Shadowlands Patch 9.2 - Eternity's End Developer Preview

The next World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Content Update is just around the corner. Watch an exclusive developer preview of the latest chapter in the WoW saga.

Get Ready for Eternity's End
Zovaal, the eluse Jailer and ruler of the Maw in the Shadowlands, has made his next move—and with it, he threatens to rewrite the rules of reality. In Eternity's End, you'll face him, and perhaps save Azeroth and the Shadowlands from a fate worse than death. Eternity's End features include:

New Zone: Zereth Mortis
Zereth Mortis was created by the First Ones, and it's intended to create afterlives. Its denizens—the automa—have created all that exists in the Shadowlands, Azeroth, and realms beyond. It is a strange, alien location that defies all concepts of reality or physics. The Jailer intends to use Zereth Mortis' power to reshape everything according to his design.

Meet The Enlightened
The Enlightened are brokers that arrived on Zereth Mortis a long time ago. They no longer see their world in a transactional manner, but instead they treat their dwelling as a sacred place, and hope to answer to a higher calling—the pursuit of knowledge. Find common ground with The Enlightened to succeed and defend Zereth Mortis.

Decode the Cypher of the First Ones
The automa of Zereth Mortis speak in a musical language that is incomprehensible to mortal races. Team up with a curious automa sidekick in this new progression system to learn the lost language of the Progenitors and delve deeper into the secrets of Zereth Mortis, unlocking an array of new zone activities, daily quests, events, and rewards.

New Raid: Sepulcher of the First Ones
Deep in the Sepulcher of the First Ones lies the key to unlock the Jailer's plans. Gather the power of the First Ones as you pursue Zovaal into the Sepulcher and fight through his forces—but first, you must face Anduin, and discover a way to resist the Jailer's terrifying Domination magic.

Class Tier Sets Return
Harness the power of the First Ones by collecting distinctive class armor sets via raids, PvP, or Mythic+ dungeons. Each set comes with powerful 2- and 4-piece set bonuses that complement your unique abilities.

Other features in Eternity's End

• Mythic+ and PvP Season 3
  
• Tazavesh added to the Mythic Keystone Dungeon rotation
  
  • Note: Tazavesh will be split into two separate dungeons for Seasonal content.
    
• New Mounts and Pets
  
• Updates to Professions, Soulbinds, Conduits
  
• New dancing mini-game at the Darkmoon Faire
  
• And much more!

We hope you've enjoyed this early look at Eternity's End. There's much more to come, and we'll release in-depth previews of the features above and others as we get closer to the PTR and release.

Keep an eye on https://worldofwarcraft.com/news to stay up-to-date on all things Warcraft. See you in Azeroth, champion!

Zone Concept Art

Progenitor Environment
The zone of Zereth Mortis created an opportunity for the team to experiment with new ways to approach creating environments. We experimented a lot with ways in which we could incorporate geometry, and otherworldly elements to create a sense of intent in the environment.

It was important to us to create variety within the zone, so we experimented with a range of sub biomes. In the image above we attempted to get a better understanding of how these different biomes would work together.

Progenitor - Color Rough
We knew we wanted to create a space that transcended the darkness that we saw in the shadowlands, a place of peace and solitude. We gravitated towards cooler tones, high-key values, and softer textures; much of our decision making was based around a desire to create a place that was inviting, yet mysterious, for everyone to explore.

Catalysts of Creation
We wanted to show an area where there were relics of progenitor creative projects and give it a sense of wonder and mystery. These mysterious relics had helped to shape countless worlds and breathed life into every corner of the universe.

Character Design

Progenitor Jellyfish
The Progenitor jellyfish is a creature that needed to be both wild and created by higher beings. We wanted the translucency of the creature to show it’s inner working and tie it to other creatures of the same theme.

Devourer Sandworm
The idea for the Devourer worm was to make a horrific creature that traps its prey with its oversized mandibles and consumes its victim’s energy through its inner mouth. Just like the other devourers we wanted an other worldly look, something between deep sea creatures and also alien to Azeroth.

Progenitor Wildlife
Crafting creatures that we have never seen before is always a challenging and creative experience. The wildlife displays a fusion of both the energies emanating within the land and the design motifs you will see throughout the biomes. This is just a small snippet of the creatures that you will see, but we wanted to make sure that our world feels like it is lived in.

Terrestrial Wing Keeper
This raid boss creates all the creatures that populate all of the multitude of afterlives. This boss has a lot of emphasis on their head because we wanted it to feel like they generated creatures from thought and could will them into existence.

Progenitor Weapons
These weapons are primarily made up of Progenitor energy. The lightsaber was a huge inspiration when thinking about and designing them. Wrapped around the energy is elegant gold framing and metals to help push the strength and fortitude of them.

Enlightened Broker Armor
The Broker armor sets were fun to explore concepts for! The goal was to take features of this culture and apply it to different archetypes that would fit each class based on armor type. All of the armor sets are cohesive with one another through their color palette and shape language. In addition to differences in their silhouette, I also wanted to make each one distinct by using different ratios and placement of materials between each armor set. It was interesting taking the idea of the Brokers' floating blue flame heads and applying it to these helmets with the technical constraints we have!

Prop Design

Progenitor Visual Development & 10b. Progenitor Magical Decals
In the land of progenitors, players will discover a variety of mysterious props that have simple geometric shapes and a plethora of magical effects. It was a huge honor to concept many of the supporting pieces that the inhabitants of this hidden foundry used to create the origins of all afterlives. Also prominent throughout the zone are magical decals that are part of the greater Progenitor language that players will learn more about through questing. The runes emanate wondrous energies and contrast nicely against the natural elements of the zone.