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by Published on 2022-07-28 08:17 PM

Shadowlands Season 4 Begins August 2nd (NA) / August 3rd (EU)
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Shadowlands Season 4 includes eight returning dungeons from earlier expansions, new seasonal rewards, all-new affixes, and fabulous rewards. Read on for more details!

Fated Raids

In the aftermath of our climatic battle in Zereth Mortis, the power of the First Ones is echoing across the Shadowlands, empowering some familiar raid settings and the rewards within. Each week, one of the three Shadowlands raids (Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination or Sepulcher of the First Ones) will become Fated, along with any World Bosses associated with those raids. The World Bosses in Shadowlands and their associated raids are:

Castle Nathria

  • Valinor, the Light of Eons
  • Mortanis
  • Oranomonos the Everbranching
  • Nurgash Muckformed

Note that only one of these bosses will be available at a time during a Castle Nathria Fated week.

Sanctum of Domination

  • Mor'geth, Tormentor of the Damned

Sepulcher of the First Ones

  • Antros



Sire Denathrius awaits you in Castle Nathria



Face Sylvanas Windrunner in the Sanctum of Domination



End the Jailer in the Sepulcher of the First Ones


How Do Fated Raids Work?

Each week, one raid will be marked as Fated. You may enter a Fated raid in any difficulty (Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic or Mythic). Note that while a raid is marked as Fated, you cannot enter its non-Fated version until the following week when another raid becomes Fated—so plan your transmogrification and achievement runs accordingly! You can find our Fated raid schedule here.

Once you enter a Fated raid, you’ll notice that all enemies and bosses will have adjusted stats—the goal here isn’t to make your raid group go through progression again; we’re aiming to provide a proper but not insurmountable challenge for those already experienced with the encounters.

Each boss encounter will be empowered by one of four unique Fated Powers. These will vary from boss to boss and week to week, presenting challenges for your raid group that reward Fated Infusions, temporary powerful auras for your efforts. Should you conquer any boss in a Fated raid, you’ll receive rewards according to the difficulty level you’ve completed them in. The item level distribution for Fated raids is as follows:

  • Raid Finder: 265-272
  • Normal: 278-285
  • Heroic: 291-297
  • Mythic: 304-311

All gear obtained in Fated raids can be converted into set pieces at the Creation Catalyst.


Puzzling Cartel Dinars

Season 4 features a trio of broker vendors suspiciously skulking around the Great Vault. Each of these brokers has wares from one of the three Shadowlands raids. They will sell trinkets, weapons, and other special items from their respective raid. Each item will have the same price: a single Puzzling Cartel Dinar. You can obtain Puzzling Cartel Dinars by entering any Fated raid in Season 4 and completing the required 3-part questline. But there’s a catch: you will only be able to get three Puzzling Cartel Dinar for the entire season.

After spending your last Dinar, the brokers leave town and take their wares with them. Items sold by these vendors will be at the Season 4 Normal Fated item level range of 278-285, depending on the item.


Heroic & Mythic Upgrade Items

Raiders can upgrade raid loot as they move up in difficulty. In Season 4, defeating bosses on Heroic or Mythic difficulty will drop either Confounding Antique Cypher (on Heroic) or Confounding Ancient Cypher (on Mythic). Combine 20 Cyphers to upgrade gear to their Heroic or Mythic versions.

Unlike the Puzzling Cartel Dinar above, which has a quest you must complete to earn them over time, these Cyphers will begin as guaranteed drops as soon as Season 4 begins. This will allow you to capture effort progressing week over week from the get-go. These upgrade items will work on any item with a ‘Fated’ tag, including those sold by the broker vendors mentioned above.


Fated Raid Rewards

Several new rewards can be obtained by achieving the following Feats of Strength during Season 4:

  • Fates of the Shadowlands Raids – Clear all 3 Fated raids on Normal difficulty.
    • Rewards the Jigglesworth Sr. mount.



Jigglesworth Sr., obtained by completing all Fated raids on Normal Difficulty.

  • Heroic: Fates of the Shadowlands Raids – Clear all 3 Fated raids on Heroic difficulty.
    • Rewards the "Hero of Fate" title.
  • Mythic: Fates of the Shadowlands Raids – Clear all 3 Fated raids on Mythic difficulty.
    • Rewards three teleports to each Shadowlands raid location on the character that earned the achievement.


New Dungeon Rotation

Season 4 features a new dungeon rotation for Mythic+. New Mythic Dungeon Keystones obtained from Shadowlands dungeons will be for one of the following dungeons:

  • Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder (from the Shadowlands expansion)
  • Tazavesh: So'leah’s Gambit (from the Shadowlands expansion)
  • Operation Mechagon: Junkyard (from the Battle for Azeroth™ expansion)
  • Operation Mechagon: Workshop (from the Battle for Azeroth™ expansion)
  • Return to Karazhan: Lower (from the Legion™ expansion)
  • Return to Karazhan: Upper (from the Legion™ expansion)
  • Grimrail Depot (from the Warlords of Draenor™ expansion)
  • Iron Docks (from the Warlords of Draenor™ expansion)



Operation Mechagon, one of the dungeons returning in Season 4


New Mythic Keystone Affix: Shrouded

Nathrezim infiltrators have disguised themselves among certain non-boss enemies in dungeons. You can see through their clever disguises if you pay close attention. Defeat these impostors, and a Cartel Ta member will capture them and allow you a choice of bounties that will enhance a secondary stat of your choice. You’ll also receive a hefty Bounty Payment that quickly restores health and mana.


Mythic+ Rewards

The following rewards can be obtained by completing Mythic Keystone Dungeons in Season 4:

  • Shadowlands Keystone Conqueror: Season Four – Attain a Mythic+ Rating of at least 1500 during Shadowlands Season Four.
    • Rewards "The Shrouded" title.
  • Shadowlands Keystone Master: Season Four – Attain a Mythic+ Rating of at least 2000 during Shadowlands Season Four.
    • Rewards the Restoration Deathwalker mount.



Restoration Deathwalker, one of the Mythic+ Rewards in Season 4


  • Keystone Hero: Iron Docks/Grimrail Depot/Return to Karazhan/Operation: Mechagon/Tazavesh, the Veiled Market – Completing Season 4 dungeons at Mythic Level 20 or higher within the time limit.
    • Rewards dungeon teleports to the dungeons completed.
  • Shrouded Hero: Shadowlands Season Four – End Shadowlands Mythic+ Season 4 with a Mythic+ Rating in the top 0.1% of all players in your region.
    • Rewards the "Shrouded Hero" title.


New PvP Season

A new PvP Season will also kick off, allowing heroes all over Azeroth a chance to obtain glory in the Arenas and Battlegrounds. The new item level caps for Honor and Conquest gear shakes up as follows:

Honor Gear (Eternal Combatant)

Upgrade LevelItem LevelPvP Item Level
1229255
2236268
3242272
4249275
5255278
6262281
7268285


Conquest Gear (Eternal Gladiator)

Rating RequirementRated RankItem LevelPvP Item Level
Unranked275288
1000Combatant I278291
1200Combatant II281294
1400Challenger I285298
1600Challenger II288301
1800Rival I291304
1950Rival II294307
2100Duelist298311
2400Gladiator301311


Mount and Title Rewards

Obtaining the Eternal Gladiator: Shadowlands Season 4 Feat of Strength at the end of the Season will award you the Eternal Gladiator's Soul Eater mount and the Eternal Gladiator title. In addition, a new mount—the Vicious Warstalker—can be obtained by participating in rated PvP matches (Arenas or Rated Battlegrounds).


And What About…

  • Legendary Ranks?
    • There won’t be a new Legendary Rank in Season 4.
  • Crafter’s Mark?
    • There won’t be a new Crafter’s Mark in Season 4.
  • Conduits?
    • There won’t be new Conduits or Conduit upgrades in Season 4.
  • Sockets?
    • Sockets are obtained in the same way as they were in Season 3.
  • Mythic Keystones?
    • Just like previous Seasons, Mythic Dungeon Keystones obtained from the Great Vault on the first week of the Season will be at a lower level than usual to account for the increased challenge.
  • Raid Shortcuts?
    • Any raid shortcuts you have unlocked in Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, and Sepulcher of the First Ones will be available to you when you enter the Fated versions of those raids.
  • Great Vault Raid Loot?
    • Great Vault raid rewards will pull from all Fated bosses you've defeated across the entire Season, regardless of which raid is currently Fated.

The focus of Season 4 is earning new gear through a remixed raid and dungeon experience, and PvP. Any obligation to retread familiar Shadowlands systems in order to keep pace feels contrary to that focus, and in order to provide the best experience, we've decided to leave those systems unchanged.


Going Out With a Bang

Season 4 presented a unique opportunity for the WoW Development Team to try some experimental changes that might have been too volatile for a regular Season. We hope you enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed creating it. We'll see you in the afterlife, hero!
by Published on 2022-07-28 05:01 PM

Dragonriding and You: Ascending to New Heights of Skill
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
A skilled Dragonrider is a force to be reckoned with, capable of catching up to any foe, ambushing enemies from above, and soaring above the Dragon Isles with impressive speed. Becoming a Dragonrider and learning the basics will be simple, but mastering this new skill takes practice. Once you figure out its intricacies, you’ll never see the Dragon Isles the same way again.

Dragonriding Basics

Through your travels on the Dragon Isles, you’ll begin training to become a Dragonrider. Dragonriding can only be used with Dragon Isles Drakes—customizable mounts with unique abilities. Throughout your leveling experience, you’ll earn four different Dragon Isles Drakes. In the hands of a skilled rider, these imposing winged terrors are capable of masterful maneuvers.

Each drake features unlockable appearances that can be selected and adjusted to make your new drake mount uniquely your own. You’ll receive new looks for your drakes through Drakewatcher Manuscripts, obtained from quest rewards, exploration, completing achievements, and various other means. Find the nearest Rostrum of Transformation in any Dragon Isles zone to make changes to your drake’s appearance.


Vigorous Riding

The first thing you’ll notice upon summoning a Dragon Isles Drake is that your primary action bar has been replaced with your Dragonriding skills, as well as a new resource: Vigor. Vigor is spent by using Dragonriding abilities and recharges automatically over time while grounded (mounted or on foot) or in the sky, while Dragonriding at high speeds.

Gaining Speed

Once you’re ready for takeoff, mount up and find a high rise. When you jump from it, your drake will unfurl its wings and begin to glide forward, slowly losing altitude. Point your dragon’s front towards the ground, and it will gain speed rapidly. Point it upwards, and it will slow down and gain altitude.

Managing your hang time depends entirely on your ability to gain speed by descending and maximizing your altitude while ascending without losing too much momentum. Vigor skills like Skyward Ascent will help you gain altitude, while others like Surge Forward will give you a quick speed boost to keep you going. Remember that your drake’s Vigor recharges when you’re speeding up; use that to your advantage as you build momentum.

Dragonriding Progression

Dragonriding features its own progression track, unlocked when you obtain your first Dragon Isles Drake. Through this progression track, you can unlock more abilities, increase your drake’s Vigor, and more. Dragon Glyphs, symbols of power scattered all over the skies of Dragon Isles, can be collected to advance your progress track and gain access to perks. Some Dragon Glyphs will be relatively simple to procure, while others will require a bit of exploration and clever use of your Dragonriding abilities to acquire. We hope you’ll find the journey and the sights along the way as compelling as hunting all the Dragon Glyphs.

Race to the Top

Once you’ve obtained your drakes and mastered their abilities, there’s one more way in which skilled Dragonriders can stand out: Dragonriding Races! All over the Dragon Isles, you will find various Dragonriding race locations that will challenge you to complete a set course within a limited timeframe. Clearing checkpoints extends your allotted time, and once you finish a course, you’ll be rated on your performance. Your personal best times will be recorded, and whenever you repeat a course, your time will be compared against your personal best. Challenge other Dragonriders to the ultimate test of skill and speed—only the fastest rider will prevail.

The Journey is Just Beginning

There’s more coming to Dragonflight as we progress through testing, including future updates to Dragonriding. We hope you’ve enjoyed this early preview and invite you to check https://worldofwarcraft.com/news for all the latest World of Warcraft previews and information. We’ll see you in the Dragon Isles!
by Published on 2022-07-28 04:11 PM

Dragonflight Zone Preview: The Waking Shores
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The Waking Shores is the starting zone for Dragonflight and the most untamed area of the Dragon Isles.

The dragonflights left their homeland and the Waking Shores remained dormant for ten thousand years. Now, with Azeroth's world-soul revitalized, the awesome primal might of the Shores stirs anew, rousing the dragons' ancient allies and age-old enemies from their long millennia of slumber.

Heroes of the Alliance and Horde are invited by Alexstrasza to aid the red dragonflight in this vibrant and menacing land.


This land is stirring with the reawakening of elemental energies. Long ago, the elements were present in their most primal, unfettered form; however, the resurgence of magic in the Dragon Isles has caused that energy to reawaken.

Geysers and hot springs are commonplace, and powerful streams and rivers carve grottoes into the colorful rocks and sediment. Waterways feed into the land's heart and the Life Pools of the red dragonflight.


While millennia ago this area was populated with dragon architecture like the rest of the Broodlands, most of those structures have long since fallen into decay and become overgrown.


Volcanic areas are alive with molten earth and fire. As the elevation rises, the land becomes harsher. In these imposing mountains, Neltharus, the Obsidian Citadel was built by the black dragonflight so that the Earth-Warder could defend the Broodlands. Abandoned long ago, the imposing fortress has now been claimed by the djaradin.



Inhabitants of the Waking Shores

Elemental magic manifests everywhere, with earth, air, water, and fire taking physical form. New types of elemental beings are rising, as well as animalistic creatures infused with this magic. Here are some that you will happen upon in your travels:





The Waking Shores are just the beginning of your adventures throughout the Dragon Isles. Help your allies push back against enemies, new and old, who are bent on controlling this ancient place of elemental power.

We look forward to sharing more details as development continues on Dragonflight. Visit the Dragonflight site to pre-order. Check WorldofWarcraft.com/news for updates and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

See you in the Dragon Isles!
by Published on 2022-07-28 05:12 AM

Raid Rewards Experiments in Season 4
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Hey everyone! This will be the last major post regarding Season 4; patch notes (and then the season itself) will be upon us soon, so look forward to those! That said, it’s clear there’s been some lingering questions & concerns surrounding Season 4, so we wanted to take the time to respond to some of the most common questions in a sort of lightning-round. As a heads up - if your personal question hasn’t been answered yet, it’s likely it has been in the other posts in this thread, so be sure to re-read through them to avoid confusion.

Conduits
  • Conduit item levels are not increasing, meaning they will stay at a max of 278.
  • With 278 becoming the new Normal item level for Fated Raids, conduits on Fated Normal/Heroic/Mythic raids will drop 278. (LFR will drop 265).
  • Conduits aren’t being added to the non-shadowlands dungeon loot pools, but Tazavesh’s conduits will be similarly updated.
  • The Vessel of Profound Possibilities, an item available from your covenant vendors in Season 3 that upgraded all of your conduits to ilvl 278, is changing. It no longer requires S3 Endgame achievements (duelist, 3k+ m+ rating, or mythic sepulcher clear) but is instead purchasable by all characters for Cosmic Flux.

Legendaries & Crafting
  • Crafted Shadowlands Legendaries will not increase in rank, staying at a max of Rank 7 with item level 291 for the season.
  • There is no new Crafter’s Mark to create a single piece of improved item level gear like there have been with previous content updates.

Currencies
  • Cosmic Flux will remain from Season 3, and won’t disappear on season rollover
  • A reminder that since our last post, there is now an item to transfer Cosmic Flux to other characters on your account at Quartermaster Vilo in Zereth Mortis
  • Sandworn Relics will be moving to Bind-on-Account status, but otherwise receive no updates
  • Unused Attendant’s Tokens of Merit from Season 3 Great Vaults will be going away upon season start, converting into gold at the rate of 1000 gold per token.
  • Ephemera-Infused Mesh, the Season 3 socket-granting item, will also cease to function on season rollover. Players with this item in their bags can sell it for 6000 gold, the same price as the 6 Tokens of Merit would have been to purchase it.
  • Tokens of Merit are returning in Season 4, with a new Socketer item priced at only 3 tokens to account for season length. This item works on Season 4 Items from Raid, PVP, and M+, just as the ones before them did.

Mythic+
  • Mythic+ Keystone decay between seasons is -3 levels, as it has been in past seasons. For example, if your highest Timed key this week is a +18, you will receive a +15 key opening your vault or speaking to Tah’sup in Oribos when Season 4 begins.
  • With few exceptions, old dungeon items are going to retain their original stats when scaling up to Season 4. This means that Primary stats on rings from Warlords of Draenor, trinkets with no primary stats, the mechagon rings + and other unique items from these dungeons - will all be enabled. Our intent is for this season to keep as many things from these dungeons as they were, where possible.
  • Azerite Armor from King Mechagon is removed from Operation: Mechagon’s loot pool.
  • As some of you may know, Warlords of Draenor had a different loot system where over 100 items where shared between all dungeons. For Season 4, Grimrail Depot and Iron Dock’s loot table will comprise of the items unique to those dungeons, as well as a mix of items chosen from that large shared pool to bring it in line with other dungeons.
  • Mythic+ End-of-Run items won’t be capped week 1 like in previous seasons.
  • Non-Tazavesh Shadowlands dungeons are gaining an increase in baseline item level, but these items are not upgradeable with valor. Only items from the Season 4 Mythic+ pool will be upgradeable with Valor.

Raiding
  • Mythic raiding is available on launch with no delay.
  • Cross-realm raiding will stay on, as there is no Hall of Fame for Season 4.
  • Raid skips earned in previous seasons will work in the difficulties you unlocked them for. For example, if you have the Kel’thuzad skip for Heroic Sanctum of Domination, then during weeks where Sanctum is the Fated raid, you will be able to use that skip only on Heroic difficulty.
  • Castle Nathria and Sanctum of Domination now give up to 2000 reputation with the Court of Harvesters and Death’s Advance on all difficulties. When these raids are Fated, they will drop up to 2000 Cosmic Flux as well.
  • Items received from Fated Raids will maintain their ‘Fated’ tag when transformed into Class Set armor by the Creation Catalyst, meaning they will also be upgradeable via the Heroic/Mythic upgrade currency mentioned in the original post.

Raid Rewards
  • As a Legendary weapon, Rae’shalare, Death’s Whisper, will not be available to purchase on the Broker Vendor with Dinar.
  • For players that already have the bow, an item will be purchasable from the Broker Vendors that will bring Rae’shalare to item level 285.
  • Sylvanas herself will still drop the bow on Fated weeks, and like it functioned in Season 2, will drop items in place of the bow for anyone who holds it that upgrade Rae’shalare to S4 Normal, Heroic, or Mythic item levels respectively.
  • On top of this, to account for the shorter season and the difficulty to get them, both Rae’shalare and Edge of Night will have an increased drop rate in all difficulties and versions of Sanctum of Domination.
  • We’re making a series of balance changes to trinkets & special weapons obtainable from all 3 Shadowlands raids, and some from Shadowlands dungeons. While we won’t go over the specific changes here (the patch notes will have you covered soon), we’re making these changes for a few reasons:

First, we hope to remove an advantage some players might have from obtaining a 278 version of a Shadowlands trinket from the Season 3 Great Vault, considering that Shadowlands Dungeon trinkets will be attainable at a max of 262 ilvl for anyone who starts after Season 4 begins.

Second, with raids rotating, we want to ensure that a higher amount of items looted from a raid on given week have a chance to be satisfying upgrades for players. You could imagine a scenario where Castle Nathria for example might not be worth it if all of the ‘good trinkets’ come from a different raid you won’t be able to access for 1-2 weeks. Additionally, Season 4 is a unique opportunity for us to look at these items will a full season (or more) of hindsight, and thus able to improve ones that we felt were close power-level wise, but not quite enough to compete with popular or easier-to-acquire options.

Lastly, given the limited Dinar currency we’ve seen a lot of fear from players that they’d be afraid to spend them, only to have that item nerfed or another item made better. We’re frontloading these changes at the start of the season and intending to stay as hands-off as possible so decisions made about which items you buy can be removed from the fear of those numbers changing dramatically.

That’s all for this wrap-up! Sorry if we didn’t get to your questions specifically - we’re really excited to bring you Warcraft’s most experimental season, and we hope to see you there. Stay on the look out for other communication coming soon like patch notes for a more comprehensive view of everything Season 4 has to bring!
by Published on 2022-07-27 09:41 PM

Wrath Classic Beta Development Notes - July 27, 2022
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Beta Test Release Build 44832 - July 27, 2022

Testing Updates

  • Crew members now spawn on transport ships. This includes The Skybreaker and Orgrim’s Hammer, the flying airships in Icecrown.
  • Alliance and Horde players now start in separate layers in Acherus, the Ebon Hold when they first create a Death Knight.
  • Daily Normal Dungeon quests now grant two Emblems of Heroism.
  • Daily Heroic Dungeon quests now grant two Emblems of Valor.
  • The first week of Arena testing has completed, and a test weekly reset was performed. We have more details about Arena updates here.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a LUA error when viewing the Auction House.
  • The tooltip for Resilience now properly displays the correct information in the character info sheet.
  • Eligible players can now properly use the Turbo-charged Flying Machine.
  • Fixed many errors with talent tooltips.
  • Dungeons and Raids
    • Players who die inside Naxxramas will no longer respawn in Eastern Plaguelands.
    • Sapphiron now casts the intended Frost Aura.
    • Fixed a bug preventing the Four Horsemen from dropping loot.
    • Fixed the Embalming Slime that was unintentionally placed under Patchwerk.
    • Druids should no longer be forced out of shapeshift forms in Culling of Stratholme.
    • Fixed a bug with Volkhan’s Molten Golems in Halls of Lightning.
  • Death Knights
    • Rime now works as intended.

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