Reader comments — ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. With raiders prancing around blue posts like nervous Nellies and even casual players holding their breath in anticipation of Patch 3.3, comments can take on a particularly volatile tone. It’s times like these when we most appreciate reminders of how WoW’s players, not the game mechanics, are what actually make the game the compelling community that it is. Colleen: I’m the infamous Nythyx in one of [Tazeria's] stories. My character was getting constantly flamed on the server; seriously, it was bad. People really didn’t like me, and I was trying to figure out how to remedy the situation. Someone suggested that I send Taz a tell and ask her to incorporate me into one of her stories. All these forum trolls and trade chat trolls would say, “Who’s Nythyx?” whenever they saw me, so Taz figured out a way to make it truly funny instead of hurtful. I’ll always appreciate her doing that for me. =) More reader comments from the week at WoW.com, after the break. Loken Shockwaves

Blizzard has just released a lengthy statement on the way the new Icecrown raid in patch 3.3 will be progressively accessed. Some of the key points: Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. “Several weeks” until the next encounters become available. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. The same goes for 25 mans. This means no heroic Icecrown until after the Lich King is defeated, which will apparently be, at the earliest, in a couple of months. The four most difficult bosses have a limited number of attempts on them each week. Once those attempts are gone, you have to wait another week to try again. There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about the armor penetration and crit caps, and what they mean for rogues. The topic of Armor Penetration and how it plays into a rogue’s gearing plan is definitely the topic I’ve received the most requests to cover. It’s been well-researched by the great folks at Elitist Jerks, and even though it will be completely gone in Cataclysm, there’s still a lot of interest in how it works. The terms ‘hard cap’, ’soft cap’, and ‘arp cap’ are thrown around a lot and can be confusing if you’ve never done a deep-dive into the mechanic. I also received a question regarding the rogue crit cap on the WoW.com podcast the other weekend, and decided to include it in this investigation. While a few high end rogues are already brushing up against it, many rogues are wondering how the crit cap will affect them come Icecrown’s plethora of high ilvl loot. Like any of the other caps, the crit cap needs to be seriously evaluated when trying to choose upgrades. Read on for details of both mechanics. Armor

I think this is an interesting post by Grancran over on the official forums. We’ve already talked about how Blizzard is revamping the newbie experience in upcoming releases (including the next patch and the expansion), but he wants to know: for whom? Sure, there are going to be lots and lots of people going through the starting experience again when the expansion rolls around, both because of the new class combinations and the new races, but all of those people have already played the game. Why update a tutorial system when the majority of gamers have already played WoW? It’s an interesting question. Neth answers pretty tamely, saying that we were all noobs at one point, and that they want to make the starting areas as welcome as possible. But the question remains: is Blizzard expecting an influx of new players at some point in the future? If so (and why else would they completely revamp the tutorial system and starting experience in a five year old game?), we have to wonder where they’ll come from. Will Cataclysm bring in a swarm of new players? I’d think that it would bring some people back to the game, but I’d assume that most regular gamers have already played World of Warcraft and/or one of

You know how like Michael Bay wanted Transformers to be a story about a boy and his car? Or how John Carpenter made a film about one teen’s dangerous obsession with a murderous car? Well, the World of Warcraft version is about to come to life — or unlife — when patch 3.3 finally goes up. MMO Champion has uncovered model files for Invincible, the Lich King’s personal steed. As the datamining suggests — “Invincible – Summons and dismisses the flying undead horse Invincible. This mount changes depending on your Riding skill and location.” — players might actually have a shot at obtaining what is, in my humble opinion, the most badass pixel-by-pixel mount in the game. Ever. The horse has some serious lore to it, too. As many players have already discovered, Invincible has an unearthed grave in the game located near the Balnir Farmstead in Tirisfal Glades. The tombstone reads: INVINCIBLE Beloved steed of Prince Arthas Menethil Loyal and great of heart in life, may you find peace in death. Pure streams and green pastures, devoted friend. Yeah. The horse was so badass even in life that Arthas, as soon as he murders his own father, goes straight out to his old horse’s

Our podcast brings the usual tricks and treats this afternoon — before you head out in a costume to go get some real candy, be sure to stop by our Ustream page around 3:30pm Eastern and get some ear candy first. Turpster and I will welcome Eddie “Brigwyn” Carrington and another WoW.com writer to chat about the most popular posts on the site this week. On the docket, we’ll have the new patch 3.3 notes, hints at things to come, why pallies are up in arms (and why they don’t have too much to worry about), and the new looting system and what disenchanters think of it. And as usual we’ll be reading your emails and chatting live with folks in the chat channel, as well as the usual preshow and aftershow (I’ve heard a lot of feedback about those lately — people seem to like them). You can join us live on the Ustream page, in the embedded feed below the break, or even in the Ustream iPhone app, if you don’t happen to be at home near a full computer. It all begins at 3:30pm Eastern this Halloween afternoon — see you then!