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What's Changing (and Not!) in Season 2
Hi all,
We have a series of blogs accompanying the release of the upcoming Battle of Dazar’alor raid, the new Mythic Keystone season, and the new PvP season, offering deep dives into each of those features. But in the meantime, the community clearly has a ton of questions (and some confusion) about exactly what is and isn’t changing. Should you be spending or saving your bonus rolls? What should you expect from the weekly Mythic Keystone cache next week? What’s up with the Azerite vendor?
For those of you who played Legion, the process will largely be familiar, though in Battle for Azeroth we’re trying to align the opening of a new raid tier with the start of new PvP and Mythic+ seasons, to avoid some of the awkward item-level leapfrogging that we saw during Legion (e.g. the Mythic Keystone cap repeatedly going up to 15 and then back down to 10). Here’s a succinct summary of what is and isn’t changing next week, when Battle of Dazar’alor opens on Normal and Heroic difficulties, and PvP and M+ Season 2 begin:
Overall
Warfronts
Kul Tiras and Zandalar World Content
Dungeons
PvP
Azerite Armor
Heart of Azeroth
Miscellaneous
If anything remains unclear or seems to be missing from the above, please let us know and we’ll try to clarify as soon as possible.
And will spec play a greater part in the gear rewards, getting off spec rewards is good but it is concerning when one is only concentrating on one spec in a given season?
We’ve heard this feedback a lot, and we agree. In Season 2, emissary caches and similar rewards like Assault wrapper quests will award loot based on your spec (or loot spec, if chosen) instead of your class.
Standard world quests will continue to provide rewards based on class rather than spec, for two reasons:
But neither of those reasons applies to something like emissaries or Assaults, where you don’t see what the reward will be until the end. And as you say, it can be frustrating if it’s for a spec you have no intention of playing, or it can simply feel like a bug. So we’re changing it.
We have a series of blogs accompanying the release of the upcoming Battle of Dazar’alor raid, the new Mythic Keystone season, and the new PvP season, offering deep dives into each of those features. But in the meantime, the community clearly has a ton of questions (and some confusion) about exactly what is and isn’t changing. Should you be spending or saving your bonus rolls? What should you expect from the weekly Mythic Keystone cache next week? What’s up with the Azerite vendor?
For those of you who played Legion, the process will largely be familiar, though in Battle for Azeroth we’re trying to align the opening of a new raid tier with the start of new PvP and Mythic+ seasons, to avoid some of the awkward item-level leapfrogging that we saw during Legion (e.g. the Mythic Keystone cap repeatedly going up to 15 and then back down to 10). Here’s a succinct summary of what is and isn’t changing next week, when Battle of Dazar’alor opens on Normal and Heroic difficulties, and PvP and M+ Season 2 begin:
Overall
- The maximum possible item level will go up by 30, from 395 to 425.
Warfronts
- Arathi/Stromgarde rewards will remain as they were previously.
- Darkshore rewards will go up by 15 item levels, so that the outdoor world boss and the once-per-cycle quest both award item-level 400 gear.
- The power of all enemies in the Darkshore Warfront will also go up by roughly 15%, and the item level required to queue for Darkshore will go up from 320 to 335.
- Special note: The two Darkshore changes will only take effect after the current Warfront cycle has ended. So if Alliance is attacking Darkshore in a given region when Season 2 begins, and has 3 days left in that attack cycle, that Darkshore will still give Season 1 rewards.
- This is being done to avoid any unfairness to people who had already completed the Warfront or done the world boss just prior to the season rollover.
Kul Tiras and Zandalar World Content
- Emissary weapon and armor rewards will scale up to 385 (based on a player’s own item level), up from 370.
- The loot from Kul Tiras and Zandalar world bosses will remain item level 355, on par with Normal Uldir.
- The rewards for in-progress emissary quests may reroll or update when Season 2 begins, though the quests themselves won’t reset or change.
Dungeons
- The item level of rewards from max-level Normal, Heroic, and Mythic dungeons will go up by 30. Baseline rewards will be 340 from Normal, 355 from Heroic, and 370 from non-Keystone Mythic.
- Difficulty of Heroic and Mythic dungeons will also go up by roughly 30%; Normal dungeons are unchanged.
- Mythic Keystones will go down by an additional 3 levels when the season transition occurs, to account for this difficulty increase. So if you do an 11 this coming week, instead of getting a Level 10 keystone when Season 2 starts, expect a 7.
- Mythic+ rewards will also go up by 30 item levels; however, during the first week of Season 2, rewards from end-of-run chests will be capped at Mythic 6 quality (item level 385), and the chest you open next week will contain Season 1 rewards if you do a Mythic+ run this week. (So, for example, if you do a Mythic 10 during the final week of Season 1, you’ll get a Season 1 item level 380 piece and 60 Residuum from your first Season 2 chest.)
- The weekly cache that becomes available in the second week of the season will not be affected by this cap, so if a player does a Mythic 10 dungeon during the first week, they will get a Mythic 10 reward (item level 410+) from their cache the following week.
PvP
- Season 2 rewards from rated PvP sources are 30 item levels higher than they were in Season 1, including Conquest rewards and the weekly chest.
- End-of-match rewards will be capped at 385 during the first week of the season, to maintain parity with other endgame systems until Mythic Battle of Dazar’alor becomes available.
Azerite Armor
- All epic Azerite armor of item level 370 or higher, obtained from Battle of Dazar’alor, world quest emissaries, Season 2 dungeons, or Season 2 PvP, will have a fifth outer ring with additional spec-specific traits.
- This outer ring only requires a Heart level of 15 to access.
- Titan Residuum is not reset or capped between seasons.
- The Residuum vendor will offer item level 385, 400, and 415 pieces for sale in Season 2.
- A random item-level 385 token costs 165 (as it does today)
- A random 400 costs 675
- A random 415 costs 1725
- A specific item-level 415 armor piece costs 7150
- Just as Residuum costs roughly triple with each 15-ilvl tier, so will rewards:
- Disenchanting an item level 400 Azerite piece yields 115 Residuum
- Disenchanting an item level 415 Azerite piece yields 365 Residuum
- A weekly cache for a Mythic 4 in Season 2 awards roughly the same 60 Residuum that a Mythic 10 did in Season 1; a Mythic 10 in Season 2 will award ~625 Residuum
Heart of Azeroth
- Artifact “Knowledge” will resume accruing as soon as Season 2 begins, increasing the effect of AP earned by 30%.
- That will be the first of ten increments. Knowledge will again pause after the week of March 26th.
- Note that the Heart of Azeroth currently has a maximum level of 50. This cap will increase in the Rise of Azshara update, along with significant changes to the underlying system.
Miscellaneous
- Seals of Wartorn Fate are not being reset, and the same currency will work for Battle of Dazar’alor and Season 2 bonus rolls; the cap on how many can be held at once remains at 5.
If anything remains unclear or seems to be missing from the above, please let us know and we’ll try to clarify as soon as possible.
And will spec play a greater part in the gear rewards, getting off spec rewards is good but it is concerning when one is only concentrating on one spec in a given season?
We’ve heard this feedback a lot, and we agree. In Season 2, emissary caches and similar rewards like Assault wrapper quests will award loot based on your spec (or loot spec, if chosen) instead of your class.
Standard world quests will continue to provide rewards based on class rather than spec, for two reasons:
- You can see the exact reward up-front, and choose whether or not to do the content if the reward doesn’t interest you. This also can offer a way to shore up weak off-spec slots without worrying that you might miss out on a major upgrade.
- If world quest rewards were spec-based, it might seem like the right behavior to cycle through your specs when evaluating potential rewards for every world quest, especially early in a tier, which seems like pretty annoying gameplay.
But neither of those reasons applies to something like emissaries or Assaults, where you don’t see what the reward will be until the end. And as you say, it can be frustrating if it’s for a spec you have no intention of playing, or it can simply feel like a bug. So we’re changing it.
Zandalari & Kul Tiran Allied Race Testing
We’ve seen some confusion about the unlock requirements for Zandalari and Kul Tirans, and how that relates to testing them on the PTR. We’d like to clarify where things stand currently, and what our plans are once they’re officially released.
The basic requirements to unlock Zandalari and Kul Tiran are as follows:
On the PTR, we’ve enabled the last part of the War Campaign earely, so that the Allied Race unlock quests can be started. As long as you satisfy the other requirements, and are at 3/4 of the requirements for the Tides of Vengeance War Campaign achievement, you’ll be able to speak to Nathanos on the Banshee’s Wail or Halford Wyrmbane on the Wind’s Redemption to get started unlocking Allied Races on the PTR.
The basic requirements to unlock Zandalari and Kul Tiran are as follows:
- Exalted with that race’s faction
- Completed the content achievement for that race (“Zandalar Forever!” or “A Nation United,” respectively)
- Completed the Tides of Vengeance War Campaign achievement
On the PTR, we’ve enabled the last part of the War Campaign earely, so that the Allied Race unlock quests can be started. As long as you satisfy the other requirements, and are at 3/4 of the requirements for the Tides of Vengeance War Campaign achievement, you’ll be able to speak to Nathanos on the Banshee’s Wail or Halford Wyrmbane on the Wind’s Redemption to get started unlocking Allied Races on the PTR.
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