface, you need to log into the game world with a character that has your existing heirloom items. Simply logging in will automatically add them to your account’s collection.
Additionally, please note that the account data on the PTR may not always reflect your account data on the live server, so you may find yourself missing mounts or pets that you believe you should have. The best option is to copy all characters with unique pets, mounts, or heirlooms to the PTR and log into each character at least once to ensure these collectibles are added to your collection interface.
5. Class Adjustments
Hunter:
- A new skill has been added – Trap Launcher: Explosive Trap
- This skill can be trained at hunter trainers and is available to all specializations.
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This new skill cannot be used in arenas or battlegrounds.
Druid/Priest/Shaman:
- Spells such as Wild Growth, Circle of Healing, Ancestral Healing, and Holy Word: Serenity have been adjusted to prioritize healing players over pets and guardians.
-
With this adjustment, these “smart healing” spells will still attempt to heal very low health pets that are in danger, but generally, these spells will prioritize healing low health players.
Warlock:
- The built-in cooldown of Dark Pact has been reduced from 5 seconds to 1 second.
Currently, the optimal operation for demonology is to wait a few seconds for trinkets and other spell power increasing effects to occur before sending the pet into battle, to avoid having their spell damage locked into a higher snapshot effect after the initial triggering of the demon pact effect. This adjustment is intended to slightly balance the optimal usage strategy of the demon pact and allow demonology to send pets into battle more quickly.
- The effect of the demon pact will now always be 10% of the warlock’s spell power.
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The cooldown of summoning Felguard will now reset at the end of boss fights.
6. Known Issues
- This PTR version does not currently provide a group finder tool. We are working to update this feature.
- There may be some interface errors during login and gameplay.
- The NPCs, camps, etc., of the Silver Crusade have not yet appeared at the entrance of Icecrown Citadel; they will be added in future PTR updates.
- There are some issues with the RP scene played by Deathbringer Saurfang.
- The insect traps outside Professor Putricide’s room need to be triggered and cleared twice to open the door.
- There are multiple animation issues with the whelp packs leading to Sindragosa, which may cause floating issues upon death.
- The visual effects of Sindragosa’s Frost Bomb and Chill abilities are incorrect.
- Sindragosa’s Tail Swipe does not correctly knock down and immobilize players.
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In the Blood-Queen Lana’thel boss fight, players may see the “Blood Drop” visual effect even without the Frenzied Bloodlust debuff.
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