World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Hello!

As we head towards our Cataclysm Classic launch in late May, we’re planning some special test weekends in the Cataclysm Beta.

May 3-6 – Cataclysm Raids Test 1

We’re opening the doors to the new raids that will launch shortly after the expansion, and your testing will help to ensure it’s a great experience.

• Take on the pit Lord Argaloth deep in the prison of Tol Barad.
• Battle the cult of the Twilight’s Hammer in Bastion of Twilight.
• Storm the personal lair of the Windlord in Throne of the Four Winds.
• Survive the gruesome draconic experiments and the reanimated Nefarian, son of Deathwing, in Blackwing Descent.

May 10-13 – Tol Barad Battleground

Tol Barad, once an outdoor PvP zone, has been reimagined as an instanced 80 v 80 battleground, similar to Wintergrasp in Wrath Classic.

• We’re also planning a Brawl with the Blues event for Tol Barad. We’ll let you know exactly when.

May 14-17 – Cataclysm Raids Test 2

We’re planning a second raid test to make sure we’re ready for raids to open shortly after launch.

• This weekend will include the same raids as weekend 1.

Thank you for all of your testing and feedback. We hope to see you there!

With scheduled weekly maintenance (tomorrow, April 30 in this region), we’ll make the following adjustments to classes in Season of Discovery:

Hunter

• Raptor Fury now increases the damage done of Raptor strike and Mongoose Bite by 10% per stack (was 15%).
• The Beast Mastery rune now increases pet damage by 10% (was 20%).

Shaman

• The Burn rune now also grants a significant bonus to spell power when Flametongue Weapon is imbued on your weapon.
• Rolling Thunder now has a 50% chance to trigger (was 30%).
• Fixed a bug causing overload procs to not add a charge to Lightning Shield when the Shaman has the Rolling Thunder rune active.

Warlock

• Invocation now also applies to Unstable Affliction.
• Invocation damage can now deal critical strikes if the Warlock also has the Pandemic rune active.

Beginning May 3, the arena gates will open once more for the 2024 Dragonflight Season 4 Arena World Championship (AWC)! Tune in to the final two Cups on Twitch and YouTube to see how far the gladiators will go.

The high-stakes competition continues in Season 4, with only two opportunities for the top gladiators to emerge victorious from the arenas. Competitors will clash in Cups 3 and 4 for their chance to earn a spot in the Dragonflight Grand Finals! Tune in to the Tournament for close combat, near-death encounters, and exhilarating action.

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Details

• Venue: Online: Twitch.tv/Warcraft and YouTube.com/Warcraft
• Co-streaming: Co-streaming is back! Check with your favorite competitor to see if they will stream their POV during the tournament, or gather your own audience and host a Watch Party. To sign up for co-streaming, use the AWC Watch Party Form.
• Dates:
  
  • Cup 3: May 3–5
  • Cup 4: May 10–12
  • Finals: May 17–19
• Broadcast Start Time: 10:00 am (PDT) / 7:00 pm (CEST)
• Format: Double Elimination, Best-of-5. Grand Finals Best-of-7.

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Talent

• Eiya
• Lythi
• Supatease
• Venruki
• Ziqo

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Sign-Up Today!

Registration is still open for AWC Cup 4, and with it another chance to earn the new Draconic Banner of the Aspects! This in-game toy will be rewarded to any team that competes in a full AWC Cup.

Sign up on Raider.IO for the next Tournament!

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Stay Connected

Be sure to subscribe to the Warcraft Twitch and YouTube channels to check out the action within the arena beginning on May 3! Check out the broadcast schedule on our Esports page.

A variety of new items are flowering in this month’s Trading Post. Embrace the spirit of spring when you gild your back with the Wings of the Amber Monarch.

Visit T&W** (Tawney and Wilder) just outside the Mage District in Stormwind or the Zen’shiri Trading Post next to Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar to check out all the latest items*** they have available.

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Here's What's in Stock for May

Pets, Mounts, and Toys

Name	Item Type	Trader’s Tender
Buzzworth (Returning)	Pet	600
Pokee	Pet	400
Amber Skitterfly	Mount	600
Blazing Hippogryph	Mount	800
Royal Swarmer’s Reins (Returning)	Mount	800

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Armor Transmogs

Name	Item Type	Trader’s Tender
Highborne Scholar's Gloves	Hands	50
Sin'dorei Assassin's Shroud	Cloak	50
Lively Treads of the Kalu'ak	Feet	50
Dueler's Brick Shoulder Cape	Shoulder	75
Dueler's Midnight Shoulder Cape	Shoulder	75
Trader's Brick Sarong	Legs	100
Gloves of the Midnight Soiree	Hands	100
Classic Midnight Tabard	Tabard	100
Ensemble: Vagabond's Midnight Threads (Returning)	Head and Cloak	100
Ensemble: Wanderer's Midnight Trappings (Returning)	Head and Cloak	100
Ensemble: Vagabond's Brick Threads	Head and Cloak	100
Ensemble: Wanderer's Brick Trappings	Head and Cloak	100
Guise of the Golden Masquerade	Head	200
Ebony Crown of the Red Rose	Head	250

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Weapon Transmogs

Name	Item Type	Trader’s Tender
Primeval Maul	2-Hand Mace	75
Leaky Bucket	Off-Hand	75
Forsaken Cresset (Returning)	Off-Hand	100
Valarjar Champion's Greatsword	2-Hand Sword	200
Paradise's Golden Axe	1-Hand Axe	300
Lavish Floral Edge	Dagger	300
Lavish Floral Stalk	Polearm	300
Sunny Bow-quet	Bow	300
Sunny Floral Staff	Staff	300
Arsenal: Blades of Elune (Returning)	1-Hand Sword, 1 Hand Sword	600

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This Month's Bonus Reward


Complete activities to fill the bar at the top of the Traveler’s Log found in the Adventure Guide (Shift-J)^***, and you'll receive this month's bonus reward — Wings of the Amber Monarch transmog. Embody the spirit of spring everywhere you go when you gild your back with these lovely wings.

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Get the Burden of Unrelenting Justice Transmog Sets

It’s been a year since T&W (Tawney and Wilder) and the Zen’shiri Trading Post have been supplying a variety of delightful mounts, pets, toys, and transmogs to the citizens of Azeroth. To celebrate, players who have earned the monthly special reward from the trading Post twelve times will be rewarded with a new achievement, “Trading Post Enthusiast” along with a new color-shifting transmog — the Burden of Unrelenting Justice transmog set.

With the release of the Seeds of Renewal content update, players who complete the twelve months will also receive two non-color-shifting sets representing the day and night version of the color-shifting transmog for a total of three sets retroactively. Players who earn the achievement after the launch of the Seeds of Renewal Content update will automatically receive all three sets for their collection.

You don’t need to earn the special reward twelve times consecutively to get the achievement and the transmog sets.

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How it Works

Get Tender Every Month
At the first of each month, players with an active account in good standing will receive 500 Trader’s Tender automatically every month from a chest called the Collector’s Cache. If you don’t have active game time on your account or aren’t a subscriber at the start of a new month, don’t worry. Your Tender will be awarded on the first day of the month when you do have game time or an active subscription. This will be the same amount for everyone, regardless of how you pay for your game time.

The Traveler's Log
Complete monthly activities listed in the new Traveler’s Log. Each month features a rotating, themed set of activities. These activities provide the opportunity to earn up to 500 additional Trader’s Tender. There’s only a set amount of Tender you can earn each month through completing activities, so you won’t need to complete all the ones in the log each month. You’ll be able to pick and choose from a variety of fun in-game activities to easily earn Tender. Players can choose to earn by continuing to play the game as they already do, such as completing quests, competing in battlegrounds, participating in holiday activities, and even running Mythic+ dungeons. But you can also choose to take part in activities uniquely designed for the month.

Freeze an Item
Before the month comes to an end, if you haven’t purchased that one “must-have” item yet, don’t worry. You can “freeze” an item so you can purchase it later. When you freeze an item, it will stay available month over month until it is purchased or replaced.

If this month’s offerings didn’t have the items you wanted, you can hang on to your Trader’s Tender to spend later. It won’t go anywhere, and unspent Tender will continue to accumulate each month.

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Learn more about the Trading Post in our previously published news post on the official site.

*The Trading Post feature is not available in WoW Classic titles.
**Requires World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time
***Requires Level 10 to access the Adventure Guide.