World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Zarhym (Link)

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As we prepare for the public testing phase of minor content patch 3.3.3, some players might come across information regarding upcoming content that isn't yet available. To avoid any confusion, we'd like to tell you about an exciting new raid dungeon we are working on for content patch 3.3.5.

The Ruby Sanctum

A powerful war party of the Black Dragonflight, led by the fearsome Twilight dragon, Halion, have launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple. By destroying the sanctum, the Black Dragonflight look to crush those that would stand in the way of their master’s reemergence into Azeroth and to ultimately shatter the Wyrmrest Accord – the sacred bond that unites the dragonflights.

The battle that is to come will surely deal a crippling blow to the Red Dragonflight, however, it is up to you to stop this unprecedented offensive and defend the Ruby Sanctum. First you must face the assault of Halion's servants, Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn, and General Zarithrian, before squaring off against Halion the Twilight Destroyer, a new and deadly force in this realm.

The Ruby Sanctum will feature 10- and 25-player content, Heroic difficulties and all-new rewards! Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to its release.

As many of you know, this content is set to hit in patch 3.3.5. Right now we're on 3.3.2, with 3.3.3 right around the corner. We may see the Ruby Sanctum released early this summer! Icecrown Citadel is still pretty fresh though, so I doubt Blizzard is in a rush to get out new content.

As you see, there will be four bosses similar to how the Obsidian Sanctum with Sartharion was set up. Zarhym elaborated more on this in responses to posts from players:

Zarhym (Link)

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• Number 2. The lieutenants are sub-bosses which will each drop an Emblem of Frost. Halion is the main boss. While the activation of Heroic difficulty is different from the Obsidian Sanctum, the overall raid format for the Ruby Sanctum is very comparable.
• You're likely to find some random pieces of armor on par with Lich King loot, similar to the items Onyxia dropped while Trial of the Crusader was the top-tier raid. You can also expect to see some more trinkets and things of that nature.
• This raid will not only provide a bit of additional content to pair with the current content of patch 3.3, it will be the beginning of an advancement in the storyline for Cataclysm.
• The plan is to have a normal mode and a heroic mode just like Icecrown Citadel, so far there is no plan for a Sartharion +1/+2/+3-like encounter.

As he says, the setup is similar to Sartharion but without the same hardmode activation. We are left to wonder exactly how this boss will work, since these 3 mini-bosses don't drop any loot other than a Frost Emblem and perhaps some gold.

The only other encounter in World of Warcraft similar to these two fights is the Freya encounter in Ulduar. Freya's hardmode is activated by leaving her keepers alive (similar to Sartharion) but rather than engage in battle, they imbue her with additional abilities. We may see a system similar to that for the Ruby Sanctum.

Players can be excited about the level of loot that will drop from the Ruby Sanctum, as The Lich King drops loot that is an additional half-tier above the rest of the instance. This suggests that 10 player will drop ilvl 258/271 on normal and heroic difficulties respectively and that 25 player will drop ilvl 271/284. These items, which probably won't be weapons, will represent some of the best pieces available in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.