[WoRBot]

Recently Eulo started an Icecrown Citadel impressions thread, and I figured this was a good topic to write something about. Not just focused on ICC, though, but patch 3.3 as a whole.  With the patch being out now for about two weeks, whether you've been focused on raiding Icecrown Citadel, working on your Quel'Delar, or aspiring to complete Shadowmourne, you've likely had plenty of time to dig in to the content 3.3 has to offer.

If not, you've missed out, as this patch is easily the best of the expansion cycle, introducing new features to the game like the Dungeon Finder and Quest Tracker, and once again raising the bar on the items obtainable through dungeon content.  Even fishers got some love in this patch with the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby introducing a new way to complete Master Angler of Azeroth as well as rewarding you with an heirloom ring: the Dread Pirate Ring.

I've spent most of my time since the patch released running 5-player dungeons with the dungeon finder, since my gear has fallen behind a bit while focusing on running World of Raids, and the experience has been great.  I've met a lot of new players who I may have not met previously -- even if it's only for 30-45 minutes -- and have seen that a feature like this can work.  I was very apprehensive at first, concerned that the tool would struggle to match groups up properly, but so far it's been on the money.

However, one thing I'd like to see improved in some way is the ability for players to roll on off-class items (paladins rolling on mail, etc.) for those plate healers that don't mind downgrading to cloth if it means they'll heal better while waiting for an upgrade.  Perhaps this could be achieved by utilizing the same system that works for the matchmaking; if the item is superior to what you have for that slot (across your equipped items, bags and bank) then allow a need roll if the item is Bind on Pickup, and no classes the armor is designed for have rolled need.  It's possible to get around the greed-only limitations thanks to being able to trade loot drops with members of the group, but that's a bandaid that shouldn't need to exist for cases like what I've described.

The other improvement I'd like to see is the tooltip for the queue icon so that you can see how long you've been in the queue versus how long the average wait is.  Beyond that, I think the system is the best feature of Wrath of the Lich King -- even trumping achievements and the new raiding format changes.

I was going to mention Icecrown Citadel in the article as well, but I'll save that for another piece since this is already getting longer than initially planned!  What are your impressions of patch 3.3 so far, and what have you enjoyed the most about it?

[koenigsegg]

Right, I totally forgot about the new fishing contest...bah!

[vbtwo31984]

You should probably change your ads provider. There are ads on here that take you away from the site to just a page showing an ad (using Javascript). I had to go back and click on this article 3 times before I got a normal ad that did not take over the site.

[Kody]

vbtwo31984 said:

You should probably change your ads provider. There are ads on here that take you away from the site to just a page showing an ad (using Javascript). I had to go back and click on this article 3 times before I got a normal ad that did not take over the site.

Hmm you shouldn't be seeing ads since you're premium. Can you get the URL from the ad for me if possible so I can pass it on?

[troqu]

One thing about the dungeon, (and actually the bg) queue tooltip that I would like to see improved would be more information. The info I would like to see is:

1) Average Wait per spec you have chosen. I think this is important because you could queue up as dps think oh thats a long time, re-queue as both dps and tank/healer and check the times to see if its worth waiting for the dps timer.
2) Time between the last and second to last instance launched. So let's say you queue up for AB and see that the last 10 players to queue had an average wait of 1 min. 20 min later the queue pops because those players that had made the average queue time so short had been queuing and making close to the same match-up over and over again and there weren't enough people to get a second game going. This situation where you feel somewhat miffed because the queue times are incorrect could then be avoided by looking and noticing how long between games/dungeons there was.

These changes would also help alleviate the people who complain that they don't care what they do as long as they do something asap since you could queue for both pve and then pvp and check the queue times to determine which you're most likely to get into first. Maybe these are just improvements that would help me though.

[malcite]

Personally i would suggest some changes with the fishing contests. As it is right now, anyone that participates will lose to just about the same people over and over again as it was with the STV competition. There should be some limitations as to whom can actually qualify for a win there. An idea that could easily solve it would be that if someone wins, they automatically get their award but unlike before where the goblin just shouts the winner, this wouldn't be the case. The competition would still be open for a new winner getting the "first price" to make sure that its someone different each time. I also think this will take away some of the bully factor i have experienced from repeated winners whom mostly seem to do the competition to prevent others from winning.

[Verdig]

"working on your Quel'Delar"


0% drop chance would like a word with you

[katuka]

Verdig said:

"working on your Quel'Delar"


0% drop chance would like a word with you

Isnt it suppose to be 2.5% now?

[Leviathonlx]

katuka said:

Isnt it suppose to be 2.5% now?

It has a abysmally small drop rate so that when you DO see it drop you have a 1 in 5 chance of winning it and most likely will lose it to someone who is just going to sell it.

[katuka]

Leviathonlx said:

It has a abysmally small drop rate so that when you DO see it drop you have a 1 in 5 chance of winning it and most likely will lose it to someone who is just going to sell it.

Yes that is true.. havent seen it drop yet though (: