I had every intention of continuing on with our Hunter Gear for Leveling series today, I really did. But then I took my weekly (or thereabouts) jaunt over to MMO-Champion to see what was up, and came across something that I actually got excited about: the new 5-man in Icecrown. Or, more specifically, the loot from the new 5-man in Icecrown. So instead, today we’re going to talk about the new loot being seen on the PTR for the upcoming Patch 3.3.

I’m sure I’m not the only one that was excited when Blizzard decided to introduce epic pieces to the normal 5-man loot tables. Sure, the hardcore crowd probably wasn’t so psyched (and I’ve been in those shoes before, so I know how they feel), but for casual (or rather, anti-social) players like myself, it’s really good news. So imagine the tiny “SQUEE!” moment I had when I saw this:

Now, there are a couple reasons why I was excited to see this piece. First and foremost, I had a girly moment where I was like “That looks freakin’ awesome!” and then my brain said to me, “You know, Lass, you hate your current stat-stick…” and I was sold.

I’m currently using what I once deemed a “Crappy Hold-Over Till I Get Something Better Next Week” staff: The Undeath Carrier. I’ve hated that staff from the moment I got it several months ago, but figured that I would replace it soon enough since I was raiding regularly at the time. Well, I stopped raiding regularly, then I fell behind the gear curve, and so I’ve been stuck with that poop-pole for a while now. You can imagine, then, how excited I am at the prospect of being able to replace it with a slight upgrade with relative ease. And the upgrade looks cool as all get-out! So yes, I’m happy about the Tower of the Mouldering Corpse.

In addition to the snazzy new staff, there are several new pieces of loot from the PTR worth checking out this round. There will be three new 5-man instances added in Patch 3.3:

• Icecrown Citadel: Halls of Reflection
• Icecrown Citadel: Pit of Saron
• Icecrown Citadel: The Forge of Souls

The following is a list of loot from these three new 5-man instances that Hunters may find useful.

Normal-Mode

• Crypt Fiend Slayer
• Rimebane Rifle
• Hate-Forged Cleaver
• Soulscalper
• Krick’s Beetle Stabber
• Tower of the Mouldering Corpse
• Muddied Boots of Brill
• Horns of the Spurned Val’kyr
• Frostworn Bone Leggings
• Scabrous Zombie Leather Belt
• Gondria’s Spectral Bracer
• Ring of Carnelian and Bone
• Accursed Crawling Cape

Heroic-Mode

• Felglacier Bolter
• Orca-Hunter’s Harpoon
• Nighttime
• Blood Weeper
• Seven-Fingered Claws
• Frostsworn Bone Chestpiece
• Spiked Toestompers
• Hoarfrost Gauntlets
• Eyes of Bewilderment
• Spurned Val’kyr Shoulderguards
• Belt of Rotted Fingernails
• Essence of Suffering
• Band of Stained Souls
• Barbed Ymirheim Choker
• Needle-Encrusted Scorpion

So it looks like casual (or anti-social, as the case may be) hunters will have a lot to look forward to for possible upgrades with the new patch.

Happy Hunting!