World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Ahead of this weekend’s Naxxramas test, we’ve redesigned the difficulty system.

• Each Quarter of Naxxramas can be Empowered by using the orbs in the main lobby. Empowering a Quarter:
  
  • Enables a new mechanic inside that Quarter, and
  • Increases the difficulty across the entire instance, regardless of which Quarter is empowered.
• After interacting with the orbs, there is a 15 minute cooldown before enabling or disabling that orb again.
• To tackle this dangerous new content, you’ll want a new set of trinkets: “The Seal of the Dawn”.
• Players can get the Seal of the Dawn by talking to Kug Softjaw inside Naxxramas.
  
  • The Seal of the Dawn empowers new “Sanctified” gear that can be discovered from Scourge Invasions or while inside Naxxramas.
  • The Seal of the Dawn can be improved by collecting “Remnants of Valor” from Scourge Invasions or while inside Naxxramas.
  • The power gain from the Seal of the Dawn is immense. Players are expected to obtain Sanctified Gear and improve their Seals of the Dawn to tackle higher difficulties of Naxxramas.

Following up on hotfixes that are now live:

• The Season of Discovery variant of the Chronoboon Displacer is no longer usable on non-SoD realms.
• The Era Chronoboon on Classic Era/Anniversary realms now costs 1 gold and sells for 2.5 silver.
• On Classic Era/Anniversary realms, the SoD variant of the Chronoboon can now be exchanged by Chromie for the Era version of the Chronoboon, one for one, with no additional gold cost.

Please note that you must have the SoD variant of the Chronoboon Displacer in your inventory and you must also have completed the quest “Counting Out Time” to be able to exchange the item at Chromie on a Classic Era/Anniversary realm.

ARR, Mateys! The Plunderstorm Makes Landfall Once More!


A new storm is surging, and players can dive back into the fray of the Plunderstorm once more. Spend your well-earned Plunder in the new Plunderstore for great new rewards, test your mettle with new spells at your fingertips, explore new points of interest on the map, and more! Each match is 10-15 minutes long and has 60 players per match, with the winner being the last one standing. Level up and acquire new abilities and spells by killing creatures and enemies, looting chests, and avoiding the encroaching storm.

Set Sail for the Plunderstorm

The Arathi Highlands is the backdrop for this pirating adventure, and you'll have plenty of challenges to keep you busy. We’ve added a few new points of interest to explore and plunder, including new enemy spawn camps. All non-elite enemies will now respawn, opening up more opportunities to gain plunder to spend, and you can ride like the wind when you visit one of the horse spawn points, mount up, and traverse the map.

More details on new experience changes can be found in our previously published arrrticle.

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WoW Classic: 20th Anniversary Edition Phase 2 Battlegrounds Now Live!


Ring in the new year with the updated Honor System, the opening of iconic battlegrounds Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley, and the release of Dire Maul and the world bosses, Azuregos and Kazzak.

Get ready for the Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley battlegrounds! We’ve learned a lesson or two since we launched the original Honor System in 2019. With that launch, we saw a lot of great chaotic outdoor PvP engagements between players. But this chaos also led us to adjust plans so that we released battlegrounds slightly earlier than expected. This time, with the new Anniversary Edition realms, we’re leaning into the excitement and embracing the chaos—for one week only! (Southshore vs. Tarren Mill, anyone?) Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley battlegrounds are now live.

We can’t wait to see everyone’s adventures unfold in this next chapter! More information can be found in our previously published article.

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Twitch Drop: Get the Coward’s Azure Target Transmog — Now Live!


There’s plunder to be had when the Plunderstorm makes landfall, and you can claim your piece of it by watching any World of Warcraft stream on Twitch.tv.

Watch 4 hours of World of Warcraft content on any channel from January 14, 10:00 am PST, until February 4, 10:00 am PST, while these Twitch Drops are active to earn the Coward’s Azure Target transmog item.

Read our article to learn more about earning this new item for your collection.

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The Plunderstorm® Creator Royale returns January 25!


Avast ye sailors, scallywags, and spectators alike— the Plunderstorm® Creator Royale lies dead ahead! Prepare for pirates, prizes, and plenty of plundering as sixty of your favorite content creators clash once more within the storm-plagued peaks of Arathi Highlands.

This unique event sets sail on Twitch and YouTube on January 25, starting at 10:00 am PST / 18:00 GMT.

The Plunderstorm Creator Royale will be broadcast live from Blizzard Headquarters in Irvine, California, with First Mates Goldenboy, Soe, and Esfand manning the helm!

During the competition, each of the sixty content creators will also stream third-person perspectives from their own port of call worldwide on their personal channels.

Additional details can be found in our previously published article.

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Season of Discovery Phase 7 Goes Live January 28!


Are you afraid of the dark? In Season of Discovery Phase 7, you’ll need to face your fears and go boldly into an all-new dungeon— Karazhan Crypts. Begin your journey toward attunement for Karazhan Crypts by visiting the Lights Hope Chapel in Eastern Plaguelands to pick up the starting quest.

Face the Scourge as they invade Azeroth once more, visit the Rune Brokers to purchase runes and rune-related discovery items, and on February 6, journey to the famed ziggurat, Naxxramas, to defeat the horrors within.

Get all the Season of Discovery Phase 7 details from our previously published article.

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Charm Your Way Into the New Year with a 6-Month Subscription


Wind your way through grand adventures in the skies or stay gracefully grounded astride the Timbered Sky Snake wherever you go.

Collect the Timbered Sky Snake Skyriding mount, and wind your way into the skies! This mount is also available directly in-game or through the Blizzard Shop. Obtain a 6-Month or 12-Month Subscription and get the Timbered Sky Snake mount and the Timbered Air Snakelet pet to join your Cataclysm Classic™ characters. The mount and pet are also available separately from the in-game or Blizzard Shop.

Players with a 12-Month subscription will automatically receive the Timbered Sky Snake mount for their adventures across The War Within and the Timbered Air Snakelet pet to join them on their journey through Cataclysm Classic. Those on an existing 6-Month recurring subscription with a future renewal date will receive these items at no additional charge, no later than January 31, 2025 (must be redeemed by July 31, 2025) through the Battle.net launcher.

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Follow along on the official World of Warcraft news site for all the latest developments as we journey through the week together.

Ring in the new year with the updated Honor System, the opening of iconic battlegrounds Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley, and the release of Dire Maul and the world bosses, Azuregos and Kazzak.

Release Timetable:

• 1/9: Phase 2 including the updated Honor System, Dire Maul, and world bosses Azuregos and Kazzak.
• 1/16: Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley Battlegrounds Open

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Phase 2 of the Anniversary Edition introduces the updated Honor System currently in use on both WoW Classic Era realms and in Season of Discovery. At the launch of the phase, the Honor cap will be set to Rank 11, with it extending to Rank 14 shortly after the release of the Blackwing Lair raid dungeon at a later date.

This phase also marks the release of Dire Maul dungeon and the world bosses Azuregos and Kazzak, offering even more exciting encounters to dive into.

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Get Ready for the Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley Battlegrounds

We’ve learned a lesson or two since we launched the original Honor System in 2019. With that launch, we saw a lot of great chaotic outdoor PvP engagements between players. But this chaos also led us to adjust plans so that we released battlegrounds slightly earlier than expected. This time, with the new Anniversary Edition realms, we’re leaning into the excitement and embracing the chaos—for one week only! (Southshore vs. Tarren Mill anyone?) We will be opening the Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley battlegrounds on January 16 at 2:00 pm PST globally, one week after the updated Honor System goes live.

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We can’t wait to see everyone’s adventures unfold in this next chapter!

The issue we encountered for the 30 minutes that Battlegrounds were open was thornier than it originally looked. Before we reopen BGs, we’re going to need to do some cleanup that can only be done with realm restarts. We’ll perform those restarts tomorrow, and the timing of them should now be posted in your Breaking News.

Regarding the SoD version of Chronoboons that were briefly available in Alterac Valley, please be advised that these will be rendered functionless on Anniversary realms. They can be ignored.

Chronoboons that are native to Anniversary realms will not be affected.

We apologize for the delay in getting Battlegrounds working properly for everyone, and we appreciate your patience and understanding.