Phase 2 of WotLK Classic is about to get underway, seeing us return to patch 3.1, and unearthing the Secrets of Ulduar on January 19. In today's Ulduar preparation guide, we'll be going you through all the big features to expect with this major content patch, including a legendary raid, new mounts, collectables, and a whole new Titan Rune Dungeon mode, things to prepare for Ulduar WotLK phase 2.

Ulduar Preparation Guide: 5 Things You Should Know Before Starting Ulduar WotLK Phase 2 

• 1. Ulduar Raid

The new raid, Ulduar. An ancient titan facility high above in the Storm Peaks, a place of mystery and wonder, as well as the prison to a monster. Get ready to put your raiding teams progression pants on because this raid has a substantial difficulty curve when compared to Naxrammas or any other Wrath content so far. Or it can do if you want it to. It's up to what you and your team feel like taking on that week. One of the great things about Ulduar to experience will be that its WoW's first and only ever raid to feature “hardmode” as an alternative difficulty. This is different from heroic or mythic in that you have to complete certain actions usually within an encounter to activate hardmode, instead of choosing the raid difficulty before you start. On XT deconstructor for example you need to nuke down the heart within a 30 second window, causing the boss's HP to reset as well as gaining more powerful abilities. On Mimiron, you go and push the huge red button and it causes fire to spawn in the arena, making a positioning heavy boss a lot more complicated. Then, you could just do normal mode to get to grips with the bosses and their mechanics, and go and do hardmode after you have a bit more experience and loot under the belt. It's not just “hardmodes” making Ulduar harder either. This raid will be set to its “pre-nerf” configuration for all boss encounters. And as someone who has tested the changes on the PTR, you aren't going to be walking over all the hardmode encounters week 1, if not for many weeks for that matter. But, to help us take on the greater challenge, gear from Ulduar has also been buffed across the board.

• 2. Raid Loot Changes

All normal mode loot has been bumped up by 6 item levels and all hardmode, including Algalon's loot and Val'anyr by 13 item levels. This isn't just to make the raid easier faster though, it's also there to keep Ulduar relevant for longer. In 2009, Ulduar was the current raid for a couple of months before ToC came along and totally decimated its loot table. Players found little reason to revisit Ulduar since ToC was frankly, a much easier raid, and a better source of upgrades. Looking back now days, many players really loved Ulduar, so this time, it's going to remain in the spotlight for a little longer, as it deserves. 

• 3. Titan Rune Dungeons

Phase 2 will also see an all-new dungeon mode difficult called Titan Rune Dungeons. Inside of all heroic dungeons there will now be a Mysterious Device. If all 5 players in the dungeon channel it, it will activate the new difficulty. This will increase the health and damage of all enemies present in the instance, as well as provide a thematic affix to shake things up a little bit. In the Utgarde dungeons for example, enemies can apply Glaciate, a debuff that deals rapid damage that players have to move to get rid of, or in CoS, enemies can apply a debuff that will turn players into a zombie if they cant find a cure in time – just like the one from the Wrath Prepatch. Now whilst these dungeons will certainly be harder than regular Wrath heroics, its no mythic+ with an ever scaling challenge. But it gives a good alternative path to gearing for newer characters and gives us reasons to go back and find a fresh way to take on this content, which back in original Wrath didn’t find a huge purpose outside of being a source of emblems. During phase 2 updates will also be coming to tier 7 raiding loot tables so Naxxramas, Obsidian Sanctum and Eye of Eternity. What will happen is tier-7 25 player content will begin dropping extra items. The tier-7 25 player loot tables will be moved to tier-7 10 player raids, and the tier-7 10 player loot tables will be moved into the new Titan Rune Dungeons that we just went over. Imagine each tier of loot moving one set down from where it is at the moment. That’s the easy way to think about it. All Titan Run Dungeons will also drop tier-7 10 player raiding loot with a final boss also able to drop tier tokens. For the main characters, Titan Rune Dungeons will be of interest too as the daily heroic on this difficulty will also drop a bag that contains 3 emblems of conquest which everyone will want for gear upgrades come Ulduar. Whether it’s seeking upgrades on a fresh character or a new challenge on a main, there are plenty of reasons to check out Titan Rune Dungeons. Outside of raiding and dungeon content, the huge empty area in northern icecrown will start to see some action. 

• 4. The Argent Tournament

The construction of the Argent Tournament Grounds is now well underway. During this state, some of the features this area has will be available and some won't. You'll probably remember this area being a little bit different and having everything unlocked. Here's what will be in and won't be in for phase 2 and what you should expect to look forward to in a future content phase. You will be able to start off your journey towards becoming a champion for each of your faction capitals. This will involve lots of questing and running around the whole of Northrend as well as on horseback. 

First as an Aspirant, then a Valiant, and finally a Champion. This also means you can collect the seals which are needed in abundance for the various mounts, pet and toy rewards as well as the item level 200 catch up gear. And don’t forget you need to be exalted with each faction capital to in order to get their respective titles. The meta achievement of Crusader won’t be in the game yet but you can prepare a great deal of the work that goes into that in advance. Also joining Phase 2 will be the blastbolt brother dailies to help build the coliseum. Think of it as doing your part and getting some gold for it at the same time. There isn’t a server wide requirement to do these in order to progress the event, however, like there was during the Isle of QD in TBC though. The start of the mysterious black knight quest chain will be in the game too. All of this will be in preparation to set up the tournament grounds for next phase at which point the argent dailies and rewards as well as the silver covenant and sunreavers sanctum dailies and rewards will become available alongside the new raid and dungeon. 

• 5. PvP Season 6

The last thing you should know before Ulduar release is the PvP Arena season 6, and furious gladiator's gear sets and weapons will become available and the top gladiators will also be able to earn the new Furious Gladiators title and mount. Alongside the changes to gear in Ulduar, all PvP gear across the board will be buffed by 6 to 13 ilvls, so that the hard earned gear from PvP remains a great option in that content. 

And that's what to expect from Ulduar phase 2 of Wrath Classic, so whether it's PvE, PvP or collections, there should be something for everyone.