Prepare for Battle: The Pre-Expansion Iron Horde Incursion
It looks like the Patch 6.0 PTR might be coming soon! Be sure to check out our preview of the changes to Blasted Lands and this UBRS video.


Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Get ready for first contact with the Iron Horde—oh, and you’ll probably want to prepare yourself for battle. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be testing a pre-expansion patch that will bring players to the brink of great peril, as the Iron Horde begins to aggressively gain a foothold on Azeroth.

As part of this patch, players will encounter fierce new opponents and get their first chance to experience a number of updates we’re making to the game. In addition to changes to the skills and abilities for every class, this patch will introduce brand new features such as 20-player Mythic-difficulty Siege of Orgrimmar, as well as systems adjustments including stat squish and diminishing returns on crowd control. The next chapter in the World of Warcraft saga is coming at you armed to the teeth.

Treacherous Developments
The Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands has turned blood red. Hundreds of strange-looking orcs are violently pouring into Azeroth, killing everything that stands in their path. Nethergarde and Okril’lon have already fallen, and while the Horde and the Alliance moved as quickly as they could to get reinforcements to their people, they are too late. The Iron Horde invasion has begun.

In this desperate hour, King Wrynn and Warchief Vol’jin have called upon their greatest champions to join the front lines in the Blasted Lands and do whatever they can to stop the Iron Horde . . . before the rest of Azeroth falls before them.

Word of this surprise attack sends players rushing to the Blasted Lands to reckon with the barbarous infiltration. After the fall of a high ranking Iron Horde general named Gar’mak Bladetwist, you’ll report what you’ve witnessed in the Blasted Lands to King Wrynn or Warchief Vol’jin. It’s apparent to both the Horde and the Alliance that this is only the first salvo in a much larger conflict, and the only way to win is to take the fight directly to the Iron Horde . . . by journeying through the Dark Portal into Draenor.

The Infiltration of Blackrock Spire
An advance party of Iron Horde forces has barged right out of the Blasted Lands and pushed all the way to Blackrock Mountain, where they found refuge and supplies in Upper Blackrock Spire. There can be only one response: the Alliance and the Horde of Azeroth must face this iron incursion head on.

Available to level-90 characters for a limited time, this specially revamped five-player version of Upper Blackrock Spire sets the stage for the coming counterstrike against the Iron Horde. Here, you will face Orebender Gor'ashan, Kyrak, and Commander Tharbek as you begin to take the fight to the enemy and sharpen the skills (and swords) you’ll need to succeed on an unwelcoming alien world.

Draenor is waiting.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Prepare for Battle: The Pre-Expansion Iron Horde Incursion started by chaud View original post
Comments 65 Comments
  1. Zaydin's Avatar
    Well, the timing of this announcement shouldn't be much of a surprise.

    Should expect the PTR up within a few days as something Blizzard does to try to quell the people annoyed that we are going to otherwise have 14 months of no new content.
  1. Austilias's Avatar
    Hopefully more fun than the MoP/Cataclysm pre-expansion events; but I doubt it will ever compare to the Scourge Invasion. Nonetheless, much of what i've seen of WoD thus far has been disappointing; so they'd have to try pretty hard to disappoint me further.
  1. Queen of Hamsters's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zaydin View Post
    Well, the timing of this announcement shouldn't be much of a surprise.

    Should expect the PTR up within a few days as something Blizzard does to try to quell the people annoyed that we are going to otherwise have 14 months of no new content.
    Yes, because they're totally not doing it to test it in order to release it and let it be on live for a while before WoD hits, defo not, it's all just to please people that are too stupid to do something else when they're bored.

  1. El Mariachi's Avatar
    Guess this means the war between the Horde and the Alliance on Azeroth is truly over for now, as they must band together to fight the Iron Horde. looking forward to it, will finishing the last of Pandaria.
  1. Zootor's Avatar
    Exciting news!
  1. Triggered Fridgekin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by DeathStroke - Grim Batol View Post
    Yes it is on beta atm, been for a while
    I was under the impression that it was only temporarily opened to the beta crowd some time ago.
  1. |Dexter|'s Avatar
    Lok'tar friend, I wish smart and more voice acting that fit the current quests!
  1. Daswolfen's Avatar
    Oh look. Orc Jesus. We better get someone else for the Alliance quest giver or I am going to be pissed off.
  1. Kazuchika's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by wolftech View Post
    Oh look. Orc Jesus. We better get someone else for the Alliance quest giver or I am going to complain on the internet.
    This is more likely.
  1. Grimbold21's Avatar
    Already???
  1. nyc81991's Avatar
    "Over the next few weeks"

    Meaning no more than a Month from now. Good to hear.
  1. Toiran's Avatar
    So where exactly are the "hundreds of Orcs pouring out of the Dark Portal"?

    I hope it's updated and not the MMO video, otherwise it's pretty much a huge "meh".

    I wish they would just go nuts for an end/start of xpac event and actually make it epic.
  1. Duster505's Avatar
    great.. .More Thrall

    No thanks ... they could have actually made this exiting... but no thanks... As cheap as it gets.
  1. Aeula's Avatar
    Well....looks....boring as fuck. I hope the gear that drops at least has a unique model so it can actually compare to MoP's pre-expansion event...
  1. Alayea's Avatar
    I've been going through the new Blasted Lands quests on the beta for awhile now. So far it's just a simple quest chain (probably no more than 20). There are rare elites, but none of them have a loot table yet and they're nowhere near as headache-inducing like the Patch 5.3 commanders were. And the one quest in the chain has a cutscene, but it's rather drab one.

    I guess it'll still be a step up from the absolute fiasco that was the Theramore scenario, though.
  1. NotInTheFace0's Avatar
    Would the revamped UBRS being available at lvl90 be considered part of the pre-event?
  1. Wolfheart9's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by NotInTheFace0 View Post
    Would the revamped UBRS being available at lvl90 be considered part of the pre-event?
    They said we'll have a level 90 version of it to do before the expansion, so yep.
  1. Aeluron Lightsong's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by wolftech View Post
    Oh look. Orc Jesus. We better get someone else for the Alliance quest giver or I am going to be pissed off.
    It's Maraad. You talk to Maraad. So calm your tits(The initial part anyways).
  1. Wolfheart9's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Aeluron Lightsong View Post
    It's Maraad. You talk to Maraad. So calm your tits(The initial part anyways).
    Coulda sworn they showed Thrall being the start, then after accepting his quest, you go talk to the Alliance character after, but may be mistaken.
  1. Ilnezhara's Avatar
    Damn, this is so stressful. What's the timeframe to finish my CMs? I just got back, super worried about not getting them in time.

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