It’s all over the internet. The buzz is almost as deafening as the vuvuzela. The release of the last raid instance in Wrath of the Lich King, the Ruby Sanctum, is ever so close. Let’s take a quick peak at some of the things that we do know about the Ruby Sanctum from the perspective of someone who has not been on the PTR.
Baltharus the Warborn
The first thing that caught my eye about the Sanctum is the inclusion of three sub-bosses Savianna Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn and General Zarithrian. At first I assumed there would be an activated hard mode a la Obsidian Sanctum but that is not the case. I admit I’m somewhat disappointed since I am a fan of the activated hard mode. Each of these bosses will drop a frost emblem and have some interesting mechanics that I won’t spoil here.
Halion, the main boss of the Ruby Sanctum
The main battle of the Ruby Sanctum is with Halion. According to much of the information available, Halion is not the most complicated fight a raid team will find in Northrend but does require some teamwork and strategy. Again, I won’t spoil the mechanics here because if you’re at all like me you enjoy entering new fights with a bit of ignorance. Did the player base want an extremely hard experience in the final stage of WotLK raiding? I can’t say since everyone differs in preference but I will say that for a one-off raid instance it looks like Blizzard has a firm idea of how they prefer to tune these encounters, and that is generally less difficult than the full-fledged, 10+ boss instances.
Lastly, let’s talk gear. It’s important since these are the purples you will wear until Cataclysm when you start to get those “epic greens”. You will not be replacing everything you have gotten out of Icecrown Citadel but you can patch some holes in your gear. There is a little something for everyone and the iLevels are equivalent to those that you find on Lich King gear.
Overall the Ruby Sanctum does what it sets out to do. It begins the story arc towards Cataclysm as well as give players a little something to hold them over while they wait. Let’s face it, we’ve been in ICC for the past 6 months and some people are starting to get a bit weary of the fights and this will give those players something to do in the meantime.
Post a comment with your views of the upcoming Ruby Sanctum and you will be entered to win a DVD from the German Medieval Martial Arts series entitled “German Medieval Marital Arts: The Poleaxe“. What could be better than that? A winner will be selected at random.
Some quick links to Ruby Sanctum info:
At last! This can only mean one thing! It’s getting ever closer. Is this any indication as to how much longer it’s gonna be? I’d say the most another 3-6 months. This raid is gonna be smaller than ICC, but big enough to keep us players busy till Blizzard ties up loose ends.
Myself I ain’t been thorugh the ICC 10/25 yet, but hope to before Cataclysm comes round, and hopefully i’ll be left with some time to face this raid dungeon too.
But I’m looking forward to see what they are going to do even closer to the launch date of the new expansion. Like the Scourge Invasion pre-Wotlk! Can’t wait!
That last review from Brox the KingSlayer is taken from Family Guy. Brian said it.
Bronx* sorry.
As someone who doesn’t really have a solid set time i can raid, the one off bosses are kinda nice, I can get in a raid when I’m able too without worrying about my raid having to find someone the next night when they continue where we left off.
I think that what Blizzard is doing is well thought out, giving the players something that more players will be able to complete and get gear before Cataclysm launches is a better move then only a few guilds being able to complete. I know guilds that haven’t finished ICC soo I think that this is a good step.
Hey, just a note! In the Achieve Success portion, the guy mentioned that you can’t Ice the Frost Lord unless you’re 80 … not true! On my shaman, Ancestor from Blackwater Raiders, I was able to queue, kill Ahune, and get my scythe, all at level 78. Check my achievements for Ice the Frost Lord (6/21) and Level 80 (6/24) to see that I’m speakin’ the truth. Also, got my scythe on the very first try
Toodles!
I think Blizz has done a good job in the timing of these raids and feel this can cover us till Cata, btw loved the live show keep it up.
I’m excited about the new raid. I just wonder if it’s appeal will last longer than that of onxyia? I think this will get most folk through the better part of the summer.
The randomly selected winner of “German Medieval Marital Arts: The Poleaxe” is Neverender! Send an email to myextralife@gmail.com with the subject “Medieval Martial Arts DVD” and your address to receive your prize. Gratz!