Posted by Heartbourne on Friday, April 10th, 2009 - 51 Comments
Tags: Alterac Valley, azshara crater, battlegrounds, icecrown, patch 3.1, patch 3.2
With patch 3.1 expected to hit live realms in the next 2-3 weeks, its time to start speculating about patch 3.2! We know that patch 3.3 or 3.4 (probably 3.4) will introduce Icecrown Citadel, but it is uncertain what the other two patches are to contain. Patch 3.3 is known to progress the Ashbringer storyline, but its unclear if this will be Icecrown Citadel or not.
Not every “point” release has brought with it new raid or even new dungeon content. Zarhym did say that patch 3.2 would contain a new dungeon back in October in an interview with Curse, but he could have meant battleground. While most patches have released new PvE content, patches as late as 2.2 have not contained new PvE content. Patch 2.2 added in-game voice chat, Brewfest, and Hallow’s End, as well as UI and feature additions. Expecting 4 PvE content patches for Wrath might not be completely accurate.
There are many potential old-world zones that could be used for new raids. Grim Batol has a rich history with the dragons, which could easily work into the Wrath storyline. Neltharion is hiding somewhere out there, and Grim Batol may be that place. Alternatively, Uldum (in Tanaris) could be the logical progression to Ulduar, as there are many loose threads in the story involving Uldum. Hyjal is still not a finished zone, nor is Gilneas, and there are yet some unnamed zones on the map. Blizzard has stated that they want to keep the old world relevant, as they did in patch 2.4 by bringing players back to the Sunwell, and I don’t think its unlikely that one of these zones will be added in either patch 3.2, 3.3, or 3.4. However, I think its likely that 3.2 will not contain a new major raid zone.
There are several reasons why I think this. We have been teased with a new battleground that is on the scale of Alterac Valley, and AV marks have been re-added to the requirement for For Great Honor/Concerted Efforts. The battleground has been described as “epic”, on the scale of AV. Additionally, they say they are “revamping” the battleground system to reward skill in PvP more than they have. Additionally, Arena has been receiving a lot of attention with rating reworking changes to open it up to new players and the tournament. Blizzard may be trying to draw players to PvP. Hardcore PvP certainly brings WoW into the spotlight as a competitive game and may prolong its lifespan.
Thus, I predict 3.2 will largely be a PvP patch. Wintergrasp will be overhauled and rethought with the lessons learned since the release of Wrath, battleground rewards will be reworked, and the new battleground will be introduced. This would fit in with the theme of Horde vs. Alliance that Blizzard is attempting to re-kindle with things like the post-Wrathgate events and whatnot. To satisfy PvE players, I bet they open up another short raid in the Chamber of the Aspects. There are 5 portals there, and we don’t really know whats going in those. Its likely that Blizzard will reserve one or two of them for the next expansion to keep players coming to Northrend (maybe the green portal if its Emerald Dream themed), but I doubt we won’t see more open soon. Maybe the blue portal will open in response to the end of the Nexus war.
One battleground that has faded into obscurity is Azshara Crater. It was originally alluded to all the back in patch 1.3 (released March 7th, 2005) and is brought up now and again. The terrain is in the game files and appears to be Tauren vs. Night Elf themed. The entrances are already made on the Forlorn Ridge. The Tauren have not been the key faction in any battleground, and the blood elves may also be interested in Azshara. Perhaps the zone will be further developed and the battleground added. The battleground is known to be on the scale of AV and since there was already so much development on it, perhaps it will be implemented. Blizzard had lots of problems balancing AV for a long time, but now that they claim they are satisfied with game legnth and win ratio of the factions, it may be time to see another “epic” battleground.
What would you like to see in patch 3.2? More raids, more dungeons, or more PvP?
Related Posts: Patch 3.3 Release Date Predictions, How Did Project Lore Do on Patch 3.2 Speculation?, That Was Fast - Patch 3.2.2 On PTR, Notes Up, Patch 3.3 Goes Live on the PTR, Patch 3.1: Secrets of Ulduar Trailer Reactions,
By andronis on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
i think it would be awesome to see a grim batol raid but they will prolly do something with uldum.
By Shirp on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Blue posts stated that they were introducing a new BG at some point.
By Laeltis on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I’d like to see more with those type of places like Uldum and Grim Batol. They’re eluded to be entrances, and they’re on the map.. so they should be instances for a reason I guess. It would be slightly interesting for more PvE content, but as you said.. bringing more PvP would most likely prolong the life. I used to slightly PvP as the gear was sorta really great for PvE back in TBC. Though, this expansion it was all the deady and crap in Dalaran. I quit PvPing when LK came out and I’ve been an avid PvEr since. I’m waiting for dual spec to get BM for PvPing and I’d get back in, but new ways of PvPing would be really awesome.
Anyway, great post. We all are anticipating 3.1, but we should always look towards the future
By Aggrø on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
There are many other zones we don’t know a thing about. Kul Tiras, Undermine, the Naga and Makrura cities under the Maelstrom and alot more that I forget right now.
By Eddie T on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Azshara crater will probably come out with a new expansion, which will probably deal with the maelstrom. The tail of a giant snake by the Colossus in Gundrak, along with the giant temple that has nothing in it, and the fact that we have not yet faced the king of the Drakarri trolls leads me to believe that Zul Drak will house a raid sometime before Icecrown Citadel.
I don’t think WotLK will bring us back to the Sunwell, but I could be wrong.
Gilneas would be cool, the lore could be that behind their walls they fell to service to the lich king (or Sargeras or have been defeated by the Naga), but that seems like an expansion thing too. My vote is for Gundrak.
By bold on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
i would really like to se gilneas or grim batol i mean after clearing ulduar would you really wanna walk back into another titan based raid
By Sean on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
BG in 3.2 I think.
3.3 will have a 10 man GB and 10+25man Uldum
3.4 will end the Ashbringer story in Icecrown Citadel.
Just my thoughts of course, not fact or whatever.
3.5 Will introduce whatever is happening in the next expansion, but in a subtle way that won’t be announced on the official site.
That’d be cool.
By Vito on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
lol.
I really don’t know what to expect cause i dont know mucha bout teh warcraft line and the detailed specifics of wow.
I’ll tell you i would like to see a new raid or two.
A new battleground or two.
A new place like the southern isles or a new world.
new race?
new class?
i really wanted them to bring back isntances from classic as new instances or raids.
Like deadmines, sunken temple, a new razorfen?
Or kara and or TK.
By xxdeathangel on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
deathwing would be a sick ass raid, like sunwell so release after icecrown cause he a big bad black dragon that be soo coooooooool
By xxdeathangel on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
forgot this i bleive that the next raid after ulduar will be teh time dragon leader because i believe he is alsot eh elader of the infinite dragon flight becasue at multiple tiems in the story u see this like he apologises in one of the books for things he would do in the future and you see him in teh dragonblight quest wehn your supposed to see the leader of the infinite dragonflite with the machine… leading me to think that he saw his own death becasue he know everything about time and is trying to stop it by messing up history! me and my friend were on vent for 2 hours discussing this lol
By BobCharabini on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
They’re probably saving Uldum and Grim Batol for another expansion, most likely it’ll be in Northrend. Hopefully it’ll be the giant Gun’Drak temple, by the name of Zul’Again.
<3 Troll raids
By Barishi on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I’m more interested if Icecrown citadel will end or begin something since Arthas is still only possessed by the real Lich King and if blizz will have u take down the real guy or instead pull a sunwell and create a new area that will grant access to his prison since he is sealed some where if I remember the story from warcraft.
By Wonocva on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
A lot of interesting things could be implemented. Considering we don’t know how many patches there would be, there could be and might be more after 3.4 (although considering Arthas is the focus of this entire expansion, my guess is he’d be the last expansion, like Kil’Jaedon was the last in BC). So, considering that, I’d say there’d only be 4 patches. We know 3.1 is Ulduar, so that leaves us with 3.2 and 3.3, based on my theory. Since 3.4 would be the last, my guess is ONE of the expansions will contain old world content, just like one did in BC. Which one, I don’t know, but I’d imagine it’d contain something important to the WotLK, so either Uldum or Grim Batol would make sense, since both Dragons and Titans play a huge role in this expansion. One was supposed to influence the Ashbringer storyline, but I think that might just be a reference to the hugeness of Icecrown Citadel, considering they are talking about new battlegrounds and whatnot.
So basically, by my prediction, there will be three more patches after 3.1. One will be PvP oriented, but still have some kind of focus on the whole WotLK concept (not sure how really), another will have an old-world zone, maybe raid AND instance so it could contain Uldum and Grim Batol, and then finally 3.4 would be Icecrown Citadel.
Of course, this is all my prediction. I have rarely found Blizzard disappointing me personally with any content releases, so I’m not worried at all.
By Wonocva on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Oh, by BC old world content, I meant going back to the old world, aka Sunwell.
By Dieoxide on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Needs Moar Lore Cutscenes … I love myself some Lore cutscenes.
By Alayea on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 12:41 am
I would like to see not necessarily more PvP or PvE, but some actual lore. It’s what drew me to WoW, not pvp-ing or raiding.
That said, I do think having a new battleground would be nice. What I’d like even more is to have the Emerald Dream storyline be dealt with. Remember all those wierd places with elites in the old world that lead nowhere? Those have always bugged me.
@Dieoxide
More cutscenes would be cool, but I wouldn’t want them to add so many that it’ll actually take away from the WoW experience.
By Blueelf on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 2:32 am
What about Gurubashi Catacombs?
I was originally planned as deathmatch-style battleground for World of Warcraft, but was never implemented because it was too big, preventing players from finding each other easily, and it didn’t appeal to players.
If im not mistaken, it is still in game files. They coud redesign it to be a new instance, perhaps similar like Caverns of Time, where you go back in time and do an instance, so here they coud do it so you go in time of Gurubashi Empire, once one of the most powerful forces of Azeroth, controlling much of the southern part of the Eastern Continent.
I know Zul’Gurub has some story to it, but is still not complete, for example, they coud recreate Fall of Gurubashi Empire.
I think this woud be good, so players can return to Eastern Kingdoms and do some new instances there, because there are no instances after lvl 60 there.
By FrostSeer on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 3:32 am
Don’t rush with Deathwing. I think they will keep it for the next expansion.
By Nextgener on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 3:51 am
Don’t expect such high expectation’s. For we Know blizzard has had a history of Destroying your hopes of New Content here and there, and fan’s make it worst with un supported Rumors.
What I expect Next Patch is simple, Ulduarr and DS.
Patch 3.2, Expect Nothing and wait.
Patch 3.3, assuming it’s by the end of the summer, who the heck know’s. It could just be they stuff Icecrown in it at this rate.
Patch 3.4, Dunno don’t care, while off and by then the next expansion will be announced.
By Matt on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 5:08 am
This read isn’t entirly accurate.
In the interview, Zarhym told us of 3 content patches. They were read as:
3.1 - Ulduar
3.2 -A new still UNKNOWN Mystery Raid
3.3 - Icecrown CItadel; more Ashbringer story.
There was never any mention of a 3.4. Anyway, playing on the UNKNOWN part of the mystery raid, its just that. Nobody but the devs know about it. My guess is that, sure, the new BG will be included too, but it will coenside with the new raid.
My guess is that they will make a new zone in Northrend, maybe off of the coast. They will make a new raid, new boss, new lore, everything. The new BG will take place here too
By Kael'Thalas of Eonar on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 8:25 am
I have heard that past 3.1 they are planning big things. Like doing more Azjul Nerub, and some wicked twists regarding the Lich King.
in 3.1 in Ulduar, someone datamined a sound file from the Yogg-Saron, the old god of death for those who are not aware, battle, and in it contains some very interesting bits of stuff. For one it explains several of the key moments of history, the original fall of Stormwind back in WC1, and the corruption of the now Deathwing, and the creation of the Dragon Soul being influenced by Yogg-Saron, but also it plays a conversation between that former alliance ruler who “died” at the Wrathgate, and the REAL Lich King, not Arthas. In it it goes on about how the Lich King will break the guy from wrathgate, just as he broke him, referring to Arthas, and I can tell it is not Arthas saying it, because there was only one voice, not Arthas’ AND the Lich King’s, kind of like how the Lich King whispered to Arthas in WC3. But then it goes back to Yogg-Saron, and he states “No King is meant to rule forever” and then laughs. My guess is that Arthas is gonna get betrayed, and will be replaced by that guy from Wrathgate.
I have also heard rumors of them making a NEW zone in 3.2, an underground zone, Azjul Nerub, where the Nerubians who are fighting the Lich King, will be a new faction, prolly more AN type instances, and maybe a secret path into Icecrown which opens up the patch after that, which I have not heard any rumors about.
so yeah, and as far as Emerald Dream, or the Maelstrom which includes Kul’Tiras and Gilneas, they are both planned Xpac content, rumored, and I emphasize RUMORED to be both in one xpac, but the fact they are starting to make “water” vehicles, the turtle in 3.1 and making mounts swim, it proves that the maelstrom is coming soon, which means more of those stupid naga… hated them in vanilla, hated them in BC, and will hate them later… But hey I am eager for whatever they add to move the story forward, there is no lore anymore, just the present and what we make of it, lol
By Carlos on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Well, I´d love to see Gilneas.
The Lore is so awesome.
By robingtons on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 10:58 am
would love 2 see av reworked sick of it. i’ve seen it for the pass 3 years i know it better than my home town sick of the sight of it change AV pls
By Kyndranigar on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 11:32 am
How about updated voice-overs to start zones when you make a new character. It’s been a two-year long “month ago” for that crash of the Exodar.
Additionally while PvP is a part of just about any MMO, I think Blizz has gone too far into the realm of appealing to the ‘casual’ gamer with PvE content and should leave PvP on a grand scale to Warhammer (which has taken great steps to making PvP it’s core feature in everything you do there).
Support PvP, sure, but not to the extent that a new patch brings it extensively without something for their ‘casual’ fan base.
By harad on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
i would love to see more casual stuff added I for one work alot and because of it i never have time to raid so PVP is really my best way to go I would love to see more for the casual player but lets face it this game is raid based and that is why very little if any casual stuff comes out
By ANBU on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I’d love to see them do something with Grim Batol and Uldum, since they’ve been sitting there more or less taking up space. They could also do something with the portals in the southern part of Winterspring (Hyjal and one other).
As far as an Azshara Crater battleground, an AV-like battleground would be nice, but I think something along the lines of a King of the Hill battle would be better. Give it a 20 or 30 minute time limit with bases near the “hill” to give closer respawns. Whichever side has the hill the longest wins. It makes it different from the other battlegrounds while still making it competitive and fun for other players.
By Hagop on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
That reminds me of something i was talking about with my friend from guild couple days ago. I’d love to see blizzard do heroics option for those low lv instance. Deadmines for 80? Sure!
By Deidare on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
A nice big PvP bg would be nice, or something similar to WG, either way that’d be much better than the mind numbing crap we have, but they also need at least mabye to little raids to balance it out nicely, like single boss ones.
By Deidare on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Also, pve gear from pvp, yeah like in the old days yeah know? That’d be sweet, I would love to see that again. Also my theroy for raids is this
3.2- Big old Gundrak temple raid. To finish the king trolls and mabye some lore with the lich king again. 10 or 25man.
3.3- Something like Uldum, or Frim batol, anything to finish the Ulduar lore or Black dragon flight mabye. Both would be 10mans and mabye something like the intorduction of 30mans? Hehe don’t know what it’ll matter with 5 more peps, but still.
3.4- Not icecrown yeah in my opinion, its to soon. Something like A whole in raid “land” like Hyjal.
3.5- Hmm Icecrown mabye in this one, but still theres much more they could realse before hand for the lore. (so any give or take in this patch.
Everything past 3.6 i’m not to worried about. Haha.
By Moggafogga teh shaman dude! on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
GTFO and gimme some raids.. all the current northrend raid content is bullshizeasy.. seriously..
AMG immortal in no time these days..
By Mabus on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Funny thing, the other day I went to go farm the Azure Whelpling.. and came across forlorn ridge, and I was like what the heck is this place, I don’t see any NPCs or quest related stuff.. interesting now that it might be a future bg.
By elion on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
i have a couple things to say i just spent the last 2 hours studying the lore and i got tell you i dont understand a damn thing i never heard of grim batol before in the wow guides map of the whole azeroth i found a weird place i could not find on the game map it was called gilneas i even tryd to get get to it a few times but them fitigue whould not let me so i just left it be then a few weeks ago i was exploring for my achievement and i ran into a gate which i now know is the wall isolating gilneas nice to finaly have an explanetion from waht remains of lorderon fom the first day i steped into stormwind and gaised upon the what lookeds like a portal with a closed gate infront of it i wondered what the hell is taht every time i pass i ask my the same question hopefully i wont asking for much longer.i wa under teh impression that they are saving arthas for last he is prity much the top dog who every one is trying to put to sleep and usauly you save the best for lasti think its way to early to talk about a new expanchion we heard about the WOTLK more tahn a year in advance for now ia mexcited about the dual spec 2-3 weeks away instead the patches following the next one which god knows how far they are i dont know how conftibe i whould be going into an area crawling with 80s which will happen especialy on pvp server terisifal allready has an instaance thats atrects high thirtys inot a level1+ area here is what whould be cool is more time traveling go back to sacond third or even as far as 1st war witness the lich lich kings rise with your own 2 eyes more evens like the mount hyjal help destoy destroy altrack
By cocopuff on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
or why no do something really fun and diffrent sso far wwe only wnet back in time how aboout we look into the future the emareld dreams are misterous maybe you can shine some light on taht
By Nethya on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 12:50 am
im actually REALLY interested in Gilneas! although nothing will probably be done with it i can hope.
By Kimeghale on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 1:54 am
My big question is they had shown the nerubians (forgive if I did not spell correctly) had dug to far in the old kingdom and brought forth the forgotten ones. What is blizzard planning on doing with this. No chance that Harold Volajb(once again forgive spelling) is the leader of that race. Blizzard may do a raid or instance with this unconclusive story line in a future patch.
By Ommadon on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 4:43 am
Ever since I leveled my mage in Silverpine, I have always wanted to see what was behind that stupid Greymane Wall. I’ve tried to find holes in it so many times lol. (no holes though) I would also like to see the huge temple of Zul’Drak opened up; that would be a really cool instance (at first I thought that was was Gundrak was, not the silly little underground chamber that it actually is).
By alex on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 6:43 am
I’d love to see Blizz first finally fix the Battleground system before any new PVE content is released a new battleground would also be EPIC but not unless they fix the BG system.
I’d love to see Blizz work on ways to make OLD world instances scale to high level toons. Such as the way Battlegrounds scale. this would give those looking for new things to do and a way to get better gear or just a way of revisiting the OLD world instances without actually losing interest because it’s so easy to run through.
New and more dificult instances and Raids would be nice too. But they should be released in icriments so people can look forward to playing through till the next expansion release.
I’d also love to see a way of using all these achievment points we all keep accumulating.
By Lovekillsall on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 11:37 am
oh god, pvp, they should just be done with it, its so broken and unbalanced. GAAWD HELPZ US ALLZ
By David Rab on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
In WOTLK trailer they promised us new denies.
By cocopuff on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
if you do put a new BG can alliance get this seriously horde win every thing that said i think they should focus this expenchion on mysterious places like grim batol uldum take uldaman to the next level the titan lore is very confusing but very intresting their are planty of things to do for the next expanchion and 10 more after start with the broken islands which one of us hasnt wondered about these pieces of land on the map how epic whould it be to exualy be able to raid sargeras tomb ‘
=-098765421
‘
‘;”’[olp=-090-\”
By cocopuff on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
how cool whould it be to exualy go in to the eye of the
maelstorm explore the lost cvilazation who said we have stop at azerorth i am whats stoping you from goin even furder to other continets other worlds other planets even the sky truly is the limit
By Barishi on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 10:37 am
@Kimeghale
See AQ20 and AQ40 in Silithus.
By Feydakin on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 11:37 am
What would I like to see? All of the above… I would really like to see Azshara Crater finished though. I just recently got back into BGs and PvP in general after over a year of refusing to participate, and I’m really enjoying it… barring shades of the things that made me stop in the first place. All things being equal though I am much more of a PvE oriented player though, so I’d prefer solid PvE content, probably in the form of instances or a raid. Old Gods…
By God on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
They told us that 3.1 would introduce Argent Tournerment, wich you were to Build
They also pointed out that 3.2 would have the finished Argent Tournerment, and would be the arena to “Test” Who is worthy of attacking The lich king, (i’d say it’l be a Attument)
By Prower on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
@ alex, The damage /HP of mobs isnt a big deal and most bosses unique trick is a stun , agro wipe or summon adds.
the issue arrizes when you deal with loot, the realistic way of doing this is a currency (badges).
the problem is your entire gear would have to be gained like this, however is it not the fairest way?
a second alternative may be to make every item in the “heroic” vanilla instances scale like the BOA gear, but thats allot of work for a developer who just wants coffie =P
Then you get a heap of issues like overwhelming the lfg system with too many instances and too few people queing for all of them. what about having level 80’s stood waiting in low level questing zones, it can set you back enougth when a booster steemrolls through. what about old raids do you add a heroic for those, is DM scaled for 10 or 5 men or do you go to a heroic heroic ramps?
such a gr8 idea and your not the only one who would love to see it, just a shame in order to do it you would need to completely change so many mechanics.
By IricK on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 2:42 am
The best thing they could do is to make raid instaces in old world in such places like Grim Batol and others, and the 2nd - an ability to ride flying mounts there. Well a great work on landscape of old zones and completing unnamed ones, but it would be awsome!
By cocopuff on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 9:17 am
come on the problem isnt the difficulty of the dungeons do you really wanto do a place done 100 times a 100 times harder maybe if thier were some new content
By Qunt on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
would be great with heroic mode for old low level instances, by gear and drops, superior or new emblems would be great, for example, “100 emblems” that gives you choice between new epics, that would make old WoW more attractive
By Masturch33f on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I would like to see some new races, like maybe teh gnolls or centaurs, or even a new faction like, imagine:
Alliance Horde Burning legion/scourge
By MrBob on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Patch notes are released!
I saw it in WoWWiki.
By Kindsir on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
They still have a lot of content to recover from the old lands and eventually lay to rest.
Uldum and Grim Batol.
They have the Sergaras and Medivh story lines.
Most probably the final for the Emerald Dream and Malfurian Stormrage since he is still stuck in there.
You also have the storyline between Steghelm and Cenarion circle split/inner fighting to go through also… those are what i believe should be worked on for future content and bring closure to them.