World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

This test is being canceled due to a client crash that won't be resolved until the next PTR build. Apologies for the short notice.

Will echos of battle carry over to the next PvP season?
Echoes of Battle and Domination will be converted to gold at the end of the season. (WarcraftDevs)

Cup #2 of the WoW Arena World Championship goes live Saturday 20th May. To keep up with the action, tune in to the broadcast at 3.30pm CEST, with matches kicking off at 4.00pm CEST sharp. Don’t miss out!

Here’s where to catch the action, 20th and Sunday 21st at 16:00 CEST

Eight Epic Teams

• Northern Gaming Blue
  
• Enjoy Legion
  
• ABC
  
• EMO
  
• Boyzz
  
• KFC Managers
  
• Making A Movie
  
• Method

Your Hosts
We have 2 casters “Adrian ‘Healingstat’ Archer-Lock” and “Richard Campbell”

Points Promote Players – Get Involved!

Cup Events

• 1st place: $3,000, 160 points
  
• 2nd place: $1,500, 80 points
  
• 3rd place: $1,000, 36 points
  
• 4th place: $500, 20 points
  
• 5th and 6th places: 12 points each

Approved Community Events

• 1st place: 40 points
  
• 2nd place: 20 points
  
• 3rd place: 12 points
  
• 4th place: 8 points
  
• 5th and 6th places: N/A

Find out more in our Arena World Championship announcement here.


Want In On The Action?
We want to see a ton of community involvement, and would love some of you out there hold your own events. Not only will you be part of the action, you’ll help teams place higher on the ladder— as approved community events award points too! Want to know more? Get in touch. Want to run your own event? Apply here.

Good luck to all the teams and see you on Saturday and Sunday during the stream!!

We want to let everyone know that a new game will be appearing alongside your favorite Blizzard games—one that’s a little different from what you might normally expect. Bungie’s upcoming first-person action game Destiny 2 will be joining the party! We’re excited to announce that we're partnering with Bungie and Activision to support the PC version of Destiny 2 exclusively via Battle.net.

We’re big fans of Destiny here at Blizzard, and we’re honored to be able to help the talented folks at Bungie and Activision bring their much-anticipated sequel to a new platform. Being on Battle.net will allow Destiny 2 to plug in to our existing global network, freeing up the developers at Bungie to focus their energy and resources on making the best and most fun game they possibly can. This also means Destiny 2 players will have access to our online social functionality, including chat with friends, the ability to see which of their friends are online in Destiny 2 or in Blizzard games, and the ability to stream gameplay directly to Facebook.

See the FAQ below for further platform details, and stay tuned for updates as we get closer to welcoming Destiny 2 and its players to Battle.net. To learn more about Destiny 2, head over to www.destinythegame.com.


Why are you adding a non-Blizzard game to Blizzard's platform?
We loved Destiny and think Destiny 2 is going to be a great game. Blizzard has an established and successful global internet infrastructure we’ve used for years to support our own games. Creating a new network client for Destiny 2, which is bringing the franchise to PC for the first time, would needlessly extend the development period for the game. We want to get our hands on Destiny 2 as soon as possible like everybody else, so we offered to share our PC platform with our sister companies for this release.

Does this mean other games are going to come to the Blizzard platform too?
Our focus in terms of supporting non-Blizzard games is solely around Destiny 2. Aside from potentially evaluating needs or opportunities for future Activision games, we don’t have any short- or long-term plans to support third-party games with Battle.net. It’s important to us to maintain our quality standards for any experience or service we’re putting in front of our players, which represents a big investment of time and effort on our part, so this is not something we’re jumping into lightly.

Does this mean I'll be able to use my Blizzard Balance to purchase Destiny 2?
Yes!

Will Destiny 2 offer the same cross-game social features that Blizzard titles currently have?
Destiny 2 will be integrated into many of Blizzard’s existing social features—you’ll be able to chat with friends playing Destiny 2 the same way you already can for Blizzard games. Players will also be able to add friends and form parties the same way Blizzard gamers can. And, you’ll see a Destiny 2 status icon by your friends who are playing Destiny 2 the same way you do for friends playing StarCraft II, Diablo III, WoW, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, and Overwatch.

Where and when will Destiny 2 on PC be available?
We’re excited to work with Bungie to bring the PC version of Destiny 2 to every region Blizzard currently operates in. Bungie is actively working through the global details. We look forward to sharing additional information later this year.

Who will be operating Destiny 2’s servers?
Bungie will maintain Destiny 2’s servers; Blizzard’s servers will be used for features related to the Blizzard platform, such as login and social functionality.

And what about customer service?
Destiny 2’s gameplay customer service will be handled by Bungie; Blizzard will handle customer service for platform and shop issues specific to our service.

For those of the Alliance, the loss of King Varian Wrynn at the Broken Shore continues to echo throughout Azeroth. But for his son, Anduin Wrynn, that loss is felt most keenly as he faces not only the loss of a father, but takes on new responsibilities as a king.

Whether Horde or Alliance, we didn’t want you to miss seeing the culmination of the Alliance-only quest line A Found Memento and witnessing the rise of the new King of Stormwind.


In-game Cinematic Team Insights:
This was a story we had been wanting to share for a while, but hadn’t yet arrived at the right moment in the expansion to tell it. When things fell apart at the Broken Shore, it felt like there were many things left unsaid and unfinished for Anduin—and for the community as well. We went from the death of a king during the horrific clash at the Broken Shore, right into a battle for Azeroth’s very survival against the Burning Legion. There was no time to grieve for Anduin. However, with our return to the Broken Shore in Patch 7.2, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to revisit the young Wrynn’s storyline, and reveal to the audience that he’s still struggling to find his place as a king and coming to terms with the death of his father.

Knowing the story we wanted to tell in this cinematic, the quest team took the initiative to craft a robust quest line leading up to it, building and amplifying the emotional context for the cutscene. For those who have had the opportunity to play through it, there’s significant impact as we gain insight into what Anduin is experiencing—you see the people of Stormwind sharing their unvarnished feelings and doubts about Anduin as their new king. You witness some of the same skepticism conveyed by Genn Greymane—who, in his own gruff way, has stepped in as a father figure to the young king—and Velen, who has been his friend and mentor in the way of the Light on his journey to priesthood. Hearing these doubts led Anduin to make a firm decision: “I must see the Broken Shore for myself.”

The rest of the tale is told within the cinematic. Everyone who worked on it is incredibly thankful that, after all that has happened, we had the opportunity to say “goodbye” to King Varian Wrynn, and reveal a glimpse of what lies ahead for King Anduin Wrynn.

Key Character Bios


Anduin Wrynn —King of Stormwind

“There will be peace. One day.”

The son of Tiffin and the late King Varian Wrynn, Anduin Llane Wrynn has ascended the throne in Stormwind to take on the mantle of leader after the loss of his father. Anduin continues to struggle with his role in a world rife with brutality and war, but is working to reconcile his yearning for peace and the necessity of war. Learn more about Anduin’s story here.


Genn Greymane – King of Gilneas

“A monster lurks in my veins… Threaten my people, and it will be the last thing you ever see.”

After spending many years of isolation and abjectly refusing to rejoin the Alliance, Genn Greymane and his nation suffered a horrifying curse, transforming some Gilneans—including Greymane–into bloodthirsty wolf-beasts known as worgen. Their long seclusion behind their wall ended when Sylvanas and her Forsaken invaded the weakened kingdom and wreaked great destruction upon them. Gilneas suffered great losses—including the death of Genn’s own son, Liam. Rather than crumble, Greymane has focused his efforts on securing peace for the Alliance intent on one day reclaiming his lost kingdom. Learn more of Genn Greymane’s story here.


Velen, Leader of the Draenei

“Where faith dwells, hope is never lost.”

Velen is the spiritual leader of the draenei—a people once a part of the eredar—who have long been in exile from their homeworld of Argus. Velen was able to foresee the perils of following Sargeras and eventually led his people to make landfall in Azeroth. A paragon of the Holy Light, he continues to fight against the Burning Legion as a voice of wisdom for the Alliance.

This week’s PTR update enables the Deaths of Chromie scenario for testing! You’ll find her looking for help in Dalaran. We’re really looking forward to hearing your feedback, so please give it a try and let us know what you think in the dedicated feedback thread.

Later this week, we’ll be starting up some more raid testing for Mythic Tomb of Sargeras. We’ll also be opening Tomb for Raid Finder testing over the weekend. We’ll have more details soon – keep an eye out if you’d like to participate.

Also of note in this build are a few more class changes, including a fairly substantial round of updates for Subtlety Rogues. Again, please give them a try on the PTR and let us know what you think.

Thanks as always, and happy testing!

On Thursday and Friday, May 18-19, we will be conducting Mythic raid testing of Tomb of Sargeras bosses.

Thursday, May 18

Goroth - Mythic Tomb of Sargeras
13:00 PST (16:00 EST, 22:00 CET)

Demonic Inquisition - Mythic Tomb of Sargeras
14:00 PST (17:00 EST, 23:00 CET)

Friday, May 19

Sisters of the Moon - Mythic Tomb of Sargeras
13:00 PST (16:00 EST, 22:00 CET)

Mistress Sassz'ine - Mythic Tomb of Sargeras
14:00 PST (17:00 EST, 23:00 CET)

After testing concludes on Friday, we plan to open Raid Finder Tomb of Sargeras over the weekend.

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a PTR environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the bosses being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.