Update - Added the translation of the original article, thanks to Treeston!

Patch 4.3 - Deathwing, Transmogrifier, Void Storage
Tom Chilton (Kalgan) answered a couple of questions from Gamona.de on Patch 4.3, and we got a bunch of very interesting news out of it. Patch 4.3 will feature:


  • New Raid - The Deathwing raid, making it very likely to be the last patch before the next expansion.
  • 3 new 5-man instances - Including one in the Caverns of Time. (War of the Ancients was mentioned as a cataclysm instance a few years ago, but a lot of things have changed since then, who knows!)
  • The Transmogrifier NPC, which will let you change the appearance of any armor piece on you, while retaining the stats of your current gear. (= T12 stats, but with the Tier 2 look!)
  • Players won't be able to change the appearance of their armor into another armor type or class armor set, and you might have to own the armor before you can use it to swap the appearance of your existing armor.
  • The Void Storage is a new type of bank where players will be able to store their old armors in order to free up space in their regular bank.
  • The Abyssal Maw dungeon is gone for the moment, the storyline wasn't convincing enough/fitting.

If someone feels like adding information or even translating the article completely, post in comments!

Translation of the original article on gamona.de
We're at GamesCon in Cologne, Germany, and just did an interview with Tom Chilton, Lead Game Developer and Chris Robinson, Lead Art Director, in which they revealed a lot of details regarding patch 4.3 - and it seems that the announcement of it being huge was no joke:

Patch 4.3 will bring us the Deathwing raid instance! This means it's likely that we'll be able to fight the Aspect of Death in an epic encounter within this year. The raid that was originally expected for this patch, the "Abyssal Maw", was cut from the schedule because, as Chilton states, the setting and the story were not convincing enough.

Furthermore, 4.3 will also bring three entirely new 5-man instances - Chilton assured us that these won't contain any re-vamped content, but instead be brand new with unique design and models. Chilton also hinted at one of those being within the Caverns of Time, allowing players to experience another great moment of Warcraft Lore first-hand.

The interview also revealed the purpose of the "mystery ethereals" in Stormwind (and likely other cities, too). The "Transmogrifier" NPC will allow players to change the displayed model of equipment to that of another item while keeping the original attributes: Transmogrification is only possible within an armor class - Plate armor can only assume the looks of other Plate armor, for example.
  • Class restrictions apply to Transmogrification - Warriors cannot transmogrify their armor to look like Death Knight tier sets.
  • The developers are considering whether they should only allow using the models of equipment that has already been obtained

The "Void Storage" is a very large bank-esque storage which allows old equipment to be stored, freeing up inventory/bank slots for players. The developers aren't sure yet about the definition of "old equipment". The cost of the storage (and whether there even is one) is another thing that is not yet decided

Another possible feature that was hinted at is the possibility of "void stored" equipment being available to other characters on the account (NOTE: That part might be speculation from Gamona, not cross-server transfers actually confirmed. Hard to tell.)

Overall, it seems that we've got a huge patch ahead of us - a new raid, three brand new instances, Transmogrification and Void Storage.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 4.3 - Deathwing, Transmogrifier, Void Storage started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 493 Comments
  1. Araella's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kobomino View Post
    According to Kotaku: "The Deathwing
    fight will be the most epic boss
    encounter to date, including a battle
    phase that takes place on the
    massive dragon's back as he flies
    through the sky."
    In before Gunship 2.0
  1. Kathranis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiro View Post
    Over 1 million monthly-subscribing players have left this game in the past 6 months, this number is against their 5-6m monthly subscription users. There's a problem, they know it, most of us know it, you're just being ignorantly bliss still.
    Blizzard still has approximately 11.6 million subscribers worldwide. It's only lost 900,000 since it just peaked before the launch of Cataclysm with 12.5 million subscribers. Not over 1 million.

    And the number of leaving players has decreased over the last six months, not increased. 600,000 left in the first quarter, only 300,000 left in the second quarter. Which means they're losing fewer subscribers now than they were before.


    Now though, since they merged with Activision, the quality of the game has dropped significantly as they put the almighty dollar ahead of their players... They're not the blizzard of old. They're Bobby Kotick's blizzard now.
    I'm sorry, but you're just being ignorant.

    Blizzard Entertainment did not merge with Activision. Vivendi Games is what was merged with Activision, and it was renamed Activision Blizzard after the merger.

    Activision Blizzard is a holding company with two subsidiaries, Blizzard Entertainment and Activision, both of which are owned by Vivendi Universal.

    Blizzard Entertainmet has always been owned by Vivendi. It is still owned by Vivendi. Activision is now also owned by Vivendi.



    Also, FYI, an "Appearance Tab" has probably been the most requested feature in the Blizzard community for about 2-3 years now.

    The next patch is also introducing three new dungeons and a new raid. In all of Burning Crusade's content patches they only released 3 raids and 1 instance, and patch 2.2 only had voice chat and nothing else.
  1. mmoca47a18aeef's Avatar
    can u have legendarys on this or is it just epic items in the transmogrifier
  1. Sammonoske's Avatar
    At first I was excited about the Transmogrifier. I get to use my Warglaive while I tank! Then Blizz says Legendaries can't be used in the transmogrifier. Now I just don't give a damn about it. Back to using the bland 1h weapons Blizzard's art team provides me.
  1. mmoc46aaf38d4c's Avatar
    Lets say I use Bullwark of Azinoth to replace te model of another random shield. Will the Bullwark of Azinoth disapear completely? Or will I be able to keep it for future transmogrifications? It would really suck having to farm something a gazillion times.
  1. Freese's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiro View Post
    2. Mike Morhaime or however you spell it directly reports to Bobby Kotick. There is direct correlation between WoW's quality and focus decline soon after the merger.
    I'm interested to see your statistical data that allowed you to discover this correlation. In my opinion, ever since the merge with VIVENDI GAMES (not Activision), the game has gotten better.
  1. Nathiest's Avatar
    Sounds big. Really big. I doubt we'll see it before the end of this year.
  1. mmocca5d152c38's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by pyrostorm9001 View Post
    seems to be a horribly short xpac. not impressed
    First you don't know for a fact it'll be a short expansion, is it likely? Yes. Second why are you not impressed with a short expansion? What bothers you about it.

    You know if Blizzard waits long to release next x-pack then people cry, if they do it fast then people cry... You see where this is going?
  1. qbanb8582's Avatar
    I do not really like this expansion, the sooner its over the better for me. At this point I would pay $40 just to have cataclysm go away.
  1. Sarvas's Avatar
    It would be kind of pointless to put restrictions on the Transmogrifier if you ask me.

    Some players have just picked up the game and started getting into it, meaning they will not have certain armor sets or items of old. Not to mention that some sets/items aren't even obtainable anymore [few sets, PVP and *original* T3 I think], so it seems like it would kind of defeat the purpose of implementing the ability to change your armor's appearance, if you can only change the appearance of items that you've obtained in the past ....

    Either way I'm really excited for this feature. Although like I said, if they add restrictions that they're talking about, it will totally take away from the whole point of even implementing the Transmogrifier.

    Deathwing will be interesting. Too soon, perhaps. But I say "soon" and it could still take months for the patch to even arrive, but it's already being discussed. I just hope we're not forced to run 3 new heroics and the final Cataclysm raid for half a year until they release the next expansion.
  1. Vengfulr3ap3r's Avatar
    My general feel for the 4.3 patch can be summed up as thus "Thats it?" Talk about a disappointing expansion. Heres to hoping its not three more dungeons that are just rehashed mechanics for the 284375938475th time! Because they can assure me all they want that it "wont" be. But yeah.. Im gonna have to see it to believe it. But I agree with jyuceboks. If we have to have the item to use the Transmogrifier then its kinda pointless to me. I really loved some of my older gear, but I just didn't have the space to store it and had to vendor it. Am I supposed to go back and refarm again just so my face doesnt look like a troll/giant piece of bark? Just let us make any gear look like any other piece of gear without restrictions. Then it doesnt matter how bad you make a piece of gear look we can change it to w/e suits our mood.
  1. kraeden's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jyuceboks View Post
    It would be kind of pointless to put restrictions on the Transmogrifier if you ask me.

    Some players have just picked up the game and started getting into it, meaning they will not have certain armor sets or items of old. Not to mention that some sets/items aren't even obtainable anymore [few sets, PVP and *original* T3 I think], so it seems like it would kind of defeat the purpose of implementing the ability to change your armor's appearance, if you can only change the appearance of items that you've obtained in the past ....

    Either way I'm really excited for this feature. Although like I said, if they add restrictions that they're talking about, it will totally take away from the whole point of even implementing the Transmogrifier.

    Deathwing will be interesting. Too soon, perhaps. But I say "soon" and it could still take months for the patch to even arrive, but it's already being discussed. I just hope we're not forced to run 3 new heroics and the final Cataclysm raid for half a year until they release the next expansion.
    You kidding? If they did it like you're suggesting all meaning in owning items would go away. I'm very proud of my collection of classic armor, if anyone could look like that I would be pissed, because then what's mine worth? I can look at the icons in the bank, nothing more.
  1. mmoc3b2b3cc231's Avatar
    Looking foward to shaman T2 again!

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