Hold your horses! Wait on those character transfers! The Patch Test Realm ain’t up just yet, but it should be reasonably soon due to the release of preliminary patch notes today. Unlike the last one we got, there don’t appear to be any sweeping changes to class balance or anything of that nature. In fact, with this patch encompassing the only remaining high-level content until the expansion (and, at that, nothing significantly more difficult than Icecrown Citadel), it would almost seem like a waste of time to bother.
But the Ruby Sanctum raid dungeon is still an important update, and along with it come several new social options no doubt tied into future Battle.net 2.0 functionality. It seems like they’re taking some cues from chat add-ons and are allowing players to “pop out” a new window, say, to keep whispers with a specific person separate from everything else. Also, the Friends List is getting a couple of upgrades, including the ability to add Real IDs (Blizzard’s cross-game identification) and communicate with them.
World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.3.5
The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/
The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html
General
- The Ruby Sanctum, an all-new 10- and 25-player raid featuring normal and Heroic difficulties, is now available for testing! Players will find the dungeon entrance below Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight.
- Copied Test Realm characters are not copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.
User Interface
- Chat Frame
- Players can now right-click on any chat type (Whisper, Trade, General, Party, Raid, etc.) and choose the Pop Out Chat option. This will move that chat type to a separate tab in the Chat frame which can be undocked and moved anywhere on the screen.
- Using the Pop Out Chat option on a Whisper will place the conversation with that player in a separate tab.
- Any time a conversation with another player is put into its own tab, the tab will glow when a new message is received.
- Hovering over the Chat Frame and using the mouse wheel will allow players to scroll through chat text.
- Players can select Classic Mode under Interface Options to keep the Chat Frame functionality closer to what it was prior to patch 3.3.5.
- The Simple Chat User Interface option has been removed.
- Friends List
- A new icon has been added to the top left of the Chat Frame which will open up the Friends list.
- In addition to its current functionality, the Friends List will now allow players to add Battle.net accounts (Real ID). Players will have to confirm that they are friends in order for a Real ID to be added. Once Real ID friends, players can communicate cross-game, cross-faction and cross-realm.
- A new Pending tab has been added where players can accept or decline a Real ID friend request, or select the Report Spam or Block Communications buttons.
- Players can now select from three statuses which will be visible to their friends: Available, Away and Busy.
- A Broadcast window has been added to the top of the frame. Players can use this to broadcast a message to all of their Real ID friends online. This message will also be displayed under the broadcaster’s Real ID information in each friend’s list.
- For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114
I can’t speak for anyone else, but for a ‘casual’ who isn’t able to devote time to hardcore raiding, I’m really glad they’re introducing The Ruby Sanctum. I just pray it drops teir gear that say VoA doesn’t. Hopefully, they’ll throw in sheilds as well, lulz.
Not to mention, this being the actual first incursion of the Black Dragonflight into Azeroth, it’s sure as heck gonna psych me up for Cataclysm!
HAHA I think the June 1st prediction I made on WoWCast may be accurate.
It’s definitely not going to drop Tier 10 pieces. If I recall correctly, it’s going to drop iLevel 251 items such as neck pieces, trinkets, rings and stuff like that.
Looking forward to the real ID stuff the most.
Yeah, no Tier pieces. You’ll get things on par with mid-high level ICC gear, though. Plus, I believe they were going to try and itemize the drops to fill in the gaps.
I wonder what the iLvls are going to be. With a heroic version of the encounter, I imagine that its going to be at least 271 on heroic 25 and 258 on heroic 10 to keep pace with current ICC progression. I’m hoping for well itemized Assassination bracers, neck, belt, and melee trinkets.
On Topic I was actually hoping for another sanctum, there are like 6 doors there, though there will probably be more post-Cataclysm. Also in order to make VoA symmetrical, there is room for one more boss so I reckon there is more to come pre-Cataclysm :) Well I hope so anyway!
Totally off-topic, but, I would just like to say … Blizz… please make Cataclysm a simple Account Upgrade option so I don’t have to queue in the cold like an idiot! Sorry, random rant there.
All I want to know is what my new drakes will look like!
@HB
I think you’re right on the money man. And while RS may not drop teir gear, hopefully it will fill in the itemization gaps. I love my reg HoR sheild but really could use an upgrade without having to run ICC which I just don’t have time for. /crossestankfingers
how hard is this place gonna be? heard that they want to keep lk as the hardest fight
Oh, the Lich King fight will still be the hardest one.
Personally, I don’t think it’s going to be that hard. After all, most of us are already geared with a mix of ICC10/25 items.
I seriously doubt it’s going to be anywhere NEAR as difficult or co-ordinated as LK or a typical ICC fight. From what I can gather, it’s going to be more centered around the actual lore of the Black Dragonflight and their ‘first’ attack on modern day Azeroth.
Mechanics-wise, I expect more of the tank n’ spank stuff which is fine by me personally. I’m looking forward to the BDF storyline getting in gear and prepping us for Cataclysm.