Rise of Azshara Patch 8.2
Salutations fellow Warcraft fans, today’s post was designed to be about something else, but with the latest 8.2 announcements and release date, I felt this was important news. If you haven’t seen it, check out the video below.
As it said in the trailer, Patch 8.2 Rise of Azshara will release on Tuesday, June the 25th 2019. We all had hoped to catch the patch a bit sooner, but at least it gives me some new content before the launch of Classic WoW in August.
This article though is about the things we have to look forward to in patch 8.2 and some thoughts about them. Let’s start with some big features.
Nazjatar-
The new zone of Nazjatar, home of the Naga, has been long awaited by many fans, to say the least. Nazjatar will be the primary area that we spend our time during 8.2. It is full of new content such as story, world quests and the new raid. Mind you, I haven’t played the PTR to test the patch, so my opinions are based on the knowledge I do have. First, I think Nazjatar as a zone is stunning. I love the sea aspects in the design of the zone. Beautiful Waterfalls, fields of kelp, and mountains of coral give the design the real bottom of the ocean feel, except its not underwater. The last zone with a primarily Naga focus was completely under water and a lot of people hated it, maybe not being soggy will give Nazjatar a better reception. More about the contents of Nazjatar in a bit, let’s shift focus to the other new zone.
Mechagon-
The zone features the home of the Mechagnomes. It houses a new dungeon following the quest line leading to a rebellion against King Mechagon. The zone has a different style of questing, more akin to the Vanilla WoW where quests aren’t clearly defined in places, but you rather adventure until you find a new quest to follow. In addition, it adds a very WoD feeling zone improvement system that makes it easier to quest there as you complete quests and upgrade your base. The Steampunk aesthetics are really cool and feel unique. The most interesting thing coming to this zone is the return of actual rare spawns. Rare spawns still existed in other BFA content, but they haven’t been the same since Legion. you hit them one time and/or when they pop up for world quests and then never think about them again. These new rares are more like the Time-Lost Protodrake and will be much less likely to encounter, but with loot that is worth hunting. Mounts and other big-ticket items are the kind of drops you can expect to find on these rares. I mentioned the new dungeon, so let’s talk about the new instanced content next.
Operation Mechagon-
The dungeon located on Mechagon island is aptly named Operation Mechagon. It features 8 new bosses listed below and steampunk-inspired gear. The dungeon serves as the finale to the Mechanon isle quests. There is one really neat feature coming back in the form of hard mode encounters. At current, it is only one boss in the dungeon, but what makes this substantial is the fact that it isn’t just a toggle on hard mode. You have to do something in the dungeon a certain way, similarly to the Ulduar raid bosses. As interesting as Mechanon is, we are more excited about the new raid.
Queen Azshara’s Eternal Palace-
This.raid is the center of 8.2 and has awesome naga themed equipment to collect. There are 8 bosses, with the final boss being the Queen herself. One of the bosses features an entire underwater battle. The raid will launch a few weeks after the patch goes live and it will serve as the ending point for the Nazjatar quest chains. There are loads of other things coming too.
War Campaign/Heart of Azeroth-
The patch will feature the continuation of the War Campaign and the Heart of Azeroth storylines. I know for the Horde there will be an attempt to free Baine. I don’t know the Alliance side of the campaign, but I imagine we are all going to start becoming friends again. The Heart of Azeroth campaign takes you on a questline that introduces the heroes to the new Azerite systems.
Overview of Things to Come-
- Heart of Azeroth Essence system
- Two outdoor zones — Nazjatar and Mechagon
- New Raid — Azshara’s Eternal Palace, and Megadungeon — Operation: Mechagon
- Unlock flying via Pathfinder Part 2 in all zones including new ones
- Mount Equipment Slots
- Continuing the War Campaign
- Gnome and Tauren Heritage Armor
- Stratholme Battle Pet dungeon
- Dozens of pets, mounts, toys, new transmog, and other collectibles
- New and upgraded items for all professions
Heritage Armor Sets-
There are two new Heritage armor sets coming out. The Tauren and the Gnomes will be getting their sets, both of which are pretty cool looking, See the sets above.
Flying/Mount Equipment-
The last thing I want to talk about is Battle For Azeroth Pathfinder II. Completing the achievement will allow you to fly in the BFA zones. This is a welcome addition to many who were tired of climbing mountains, or that accursed path to the top of Dazar’ Alor. Plus you get a really cool mechano parrot mount. If you are a player who did the work to get a water strider mount, then we are sorry for you. For everyone else, the mount equipment system is going into effect and will allow for several choices to improve your mounts. Any mount can be given water walking, faster speed, a parachute, or the ability to resist dazing effects. Both flying and mount equipment will make traversing BFA zones and some others much easier.
The World of Warcraft community is abuzz withe excitement about the upcoming patch. Some of us have waited for years to see Azshara, others are just ready to fly. Whatever it is that drives you, there is a decent chance you’ll find something in BFA’s 8.2 patch.
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We here at D3 know that “Time is Money Friend.” So, Thank you for yours.
Originally published at Dungeons, Delves, and Dice.
