Preparing for Warcraft Patch 3.3.3

Where to even begin? The lastest Patch notes reveal a great deal of the upcoming changes we have in store for us. Even better is a hint of an actual new raid that takes place in a later patch which deals with the Chamber of Aspects in Dragonblight. There is so much to cover so let's get started!

After many years of being ridiculed for 'allowing' L30 Troggs and L10 Trolls to rule their lands... Gnomes and DarkSpear Trolls will finally have justice!

Gnomeregan

One of the two potential Pre-Cataclysm events involves re-taking Gnomeregan! Yep, that's right. The gnomes finally set out to re-take that city from the radiated troggs. There are two new achivements that have been data-mined(which many thanks to MMOChampion) which are called "Gnomercoming King and Gnomecoming Queen. In order to accomplish this a player must assist High Tinker Mekkatorque and the Gnomeregan Exiles in the recapture of Gnomeregan's surface.

Echo Isles
The second of the potential Pre-Cataclysm events will allow Horde players to assist Vol'jin to retake back the Echo Isles. Unfortunately no achivements have yet to be data-mined about assisting the Darkspear Trolls. However from the looks of the spell tooltips there will be drums to help motivate citizens and lots of frog-tossing while riding on the back of a bat!

Assault of the Ruby Sanctum
This next revelation is a bit of teaser. Zarhym, has ventured forth to the forums to reveal:

    "A powerful war party of the Black Dragonflight, led by the fearsome Twilight dragon, Halion, have launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple. By destroying the sanctum, the Black Dragonflight look to crush those that would stand in the way of their master's reemergence into Azeroth and to ultimately shatter the Wyrmrest Accord – the sacred bond that unites the dragonflights.

    The battle that is to come will surely deal a crippling blow to the Red Dragonflight, however, it is up to you to stop this unprecedented offensive and defend the Ruby Sanctum. First you must face the assault of Halion's servants, Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn, and General Zarithrian, before squaring off against Halion the Twilight Destroyer, a new and deadly force in this realm.

    The Ruby Sanctum will feature 10- and 25-player content, Heroic difficulties and all-new rewards! Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to its release."

Now the clencher is that this raid won't be available until patch 3.3.5. Further in the thread he also mentions that there will be at least four sub-bosses which drop emblems of Frost and gear on the same item level as Lich King loot. Furthermore he hints that this is a pre-cursor to future events that deal with Cataclysm. Still this is exciting as it gives elitist raiders new content to look forward to downing.

New Mounts, Pets, and Anduin Wrynn grows up
The young son of Varian Wrynn is no longer a little boy as you can see in this picture. He's been updated and given a new look. Also two new mounts will be introduced which are called the Blazing Hippogryph and the Wooly White Rhino. Pet lovers rejoice! Frigid Frostling and a Blue Clockwork Rocket Bot will be available for collectors. No details have been released yet as to how to obtain these new mounts and pets.

Frozo the Renowned
Hopefully you haven't vendored your Frozen Orbs nor sold them to an AHer for a less than reasonable price. Come this new patch Frozo will be accepting Frozen Orbs for the exchange of other goods. For those curious, here are the items for which you can trade your Frozen Orbs to Frozo. These each cost 1 Frozen Orb unless noted otherwise in parentheses:

    * Crusader Orb (6)
    * Runed Orb (4)
    * Eternal Fire
    * Eternal Earth
    * Eternal Water
    * Eternal Air
    * Eternal Life
    * Eternal Shadow
    * Frost Lotus
    * Pattern: Frosty Flying Carpet [Tailors Only] (6)

PVP and Battleground Changes
Battlegrounds will no longer award Marks of Honor. There is now a Random Battleground Queue that is similar to the Random Looking for Group tool. Winning a Battleground using the Random Battleground option for the first time in a day will award players with 30 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency. Winning additional Battlegrounds using the Random Battleground option after the first random win will award players with 15 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.The BG holidays will now be noted as 'Call to Arms' on the calendar and Battleground tab. Experience gained through Battlegrounds have been reduced by 50%.

That's just a small taste of what is to come. I highly recommend reading the latest PTR notes to catch details that I haven't covered here. Oh and last but not least is the change to the RP dialogue in Culling of Stratholme. We can now skip through that whole thing. Time to celebrate!