PTR 3.3: Gunship Battle Raid Encounter [Video]

Since its announcement at BlizzCon, the Gunship Battle has been my most anticipated fight in Icecrown Citadel aside from the Lich King, himself. I mean, what self-respecting gaming nerd doesn’t like a good airship fight? I count the Final Fantasy series as one of my favorites and few games have featured them more prominently than the tragically over-looked Dreamcast RPG, Skies of Arcadia. Cannon and mortar fire thousands of feet in the air while swashbucklers buckle their swashes atop a tilting deck. One wrong move could send a combatant plummeting to their earth below! About the only thing missing in World of Warcraft’s version are a few pirates thrown into the mix.

A view of Ogrim's Hammer docked at the Rampart of Skulls.

But that doesn’t make the fight any less fierce as the Horde and Alliance, in a last minute fit of factional rage thrusts them together in the skies over the Citadel for the chance to topple Arthas once and for all. I know you have questions. How does it work? Is it even fun? The answers lay beyond, but beware: there will be spoilers. If you’d rather not see them, back out now and go peruse some of the other stories on the site.

Your faction’s Gunship is tethered to a dock on the Rampart of Skulls, an area that can initially be accessed by an elevator in the back of Lady Deathwhisper’s chamber. I found out the hard way that this feature is currently bugged. The elevator moves far too fast, doesn’t pause when it reaches the top or bottom of its path, and it’s possible to fall right through it. This will no doubt be fixed by the time 3.3 goes live, but for the time being, Blizzard has provided players with a convenient portal to the required area (these teleports will function much like the ones in Ulduar).

You won’t have to fight a whole lot of trash on the way, but once you reach the Rampart of Skulls, you’ll see members of both factions fighting each other in addition to random Scourge running about. The good guys will be highlighted in green (I was playing Horde side, so keep that in mind when I describe things). Once you help your NPC buddies waylay champions of the other faction, you’ll have to take down a Frostwyrm, after which the path to your ship will be clear.

After boarding, every member of your raid should talk to the goblin Zafod Boombox (Hitchhiker’s Guide reference much, Blizzard?). He’ll supply you with a rocket pack that goes in your Shirt slot and, when used, will allow you to make great leaps, not unlike the PvP daily found near Ymirheim. You’ll need these to board the other ship. Feel free to play around with the rocket pack before the encounter depends. I know I did! You can even get to the very top of the Gunship by positioning yourself correctly, but be careful not to fall off completely!

Talk to your faction commander to start the fight (Muradin Bronzebeard for Alliance, Elder Saurfang for Horde). Your Gunship will lift off from the dock and soar into the skies. Check out the video below for the specifics of the encounter:

I have to admit that the group I was running with this time wasn’t as solid as the one I picked up for Festergut, but we still made a fair amount of progress. Certainly enough to see most of, if not all, the mechanics that the fight has to offer. I only regret not getting to see the Alliance ship go down in flames!

As it stands, you might consider this Icecrown Citadel’s “gimmick” fight — like Karazhan’s Chess or Ulduar’s Flame Leviathan — though a bit tougher than either of them. That’s not to be taken as a pejorative, as it injects some much needed variety into the course of normal raiding. What I experienced was quite a bit of fun, but there are plenty of bugs to be worked out. After wiping, if you released before the encounter properly reset, you’d be killed instantly upon zoning in again. And I’ve heard of people getting disconnected or otherwise when jumping from one ship to the other. As this encounter is mechanically different from most others, it’s no surprise that it requires a bit more attention to get just right.

It was also weird for the enemy ship to appear out of thin air, and both ships stop moving once they come alongside each other. Would’ve been nice to see them continue circling the Citadel until the fight ends.

Either way, I look forward to trying the encounter when its fully prepared and ready to go live. I get the feeling that its mechanics will be conquered by guilds quickly, but that it will remain one of the dungeon’s marquee battles. Now that I’ve given you the details, you give me your opinion. What do you think of the Gunship Battle?