Burning Crusade will scale from 60-80, Wrath from 60-80, Cata from 80-90, Mists 80-90. You can pick one, level through it, swap between the two, and this applies to dungeons and all rewards along the way. Since it’s an upgrade to the game, it’ll be coming sooner. It’ll be arriving on the PTR within a few weeks and get it into your hands ASAP. The Battle for Azeroth is a battle between the Horde and the Alliance for control of our world, but it’s also a battle in which we will all be asked to stand up and safeguard our world, fight for its survival. In the aftermath of the Legion’s attack, our world is actually direly wounded. Magni, speaker for Azeroth, speaker for her world soul, will reach out to us as some of her greatest champions and summon us where we will commune with the World Soul at the very beginning of our journey, and we will receive a gift, a gift from Azeroth herself. An artifact quality medallion called the Heart of Azeroth. Your artifact weapons will be consigned to history, they’ll receive a proper send off, but your companion in your journey in the Battle for Azeroth, will be this medallion, known as the Heart of Azeroth. As Azeroth herself suffers, as she bleeds, her life essence actually seeps out. It’s incredibly powerful, it's a substance known as Azerite. The unique property of this medallion is that as you encounter Azerite, when you come across it, a portion of that power will be incorporated, reconstituted, in this medallion. Unlike Legion, this artifact isn’t something you're going to customize doesn't’ have a huge trait tree to it, but what it does do is it serves as an incredibly potent power source that will unlock latent properties in pieces of armor you’re going to come across and acquire in your journey.- Early UI Concept Art (Helmet). These concentric circles each reflect tiers of power, you can choose one tier from each ring, one power from each ring. Your ability to access these tiers, to unlock them, will depend on how strong your amulet is. A more powerful helmet will require more levels in your amulet to equip, to access. In this world, each piece of armor (in a handful of slots we select, we have three in mind) will offer a potential for customization and choice in a handcrafted way, these are not random traits unlike the netherlight crucible. A helm is a helm is a helm, and you can pick what you want to suit your playstyle and our needs as you travel through the world. Island ExpeditionsWarfrontsPvP UpdatesSeething ShoreNow this battleground is located just off the coast of Silthus. For some reason, the Alliance and the Horde that this barren stretch of desert is worth fighting over. I don’t know why, there’s nothing interesting going on in Silithus, but for some reason, commanders of both factions decided to go fight over it. For some reason, there’s a lot of Azerite bubbling to the surface and this becomes a natural point of contention. This becomes a new type of battleground that has dynamic control points. Imagine Arathi Basin if there were multiple possible flag locations, and you never knew exactly where a control point was going to spawn, you had to adapt and you had to move. Each of those crystal nodes on the map is a potential point where an Azerite infusion could occur, 3 active at a time, so as you’re skirmishing over control of one and see one’s popped up on the opposite side of the map, you have to decide who’s going to break off to contest the new one and who is going to stay to fight for the current one. DungeonsFreeholdAtal'DazarRaids
0 Comments
The lines of battles have been drawn, and it’s hard to remain neutral in Azeroth going forward. You will reach out to these new allies, see what problems they have, and see if they will join your faction. Play through the story of how Thalyssra and the Nightborne come to join the Horde, or how Alleria and her crack elite squad of elves that she has trained to harness the power of the void come to make their home in the Alliance, hardening the rift between her and her sister. Once you do, you will unlock the ability to make that allied race as a new character across your account. We need to tell this story to understand why they joined the faction, to see where they’re coming from. You can race change once you’ve unlocked the option, or boost them. At the same time, we don’t want to make you feel like that’s the only option, so if you’ve leveled from 20 to max level, you get a cosmetic set of armor to show what you’ve done and what you’ve accomplished. One nice thing about the cosmetic armor sets, these are universal. So if you played a dwarven caster and always wished you had a more battlemage look, you could transmog the mail and show it off. We are looking to take level zone scaling and expand it to the entirety of the World of Warcraft. There will be a couple little differences between how it plays out here and how it plays out in Legion. Within these regions, there are level minimums and maximum levels for two reasons. If you’re a level one undead, a Forsaken starting off in Tirisfal Glades, we think it's important that when you look eastwards towards the Plaguelands, there’s a little bit of terror there. That’s a scary, dangerous place, you’re not strong enough to go there, and if you try, welcome bear will be there to hug you and send you back to the graveyard. On the other hand, if you’re a seasoned adventurer coming back from Northrend and you go to Elwynn forest and find that the wolves and bandits are a match for you, that undermines your progression. So we’re thinking about a structure more like Westfall scales from 10-60, imagine Burning Steppes scales from 40-60. You’re never going to outlevel the zone while you’re in it, but there is some level of progression. Once you move past the entire expansion, you’re going to feel like you have surpassed it and that you are more powerful. AllianceHordeTranscription from World of Warcraft | What's Next We are here today to talk about the Battle for Azeroth and prepare you for the coming war. The cinematic reinforces the foundations of Azeroth. Whether we’re fighting the burning legion, the scourge, the old gods, dragons, the elemental gods, or yes, time traveling orcs, our hearts and minds are with our factions. We do what we do in this world, first and foremost, for the Horde and for the Alliance.That makes us the champions of Azeroth, the greatest hope the world has ever known, and also it’s biggest threat. To get to the battle for Azeroth, you’re going to have to go through the battle for Lordaeron. Like the Broken Shore, we’ll pick up where the cinematic left off. And what goes down that day will change Warcraft history forever. You might ask, why would the Alliance attack the Undercity? Here’s a better question, why would the Horde burn down Teldrassil? Did Teldrassil fall first, and lead to the attack on Undercity? Or was the burning of Teldrassil a response to the bold attack of the Alliance on Lordaeron. The stage is set for an Alliance controlled Eastern Kingdoms and a Horde controlled Kalimdor, with one great big sea separating the two continents. In our search for victory, we will search out the Kul tirans for the Alliance and the Zandalari for the Horde. Coincidentally, both of these nations have extremely powerful navies, which we’re going to need to span that great sea. No matter who fired the first shot, we are in an all out war. It’s our duty, as Alliance, as Horde, to defend our people, our families, and our homes. This is the Battle for Azeroth Kul TirasKul Tiras was founded 3000 years ago when a group of Gilneans left the old empire to explore the Great Sea. They came upon this cold, mountainous island rich with natural resources and decided to settle in. Over the course of the next 2500 years, the Kul Tirans built the most powerful navy on Azeroth, a navy that the Alliance really really wants. Kul Tiras is ruled by four houses, which we’ll find out are in a bit of trouble. Before we can get Kuil Tiras to join us, we’ll have to help them with their problems. Kul Tiras is broken up into three main regions. We have Tiragarde Sound in the middle, the Drustvar in the Southwest, and Stormsong Valley in the North. Tiragarde SoundTiragarde Sound sits on an inlet in the middle of the continent that connects the Great Seas, and it’s the main connection point for all of the main zones. Within Tiragarde, we’ll find the capital of Kul Tiras, Boralis. This will also be the Alliance’s main base of operations for the Battle for Azeroth. This will be your hub. Now, I mentioned that Kul Tiras is ruled by four houses. When we get to Tiragarde, we’ll meet the first of the four houses, led by a familiar name. Proudmoore. Meet Katherine PRoudmoore, this is Jaina’s mother, she is 100% not a dreadlord.Kul Tirans by nature are monster hunters, specifically big nasty sea monsters, which has naturally led to a much hardier breed of human, like this big fellow here. I also mentioned that each zone has their own problem. In Tiragarde, one of the problems is pirates. Normally, the outlaws of Kul Tiras hang out in the pirate city of Freehold, but in recent months, they’ve gotten a little bold and have started to attack Tiragarde Sound. DrustvarDrustvar is a forrested, mountainous region located in the Southwest of Kul Tiras. Lord and Lady Waycrest govern this region, but in recent months, they’ve been suspiciously absent in recent affairs. This has been a huge problem for the people who call this place home. This absence has also put a stop to the main contribution that Drustvar makes to Kul Tiras, which is arms and sausages. Now as we’re exploring Drustvar and trying to uncover the mystery of the missing Waycrests, and restore order and sausages, we’ll find that the land is cursed. You can play it today on the playable floor demo. Stormsong ValleyUnlike Tiragarde Sound and Drustvar, Stormsong Valley is lush, green, and beautiful. The area is ruled by House Stormsong, and the people of this region are devoted to the sea with a fanatical religious fervour. They’re lead by a group call the Sea Priests. It’s through Stormsong and the Sea Priests that the mighty Kul Tiran’s Navy is built. Every ship, every piece that goes into every ship, must first be blessed by the Sea Priests before the vessel can be deemed seaworthy. They take their ship building really, really seriously. Now, when we get to Stormsong, we’ll find that shipbuilding operations have come to a stop as ancient dark forces are attacking from the sea. And Quilboars. Lots and lots of Quilboars. ZandalarNow, without a doubt, Troll civilizations are some of the oldest on Azeroth, and the Zandalri empire is no exception, having been formed some 16,000 years ago. Now the island we know as Zandalar today was once a landlocked mountain range, but the sundering changed all of that when the mountains and most of the empire sank into the sea. The trolls are a hardy and resourceful race. They adapted to island life, and over thousands of years, mastered the seas. Today, the Zandarli has a navy that rivals, if not surpasses, the Kul Tirans, which makes them a very attractive ally for the Horde in the Battle for Azeroth. When we arrive there,we’ll find that things aren’t going great for the Zandalari and before we can get them to join us, we’re going to need to restore some order. Like Kul Tiras, Zandar is broken up into three main regions. Zuldazar in the south, Nazmir in the Northeast, and Vol’dun in the northwest. ZuldazarZuldazar is the capital city of the Zandalari and the only safe refuge the Zandalari have in this region. They’re not only being attacked from outside their borders, but also from within. This will also be the capital of the Horde in this expansion as they try to keep this empire from falling apart. When we first arrive at Zuldazar, we will meet king Rastakhan and his daughter, the mighty Princess Talangee. With her, we will investigate a potential uprising from within the city. If that weren’t enough, troll invaders from the north, from Nazmir, are hammering the borders of Zuldazar, making things really hard for the Zandalari. NazmirNow, before the cataclysm, Nazmir was a lush forest. When Deathwing broke the world, he shook something loose and Nazmir began sinking into the sea. Now it’s a wretched, festering swamp, which, turns out, is the perfect environment for the Blood Trolls to thrive in, the same blood trolls attacking Zuldazar. To defeat the Blood Trolls, we’re going to need to enlist the aid of powerful Loa. (Loa are basically gods to the trolls). Frog mount! As we’re digging through the muck in Nazmir, we will uncover ancient titan secret and a titan facility. Inside that facility, there might hold the key to destroying all life on Azeroth. On the floor is a Nazmir Playable Demo. Vol'dunVul’dun was once a jungle, but all that changed when the Akir, this mighty, savage, group of old god minions attacked this region thousands of years ago, leaving nothing but desert and ruin in their wake. What do the Zandalari do with an uninhabitable desert? Well, they use it to send off their criminals to. Most of them die, most of them. Now, as we explore Vul’dun, we will come across a native race of fox people, known as the Vulpera which we will be compelled to help due to just how cute and cuddly they are.
Vul’dun has its share of baddies as well, such as the Sethrak, who will make sure that your stay here is unpleasant. It's been a while since I've had to raid lead; nearly eight years, at this point. I ran a raid briefly during the start of the Wrath of the Lich King (hereafter WotLK) expansion, but the lack of coordination present from my raiders, despite hours and nights of failing to complete the same boss, resulted in so much frustration for me.
As a result, it's not something I prefer to do. In fact, I shy away from it as much as possible, unless it literally becomes the only option for a group to become successful. I'm a reluctant leader. I'd much rather be second in command than first. Somehow, I've managed to find myself in a leadership position in Legion. It all began when I joined a community Normal Nighthold run, and the group got stuck on Botanist. Since my main raid team had already progressed past Heroic Botanist, it was super easy for me to help out and do some raid calling. Since then, it's continued, though I now have a lovely group of people to share the burden of leading when it gets too heavy or, truthfully, too frustrating for me to deal with. Having a raid leading team of five people for a team of 25 seems to be working great. We have two leaders in charge of our healing team, and then three of us in charge of everything else. Two of us switch between doing actual raid calls, and another two distribute loot from the bosses efficiently using RC Loot Council/EPGP. One thing that seems to really help out the raid in having a successful night is to not be afraid of using the in-game markers. We do struggle occasionally with content that should be on farm, so using markers really helps people figure out where they are on the battlefield. It gives the players a concrete point where they can move to or away from. As an example, check out what happens on the Demonic Inquisition. The markers really helped to prevent people from standing in the one area they shouldn't. It may have been a bit of an overkill, but, better safe than sorry, right? If you're a casual raid team and you're struggling with mechanics, think of some crazy ways to either explain them, or creative ways to maneuver your raid team so that you can get that boss kill, and move one step closer to stopping the Burning Legion! Honestly, this is probably their best expansion since MoP.This expansion is super well thought out and put together. The story line is great, each zone has its own struggles and unique quest line to take you through it, and even your professions give you a different set of quests and story. They've added great catch-up mechanics for people who are either new to the game or have taken a break for a few months, so that you never feel like you're months behind the curve. For a casual experience, this is probably the most friendly expansion to date. For a hardcore player, Legion can take up a lot of your time. There are so many ways you can maximize your character, and they all take up a fair chunk of time. You can run Mythic + dungeons and pray for that perfectly itemized piece of gear that's better than anything the current raid can deliver. You can keep pushing out artifact power until you've completely maxed out all three of your weapons, because every % counts when it comes to Mythic Raiding. Honestly, there's just SO MUCH to do in Legion that it can be kind of overwhelming sometimes, if you think about it too much. For me, I still do heroic/mythic raiding, but I absolutely do not farm Artifact Power through running Mythic dungeons and every single World Quest I possibly can. Does this put me behind my fellow raiders? Technically, yes, it does, but my class (Arcane Mage/BM Hunter) has the capacity to allow for high DPS even if you're behind by a few points in your Artifact Weapon. As long as you have Concordance, you should be fine, even if you aren't spending every available moment pumping up the proc. Which brings me back to Legion overall. Overall, this is a great expansion. I'm loving that we're back to fighting the Legion instead of Orcs, and I'm super excited to go to Argus. The only thing I love more than fighting the Legion is fighting the Old Gods, which will more than likely be a part of the next expansion. There's a lot to do in Legion, but you really shouldn't pressure yourself to do it all. It's just there so that, if you want, you will always have something to do. There's absolutely no reason to push yourself to finish every world quest, get that +15 Mythic dungeon every week unless it's what you want to do. So don't stress about missed Emissary Caches, and just enjoy the immersive expansion. I never realized...... that the reason she looks so ridiculous is due to bugs. That's why her eyes are so big? Because they haven't fixed it, and it's because of a bug? The pictures where her eyes are smaller and appropriate make me be able to tolerate the rest, like her perpetual grimace. Check out this thread for more information on Worgen Females, and the issues with their appearance. While I don't necessarily agree with the updated hair models or the more wolfy look, I DO like the eyes. The eyes can make all the difference. I don't see why the male worgen get unique eye colours, but the females get shafted with giant, bulbous eyes that lack in colour and originality. The male worgen are clearly appropriately sized in terms of eye-face ratio, what happened with the females? If it's a bug, why has it not been fixed in four, almost five, years? Snuzzle says:All I care about is fixing her bugs. Even with the awful casting animations, this would make me reconsider playing a worgen. Even if we didn't get the eye colours back, this looks so much better than how she does now. Check out this gallery for some of the stuff Worgens got cut out of the game :(
https://www.flickr.com/photos/67260154@N04/10894699834/in/album-72157628824360509/ This is a partial transcript of the description of the lore/new zones. It's not a complete one, because he tends to pander and go "um" enough that it gets annoying ,so I skip out most of the parts where he's just repeating himself or talking to the crowd and it's not particularly relevant to the topic he is describing. The rest is word for word. Note: Tha'Dranath was not mentioned during the initial presentation. New Zones/Lore
The LoreLegion takes place on the Broken Isles. This is a land at the heart of Azeroth that is long forgotten. 10,000 years ago, before the Great Sundering, this whole area was a vast, bustling Night Elf civilization. What we have now, after the world was destroyed, is the bones of that civilization. So this content, in it's entirety, is a graveyard of sorts. And it's on this continent that we will discover the Tomb of Sargeras. The Tomb of SargerasNow, the tomb is an active gateway to endless Legion worlds, thanks to Guldan. A demonic invasion, bigger than the War of the Ancients, is currently underway. I repeat this. This is the biggest demonic invasion of Azeroth, ever. And what are we going to do about it? Are we going to sit around? We're going to fight! That's right! Because that's what we do! And to do that, we're going to track down the source of this invasion at the broken shore and take the fight to Guldan and his demonic armies. And after a glorious battle at the tomb of Sargeras, our story will begin. So this whole thing will actually start before the expansion even officially launches. The broken shore experience is like the assault on the dark portal for warlords, but structured completely differently to help tell the story a little bit better. So one of the things that [I think] is going to happen after this experience is every single person in this room who has played wow in the last 5-10 years is going to be really, really surprised and shocked. I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate on twitter about that. World on Fire, classes band togetherOnce the dust settles, after the Broken Shore, we will wake up to a world on fire, and probably a massive headache. But we're not going to let a headache stop us from saving our world. Oh yes, we will wield, we will hoist up, the fabled artifacts of those we have lost and those who have lost hope, and we will attempt to restore peace to a world on the brink of annihilation. To help do that, we will form class orders, powerful class orders, or really old ones, like the Silverhand. Demon HuntersWe're going to need all the help we can get to fight the Burning Legion. And who better than Demon Hunters? I mean, it's in their name. But to do that properly for us, we need to establish context. Cuz guys, the last time we faced demon hunters at all, they all wanted to kill us, mostly. And after this, they may still want to kill us a little bit. So, we will see, through Illidan's eyes, the story of the Demon Hunters, the Illidari. We will go back to the moment during the siege of the Black Temple where we see Illidan send his demon hunter Illidari back on a special mission. So, anyone play BC in here? So you guys remember back in BC when we were running up to BT in the halls, and we were all excited to take out Illidan, and we were praying for War Glaives to drop, well, Illidan had other things going on in the background. Like sending his best, most elite Demon Hunters on a suicide mission. So we'll go through their past, to hte demonic prison world of Marduun. This is the world that Sargeras created, when he was a good titan, to hold all of the demons he captured in the entirety of the universes. And when Sargeras went bad, this is the world he shattered, and released what would become the Burning Legion. We'll go there, and we'll come into the present, where we will go through the secret halls of the Vault of the Wardens. And when all's said and done, we will learn what it means to be a Demon Hunter and understand the true meaning of sacrifice. We'll turn into awesome metamorphasized Demon Hunters. But guys, this is Warcraft, and I did say that this is the biggest Legion invasion we have ever faced. So I don't know if artifacts and Demon Hunters are gonna be enough. We're gonna have to turn to the big guy in the sky, or the big guys and gals in the sky, and I'm talking about the Titans. TitansWe're gonna scour the Broken Isles for the Pillars of Creation. These are titan relics that were used to shape the world when it was young, when it was first born. And it's only with these relics that we can close this gateway, this womb, at the heart of the Tomb of Sargeras. Now, speaking of help. Dalaran, and the Mages of the Kirin Tor, now led by Khadgar, will also be joining us, and that means Dalaran will be coming to the Borken Isles and becoming a main hub for players for this expansion. Let's hear some love for Dalaran. Now, can't say where Jainna went, but she was pissed off when she went. Now, let's talk about some zones, in no particular order. Val'SharahOur quest to defeat the Burning Legion goes to Val'sharah. Once the pinnacle of druidism on Azeroth, now a forgotten druid refuge on the Broken Isles. This is the place, guys, where Malfurion became the first druid under Cenarius. So this whole area is steeped in really rich lore, especially if you're a fan of Night Elven druidic lore, it's all here for ya. Here we'll face Xavious, the Nightmare Lord, and his massive Satyr armies. And what're they trying to do, what is Xavious always trying to do? He's trying to unleash the emerald nightmare into our world. So on the way, we'll meet up with demigods, like Cenarius, and aspects, probably Ysera... definitely Ysera, all to help us fight back the nightmare. And we'll also enter the Obsidian Fortress of Blackrook Hold. So if you know your lore, you should be pretty stoked. (more on this later) But, if we can't fight back Xavious, and stop the nightmare from coming into our world, it's pointless. Pillar or no pillar, we can't beat the legion. So what're we going to do? We're going into the Emerald Nightmare, and we're going to dispense some justice. And while we're there, we're going to get a couple big glimpses into the Emerald Dream. We've been talking about it for a while, and it's time. Note: Emerald Dream will be the first raid. It will consist of 7 bosses, and will end with PCs fighting Xavious. StormheimIn Stormheim, we're going to uncover the fate of Vrykrul that left Northrend thousands of years ago in search of their holy land. We'll discover the Halls of Valor, and Helheim, home to two Titan Keepers that have been warring for thousands of years. We'll also learn of the origins of the Valkyr and the Kvalgyr, as we ride the massive ship of souls, the Naddlefvar, into the Maw of Hell. And all the while, while this is going on, we'll be fighting the Vrykrul's God King and his minions, who are now pawns of the Burning Legion. AzsunaSo you know when i first talked about what this expansion is built upon, the bones.. the bones of that ancient Night Elf civilization. No where is it better represented than in Azsuna. The first moment you first step on the territory, the zone here, you will instantly see that this place was once something very special. It's still special, in a different way. Here we'll discover the ghosts of ancient Night Elves of the area, a dying breed of blue dragonflight, and we'll be introduced to the Nightfallen; exiled royalty from Suramar that have been left to die outside the protected walls of their city. We'll also be racing someone named Queen Azshara, and her minions, for control of the Pillar of Creation in this zone. HighmountainAt the highest point of the Broken Isles, we find Highmountain. Home to the Highmountain Tauren, the keepers of the Relic of Kazgoroth. Also, the keepers of really bad-ass horns if you payed attention to that cinematic before us; if you didn't you gotta check it out, huge elk horns. Highmountain's rough terrain. Rough, tough, it'll kill you. Which is why only the biggest and strongest creatures of the Broken Isles live up here. Like the Drogvar(?sp). And we're gonna have to kill a lot of Drogvar to save this world. And while we're there, we're gonna visit the lair of the Earthwarder, Neltharion, and seek some answers. And hopefully get some answers. For those of you that don't know, Neltharion, during the War of the Ancients became Deathwing, and then during Cataclysm, he just became dead. So we don't have him to worry about anymore, but we have other things. While we're up here, we may also run into some other friends. This is a big area, there's big game, there's a big hunt, Nesingwary is going to be close by. SuramarAnd lastly for today, I'm going to hit on Suramar. At the heart of Suramar, we will discover a new race of elves, made off of an old race of elves. These elves have lived here for the last 10,000 years and flourished from the use/abuse of their incredible magic ability. Unfortunately, they have become pawns of the Burning Legion as well. More bad news, they have the last relic that we need. So what that means is we'll have to kill every single one of them, plus all of the elite legion guards that guard their city, and probably Gul'dan, to secure that last relic. I didn't say it was gonna be easy.
One last thing. I want to head off one question. This is a question we have been asked at every single Blizzcon since the inception of Blizzcon. What about Valeria and Turalyon? Their time is here. Note: Second raid is probably in here, as it is called Suramar Palace, home of the Nightwell. It will consist of 10 bosses, with the final boss of this raid being Gul'dan. Demon HunterCustomization:
Apparently the Demon Hunter starting zone gives you a flashback to the fall of Black Temple, where Illidan sends out his best demon hunters on a "suicide" mission. However, apparently, we get captured, and locked up in a prison. The Legion begins to invade Azeroth again, and the Wardens release us because who would be better at killing the demons that Demon Hunters? Apparently no one. So yay, Demon Hunters. Abilities
|
Archives
November 2017
AcronymsWoW: World of Warcraft
Vanilla: Original content TBC: The Burning Crusade (first expansion) WotLK: Wrath of the Lich King (second expansion) Cata: Cataclysm (third expansion) MoP: Mists of Pandaria (fourth expansion) WoD: Warlords of Draenor (fifth expansion) Legion: Legion. DPS: damage per second HPS: heals per second Image: https://goo.gl/gxC6HZ
Categories
All
|