That's what the fine folks at MMO Champion are telling us, anway - on the PTR, the attunement process for Karazhan has been removed. Or more accurately, altered... in order to get into Kara, one person in the party has to have the Master's Key, making Karazhan more like Upper Blackrock Spire. The attunement process to date isn't horribly restrictive... run Shadow Labs, Arcatraz, Steam Vaults and then Black Morass with the proper quests and bang, you're keyed. I can see this coming in handy for newly 70 alts or guilds who are trying to run up to Karazhan at the same time, and it's clearly part of the process of opening up content that we saw when SSC and TK were opened up, or that we will see with Hyjal and the Black Temple in patch 2.4 as well.
On the other hand, is this just going to lead to groups running Kara without much grouping experience and then complaining when they have to start coordinating to run it? I'm not personally worried about that, but I try and anticipate these things. Eyonix comments on a thread discussing it that it wasn't about difficulty, but rather accessibility.
With Kara opening up like this, will we see more people pushing through to Sunwell faster? Is the patch signaling that Wrath of the Lich King may be closer than we think?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
2-28-2008 @ 3:29PM
BillDoor said...
I'm happy to have the restriction removed. This'll let me bring in my alts much more easily. I know how to play, I know the raid, and I know how to gear my toons. I don't want to run the 5 instances.
Reply
2-28-2008 @ 5:35PM
Manatank said...
I completely agree. Here is why this is great for someone who already has several toons at 70 but wants to gear up another:
1. Hit 70, and buy full set of new blue PvP rep reward gear, and/or boe epics.
2. Run Kara/heroics for 2-3 weeks to fill out gear set nicely, and supplement with tier 6 quality badge rewards.
3. Run ZA for a few weeks to fill any missing gaps in tier 5/6 quality gear.
4. You are now ready to enter Hyjal/BT with a 70 that is less than a month and a half old.
How's that for letting you catch up to your main? This is a boon to the hard core raider, not a slap in the face.
2-28-2008 @ 3:29PM
JParris said...
YES! VICTORY!
Ahahaha
No, seriously, tho. Me and a few others have been making lobbying threads on the forums since the new patch hit the PTRs and it's nice to see maybe the devs agree the Kara attunement was a bit silly to still have around given that older content was losing its attunements.
A lot of people made the argument that this would leads to scrubs in their Kara groups (or something, it didn't make much sense to me), but I think the requirement of having at least one person attuned will help this.
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2-28-2008 @ 3:32PM
Rich said...
Can I get a spiffy title for having completed this attunement before it was removed?
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2-28-2008 @ 3:58PM
peaglemancer said...
Yes, in sync with the new "Hand of A'dal" achievement, those who complete the Karazhan attunement will be able to display an optional "Left nut of Khadgar" title in patch 2.4
2-28-2008 @ 4:01PM
BillDoor said...
"Friend of Ge'ras"
2-28-2008 @ 4:09PM
Rich said...
I was thinking "Black eye of the Violet Eye"
2-28-2008 @ 4:45PM
KateJaneway said...
"Wasn't Too Lazy to Do Five Level 70
Instances on Regular"
2-28-2008 @ 5:02PM
Sneakstar said...
"Didn't show up in quest reward greens to get T4"
or
"My toon got attuned and all i got was this crappy title"
or
"Qi can't pug 5 instancesQ"
3-25-2008 @ 10:33AM
Naix said...
How about "Melter of Faces"
2-28-2008 @ 3:32PM
Nati said...
Wrath of the Lich King is closer than most people think, yes. 2.4 is basically for WotLK what 2.0 was for BC in terms of gearing up - they are letting epics flow freely so people can gear up and experience as much content as possible before the expansion is released. And since it's the last content patch before the expansion - yes, it can't be too far off.
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2-28-2008 @ 5:18PM
Matthew said...
Well, this *is* Blizzard we're talking about. So I'm going to say that it could, indeed, be far off.
2-28-2008 @ 3:34PM
mattarin said...
yes!!!! now i don't have to run those dumb quests for kara!!! im so happy!!!
you are retarded if you think this will signal that WotLK is closer then you think. it is still too early to tell. it will realease sometime in november or december since its winter and the game will be in a wintery area lol. makes sense right?
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2-28-2008 @ 6:19PM
imparush said...
ofc it will go long time they not just opening sunwell and then a month later wotlk will be out, then only very few peolpe will have killed all the boss
2-28-2008 @ 6:53PM
mattarin said...
so you are saying that WotLK will be out a month after 2.4?
yeah right, that doesn't even give enough people time to try to do sunwell and kara without the attunement. 2.4 comes out in march maybe april so there is no way LK comes out before summer. that is way too early. there still isnt a cinematic trailer,which i look forward too, and they still have alot to do on the offical LK website. you are way to eager man. there will be atleast one or two more minor patches but they will be like 2.4.2 or something.
2-28-2008 @ 3:34PM
Annai said...
Now I'd like to see them open up the back door, even if the Opera event isn't beaten. Allow guilds who can start with Nightbane or Curator to do so. Yes... the first 4 bosses are loot pinatas for many groups, but if you don't *need* the loot or badges (less likely), allow groups to skip that first hour of the instance. Would be great.
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2-28-2008 @ 3:36PM
BillDoor said...
Maiden and Attumen are optional, although I like the three badges and chance of the mount dropping.
2-28-2008 @ 3:35PM
Mindaika said...
OH MY GOD. The last thing we need is more undergeared people clamoring to go to Kara. As if toons in full greens wanting to run Heroic Shattered Halls isn't enough. I feel that the attunements are there as a gear check. If you can't handle Slabs, BM, etc, you can't handle Kara. If anything, the attunement to Kara needs to be changed to make it more difficult, not less. Removing attunement for the old instances I can understand, but the still current ones? I mean, really...
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2-28-2008 @ 3:38PM
BillDoor said...
Is this really a problem? How often do you get people in greens begging to go to Kara? And if the rest of your group is good enough, then why not bring them along? My regular kara group (all T4 geared people, no T5 loot at all) basically 8 or 9 mans the whole place, we bring along one or two other people just so that they can get some cool loot. They generally do less DPS than the prot warrior tank.
2-28-2008 @ 3:45PM
JParris said...
@BIllDoor
I feel exactly this way and have been using that argument as a defense for lobbying for Kara attunement removal. My guild did Kara last night and we basically 9-manned the entire instance with two healers, bringing along an under-geared third healer and getting him a TON of great new gear along the way. He's now plenty geared to come on any future Kara run!
The only people who are going to have issues with this change are the strange people that PUG Kara. I mean, more power to them, but do a quick gear check before you invite someone. Seriously.