Of course you know that 3.3 was released on Wednesday, and this post is a few days overdue because we’ve all been busy exploring the new content like little boys in a candy shop. But better late than never

There were many new changes that came with the patch, some good… some bad… But most of them were for the best. Shadow priests must have been extremely satisfied with this patch. From my estimates, I think they must have gained at least 20% increase in DPS. Rogues too must be very happy with the changes to up their DPS. Resto druids can’t complain much either with Rejuv ticking much faster now. Elemental shamans and Destro Locks on the other hand were badly hit by the nerf stick – with nerfs to their 4 piece Tier 9 bonus & Conflag respectively. Elemental Tier 10 bonus isn’t that great either and seem to contradict each other (the 4 piece bonus which results in more Lava Bursts cast, indirectly results in fewer Lightning Bolts cast making the 2 piece bonus less effective). I think Ele shamans need more love… You can say that Patch 3.3 also made the game a lot more user-friendly for WoW players. The new built-in QuestHelper, quest tracking, nameplate overlap, have made WoW a much more friendly game for both beginners and pros to play.

Icecrown Citadel has been pretty sweet so far. The whole instance kind of reminds me of Black Temple. I really hope it becomes more grandiose as we progress deeper into the depths of Icecrown… I can’t wait to see what Blizzard has in store for us. Trash for most part have been really easy (most of them are Undeads too so 1 minute shackles FTW!), nothing too complex and can most pulls can be AoE’d down to the ground without much CC.

Boss models have been excellent so far. I really like the fallen angel look of Lord Marrowgar. I’m sure we’ll get to see more awesome looking bosses in the future. Mechanic-wise though, a lot of these boss fights could have been more original. Also I know a few who are pretty annoyed with the 1 minute RP before certain boss fights. /wait Saurfang. Overall, I felt the first four bosses were undertuned. I was expecting the bosses to put up a bigger fight and for us to wipe a couple of times, but we ended up one shotting everything. Hard modes will be a whole different story though, we shall see…

Great new changes to the LFG system. I’ve always been a fan of PUGs (I’m wierd. I know..), and this change makes running PUGs a lot more attractive. Pre-3.3, it was quite troublesome to run them because there was no real incentive to do so other than the reward from the daily heroic. With 3.3, the random heroics is an excellent way to obtain enchanting mats, not to mention the 15 gold & Frost/Triumph emblems you get from completing the run, and a cute little pug. I also found that the auto-disenchanting still work if you are partied with an Enchanter and a green drops while you are killing random mobs.

Anyway, I wish everyone a wonderful December and a great year ahead! May all your hits be crits and bosses fall on your feet. Here are some screenshots members of the guild have taken. Enjoy the holidays!