WoW Wednesday – Sneaky Peek at 5.2
By Meredith Watson, OnRPG’s WoW Reporter
It seems we were just here with patch 5.1 but 5.2 is now on the public test realm. 5.2 promises to be a huge patch with new zones, a new dailies hub (I know, I know yet more dailies), a new raid instance, some nerfs, some buffs and quite possibly Blizzard’s run up to giving us player housing. Eventually. Maybe. Soon™.
The Isle of Giants is off the coast of Kun Lai Summit and as of today doesn’t seem to have a purpose. I was able to get there by just flying north from Zouchin Village. It isn’t far but you will get the fatigue-o-meter for a few seconds before you hit the island. From what I can tell Isle of Giants is Un’goro crater version 2.0 except with less crater and more dinosaurs. The devilsaurs are back in a big way. The Isle of Giants has two new breed of dinos with the Pterrowing Screamers and Primal Direhorns. The Pterrowing Screamer is a much better version of the pterrodax that currently resides in Un’goro while the direhorn looks like a triceratops and is the new tameable pet for hunters that is obtainable by doing a long quest line.
The Isle of the Thunder King is the new daily quest hub which offers a selection of PvP and PvE quests. However, as soon as the player zones in from the Vale of Eternal Blossoms you will be flagged for PvP. Whether this changes or not remains to be seen. This may not go over well for those that don’t enjoy being forced to PvP. Getting to the Isle of the Thunder King is done through your faction’s portals hub in either Shrine of Seven Stars or Shrine of Two Moons.
Upon zoning in you, if you are Alliance, will notice a couple familiar faces with the most notable being The Image of Archmage Vargoth and Lady Jaina Proudmore representing the Kirin Tor while the Sunreaver Onslaught is being led by Lor’themar Theron for the Horde. The staging area has the feel of things being built which is exactly what is happening. Think Sunwell or Ahn’Quiraj. The top of your screen will show war progress with the whole point being getting the thunder forge built.
The Isle of the Thunder King has the feel of Tol Barad with the Chinese theme of Mists of Pandaria running through it but as one would guess there are trolls. The Zandalari are back and playing a role. Zandalari can be found in Krasarang Wilds, Dread Wastes, Townlong Steppes, Jade Forest, and Kun-Lai Summit and require one to two players to defeat them. The Warbringers will require a party of five and have a chance of dropping a rare mount. Supposedly there are three new rare mounts to be had.
There is a new raid instance, Throne of Thunder, which can be found in the sewers – similar to getting into the Black Temple. The raid has 12 encounters and defeating the Emperor Lei Shen on heroic difficulty can open a thirteenth. Aside from new zones and new raid there is the continuation of the legendary quest line aiding the Black Prince. It isn’t only hunters that get a new quest line but warlocks will be able to change their fire spells to fel green through a solo adventure. Like the Sunsong Ranch, the legendary quest line is not currently on the PTR but with what is currently on the PTR it looks like we are in for a good time.
