Hello, all Tharvolde here. A while back I laid out some predictions for Season 8. The intent of this post is to talk through these predictions, see where they stand now that the season is well under way and provide additional observations.

Patch 3.3.3 hit the PTR last night, and if you weren’t following WoW.com throughout the night, it’s very likely you’ve missed a lot of patch news that has scrolled off of our front page already. For your convenience, below is a roundup of all of our Patch 3.3.3 coverage from the last day or so

All I apologize for my delayed absence. I have had a personal tragedy take place in the loss of a loved one and am working through it

The last wing in Icecrown Citadel is now open. The Icecrown Citadel raid overview here on WoW.com has new information and resources that your raid needs to know about Valithria Dreamwalker and Sindragosa.

Crimson Halls, another wing within Icecrown Citadel has been unlocked this week. The Icecrown Citadel raid overview here on WoW.com has been updated accordingly

The Icecrown Citadel raid overview here on WoW.com has been updated with even more information on the bosses contained in the Plagueworks, which has opened this week. You’ll find summaries on the new bosses along with links to other resources like loot, videos and detailed strategy for Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide.

Good news everyone! The second wing in Icecrown Citadel is open. Inside the Plagueworks, we’ll be taking on the next generation of abominations that Arthas and his lackeys have been working on. Festergut, Rotface and Professor Putricide will be available for your raid.

Hail Rolibar of Shadow Council Rolibar is the embodiment of Retribution PvE excellence.

Hail Rolibar of Shadow Council Rolibar is the embodiment of Retribution PvE excellence.

Hail Rolibar of Shadow Council Rolibar is the embodiment of Retribution PvE excellence. His achievements speak for themselves but I encourage you to check out his interview within our Featured Retadin section! In the future I’ll try and have these up quicker but it’s been a crazy couple months for me on many fronts.

After four weeks of repeatedly storming the citadel, the next wing in Icecrown Citadel should be opening soon.

Be warned: This post, as well as the video above, includes minor spoilers for Patch 3.3’s Shadowmourne quest chain. If you don’t want to be spoiled, do not read/watch. We’ve featured a video showing off this stretch of the Shadowmourne questline before, the bit where you retrieve Light’s Vengeance , but I would hardly call The Sacred and the Corrupt old news.

The fine folks from El’s Extreme Anglin’ were able to fish up this new enchant from the depths of patch 3.3 . If you want to have a better chance at winning the Kalu’ak Fishing Derby , you’ll want to get your hands (or gloves) on this Formula: Enchant Gloves – Angler

That’s right, we’re a week into patch 3.3 (well, almost) and we’re still running random PuG’s on our alts . Well, I am, anyway, and if the emails we at WoW.com are seeing are accurate so are a lot of you. And as is often the case when dungeons are being run, we’re seeing loot issues

A small patch that corrects some bugs has just been deployed on live realms this morning. This patch coincides with short realm restarts

Okay, the best part of running random dungeons on my tauren is getting to hang out with Sylvanas. In the new five mans (Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron and Halls of Reflection) Jaina Proudmoore is the Alliance NPC with a score to settle with Arthas, and she does a fine job and all, but Sylvanas…

People who were worried that creating Shadowmourne , the legendary two-handed axe, would be double the grind that Val’anyr was might want to relax a little, as the official WoW Armory just clued us in as to where and how often the Shadowfrost Shards necessary to craft it drop. As per the quest The Splintered Throne , you’re required to collect 60 of the little buggers, and from the site, it appears that they’re around a 25-50% drop rate off of all bosses except Arthas in the 25-man version of Icecrown Citadel on normal mode and a 50-100% chance off of the Heroic versions of the same bosses. All in all, not bad

People who were worried that creating Shadowmourne , the legendary two-handed axe, would be double the grind that Val’anyr was might want to relax a little, as the official WoW Armory just clued us in as to where and how often the Shadowfrost Shards necessary to craft it drop. As per the quest The Splintered Throne , you’re required to collect 60 of the little buggers, and from the site, it appears that they’re around a 25-50% drop rate off of all bosses except Arthas in the 25-man version of Icecrown Citadel on normal mode and a 50-100% chance off of the Heroic versions of the same bosses

Already, a number of guilds have cleared out the first bosses in the lower areas of Icecrown Citadel . After taking down the Deathbringer, talking to your friendly faction hero yields some information as to when the doors will open. In Trial of the Crusader, one new boss opened every week.

While dungeons are going for that new-fangled cross-realm fad, the raid system is staying old school by keeping raiding local to your own realm. However, that isn’t to say they’re behind the times. Patch 3.3 brings a fresh look for the looking for raid tool called the Raid Browser