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. mmocee0b782e5a's Avatar
    What is up with people yelling it's a short expansion. These are just announcements as far as I know and there isn't even a release date for 4.3, neither do we know for how long they are gonna go with 4.3 before they release the next expansion. Let's 4.2 stays for 6 months, and 4.3 as well. Then you will still have an expansion with the timespan of a bit more then 1.5 years. Which isn't that much shorter as WOTLK.


    Woohoo for Void Storage though, I'm gonna get so much space in my bank now.
  1. Vasz's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rocheku View Post
    FUCK YES. FUCK YES. FUCK YES.I almost jumped out of my window out of enjoyment for the Transmogrifier info. This is gonna be fucking epic. Mix and matching armor I don't suppose it will cover weapons aswell, but we'll see. Atleast this is a huge step in the right direction to increase character costumization and decrease fucking clones all over the place.
    Just to put this in to perspective, it is NOT A WARDROBE.

    Each time you replace your weapons, you will have to re-farm your warglaves.
  1. mmoc7f1800787c's Avatar
    Blizzard is definitely gearing up for it's new MMO. Lots of things are being changed/implemented in their games. I'm certain it's to just test features for their killer new game. Fingers crossed it's worth it in the end. -Theo
  1. lilatia's Avatar
    i dont get why people complain this was too short of an expansion. figure were AT LEAST 1 month probly more til 4.3 goes live. that puts 4.3 around late September mabey October. We'll say 2 months of 4.3 for a decent part of the population to even get to Deathwing and oh look it's suddenly December 2011. 1 year from Cataclysms release....prettt good mileage from an expansion.

    Now if we go by the leaked timeline from a while back (which has so far been fairly accurate) we'll see the next expansion (likely panderia) during 2nd quarter of 2012. If theres plenty of leadin to Panderia (god there better be to make that work) we could see 5.0 starter patches in March or April

    Who's to say there wont be another content patch after 4.3. Blizzard could add a whole new raid that doesnt even tie into the packs theme well if at all . (see sunwell). Or a storyline raid and some dungeons to clean up lose ends is possible as well, still got plenty of story they can make with those pesky old gods after all
  1. mmoc0d8e6c2903's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Vasz View Post
    Just to put this in to perspective, it is NOT A WARDROBE.

    Each time you replace your weapons, you will have to re-farm your warglaves.
    Wait.......


    so every time I get an upgrade I have to refarm T6? That would be epic fail..........
  1. anisadora's Avatar
    with all due respect, how do we KNOW deathwing is the last boss in this expansion back and not say, Nzoth?
  1. Romulan1993's Avatar
    Gonna see all shamans in tier 3, you know it.
  1. mmocfa2fcc6742's Avatar
    Here Star Wars..Star Wars..Star Wars..Star Wars Come To Daddy

    Seems like Blizzard is really running out of idea´s
  1. kujak's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zorgen View Post
    And the award for shortest expansion in WoW history goes to..
    And the award for the worst expansion in WoW history goes to..

    Seriously... everyone freaking out about transmorf thinking it's the worst thing ever is making me laugh IRL. Also, of course they want the new expansion to come out fast. Both because they promised faster expansions, and more-so because clearly people hate this one. WoW has never bled subs this fast so they want to try to stop that as quickly as possible.
  1. Dejohn's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nisala View Post
    How on earth does an expansion "only" lasting a year equate to a bad expansion? Since when was a long time span a necessary condition of a good expansion? The only "god damn joke" appears to be your stance at the moment - since you've failed to substantiate it in any meaningful way.
    Instead of releasing 4 raid tiers we get 3 instead. This makes the value of paying the same price for the cata expansion vs wotlk much worse. It also gives me pause when considering purchasing the next expansion at the usual expansion price. Perhaps people don't want to pay for expansions faster than they used to. Are you a shareholder? The only people in favor of less content for the same price would be shareholders.

    I do however think that they kept people in ICC for far too long. That ruby sanctum was a joke and really they should have launched cata much sooner but they got caught in a release window around xmas being more important than actually giving people a new expansion. This probably had a lot to do with the focus on revamping the leveling experience and trying to draw in new subs. I dont think they were very successful with that endeavor. Still its 4 tiers vs 3. Cant argue that this is a worse value.
  1. mmocf3b228c4c6's Avatar
    Having my pvp gear look like my T6 might just make me come back....Maybe.
  1. Fitch's Avatar
    Looks like Blizzard's timeline is holding up. The next expansion is scheduled for Q2 of next year which sounds right if they end up releasing the Deathwing raid sometime around November/December.
  1. shadowkras's Avatar
    Gonna see all shamans in tier 3, you know it.
    My shaman will be back to tier 9.
  1. Sting's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Baikalsan View Post
    Your translation is correct.

    It will be a completely new design with new bosses.
    Well then, seems the second new dungeon is AQ5. I wonder what the third will be...
  1. mmocd68f939d2a's Avatar
    A little dissapointing...
  1. Blackfile's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by s-zilla View Post
    Ripping off RIFT's wardrobe feature after saying they wouldn't do this because they didn't want players to alter the way their armor looked. That's why they rolled back the cloak modifications associated with gnomer / dark spear, and why they changed the MC engineer enchant graphic changing the way your helm looked. Then we get this : /. Flip flop express. All it really ends up being is another timesink for people to go back and farm old raids for gear.

    My call for the 'new' 5 mans are going to be heroic gnomer, heroic blackrock depths, and heroic scholo. I'm just waiting until they announce we can just buy gold and wow items with real life currencies.
    just an FYI: Rift didn't start that 'wardrobe feature'
    DC Universe Online already had it before Rift did
  1. thunderdragon2's Avatar
    tbh as long as the merge all the 5 mans with a hidden ilvl requ all giving 1540 vp i dont midd i dont want 3 dungeons to run for max vp gaimn till the next xpac comes
  1. Sting's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dejohn View Post
    Still its 4 tiers vs 3. Cant argue that this is a worse value.
    Idk, I really hated Trial of the Crusader... not sure if it would've been better without but it definitely was a design flaw.
  1. mmocfa2fcc6742's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sting View Post
    Well then, seems the second new dungeon is AQ5. I wonder what the third will be...
    ICC 5man yo
  1. kojinshugi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Romulan1993 View Post
    Gonna see all shamans in tier 3, you know it.
    Mine will be in tier 8.

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