WOW to support cross-server dungeons

By Oli Welsh Published 23 August, 2009

Also, Icecrown Citadel previewed.

Amid the deluge of information on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm released at BlizzCon this weekend were a few morsels on the content and changes coming in future patches. The most interesting were at Saturday's dungeons and raids panel: a preview of Icecrown Citadel, and news that Blizzard will introduce cross-server dungeon grouping.

The latter feature will be implemented for five-man dungeons at first, although the technology does support larger raids too. It will work much like the current queue system for player-versus-player Battlegrounds, and draw players from the same pools of servers in their region, known as Battlegroups.

The feature will make it much easier to find "pick-up groups" to run dungeons with, and reward the leader of a successful group. It will be implemented before Cataclysm, tentatively in patch 3.3.

Also coming in 3.3 is Icecrown Citadel, the climactic encounter of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, containing the fight with Arthas, the Lich King.

Icecrown Citadel will not only contain a 12-boss raid for 10 or 25 players, but multiple five-man dungeons. The latter will be have 8 bosses between them and be unlocked in series by an epic quest line featuring many key characters from the game.

Meanwhile, the raid will ascend through four floors of action, at one point boarding its faction's airship and engaging in a mid-air battle with the opposing faction's craft between floors. The third floor will have multiple wings, while the fourth will consist of Arthas' throne room, which will break apart during the fight.

Don't expect to see any of this until next year: the next major update will be the fifth-anniversary celebrations, with the revamped Onyxia, in November.

For more on World of Warcraft, look out for our comprehensive Cataclysm preview soon.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Wildsleven #1 2 years ago

    does it mean we no longer need to go LFM HEALER? :p

  • The_Bloody_Kettle #2 2 years ago

    haha, I reckon you still will even with about 50 realms on offer. Because, normally there's X groups looking for a healer. Now possibly there's up to 50X groups.. so it's the same.

    this will only help on small ones like.. (well i stopped just before Wotlk) Karazhan nearer the end where there weren't too many people going in.this won't help in the big raids.. sadly.

  • Rack #3 2 years ago

    Shouldn't make any difference really, if you're not a healer you won't get a group because the percentages just don't work that way. Instead of 50 groups chasing 1 healer you have 500 chasing 10.

  • tossetaz #4 2 years ago

    while i havn't played for 10 months i thought the new multispec sorted the hole healer/tank shortage?

  • Optyk #5 2 years ago

    Kinda, but just because someone plays a class that can heal, doesn't mean they will heal.
    I play an Elemental Shaman and my dual spec is Enhancement.

  • EmiliasHorse #6 2 years ago

    I have a Pally who can heal but tends not to. I find I get more requests for my Warrior to tank than the Pally.

    Although to be fair I have no opinion on this subject.

    /Gets coat
    Edited by 1 at 24/08/09 @ 06:44

  • M83J01P97 #7 2 years ago

    Umm, bit of a correction, but Icecrown was not announced for the next patch. Updated Onyxia is the next raid that will be added, Icecrown is still a 'future' addition.

  • thebuzzard #8 2 years ago

    Icecrown is in 3.3 the next big update
    Onyxia is in 3.2.2 the next mini patch

  • rogueJT #9 2 years ago

    Ah, was wondering when Arthas was going to appear as a boss.

  • sneetch #10 2 years ago

    This will be a nice addition for levelling characters; you might be able to get a stockades or deadmines group a lot easier without having to be boosted.

  • Edwardo #11 2 years ago

    So just as we get sweet gear from Arthas next year they'll release Cataclysm and blow it all away with the next grind. I can't really say I'm too excited about it all again...

    Sure it's nice to experience the new content but the constant grind for better gear is really becoming old (I've given it all she's got...three times in fact captain...and I can't anymore). Me thinks WOTLK will be my last for quite some time.

  • Dissociative #12 2 years ago

    I can already visualize all the ninja's in WoW rubbing there hands together in glee over this. Ooooh nice epic. Yoink!