Posted by iTZKooPA on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 - 6 Comments
Tags: add-ons, arthas, Auction House, hording, lore, ner'zhul, patch 3.3, patch 3.3 add-ons, patch day activities, the lich king
The Beginning Of The End
Patch day is always a day spent killing time. We’ll chew the fat on Ventrilo, play other games or twiddle our thumbs as we watch out download or install complete, wait for guildies to do the same, or do the return from the dead server resurrection spell. Basically, a ton of crap can, and usually does, go wrong. That’s why whenever a major patch comes out I write the day off as a complete loss. Instead of expecting to play, I spend my free time getting in the mindset of the +1 increment to the patch version.
I am lucky enough to have a crew of solid players to run the new 5-man dungeon (or the threesome of 5-mans if you look at it that way) with. But like the 101st Airborne, we’ve had our sticks spread in the wind. No more than two people of the large group of friends (each with at least two geared level 80s) are in the same guild. Before I can begin hunting the Lich King, I must remedy my guild situation by hooking up with one of my many friends. I can’t believe I’ll be joining my fourth guild since Wrath of the Lich King launched.
Something far more fun to do during the downtime is to learn exactly who this Lich King fellow is. What did he do to deserve our absolute hatred? What foul acts did he commit that could join the Horde and Alliance together to fight a common enemy (again)? If you’re scratching your head at the difference between the Lich King, Arthas and Ner’zhul, then you have a lot of reading to do. Here are some helpful links.
- Arthas Menethil - A quick synopsis from yours truly on Arthas. It was one of my early articles for PL, coming before Wrath launched, so we have learned a lot more about Arthas since then.
- Arthas Menethil - WoWWiki’s article will complete the discussion for you.
- Arthas’ & The Lich King’s Enemies - A synopsis of who has beef with the frosty one. This article leads perfectly to…
- How Do You Want Arthas To Die? - Should he die? Then who gets to kill him? Is Arthas capable of redemption? Or will his soul be banished forever?
- Arthas: Rise of the Lich King - I’ll stop short of reading the novel again, but if you haven’t read it already, now is the perfect time to dive into the best Warcraft-branded book.
- Ner’zhul - The original Lich King, betrayer of the Burning Legion and tempter of Arthas. This orc started it all (and is no longer with us in body or spirit).
A new major content patch doesn’t just mean downtime though. It also means time spent on add-ons. It doesn’t matter if you employee an automatic updating technique or prefer the old method of self-updating, your add-ons are going to break with Patch 3.3. I’ll be scavenging the web for working alternatives or updates to my list of favorite add-ons throughout the day.
Now, I may write off today’s playtime due to server instability and patching issues, but the Auction House will (likely) be a hotbed of activity. I’ll spend a large portion of my time there, unloading all of the materials that I’ve been hording, and seeing if Heartbourne is correct in his crafting material estimations.
That’s actually turned out to be a lot of stuff for one day…I may need two. What’s first on your list?
Related Posts: Patch 3.3.2: Lich King Fight Sound Files (Major Spoilers), Confirmed: WotLK In Stores November 13, E3 and Me, Patch 3.3 Trailer: Fall of the Lich King, Patch 3.3: Grind Those Heroics (Again),
By Mummrå on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
What sucks is my account apparently expired today and the main website is down. Well sucks to be me >.<
By davie261 on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I too take patch day as a loss, and it almost always is. In 5 years of patches, I can not remember one that went without a hitch. With everything including the web-site down, knowing when the realms do come online there will the problems. With probable DC’s, unable to get into dungeons and the breaking of all my addons, I will know doubt be unable to enjoy WoW for several days.
Oh well, it’s not like it’s surprising. It must be hard to predict all that can go wrong when millions of people try to log on and play all at once. I think they rushed the patch out to get it on before holidays, but anyhow…. *goes outside to get some sun lol
By Reavijinoo aka Epikphail on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Hehe…it took me 8 minutes to download…heh
However…I was surprised it took much less than other large patches!!
By Mezz on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Can’t log on sadly. Really dissapointed wanted to do all the new 5mans! Oh well tomorrow is another day!
By Luanmali on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Whenever a new patch comes out, especially ones that release new dungeons or raids, I make it a point to completely avoid running any instances of any size for at least a week. That way, people will have had their fun and hopefully I’d be able to actually enter some form of instance without either being put on an annoyingly long cycle of trying to get lucky with gaining entry or having to suffer through the Loading Screen of Death.
So today, instead of trying to get into Forge of Souls, I spent my play time hanging out in Dalaran laughing to myself at everybody piss and moan about how they can’t get in. As if it’s some big surprise that instances are swamped on launchday.
By david on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 2:14 am
are you guys going to make a video of these instances/raid, i quit wow a few months ago because it was taking over my life, but i would very much like to see how the fall of the lich king happens