Shadowlands Patch 9.2 - Eternity's End Developer Preview

Developer Interviews - Patch 9.2 Final Major Patch of Shadowlands
Game Rant, Inven, NGA, GamerBraves, and Millenium interviewed developers about Patch 9.2.

Story and Lore
  • The Shadowlands story arc was planned to have three acts, so Patch 9.2 will be the finale of Shadowlands. There could be a Patch 9.3, but it's unlikely.
  • Dealing with Anduin is the only way players will be able to confront the Jailer.
  • Uther may be able to guide Sylvanas through those treacherous waters of having a soul returned to the body after death
  • Tyrande and Sylvanas are on a collision course and there will be heavy interaction between those characters, and that is pivotal to the final conclusion of Shadowlands.
  • This patch will explain all of the Shadowlands story lines and this is actually the ending of a series of story lines starting from Warcraft 3.
  • There is room for sweeping, cosmic narratives and small, personal stories alike.
  • The team recognizes that players want to see the small things that flesh out the world as well as a cosmic story.
  • There are many facets of the Warcraft universe still waiting for us to explore in both the cosmic sense of Eternity’s End, and the more grounded events in Azeroth featuring characters we know and love, with many areas yet in Azeroth to be discovered.

New Raid - Sepulcher of the First Ones
  • The new raid has 11 bosses, with Anduin being the 8th boss.
  • The first week of the new raid will take us up to Anduin, allowing us to take a closer look at his story.
  • Anduin will be a very, very complex boss.
  • The final three bosses will be available on Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties during the third week of the raid.
  • The Jailer will be the final boss of the new raid.
  • The Jailer fight will be in a very dynamic room, with pillars and fog, and may be the craziest boss the team has done.
  • After defeating the first boss in the Sepulcher, you need to take a flight path to the next boss in the instance. As you travel, you get to see all the epic scenery, huge structures in the raid, and get the sense of scale and fantasy.
  • One wing of the raid is constantly creating new things and prototyping creatures, and one of the bosses in that wing is a prototype of the Pantheon of Death.
  • In previous raids, everything led up to a moment with the final boss. This time we have a big story moment with both Anduin and the Jailer.

Zereth Mortis
  • Zereth Mortis will be very large.
  • Zereth Mortis was an opportunity for the team to show a whole new level of Warcraft cosmology, about this mystical and ‘higher form of magic’ place that we hadn’t seen before.
  • There will be opportunities for you to get gear to get you to where you can feel successful playing through the Zereth Mortis story content.
  • Zereth Mortis and its creatures, the Automa, speak with a runic pattern called the Cyphers. Players will not know it all at once, but will learn it over time.
  • Zereth Mortis exists for the sole purpose of creating "the Afterlife", all of it. Shadowlands was fashioned there along with many things of the strength of Death that we have yet to discover.
  • Zereth Mortis is our first in-depth look at the Founders, the cosmos and cosmology, of that balance of power that governs the entire universe.
  • Zereth Mortis has no day / night cycle since it is neither a star nor a planet but an "area" located in the heart of the ether of the universe itself.
  • In the end you will have the flight in Zereth Mortis thanks to the decryption system.

Tier Sets
  • Tier sets are a combination of class fantasy and the aesthetics from the zone, creatures, and ecology of Zereth Mortis.
  • Tier sets will be available through the raids and Great Vault.
  • After Patch 9.2 releases, you'll unlock the Forge of Creation, and earn a new currency. This currency, along with an item from PVP or dungeons, can be transformed into a tier set piece.
  • The Forge of Creation is supposed to work like a bad luck protection, or for people wanting to make new characters, or as a catch-up method if you’ve started late.

PvP
  • The new PvP brawl is the Solo Shuffle. It'll take 6 players and have them fight in 3v3 arena matches in every possible combination you could form with those players. The one with the best rating at the end wins.

Legendary Items
  • Players will have access to new level tiers for legendary items that require materials that come from Zereth Mortis directly.
  • You'll be able to equip two legendary items at once, one regular legendary and one Covenant legendary.
  • Players will need to unlock the capability to equip two legendary items.

Misc
  • The PTR is coming in the next few weeks barring any technical challenges with the rollout.
  • The team wants to move to a world where players have new content to consume more frequently.
  • The team will not add new levels of Renown.
  • There are no plans to update Soulbinds in Eternity’s End. (Source)
  • With Kel'thuzad in Mythic Mode, players came up with a strategy that the development team did not anticipate.
  • For Kel'Thuzad and the Scribe of Doom, the two underwent successive nerfs in order to allow the "middle guilds", to defeat these bosses in the weeks and months that follow.


Eternity's End Raid Schedule
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Narratively, the Eternity’s End raid tells two stories, one after the other. Our current plan for the release of the raid looks like this:
  • During the first week of the release of Eternity’s End, the raid will not be open.
  • Beginning with the second week, the raid will open for Normal and Heroic difficulties, and the first eight bosses will be available in those difficulties.
    • It will not be possible to fight the final bosses on any difficulty during week two.
    • This is intended to provide a moment to tell the story in a way that accounts for the passage of time between the events of the eighth encounter and the subsequent encounters.
  • Beginning with the weekly reset of week three, all bosses will be available on Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties.
    • This will also be the opening of the first wing of the raid on Raid Finder difficulty.

Jump Back into Action with the New Level 60 Character Boost
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
There comes a time in every hero’s journey when they need a helping hand to get them over the hump and right back into the action. With the Level 60 Character Boost*, you can instantly grant one character a one-time boost to level 60, so they’re ready to get back into action with the latest content Shadowlands has to offer and prepare for the continuing story in Eternity’s End. Bring your hero up to speed and get ready for your next thrilling adventure!


Not sure where to begin? Check out our Catching up at 60 article to learn what’s new in Shadowlands.

* Level 60 Character Boost not available in World of Warcraft® Classic. Or Burning Crusade Classic™.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Developer Interviews - Patch 9.2 Final Major Patch of Shadowlands started by chaud View original post
Comments 204 Comments
  1. Mhyroth's Avatar
    The Shadowlands story arc was planned to have three acts, so Patch 9.2 will be the finale of Shadowlands. There could be a Patch 9.3, but it's unlikely.
    Pretty much confirmed now Shadowlands is over and done after this.

    In the end you will have the flight in Zereth Mortis thanks to the decryption system.
    So flying gated/locked it seems.
  1. Musta's Avatar
    "The team wants to move to a world where players have new content to consume more frequently."

    again and again and again i see the same line and nothing changes.
  1. Khaza-R's Avatar
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    Tyrande and Sylvanas are on a collision course and there will be heavy interaction between those characters, and that is pivotal to the final conclusion of Shadowlands.
    Can't wait to see how they turn this into another slap in the face to Night Elf players lol.
  1. Greyvax's Avatar
    looks cool. glad we're getting a giant new zone alongside a good sized raid
  1. MakeMeLaugh's Avatar
    You'll be able to equip two legendary items at once, one regular legendary and one Covenant legendary.
    Ah FOR FUCKS SAKE WHY!?

    Just let me use the god damn legendaries I want god damnit fucking blizz man...
  1. Mandible's Avatar
    Great, yet another new currency.
  1. Nobleshield's Avatar
    So they've learned nothing at all. GG. Imbeciles.
  1. OrangeJuice's Avatar
    So since you need to take a FP to the boss, there will be no flying in that zone. It'll be big meaning it'll have mountains all over the placed and crammed with an ungodly amount of NPCs to waste your time. Literally just copy paste development.
  1. Biglog's Avatar
    We should be getting 10.0 expansion news fairly soon then also, with them cutting Shadowlands short at 9.2 and it hitting the PTR in a few weeks. What we don't want is for 9.2 to be another SOO patch, where "it's a big raid" but that's the content for a year and a half.
  1. sephrinx's Avatar
    My expectations were low, but holy shit. I thought the bar could not go any lower, yet, they did it.
  1. OrangeJuice's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by sephrinx View Post
    My expectations were low, but holy shit. I thought the bar could not go any lower, yet, they did it.
    Its like every patch you're starting the expansion over. Everything you hate you get to do once again!
  1. damonskye's Avatar
    The team wants to move to a world where players have new content to consume more frequently.
    It is really so frustrating to hear World of Warcraft developers say this. I mean... no shit, right? We all want that. And we've been asking about it not only through Shadowlands, but for OVER A DECADE. Everyone wants this. Everyone. Why, then, is this a talking point at all? They clearly haven't learned how to actually DO it over, what, eight expansions?
  1. DechCJC's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by OrangeJuice View Post
    So since you need to take a FP to the boss, there will be no flying in that zone. It'll be big meaning it'll have mountains all over the placed and crammed with an ungodly amount of NPCs to waste your time. Literally just copy paste development.
    Since when was it normal to fly in a raid zone?
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nobleshield View Post
    So they've learned nothing at all. GG. Imbeciles.
    Exactly what were you expecting?
  1. Doffen's Avatar
    People expected a shift in game design for a patch? You guys really surprised, or even let down? What big new thing was it that you thought they would do?

    Start crossing fingers for 10.0 if change is what you want.

    Quote Originally Posted by Relapses View Post
    Exactly what were you expecting?
    I would guess a Racing RPG Strategy Simulator FPS Shoot Em Up game.
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by damonskye View Post
    It is really so frustrating to hear World of Warcraft developers say this. I mean... no shit, right? We all want that. And we've been asking about it not only through Shadowlands, but for OVER A DECADE. Everyone wants this. Everyone. Why, then, is this a talking point at all? They clearly haven't learned how to actually DO it over, what, eight expansions?
    Thankfully all Blizzard needs to do is put up an Indeed job listing for "relly gud level desiner lul, like $80k/yr n shid" and they'll have millions of qualified applicants overnight.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Doffen View Post
    People expected a shift in game design for a patch? You guys really surprised, or even let down? What big new thing was it that you thought they would do?

    Start crossing fingers for 10.0 if change is what you want.


    I would guess a Racing RPG Strategy Simulator FPS Shoot Em Up game.
    Really gotta corner that RRPGSSFPSSEU demographic, eh?
  1. Doffen's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Relapses View Post
    Really gotta corner that RRPGSSFPSSEU demographic, eh?
    What were you expecting? A JRPG Shoot Em Up Simulator MMO?
  1. OrangeJuice's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zypherz View Post
    Since when was it normal to fly in a raid zone?
    I can think of a few cases but honestly I didn't even read what he said, i just skimmed over it and made an assumption that actually ended up being true, so LOL.
  1. damonskye's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Relapses View Post
    Thankfully all Blizzard needs to do is put up an Indeed job listing for "relly gud level desiner lul, like $80k/yr n shid" and they'll have millions of qualified applicants overnight.
    Activision Blizzard is a billion dollar corporation. If they wanted to expand their team to put out more regular content, they absolutely could, and the market is full of people wanting to do just that. I'm not sure who's hill you're dying on there.
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by damonskye View Post
    Activision Blizzard is a billion dollar corporation. If they wanted to expand their team to put out more regular content, they absolutely could, and the market is full of people wanting to do just that. I'm not sure who's hill you're dying on there.
    You're right -- perhaps Blizzard should buy a couple of game developer boosts from sweetgamedevs.org. They could save all the hassle of having to train and acclimate people to the process.

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