[WoRBot]

Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Throne

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Quote from: Ancilorn (Source)

All across the lands of Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and Horde first reached the frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward. Now Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an alliance with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. The strongest combatants of this coalition, along with the champions of the Alliance and Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel.

Learn more about this new raid dungeon at our Icecrown Raid preview page!

http://www.wow-europ...ecrown-raid.xml

Quote

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

All across the lands of Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and Horde first reached the frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward. Now Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an alliance with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. The strongest combatants of this coalition, along with the champions of the Alliance and Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel.

This dungeon reveals the culminating story events and battles of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack. Join the legendary heroes Highlord Tirion Fordring, High Overlord Saurfang, Muradin Bronzebeard, Highlord Darion Mograine, and King Varian Wrynn in an epic battle against the Scourge and their master. Icecrown Citadel features 10- and 25-player versions of the raid dungeon, and each version has 12 encounters. Each encounter can be fought in either normal or Heroic mode, and players can use a new user interface feature to toggle easily between difficulties. The rewards in the raid dungeon start at item level 251 in the normal mode with 10-player encounters, increase to item level 264 in the Heroic mode mode with 10 players and the normal mode with 25-player encounters, and then finally reach item level 277 in the Heroic mode with 25 players.

Grand Entrance of the Citadel

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 Wings of Icecrown Citadel

After the heroes of the Alliance or Horde defeat the other faction on the gunships and wipe out the creatures near the entrance, players will venture into an area with three separate wings. Here they will face a multitude of terrors that must be vanquished in order to confront the Lich King.

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 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 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.

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....

[Taedran]

Sounds amazing. Who's the Lich King's Most Powerful Death Knight?
I'm assuming it's either Bolvar or Saurfang. (There was a recent datamine that found "Deathbringer Saurfang" as an NPC)

[Kody]

Yeah I'm expecting it to be either-

Deathbringer Saurfang
Highlord Darion Mograine (sort of a... "you're still under my control" thing)
Alexandros Mograine

While Alexandros Mograine hasn't been datamined, it's possible he'll be added next build, as a few of those NPCs aren't listed yet amongst those that have been datamined.

[morgaur]

Maybe it is Bolvar for the Alliance raid and Saurfang for the Horde. Even better taking into account that Bolvar's best friend and Saurfang's father will be helping the players...

[Daodan]

morgaur said:

Maybe it is Bolvar for the Alliance raid and Saurfang for the Horde. Even better taking into account that Bolvar's best friend and Saurfang's father will be helping the players...

Exactly.
Both Bolvar and Saurfang have been confirmed to be returning in the Icecrown raid, so it sort of has to be this. Saurfang for the Horde (drama, father Saurfang has to kill his DK son) and Bolvar for the Alliance (drama, best friend/''brother'' Wrynn has to kill his DK best friend/''brother''). Blizzard really played this out well. Or, "well", it's kind of staged. I mean, what on earth are Saurfang and Wrynn doing in the Icecrown Citadel? They both don't have anything major to do with the Lich King, at least by FAR not as much as some other characters. But, as said, it works out well for the story in this dungeon.

Now you've mentioned Alexandros, I kind of hope he'll be making an appearance. I don't know how he'd fit in, but it'd be awesome. Would create some extra drama, as his son is at the scene as well. Also, I honestly don't think he's still in control of the Lich King. He might even be fighting along or something.

[Chimina]

Blizzard is pulling a KaelThas on us!


The 3 Undead Blood Elves that are protecting their queen? We killed them already!

1 in Utgarde Keep, 1 in Ahn'Kahet and 1 as world group quest in Borean Tundra

Now they are back, alive(ish) to try to kill us.


ROFL

[morgaur]

Chimina said:

Blizzard is pulling a KaelThas on us!


The 3 Undead Blood Elves that are protecting their queen? We killed them already!

1 in Utgarde Keep, 1 in Ahn'Kahet and 1 as world group quest in Borean Tundra

Now they are back, alive(ish) to try to kill us.


ROFL

I'm personally expecting some "merely-a-setback" sort of ingame joke

[zoradin]

morgaur said:

Maybe it is Bolvar for the Alliance raid and Saurfang for the Horde. Even better taking into account that Bolvar's best friend and Saurfang's father will be helping the players...

Do keep in mind that Darion will also be helping the players, so Alexandros Mograine has just as much right to be there as Bolvar/Saurfang. Mograine is also connected to Tirion who has the Ashbringer.

Then theres the warcraft comic in which KT calls him the greatest champion of the Lich King.

Would love to see him as a boss again but it looks more likely that Bolvar/Saurfang would end up playing the DK role (i sure hope not).

[Chimina]

morgaur said:

I'm personally expecting some "merely-a-setback" sort of ingame joke

We can only hope they will.

We can only hope.

[Kody]

zoradin said:

Do keep in mind that Darion will also be helping the players, so Alexandros Mograine has just as much right to be there as Bolvar/Saurfang. Mograine is also connected to Tirion who has the Ashbringer.

Then theres the warcraft comic in which KT calls him the greatest champion of the Lich King.

Would love to see him as a boss again but it looks more likely that Bolvar/Saurfang would end up playing the DK role (i sure hope not).

In addition to that there's the "he's mine now" moment during the death knight starting experience where the Lich King siphons Alexandros' soul similar to Saurfang during the Wrathgate cut-scene.

[Leviathonlx]

The "he's mine now" was likely referring more to Darion since we do not know if that was Alexandros' soul during the event or just a image conjured by the hundreds of dead under his feet buried there. It seems like we will only fight Saurfang and it will end up that Bolvar wasn't able to be corrupted.

In the end every encounter there is in the files except Putricide which is likely the new name for Flesh-Shaper Genascyde which was probably changed for obvious reasons.

[Venida]

Minor Spoiler but, wasn't Alexandros Mograine redeemed in the comic by Darion? Doubt he'd be a boss, but wouldn't be surprised if he somehow makes an appearance.

On a side note: The plague that killed Bolvar also kills Undead, how could he be raised as a Death Knight with those toxins in his body?

And why wasn't Garrosh mentioned? Wasn't his story meant to unfold in ICC?

This post has been edited by Venida: 06 October 2009 - 03:30 PM

[Zuelu]

I'm hoping the Princes are a single encounter instead of three mini encounters. Hopefully a "kill all three bosses within X seconds of each other" type deal but with a twist. Here's how I hope it will be...

Raid defeats Keleseth (1%) and Valanar and Taldaram both begin a channel towards Keleseth, stopping all damage (leaving only dots ticking), a X second channel. Should the raid fail to defeat Valanar and Taldaram, Keleseth will heal to full and gain a 20% damage buff (Fortitude of the San'layn or something to that effect). Should the raid defeat 1 of the two bosses (in our hypothetical situation, Valanar is defeated), Taldaram starts casting a new channel targeting Valanar and Keleseth (twice the duration of the first channel). That would be a nice twist to this cliched encounter type.

I can't wait to see some of the models for bosses. Lana'thel and Putricide peak my interest for their models and I can't wait to see the Valithria Dreamwalker (and Lana'thel and Putricide) encounter and its implications about what the scourge were planning before our preemptive strike.

[Deployed]

Venida said:

Minor Spoiler but, wasn't Alexandros Mograine redeemed in the comic by Darion? Doubt he'd be a boss, but wouldn't be surprised if he somehow makes an appearance.

On a side note: The plague that killed Bolvar also kills Undead, how could he be raised as a Death Knight with those toxins in his body?

And why wasn't Garrosh mentioned? Wasn't his story meant to unfold in ICC?

Yes, but no. I was about to say the same thing, but then Kody and Leviathonlx made their posts.

It's about the order of things.

Darion released Alexandros' soul from the Corrupted Ashbringer by plunging it through his own heart. This released Alexandros' spirit into Light Hope Chapels already immense collection of devine souls.

After this, whilst still under the Lich Kings control, Darion led the scourge in an attack on LHC. This is the in-game part that ends the starting experience for the Death Knights. During this scene, we see a apparition of both Darion and Alexandros. This scene was called forth by Alexandros' spirit. Then Arthas appeared and absorbed that spirit.

I hadn't thought too deeply into that part of the event until the aforementioned posts. Thank guys

Once again, the lore in this game does require players to look beyond what they are directly told. Some things are more obvious than others, and this is one of them.

Zuelu said:

I can't wait to see some of the models for bosses. Lana'thel and Putricide peak my interest for their models and I can't wait to see the Valithria Dreamwalker (and Lana'thel and Putricide) encounter and its implications about what the scourge were planning before our preemptive strike.

Putricide sounds like a Forsaken name to me, so I'm expecting a Forsaken warlock in T10 gear (if there is a T10 in ICC. Might be a tier-less raid). Also, I wouldn't hold for any drastically unique models. They rarely add them in content patches unless they didn't have time to add them in the original expansion data (e.g Thorim, which had a placeholder before 3.1).

I'll reserve this opinion until I see what Falric and Marwyn look like. If they're wearing items that makes them look like the two "unknowns" from the WC3 cinematic when Arthas killed Terenas, and those items they're wearing DON'T become available to players, then there's some hope to the ICC bosses being a bit more unique than what I'm currently expecting.

Chimina said:

The 3 Undead Blood Elves that are protecting their queen? We killed them already!

As the description says, "The blood-princes Valanar, Keleseth, and Taldaram were raised into undeath by the Lich King to avenge themselves.....".

Prince Atherann is still aloof though. I wonder if we'll get to kill the full "known" set of Princes by the end of this expansion, or is he being reserved for a Heroic dungeon in Cataclysm? (I s there going to be a Heroic Shaowfang Keep?)

This post has been edited by Deployed: 06 October 2009 - 04:19 PM

[Chrono]

Not ONE but THREE undead blood elves! <.<

[Zuelu]

Chrono said:

Not ONE but THREE undead blood elves! <.<

*nods head in disdain*

[Kamisutra]

"Icecrown Citadel features 10- and 25-player versions of the raid dungeon, and each version has 12 encounters. Each encounter can be fought in either normal or Heroic mode, and players can use a new user interface feature to toggle easily between difficulties. "

Does this mean that for example the normal and heroic versions of 10 man, won't have seperate reset timers? And it'll be more like Ulduar where the raids decide whether they want to do it hard or easy, only this time via the interface and not encounter mechanics? I'd prefer 4 seperate reset timers like in totc.

This post has been edited by Kamisutra: 07 October 2009 - 10:15 AM

[Kody]

Kamisutra said:

"Icecrown Citadel features 10- and 25-player versions of the raid dungeon, and each version has 12 encounters. Each encounter can be fought in either normal or Heroic mode, and players can use a new user interface feature to toggle easily between difficulties. "

Does this mean that for example the normal and heroic versions of 10 man, won't have seperate reset timers? And it'll be more like Ulduar where the raids decide whether they want to do it hard or easy, only this time via the interface and not encounter mechanics? It'd prefer 4 seperate reset timers like in totc.

Correct.

[Kamisutra]

Kody said:

Correct.

Oh too bad, would've prefered 4 different resets like in Trial of the Crusader. Still thank you for info.

[Chrono]

This way it will take longer to get gear, which means the instance will, hopefully, last longer.