The Runic Athenaeum is the area where the Tier 3 Raid encounters are currently located on the Public Test Shard (“PTS”), and given the new porticulum there – it is likely to remain as a location for content when it appears on the Live servers.
Dev Cyzo has hinted that lower-level content will be included in the library and Dev MikeD indicated that the underwater tunnel located prior to the Runic Athenaeum in the cave will be updated and used for some kind of Patch 2.7 content.
It will be interesting to see what type of content this involves.
Speculation
Lower-level Content
Is the lower-level content Dev Cyzo hints at a questchain running through the cave, or is it more concentrated on – say – the lower levels of the Runic Athenaeum?
“A fair point about the porticulum except there are some ideas in the works to make low level content in the library so there has to be a way for characters that can’t make it through Moonshade to still get there.”
This quote seems to indicate the Library itself. In which case it is possible that they could add additional portals to the Mid and Lower levels of the library just as they have done for Bindings of Akylios and Bindings of Greenscale on the Top floor.
The place is pretty big and can easily fit a ton of new portals – either on the corners or even right in front of each book-shelf scattered across the place.
Perhaps lower-level versions of previous raid encounters could be added in – employing the same boss-by-boss weekly lockout that is likely to be possible with the Tier 3 raids.
They could potentially also ‘link’ up the Library’s layout so that the Upper Floor Portal is the Raid version of the instance whilst the Mid Floor Portal right below it is a Chronicle version.
The Water Tunnel
Prior to reaching Runic Athenaeum, inside the cave there’s an underwater tunnel that leads to a dead end. Dev MikeD hinted in an reply to a player on the forums that this tunnel would be used in Patch 2.7.
P.S. Are you guys planning to expand the underwater tunnel just before the Runic Athenaeum (3.0 Content)? Or willing to give any heads up on what this will be for? ;3
– Byaku
2.7
This could potentially be a path to a new underwater dungeon. The end of the tunnel could even be opened up and extended to another opening. The sinister voices and Drekanoth of Fate that appears with Greenscale is likely to appear with the other dragons as well for Tier 3 raids.
Potentially the underwater tunnel could be a pre-3.0 test of how players respond to a dungeon that employs underwater mechanics; something that hasn’t been done yet outside of the Zone Event boss in the underwater questchain on Ember Isle (which employs a bubble mechanic).
Will be interesting to see how this plays out and even though Patch 2.6 hasn’t come out to Live yet, Patch 2.7 already looks like it’s going to be quite interesting.
RiftGrate 
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