Isle of the Thunder King: Unlock Schedule

Pandaria, her hills of gold
In dark and mournful times of old
Did once a hopeless horror hold

When from her sacred vale did spring
With storm and flash, a monstrous thing!
His name, Lei Shen: The Thunder King.

World of Warcraft Path 5.2: The Thunder King is almost here. The Kirin-Tor Offensive, led by Jaina Proudmoore, and the Sunreaver Onslaught, championed by Lor’themar Theron, are converging on the Isle of the Thunder King to topple the first emperor before he can wreak havoc across Pandaria. Their campaign will march slowly across the island, unlocking new content over time.

We’re ready to test the full breadth of the island, and that’s where you come in: Players who participate on the Public Test Realm can enjoy an accelerated unlock schedule, blasting from the beach to the shores and into the Thunder King’s inner citadel in a matter of a few short weeks. By participating, you’ll be a great asset to Jaina and Lor’themar. More importantly, you’ll help us knock out any nasty problems with the island and its progression before we go live.

Transfer over a character and report to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms for instructions !

Below is a tentative unlock schedule. This is of course subject to change and does not reflect patch release dates.

Active – PTR set to stage 0. The Sunreavers and Kirin-Tor will besiege the island from offshore.
Feb 8 – PTR set to Stage 1. You’ll be able to conquer a foothold on the island itself.
Feb 12– PTR set to stage 2. With your help, Jaina and Lor’themar will blast the walls and infiltrate the outer city.
Feb 15– PTR set to stage 3. Daring players can infiltrate the mines and blast open the doors to the Thunder Forge.
Feb 19 – PTR set to stage 4. Block further Zandalari reinforcements by overtaking the shipyard.
Feb 22 – PTR set to stage 5. Fight your way to the Thunder King’s front door! Jaina and Lor’themar will have a ... reckoning.

So I guess this means we won't see Patch 5.2 go live before Feb. 26...

EDIT: just saw the bit about "doesn't reflect patch release dates"...but seems unlikely that it'll go live until all the testing is over.

EDIT #2: Also, the Feb 19 entry should say "Block further Zandalari reinforcements..." not "Black..." :)

Thanks for the catch. It's been fixed.

02/07/2013 01:12 PMPosted by Divr

Question for you Nethaera. With the wording for Stage 5, does this indicate that the Raid itself will not be open until the push has progressed to where we are "at the Thunder Kings front door" making the launch of the raid 2+ weeks after the launch of the patch itself?

As far as I'm aware (last I heard caveat and all that) the Island unlocks do not affect the Raid availability. The Island unlocks will affect some other things (of course.)