WOW – 8.2 Rise of Azshara Pre-Release Information

Hello everyone,

We have put together all the informations we know so far like new zones, outdoor contents, new raid, new bosses, new dungeons, new quest and many more.

New Zone: Nazjatar

After the assault in Dazar’alor, both the Alliance and the Horde are recovering from the battle and licking their wounds. With both factions losing an important amount of ships, it is a perfect time for the Naga to strike. As we venture into the great blue beyond, we find a crack leading to an ancient land. Between waterfalls, we fall into the ancient land of Nazjatar.

Whenever Blizzard develops a story, they keep the path of the expansion in mind throughout, one of which is Sylvanas’s rise to power and how everyone reacts to it. That is a key to how we get to Nazjatar and what happens there. The storylines will intertwine–at some points you’ll leave Nazjatar, return, ‘things will happen.’ You’ll start to see more links between the overall story of BFA and the actions of certain individuals through the Nazjatar questing.

Is Nazjatar Underwater?

The environment of Nazjatar has underwater elements, including waterfalls, corals, thermal chimneys, algae forests. However, as hinted in our BlizzCon 2018 interview, parts of Nazjatar may be rising up as well.

• Being underwater for long periods of time is not very fun. However, Blizzard wanted to capture the vibe. There will be lots of clever travel opportunities for moving players in and out of water.
• Blizzard hasn’t fully fleshed out the travel specifics of how you move from area to area, like waterfall slides, but they think it’s a cool idea. There are also fast-moving bodies of water that could possibly transport people around.
• Ion made a special note that “The term, the name…Rise of Azshara…not just a turn of phrase. Which may have some hints as to what we’re seeing here [in Nazjatar]…”
• The fantasy is that this is a unique underwater zone with water and walls rising out of the sea, and they are trying to build tech to sell that fantasy for players.
• The team is sensitive to player reactions towards underwater combat and want to use it in a way that makes sense, not all the time in Nazjatar.

Nazjatar and Outdoor Content

There are many storylines scattered across Nazjatar, which culminate in taking the fight straight to Queen Azshara.

• Nazjatar is intended to take the best parts of previous outdoor content and fuse them together, such as rare spawns and mini-events from the Timeless Isle. There should be new things to find every day.
• Nazjatar is a zone that should be a place for “everything from A to Z.”
• Nazjatar may have at least 5 different subzones, showing many different aspects of the Naga culture.
• New enemies include Naga spellcasters and minions of the Old Gods like jellyfish with eyeballs.
• Nazjatar is a good place to evolve the World Quest system – they want the World Quests to feel unique and different. This could include multi-stage quests, group quests, or even bosses that spawn across the entire region, and whoever gets to spawn it gets a special zone-wide yell.
• PvP Zone Objectives (like the PvP towers in Terokkar Forest) are scheduled to make an appearance in Nazjatar. Free-for-all PvP quests may make a return.

• In Nazjatar you can also recruit assistants on a daily basis, who have a friendship bar (similar to Mists of Pandaria Tillers). You can take these friends out to adventure for the day, and as they gain friendship, they unlock new abilities and perks like accessing more dailies.

  • Some of these friends, like the Gilbin for the Horde (a goblin with fins), have extra perks. Using the Gilbin as an example, you’ll be able to see new hidden treasures using the Gilbin as a friend, and some of these treasures contain items which start quests that further the Gilbin’s personal storyline.
  • The Alliance will befriend a Deep Sea Tribe (possibly Jinyu-themed) while the Horde befriends former Naga slaves–crabs, Glibin, sea giants.
• New rewards include a seahorse mount (resembling a seahorse fused with a unicorn), baby Naga pet, and a crab mount that finally walks sideways.

New Raid: Azshara’s Eternal Palace

Deep within Nazjatar, we will find the queen of tides’ abode, Azshara’s Eternal Palace.

• Initial plans for 8 bosses, including a Naga Hatchery, underwater boss, and Queen Azshara.
• This raid will launch later than the start of Patch 8.2.
• Armor and weapons will be themed after Nazjatar.

New Zone: Mechagon

Within Tiragarde Sound there is a zone called The Rusted Vault, with a mysterious giant portal that is closed. When Rise of Azshara arrives, this gate will finally open, leading to a new place full of Mechagnomes, Mechagon.

• The capital of the Mechagnomes, ruled by King Mechagon, is a society where the more robotic parts you have, the higher up you will be.
• Goblins and Gnomes venture together to explore this zone full of machinery.
• We’ll fight death robots in the Junker Wastes.
• In Mechagon, you gather different types of crafting materials and turn them into a crafter NPC for interesting mechanical rewards. For example, if you bring the crafter a battery, spare parts, and scraps, you can get a spider bot!

New Dungeon: Mechagon Megadungeon

In the depths of Mechagon, is located the Megadungeon!

• Massive dungeon, similar to Karazhan in size.
• Eight bosses, with the devious King Mechagon as the final boss.
• King Mechagon wants to turn anything flesh into robotic parts.
• The Megadungeon in Mechagon will have special loots that will make players want to come back.
• Mechagon will launch as Mythic-only dungeon.

Character Stories

• New character storylines are being told in Rise of Azshara, focusing on Sylvanas, Saurfang, Jaina Proudmoore, Anduin and Magni.
• Note that Sylvanas is wielding the Blade of the Black Empire, the former Shadow Priest Artifact Weapon and vessel of Xal’atath.

New Heritage Armor: Gnomes and Tauren

• Two new races are receiving Heritage Armor in Rise of Azshara: Gnomes and Tauren.
• Patch 8.1 added Heritage Armor for Dwarves and Blood Elves.

Island Expeditions

• Two new Island Expeditions are coming in 8.2.

  • Crestfall is the site of a great battle from Warcraft II. When attempting to warn his father of the dangers of the dragon riders, Derek Proudmoore was killed at sea.
  • Snowblossom is a Pandaren Island, featuring the return of the Vermin from Valley of the Four Winds.
• Blizzard may experiment with an exploration mode in Islands on Normal Mode, without time pressure. They’ll be playing around with the Island rules in Rise of Azshara.
• Some of the drops from Island Expeditions ( Tell Me A Tale) may be expanded in future storylines.
• Island Expeditions may also continue the story of Magni trying to heal Azeroth.

PvP

• New Arena – Mechagon Arena
• Season 3 Vicious mount is the Basilisk.
• Season 3 will start a few months into Patch 8.2.

Flying

• Pathfinder Part 2 is coming in Patch 8.2.
• You will be able to fly in Kul Tiras and Zandalar.
• Based on a LATAM interview, you will likely fly in Nazjatar and Mechagon as well.
• New mounts include mechanical parrots and bees.

Azerite

• The Heart requirements for unlockable traits will not increase in 8.2.
• When you get new items in 8.2, you’ll already be able to unlock all of the traits.
• The Heart of Azeroth will have different choices and powers unlocked as you level up the neck.

• The active abilities and powers can be upgraded and customized based on the content you do. This is more in line with the fantasy of Legion artifacts adding to gameplay.

  • Some examples given are holding your heart of Azeroth in front of you to blast things with massive Azerite energy, or shielding your group with an Azerite bubble.

Warfronts

• Heroic Warfronts are coming in Patch 8.2.
• Heroic Warfronts are more difficult than regular Warfronts, and also offer better rewards.
• Heroic Warfronts will be flexible between 10 and 20 players and meant to be more strategic than Normal Warfronts.
• You can actually lose in a Heroic Warfront.

Season 3

• Season 3 will add a new raid, Nazjatar-themed affix, and item level increase.

Transmog

• All transmog slots, except for pants, can be hidden.
• Heritage Armor sets are coming for Gnomes and Tauren.
• Nazjatar will have Naga-themed armor and weapons.

Transportation

• A portal to Caverns of Time will be added in the Stormwind and Orgrimmar Portal Rooms.
• If a quest sends you to another continent, new UI tech will help provide directions.

Beyond Patch 8.2

Several features are coming in future patches:

• Updates to Worgen and Goblin models.
• Potential loosening of transmog restrictions on silly items.

Don’t forget to follow the Game to keep updated when new patch notes will release.