Although World of Warcraft is a persistent gameworld, there are areas of the game called instances. These are separate private areas of the game which you enter as an individual or as a party. These areas are usually part of several difficult quests and can be extremely large. Instances in WoW are indicated by swirling portals which can either be blue, green or red. Once you enter the portal, you will see a loading screen and once loaded you or your party will have entered your own special instanced zone.

A blue instance portal

When you enter these areas, a fresh copy of the dungeon is created and populated with monsters. No other players are in this dungeon and only players in your own party may join your instance. Of course, there are other incarnations of the same dunegon where other groups of players are playing but you cannot interact or meet up with these other players when you are in your instance; your instance is your own or party’s own private game area. This solves the problems of boss camping and kill stealing which are prevalent in many other MMOs because a copy of the dungeon (instance) is always created on demand for you or your party.

So what happens if you die? [Also see Death guide] Well ideally you would want a party member to resurrect you, this saves you having to make your way back from the nearest graveyard to the entrance of the instanced zone. Instances are usually tied to an extremely hard quest so it is more than likely you’ll be in a party. If you’re with a Priest, Paladin, Shaman or Warlock then make sure they are prepared to work together and resurrect other players should they die. If you can’t be resurrected, then you need to make your way back to the instanced zone from the graveyard. When you enter the instance as a ghost, you are ressurected with half hp/mana inside the entrance of the instance.

So why have instances at all when this is supposed to be an MMORPG where players are all playing together? There is a reason behind instanced zones and that is to make these unique areas manageable for players. With instanced areas harnessing special quests or tougher monsters, it means they don’t become overcrowded with different parties all fighting for the same goal. This prevents players in a party having to hang around for monster respawns for example. Instances also prevent the dreaded kill stealing scenario, there is nothing worse than another player taking the kill credit after all your hard work.

Typically, most instances contain Elite quests, so it is advisable to form a group that has at least a healer and a tanker. Players should also try to gather all the quests related to a specific instanced dungeon before trying it otherwise they might have to return to it again at a later stage and repeat the whole dungeon. An average group instance (blue portal) takes between 1 to 3 hours to complete so make sure you have sufficient time. Additionally, players should make sure they have enough inventory space to store any loot that might drop before taking part.

Instances have their own zone chat. Most of the instances themselves are also considered Contested Territory (on the PvP server) but again, some are friendly to the Horde while some are friendly to the Alliance. Even so, which faction the instance belongs to bears no relevance completely. Both factions may enter and play the instances no matter which faction the instance belongs to, and since the 2 factions cannot group with each other, they will never enter the same instance. Still, this could lead to some possible group PvP encounters at the entrance area before the portal.

Every instance is “tied” to the party leader of the group on its creation. Should any player not in this person’s group somehow end up being in the instance, he or she will be automatically teleported by the game servers to his Hearthstone bind point after 60 seconds. This can occur if a player leaves the party or the leader kicks someone out of the party. Many players use this mechanism as a “free teleport” at the end of an instance after killing the final boss by disbanding the group. This free teleport does not use the Hearthstone itself and hence does not activate its cooldown either.

Another rule on instances: A warlock cannot summon a player while inside an instance unless the target is already in the same instance (and partied). This means that the warlock will have to go outside the instance to summon a member of the group that is far away.

There are different types of instanced zones in World of Warcraft as we mentioned above, each different coloured portals represent a different kind of instance, blue for a group instance, green for a raid (multi-group) instance and finally red for a PvP Battlefield.

Group Instances

Group instances are identified by their blue swirling portal entrances and contain scripted events and quests that are designed to provide a more satisfying game experience tuned for a group of 5 players in a specific level range. To skip these instances would be to miss a lot of special content so everyone is encouraged to set aside some time to enjoy them. Of course, players can always enter and complete the instances at a much higher level than the recommended level range, but the dungeon would not be as challenging and the loot would similarly not be as useful to a player of higher level.

Group instances are not permanent, when everybody leaves the instance, the instance will be deleted after some time (Blizzard states 30 min). This means that if your entire party dies, there will be ample time for everyone to reenter the same instance you died in. Should you wish to replay that instance again then you have to reform a new party outside the instance so that the game treats your group as a new party and spawn a new instance. Also, if you log off in an instance for more than 15 minutes and the instance resets, you will log back on at the beginning of the instance.

The following is a list of group instances currently available in the game listed with the recommended level range they are suitable for:

Instance Name	Level	Zone	Status
Ragefire Chasm	13-15	Orgrimmar (Horde only)	Horde
Deadmines	15-20	Westfall	Alliance
Wailing Caverns	15-21	The Barrens	Horde
Shadowfang Keep	18-25	Silverpine Forest	Horde
Blackfathom Deeps	20-27	Ashenvale	Contested
The Stockades	23-26	Stormwind (Alliance only)	Alliance
Gnomeregan	24-33	Dun Morogh	Alliance
Razorfen Kraul	25-31	The Barrens	Horde
The Scarlet Monastery	30-40	Tirisfal Glades	Contested
Razorfen Downs	35-40	The Barrens	Horde
Uldaman	35-45	Badlands	Contested
Maraudon	40-49	Desolace	Contested
Zul’Farrak	43-47	Tanaris	Contested
The Sunken Temple	44-50	Swamp of Sorrows	Contested
Dire Maul	55-60	Ferelas	Contested
Blackrock Depths	48-56	Between Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes	Contested
Blackrock Spire	53-60	Between Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes	Contested
Strathome	55-60	Eastern Plaguelands	Contested
Scholomance	57-60	Western Plaguelands	Contested

Bosses in these group instances drop loot from a very small loot table, typically no larger than 3 or 4 items. Hence if you are looking for a specific piece of equipment that only drops from one of the bosses in an instance, you will usually be able to obtain it within a few tries of the instance. All such loot from the bosses are Bind on Pickup.

Raid Groups

Raid groups are groups of more than 5 people and are typically used to defeat unique challenges at higher levels. In WoW, up to 8 seperate groups can be linked up to form a super-group of 40 players and such a group is called a raid group.

Raid group members cannot earn credit towards most non-raid difficulty quests, or more specifically, the ones involving killing creatures and collecting items. Raid groups also grant substantially less experience for defeating monsters than normal groups. However, raids allow players to overcome challenges that might otherwise be nearly impossible.

What this means is that most of the quests in the game including the ones involving group instances cannot be completed simply by zerging them with a huge number of players. To be more specific, quests involving group instances must be completed by no more than 5 players since raid groups do not earn quest credit and neither can players bring other players into their own instance if they are not grouped. (Players in the instance which are not in the instance creator’s group are automatically teleported to their bind point after 60 seconds.) This is done so that the group instance quests would not be trivialised by numbers.

Raid Instances

Raid Instances are indicated by their red swirling portals at the entrance. These instances are designed for raid groups of anywhere between 20 players to 40 players.

The enemies in a raid instance are designed to be extremely difficult and require a raid group of experienced players to take down. Raid difficult quests with rare loot goes along with these instances and this prompts for a good amount of communication and cooperation among all the participating players.

In fact, some of these raid instances are so difficult that they require previous raid instances to be defeated allowing players to properly equip themselves for the next raid instance. Some of these instances also require “keys” to be obtained from various players and group instanced dungeons before players can even enter them.

When the final boss of an instance is defeated, the state of the raid instance along with the names all participating raid members are saved. For the next few days (length varies from raid instance to raid instance), these players would not be able to participate in the same raid instance again. Any attempt to enter the raid instance for these players will result in that player entering the copy of the raid instance in which the final boss was slain. Raid instances do not follow the rules of group instances which resets once 30 minutes have passed with nobody in it.

The following is a list of raid instances currently available in the game listed with the recommended level range and raid sizes they are suitable for:

Name	Level	Raid Size	Zone	Status
Onyxia’s Lair	60	40	Dustwallow Marsh	Contested
Molten Core	60	40	Blackrock Depths	Contested
Zul’Gurub	60	20	Stranglethorn	Contested
Blackwing Lair	60	40	Blackrock Spire	Contested
Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj	60	20	Silithus	Contested
Temple of Ahn’Qiraj	60	40	Silithus	Contested

More raid instances will be added in the future.

Raid Calendar System

The raid-lockout system causes all instances to reset at a certain server time, regardless of when you were actually saved to the instance. The reset schedule is as follows:

• Molten Core: Every 7 Days, resetting during weekly maintenance
• Blackwing Lair: Every 7 Days, resetting during weekly maintenance
• Onyxia: Every 5 Days
• Zul’Gurub: Every 3 Days
• Temple of AhnQiraj (40-man): Every 7 Days, resetting during weekly maintenance
• Ruins of AhnQiraj (20-man): Every 3 Days

All resets will occur during off-hours, when the least amount of raids are active.

Battleground Instances

Battlegrounds are easily identified by their red swirling portals, and provide an opportunity for everyone to particpate in evenly matched PvP battles. Battlegrounds are available on both PvP, PvE and RP servers.

Read more about Battlegrounds.

Common Instances

There is exactly one “instance” in the game where everybody in the world enters the same single instance (so it is not really an instance anymore since there’s only one copy of it all the time) and that is the Deeprun Tram that runs between Stormwind and Ironforge. Players of both factions entering this white instance portal will all end up in the same single zone, grouped or ungrouped. Quite obviously, the Deeprun Tram zone belongs to the Alliance faction.

To recap on Instances

• Only those in a party can enter the same instance.
• If no one in the party is in the instance for approx 30 minutes it will reset.
• If you die you will resurrect as you re-enter the instance regardless of where you died (unless another player ressurects you).
• You can still talk to people not in your group while you are in an instance.
• There are minimum level requirements on all instances.
• You can do an instance as many times as you wish.
• If you leave a group in an instance you can’t complete quest objectives until you rejoin that group.

Other Resources

• Cartography
• Raid & Instance UIs/MoDs

Patch Changes to Instances & Dungeons

Patch 1.9.3 (7 February 2006)

• Various bugs have been rectified in the Ahn’Qiraj dungeons.
• Molten Core
  • It should now be very difficult to remain out of combat while fighting the bosses in Molten Core.
• Zul’Gurub
  • A small number of spawns have been removed from Zul’Gurub to allow for a slightly faster clearing time.
  • Increased cooldown on Poison Bolt Volley of High Priestess Mar’li.
  • Slightly reduced the melee damage of High Priestess Mar’li.
  • The vengance effect gained by the death of the raptor Ohgan during the Bloodlord Mandokir fight has been increased in power.
  • Reduced the overall damage of High Priest Thekal.
  • Slowed the rate at which the panthers spawn during the High Priestess Arlokk fight.
• Hakkar
  • Melee damage reduced.
  • Cause Insanity should now correctly target Hakkar’s current target, rather than closest.
  • Cause Insanity will no longer remove all threat gained.
  • Reduced the damage dealt by Poisonous Blood Siphon.
  • Increased cooldown on Blood Siphon.
  • Gained an Enrage ability after 10 minutes in combat.
  • No longer has the Slow ability.
  • Corrupted Blood now deals direct damage with a following damage over time effect and no longer spreads to others in the raid.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Corrupted Blood to target the current target rather than the intended random target.
  • Increased duration of Poisonous Cloud emitted by Sons of Hakkar.
  • Shades of Jin’do are now considered Undead.

Patch 1.9.0 (3 January 2006)

• Raid Calendar System
  • The raid-lockout system has undergone a significant change. The new system will have all instances reset at a certain server time, regardless of when you were actually saved to the instance. The reset schedule is as follows:
    • Molten Core: Every 7 Days, resetting during weekly maintenance.
    • Blackwing Lair: Every 7 Days, resetting during weekly maintenance
      Onyxia: Every 5 Days
    • Zul’Gurub: Every 3 Days
    • Temple of AhnQiraj (40-man): Every 7 Days, resetting during weekly
      maintenance
    • Ruins of AhnQiraj (20-man): Every 3 Days
  • All resets will occur during off-hours, when the least amount of raids are active.
• The Gates of Ahn’Qiraj
  • The Gates of Ahn’Qiraj will house two massive, unique dungeons — the Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj, a 20-man raid dungeon, and the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj, a 40-man raid dungeon. As players delve deeper into the mysteries of Ahn’Qiraj, they will discover revelations of the Silithid infestation and their shadowy masters, the Qiraji. Players will have to complete a world event of massive proportions before they can open the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj on their realm.
• Noxxion in Maraudon now has the correct immunities.
• Noxxion is now social and will bring friends if pulled past other creatures.
• Abyssal Templars are no longer marked as Humanoid.
• Twilight Stonecallers in Silithus should now aggro properly.
• Gordok Reavers and Warlocks now have a slightly larger radius for detection and “call for help.”
• Drop rate of Dark Runes in Scholomance has been reduced.
• The Altar of the Deeps in Blackfathom Deeps will now give players the Blessing of the Deeps.
• The abomination event in Stratholme was been reworked with new technology to insure there are no more premature resets.

Patch 1.8.0 (11 October 2005)

• Azuregos is now properly resistant to Frost damage.
• Zul’Gurub
  • Reduced the damage of the Mad Servant’s fireball
  • Reduced the number of mad voidwalkers that are summoned from the death of a Mad Servant from three to two.
  • High Priestess Mar’li will now despawn her summoned spiders when she returns from combat.
  • Slowed the rate at which High Priestess Arlokk’s panthers spawn
  • Fixed a bug that would prevent High Priestess Jeklik from summoning Frenzied Bloodseeker Bats.
  • Fixed a bug that would allow Hakkar’s Corrupted Blood ability to target pets.
• Blackwing Lair
  • Razorgore now has the ability to summon players to him if he cannot reach them for a time.
  • If you are in front of Chromaggus and can hit him with spells, his breath attack will hit you.
  • There is no longer a one-hour time restriction on the Vaelastraz the Corrupt encounter in Blackwing Lair.
  • Fixed erratic taunt behavior for Ebonroc, Firemaw, and Flamegor.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Broodlord Lashlayer to do less damage than intended with his Mortal Strike.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the debuff “Burning Adrenaline” to be removed if enough other debuffs were applied to the target.
• Molten Core
  • You now receive Core Leather when you skin Magmadar.

Patch 1.7.0 (13 September 2005)

• Zul’Gurub
  • Hidden within the jungles of Stranglethorn, an ancient Troll city full of peril has been uncovered. Do you have what it takes to delve into its mysteries with a band of hardy explorers? There’s only one way to find out! Zul’Gurub is a high-level, 20-man raid instance with 120 new rare and epic items to uncover. Adventure awaits!
• Characters will now receive an error when attempting to enter a raid dungeon if the reason they cannot enter is because they are not in a raid group.
• Fixed a bug that was preventing Rallying Cry of the Dragon Slayer to fire when Onyxia’s head was turned in (assuming a head was not already up).
• You can now no longer avoid Onyxia’s confuse effect by jumping or moving erratically.
• Death Knight Darkreaver in Scholomance shouldn’t be so noisy anymore.
• The Ogre Tannin Basket in Dire Maul should stick around longer if someone opens it and does not initially loot the tannin from it.
• A few Molten Core bosses now drop Fiery or Lava Cores.

Patch 1.6.1 (2 August 2005)

• Blackwing Lair
  • Several encounters in Blackwing Lair now cause the front gate to close, preventing players from zoning out or joining an in-progress battle.
  • The Razorgore encounter has been changed slightly to make it less”random”. The spawning should be more consistent throughout the fight.
  • The timer for Vaelastrasz the Corrupt is now more persistent. You can no longer reset the one-hour time limit for beating him by leaving the instance. Also, Vaelastrasz the Corrupt will not respawn for 12 hours if he has not been beaten when the timer expires.
  • The drakes in Blackwing Lair will no longer leave the lab.
• Maraudon
  • Lowered experience values for Creeping Sludge.

Patch 1.6.0 (12 July 2005)

• Blackwing Lair Released!
  • Nefarian’s sanctum, Blackwing Lair, can be found at the very height of Blackrock Spire. It is there in the dark recesses of the mountain’s peak that Nefarian has begun to unfold the final stages of his plan to destroy Ragnaros once and for all and lead his army to undisputed supremacy over all the races of Azeroth. Blackwing Lair is a max-level, 40-player raid dungeon, with many new encounters and tempting rewards awaiting the intrepid adventurer that dares enter its halls.
• Several spawns removed from Scholomance. This should make for a more enjoyable 5 player experience.
• Several spawns removed from Stratholme. This should make for a more enjoyable 5 player experience. Also, you will now be able to make additional attempts at Ramstein and/or Baron Rivendare should your initial attempt fail.
• The trapped chests in Stratholme will now show up for Detect Traps and can be disarmed. In addition, the number of creatures that come out of the trapped chests has been reduced.
• Many creatures in Stratholme have gained Detect Invisibility/Stealth.
• The loot tables in Molten Core have been revised slightly.
• Characters that die and release in the Molten Core will now receive a minimap corpse marker and arrow that will lead them to the window next to Lothos Riftwaker in Blackrock Mountain.
• Phase shifted imps are no longer hit by Magmadar’s Lava Bomb.
• Damage and resist messages from Magmadar’s Lava Bomb shows up in the combat log.
• Fixed a bug that was causing the Cache of the Firelord (Majordomo Loot chest), the Chest of the Seven (Blackrock Depths seven dwarves chest) and the Gordok Tribute Chest (Dire Maul) from despawning too soon.
• The chance for an Epic quest item dropping from the Majordomo’s chest has been increased to 100%.
• The Corrupted Forces of Nature in Maraudon will now pursue correctly.
• Dire Maul has had several spawn locations changed and a slight increase in population.
• Crystal Fang, the rare spawn in Blackrock Spire, will now potentially appear.

Patch 1.5.0 (7 June 2005)

• Molten Core
  • Firesworns that are moved too far away from Garr will now become quite enraged until they move closer to Garr.
  • The eruptions from the lava in Ragnaros’s Lair will now always happen while Ragnaros is in combat. However, these lava eruptions occur less frequently, do less damage, and the damage they inflict is now resistable.
  • The maximum range of the Wrath of Ragnaros spell has been increased.
  • Additional new raid items have been added to the treasure lists for Azuregos, Lord Kazzak, and bosses in Molten Core.
• Onyxia
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Onyxia’s Tail sweep to no longer cause knockback.

Patch 1.4.1 (3 May 2005)

• Added minimum level requirements to all instances to prevent exploitive behavior. The minimum levels are very generous and should not affect the normal course of gameplay.

Patch 1.4.0 (19 April 2005)

• Azuregos now has a new ability - Mark of Frost. A player who is hit with the Mark of Frost will be temporarily frozen in a block of ice should they attempt to re-engage Azuregos. Mark of Frost is extremely powerful and will persist through death and resurrection.
• Bael’gar, Lord Incendius, and Golem Lord Argelmach are now slightly lower level than previously. This will provide a much better progression of creature and boss levels in Blackrock Depths.
• The Baroness Anastari encounter has been changed. Players who become unpossessed will now have full health, and after the Baroness unpossesses a player there will be a much longer cooldown before she can cast possess again. These changes should make her a more balanced encounter for a 5 man group.
• Lava Surgers no longer respawn once you kill Garr.
• When Majordomo Executus submits, a chest is spawned next to him. This chest should only spawn the FIRST time he is defeated in a saved instance. If a guild tries him a second or third night, no chest should spawn.
• Ragnaros now stays up 2 hours rather than 1 after being summoned.
• The Golemagg and Shazzrah encounters in the Molten Core has undergone some changes.
• Scholomance Itemization
  • 20 new Rare items have been added to Scholomance.
  • Several Uncommon items have been upgraded to Rare quality.
  • Rattlegore, Jandice Barov, and Lord Alexei Barov will now always drop at least one Rare item.
  • Ras Frostwhisper will always drop at least two Rare items.
• Stratholme Itemization
  • 26 new Rare items have been added to Stratholme.
  • Several Uncommon items have been upgraded to Rare quality.
  • Archivist Galford, Baroness Anastasi, Nerub’enkan, and Maleki the Pallid will now always drop at least one Rare item.
• Raid Itemization
  • Onyxia, Azuregos, Lord Kazzak, and all Molten Core boss creatures have all received some new items on their loot tables.
  • Onyxia will once again drop two upper tier class set helms.
  • Most of the non-class set items that dropped from Molten Core and Onyxia have had their effective levels increased, resulting in higher DPS weapons, and/or better stats and effects.
  • Players who defeat the Majordomo Executus encounter will now be rewarded with new epic items. This reward will only be granted the first time the encounter is defeated during the 6 day lifespan of a Molten Core instance.
  • The loot tables for some of the Molten Core bosses have been improved so they drop an additional epic item per kill.
  • World bosses such as Onyxia, Azuregos, and Lord Kazzak will no longer drop random blue items of a level lower than 50.
  • Prior to this patch, Molten Core boss creatures could drop items from one of two different tiered sets for every character class.
  • The loot tables have been changed so Molten Core bosses will now only drop items from the lower tier class sets. However, some of the items from those sets were not previously dropping in Molten Core. These missing class set items will now drop in Molten Core, allowing players to complete their lower tier class sets. The higher tier class set pieces that once dropped in Molten Core will be found once again in Blackwing Lair, the next raiding zone scheduled for release in a future patch.
  • Future patches will include even more item rewards for these raid encounters, as well as improvements to the statistics, effects, and set bonuses for both tiers of the raid armor sets.

Patch 1.3.0 (22 March 2005)

• Diremaul
  • Diremaul, a new dungeon for players level 56-60, is now open and ready for business. Diremaul is populated by a fierce tribe of ogres and is located in the western region of Feralas. Diremaul will be limited groups of no more than five players each.
• New Outdoor Raid Bosses
  • Two new outdoor raid bosses have been introduced to Azeroth. Azuregos, a monstrous blue dragon, has landed in Azshara, while Lord Kazzak the demon can be found in the Tainted Scar of the Blasted Lands.
• Meeting Stones Meeting Stones are located outside of each dungeon to help players find a group to adventure with in the dungeon. The meeting stone will try to find you a viable five-person group by looking for a tank, a healer, and so on. As time passes and you are unable to find a group, the meeting stone will become less picky about who it groups you with.
• Dungeon Player Caps
  • All dungeons now have a cap on group size to limit the number of players that may enter the dungeon. It was necessary to add this cap as raiding these dungeons trivialized much of the content. Because of this change we can now look to adding better loot to them during future content patches. With that in mind, the dungeons below now have the following caps:

  Onyxia/Molten Core - 40 members
  Blackrock Spire - 15 members
  Diremaul - 5 members

  All other dungeons in the game will be capped at 10 members. Several dungeons will be re-examined for balancing in light of this change. In addition, will have their loot improved significatnly for the next content patch.

• “Raid lockout” is fixed. If the leader of your raid group is saved in a different instance than you would otherwise go to, you are added to your leader’s instance.
• Added /raidinfo command showing remaining time on saved raid instances. Also shows an ID to compare with other players (if you have the same saved ID as them, you will go into the same instance) - Added a chat window message when you are first saved to an instance.
• Raid members will show up on the world map.
• If you enter an instance in a group, and then leave that group, you will not be able to complete quest objectives until you rejoin the group.
• Extended the decay time of boss corpses in dungeons.
• Molten Core
  • Molten Core is now on a 6-day respawn timer.
  • Added in-game voice for Ragnaros and Majordomo Executus.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing the first Firelord to stop moving.
  • Garr will now lose his enrage buff when he leaves combat.
  • Majordomo Executus will now make the Flamewaker Healers immune to polymorph at the appropriate time, even after failed attempts.
  • Bringing Flamewaker Healers too far away from Majordomo Executus will now result in the Healers becoming immune to Polymorph.
  • Line of Sight checks removed from many creature abilities in Molten Core.
  • Sons of Flame now despawn when everyone wipes.
  • Ragnaros will reset properly if the raid wipes while submerged.
• Onyxia
  • Onyxia’s fireballs will no longer result in a confuse effect (Engulfing Flames). The impact damage of these fireballs has been slightly increased to compensate for the loss of the damage over time.
  • Onyxia’s egg pit will now heat up when she does a strafe breath across the room.
  • Onyxian Warders now respawn in the hallway while Onyxia is in combat.
  • Increased the delay before Onyxia will try to tail sweep.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause Onyxia to occasionally not reset correctly.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Onyxia to get stuck under the world.
  • Players no longer leave combat while Onyxia is in flight.
  • The Onyxia Key quest for the Horde has experienced some changes.
  • The Test of Skulls for Scryer, Somnus, and Chronalis can now all be obtained simultaneously. The drop rates for black dragonspawn eyes have been increased substantially.
• Stratholme
  • Baroness Anastasi in Stratholme will now leave the possessed target when the target is below 50% health, instead of 30%. She will also cast Possession slightly less often.
  • Roaming Gargoyles will be set to a 30-minute respawn.
  • Roaming Shades set to 15-30 minute respawn (previously 5-15).
  • Patchwork Horrors set to 15-30 minute respawn (previously 6-10).
  • Overall respawn in the entire dungeon made longer.
  • Crimson Conjurers will no longer roam in pairs.
  • Crimson Conjurers can now only have a max of two “pets” at one time.
  • Changed the way the Gauntlet area works. The Crystals no longer respawn.
  • The Crystals no longer fire ribbon of souls (this was causing in-combat issues).
  • Fixed a bug that was causing monsters to leave combat in mid-fight, thus regaining all their health.
  • Various tweaks made to the Baroness encounter.
• Scholomance
  • Lengthened the overall respawn of the dungeon.
  • Risen Aberration health and damage reduced.
  • Reduced the duration of Dark Plague from three minutes to 90 seconds.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the Cloud of Disease spell, cast by Diseased Ghouls, to do more damage than intended.
  • Blood of Innocents will now drop off both Doctor Theolen Krastinov (The Butcher) and Jandice Barov for players that have completed the Sarkhoff questline in Scholomance.
  • Shadow resistance now will be more effective at mitigating the damage from Unholy Aura.
  • The creature spell, Call of the Grave, has had its damage reduced by half.
• Blackrock Spire
  • Spire Spiders now only summon four Spire Spiderlings instead of five.
  • Health and damage on these Spire Spiderlings has been reduced.
  • Crystallize has been reduced from eight seconds to six seconds.
  • Some Blackrock Spire bosses will now properly display their true level, instead of being considered world bosses (who do not display level).
• Blackrock Depths
  • The doors to the Lyceum will now re-open after Magmus has been killed.
  • Vault encounter has been toned down slightly.
  • Mind Flay and Cripple will now work on Blackrock Depths bosses.
• Maraudon
  • Princess Theradras - Boulders thrown will now cause a knockdown as well. She will also be more intelligent about deciding when to use her Dust Field ability.
  • Noxxion encounter made easier for groups lacking area of effect damage.
  • Creeping Sludge poison proc has been changed to a pulsing point-blank area of effect short-range damage spell called Poison Shock.
• Zul’Farrak
  • Dead Hero will now always drop an uncommon random item.
  • Witch Doctor Zum’rah’s loot table was improved.
  • Toned down the Zigguraut event.
  • Toned down the Antu’sul event.
  • Fixed stuck NPCs that were causing “in combat” issues.
  • Scarabs will no longer flee when at low health.
• Scarlet Monastery
  • Doors requiring the Scarlet Key can now also be opened with a Large Seaforium Charge in addition to the lockpick ability.
• Deadmines
  • The “cannon door” can now be opened with a Small Seaforium Charge in addition to the lockpick ability.

Patch 1.2.0 (21 December 2005)

• New Dungeon - Maraudon
  • In the vast gray of Desolace lies the earthen tomb of Zaetar, fallen Keeper of the Grove and son of Cenarius. Zaetar rejected his Keeper heritage when he joined with the princess of the chaotic earth elementals, Theradras. Their unholy union gave birth to the misshapen and cursed centaur, who promptly slew their father or his part in their misbegotten creation. Fearful of Cenarius’ wrath, the grief-stricken Theradras sequestered her dead lover’s body in her secret sanctuary, the Crystal Caverns of Therramok, where she watches over him to this day. Travelers who come to Desolace have little trouble spotting Zaetar’s tomb, for the blessing of nature that permeates his being transformed his resting place into a verdant paradise of flora and tranquil pools. Today, this tomb is now trodden by the hooves of Zaetar’s children, who have claimed this great cavern as their sacred stronghold Maraudon.

  Maraudon, a level 40-49 dungeon in Desolace, is now open and ready for business.

Patch 1.1.1 (17 November 2005)

• New Raid Encounters
  • Rumors of Onyxia, an enormous black dragon, have been heard through out Azeroth. Be sure to bring many brave warriors for she won’t take kindly to intruders in her lair. Both factions will need to complete unique, and challenging quests to gain access to the Onyxia encounter.
• Discovered in the heart of Blackrock Mountain beyond the Depths, lies the Molten Core. Within the Molten Core lives a multitude of ancient and powerful evil. Adventurers be ware, for the dangers found within the Molten Core are many and takes many forms