With a few delays due to lag and setup we finally managed to clear The Lower Spire.

Unfortunately we will have to wait until after christmas to clear more :(

We’re now well into the third major content patch of Wrath of the Lick King, and the excitement is starting to reach a bearable level. What I want to mention here is just the schedule of the gates in The Icecrown Citadel, so everyone understands what to expect when.

Like Naxxramas and possibly others, IC is divided into 4 districts. The first one, and the only one that is currently open, is called ‘The Lower Spire‘. Here we will find (and have found) these 4 encounters:

• Lord Marrowgar
• Lady Deathwhisper
• The Gunship Battle
• Deathbringer Saurfang

From now on nothing will happen for exactly 4 lockouts. Then on the 6th of January, the next district will open. This district is called ‘The Plagueworks‘, and will contain 3 new encounters:

• Rotface
• Festergut
• Professor Putricide (limited attempts)

At this point, an additional factor joins: Limited attempts. We’ve tried this in The Trial of the Crusade, but this time around, it’s a bit more strict. We will still have unlimited attempts to defeat every encounter in The Lower Spire, and we will also have unlimited attempts on Rotface and Festergut, but Professor Putricide will leave us with only 10 attempts per lockout.

It hasn’t yet been announced exactly when the next district becomes available, but my best guess would be 3 lockouts after this, on the 27th of January. This third district is called ‘The Crimson Hall‘ and contains 2 additional encounters:

• The Blood Princes
• Blood-Queen Lana’thel (Limited attempts)

When this district opens, the number of attempts is raised by 5, but is now shared between Professor Putricide and Blood-Queen Lana’thel, meaning we now have 15 attempts to kill these 2 bosses.

Again it isn’t finalized exactly when the next district becomes available, but counting 2 additional lockouts, I’m guessing the 10th of February. This final district is called ‘The Frostwing Halls‘ and will contain these encounters:

• Valithria Dreamwalker
• Sindragosa (Limited attempts)

Killing Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana’thel and Sindragosa will grant access to ’The Frozen Throne‘ where the final battle will be:

• The Lich King (Limited attempts)

At this point we have 20 attempts to kill Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana’thel, Sindragosa and The Lich King.

In the weeks following, more attempts will gradually be added for the guilds that are not able to do it with 20.

When The Lich King has been defeated, the Heroic version of the raid may be attempted. I’m sure there will be more information about this sometime around February, since there is absolutely no information about it at the moment. Looking at the way it worked in The Trial of the Crusade, I’m guessing most of the encounters will be tightened, and additional spells will be added etc. There is still no word on how many attempts we will have in the HC version either.

Anywho, that about sums it up for Patch 3.3 – I hope everyone will prepare for encounters as they release!