I’ve seen alot. I’ve seen End Time, and I’ve also seen the Hour of Twilight. Took lots of screenshots, but got disappointed with a few areas.
First started figuring out how to move my char again. The PTR FAQ states that all chars will be wiped when the PTR shuts down, yet Benietest still stood. So I deleted him and got my newer Benie on. He still has his Dragon Form, so I’m happy about that.
First off, I noticed a few things different. All creatures have a “V” or “^” to the left of their names. I assume this is if they’re lower or higher than you in level. The Dungeon Journal has been updated, of course, with the three new dungeons and the raid. Took pictures of them. What’s strange is Deathwing and Murozond are like, half-bodied. Half their bodies are missing. This is either from the PTR or the fact I was still downloading critical data. Also, Murozond has a goatee, just to show how evil he is. Made me laugh.
The Tracking popup has been changed too. Now it has two sub-categories. One for Hunters, and the other for Townsfolk (which IMO they should change to “Services”).
So, I first flew to Dragonblight. Once there, I saw that everything has remained the same since WotLK was released. The blues are still a threat to all magic-baring mortals, and Malygos is still alive. Wyrmrest still stands tall, and everyone’s alive. Good to see that. Really calms my nerves. You see I’ve pictured 4.3 being the end. That if I wasn’t geared enough to do the dungeons, we would all die. This is not the case. So I can finally relax. And not stress so much over getting geared.
I then flew to CoT (Caverns of Time) to check out the new dungeons. Once there I got a bit lost in one area. There’s two new areas in CoT. The one I was trying to enter was the Well of Eternity, and it’s not ready for testing yet. Everytime I entered, it said “Heroic Difficulty requires you to be level 85”, which is funny because I AM 85. Didn’t bother to ask because I knew the answer.
I went into the other area. It was torched, burning, and blackened, so this had to be the entrance to End Time. It’s also the entrance to the Dragon Soul raid and the Hour of Twilight. Unfortunately I went the wrong way and stumbled into HoT. There I met Thrall who’s still in his Earthen Ring gear. Talking to him starts the event, but I didn’t. I just followed the path ahead of me. But it stops short of some sort of ice block. I assume Thrall helps to clear it. So I ran back and approached this Portal thing. When I clicked on it, the disk inside of it disappeared. Clicking on it again makes it re-appear. Very strange. So I got no way of getting back to CoT. Had to hearth out. Also, the minions of the Old Gods that are seen in the Hour of Twilight (the maul things that were seen in Twilight Highlands), aren’t accessible ’till you hit the raid. Found this out through the Dungeon Journal.
Coming back, I finally found the portal to End Time. Stepped through and immediately saw Deathwing impaled on the top of the temple. There are bones of dragons littering the landscape, and alot more than before. I don’t really want to know who were these dragons. They’re probably what’s left of the Red and Blue Dragonflights. There’s occasional lightning and thunder as well. It truly is the end. You can assume even you died, and will never be rezzed again. Yet you’re in the dungeon. Freaky, huh?
I wanted to explore the landscape and the temple closer, but there’s some sort of invisible wall that kept me from walking past the dungeon entrance platform. This really pisses me off, and I pray this isn’t going to stay like this when the patch goes live (but it probably will). I mean, come ON! Blizzard shows all of these pictures of the desolate Dragonblight from many angles, and you can’t go there in person?
Seeing how my options were limited to get screenshots I wanted, I needed to get my old Ornate Spyglass from the bank. So I left the dungeon by turning around and went in this familiar cave I remember doing a quest that took me there, and popped back in CoT. So at least that works. Then flew to Gadgetzan and got the thing, then went back to End Time and used it to see better.
The temple itself looks badly damaged, but the inside of it looks ok. Just wish I could see what the portal room looks like. Yet I saw something that made me wtf. New Hearthglen still stands. Wouldn’t that be reduced to a crater?
And as for how long it’s been since the Hour of Twilight, going by the fact Deathwing’s body still looks intact (and the other dragons are all bones), I say one year instead of five years. It also looks like half of Deathwing’s body has been ripped off. Maybe because it’s on the other side of the temple.
What I really don’t get is, why is Nozdormu just chilling? How come there isn’t a quest to enter End Time? Or is this just real early in the PTR that there isn’t any? He just seemed not at all urgent. What’s really strange is when I talked to him, he had a male Night Elf voice. Again, I assume this will all be changed later on.
Speaking of entering, the Dungeon Finder shows the three dungeons as their own group, called Hour of Twilight Heroic. But also shows the dungeons available in the regular Cataclysm Heroic area. It shows I can’t enter the Well of Eternity, but I can enter End Time and Hour of Twilight. Which means I’m geared enough to enter as a group.
My new Flameward Hippogryph has a new look, and new flight sounds. Similar to the Spectral Steed. Also has a burning sound.
As for the Transmogrification and Void Storage, I found the new location for them. It’s near the old barracks in Stormwind. The new Darkmoon Island isn’t ready for testing so I can’t go there yet.
So, that’s basically what I saw. Been lagging like crazy due to this server, but that hasn’t stopped me from learning about 4.3.