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Author: Mezzy

Host and author of WoW Weekly podcast, guides and website. I have played WoW since classic, enjoy MMORPG’s and game design in general.

Meet the Earthen, A New Playable Allied Race

Quote from: Blizzard

A new playable race arrives in The War Within—the Earthen. Unlock playable Earthen characters after completing their quests and the overall level-up campaign. Enlist this titan-forged race made of living stone by aiding them in their endeavors.

Champions of Azeroth must aid the Earthen and seek a way to restore their harmony and population. They can also be unlocked as a playable race, and you can choose Alliance or Horde to begin your journey starting at level 10 in their capital city of Dornogol.

The Titan-Forged Earthen

We’ve met Titan-forged Earthen before in Ulduar and other places. Still, this society of Earthen has been isolated within Khaz Algar for a long while and has developed its own manners and customs. They are ancient denizens freshly freed from the edicts that bound them; they now venture forth with limitless curiosity to ally with the Alliance and Horde and explore the world.

As you aid them in restoring the Coreway and venture below Dornogol, tread lightly—Earthen politics are complicated, and danger lurks in the shadows.

Customizations: Adorned and Imbued

Many customizations are available for the Earthen, including different gem encrustations, unique beards for all body types, a variety of vibrant skin colors, and more.

Becoming One with the Earthen

The Earthen can also be unlocked as a playable race, and you can choose Alliance or Horde to begin your journey.

Completion of the following will make them available:

Racial Traits and Class Combinations

  • Azerite Surge: The earthen draw upon their inner strength using an empowered spell that, when released, invokes the power of Azerite in a cone in front of them, dealing Fire damage. This spell is on a 2-minute timer and gains additional effects as it is empowered:
    • I: Deals Fire damage
    • II: Heals allies hit by the effect
    • III: Deals additional fire damage to the enemy’s health, most affected by the effect.
  • Hyper Productive: Increases Finesse by 2%. Finesse increases the chance of gathering additional materials when gathering.
  • Ingest Minerals: You are always Well Fed but cannot consume food. Activate to consume a Khaz Algar gem and change the benefit granted to you by Well Fed:
    • Amber (Stamina)
    • Emerald (Haste)
    • Onyx (Mastery)
    • Ruby (Critical Strike)
    • Sapphire (Versatility)
  • Titan-Wrought Frame: Base armor from equipped items is increased by 10%.
  • Wide-Eyed Wonder: When you gain experience for exploring a location, gain 200% additional exploration experience.

Once unlocked, earthen can master the following classes:

Death Knight class icon Death Knight demon hunter class icon Demon Hunter druid class icon Druid
evoker class icon Evoker hunger class icon Hunter ✓ mage class icon Mage ✓
monk class icon Monk ✓ paladin class icon Paladin ✓ priest class icon Priest ✓
rogue class icon Rogue ✓ shaman class icon Shaman ✓ warlock class icon Warlock ✓
warrior class icon Warrior ✓

Racial Mount: Slatestone Ramolith

Unlock the earthen mount, Slatestone Ramolith, upon completing the Allied Races: Earthen achievement. This mount is usable by any race and is available account-wide.

alternate-image-name
“Earthen ranchers often talk of this creature’s resilience and how the rain ricochets off its lustrous coat.”

Heritage Armor

For reaching 50 on the Earthen Allied Race, you will receive the Heritage of the Earthen Feat of Strength and the Earthen Heritage Armor. This armor can only be transmogged by Earthen characters.

Home of the Earthen

Upon arriving in Khaz Algar and the Isle of Dorn, you’ll discover a lush and vibrant island. The capital city, Dornogol, is surprisingly verdant and seemingly carved from the land.

We look forward to sharing The War Within with you—we’ll see you in Khaz Algar!

Uncover the Secrets of Delves in The War Within

Quote from: Blizzard

Take your adventure to a new level with Delves.  Explore bite-sized world instances, gain experience, and epic rewards! You can explore alone or with up to four additional friends, along with an NPC companion—Brann Bonzebeard— you customize through their talent tree.

These replayable, seasonal, role-agnostic adventure experiences offer a new way to enjoy the leveling and endgame progression alongside traditional Dungeons, Raids, and PvP.

Bring Your Friends or Go Solo

Along with your NPC companion, Delves can be explored solo or with a group of up to five, with any combination of classes. And, since they take 10-15 minutes on average to complete, they’re ideal for players who want to experience a meaningful game progression without significant time commitments.

Short Adventures Big Rewards

Delves can be found in any of the available zones of Khaz’Algar while questing and exploring, and they offer quick combat, puzzles, platforming challenges, and bosses to defeat. As you progress, you can find chests and supplies with impactful special abilities and powers for immediate use that can help you in the Delve.

Delves will have 11 levels of difficulty called Tiers to challenge yourself. Tiers 1, 2, and 3 are available to players when The War Within Launches. Tiers 4 and above will be unlocked when Season 1 begins. Successfully completing a higher Tier unlocks access to the next tier for your Warband.

Delves to Explore

Isle of Dorn The Ringing Deeps Azj-Kahet Hallowfall
Earthcrawl Mines The Waterworks The Spiral Weave Skittering Breach
Kriegval’s Rest The Dread Pit Rak-Rethan Abyss Nightfall Sanctum
Fungal Folly Deepwalker Hold Mystery 13th Delve The Sinkhole
      Myconmancer Cavern

New Season New Companion

Each new season delivers a fresh companion with a customizable Talent Tree to aid your journey, starting with Brann Bronzebeard. Players can choose Brann Bronzebeard to be a healer or damage dealer depending on what support your class needs. Brann will level up and gain new abilities to support you, and his level is shared across your entire Warband. As you travel through Delves, you will find equipment called Curios that Brann can equip and upgrade to give him even more utility to aid you in your adventure!

Small Adventures Lead to Big Rewards

As you complete Delves, you’ll earn experience and epic endgame rewards similar to dungeons, raids, and PvP, such as transmog items and endgame gear. When The War Within Season 1 begins you’ll also be able to earn progress within the Great Vault by completing delves.

Players who reach max level in The War Within will be able to unlock a new fully customizable mount, the Delver’s Dirigible!

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Mix and match customizations to make your new mount your own.

We look forward to exploring The War Within with you—we’ll see you in Khaz’Algar!

Hotfixes: June 3, 2024

Quote from: Blizzard

June 3, 2024

Dungeons and Raids

  • Neltharus
    • Fixed an issue where canceling Dragon Strike using invisibility will lead to Chargath not casting Grounding Chain.

Items

  • Fixed an issue where Augury of the Primal Flame would not proc certain effects such as Seal of Diurna’s Chosen and Seal of Filial Duty.
  • Fixed an issue where Tome of Unstable Power could proc from non-class spell effects such as self-damage from Vessel of Searing Shadows.

Player versus Player

  • Victories in Solo Shuffle now reward 5 crests (was 3) and victories in Rated 2v2 and Rated 3v3 Arenas now reward 2 crests (was 1).

WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria

  • Mini Mana Bomb (Horde) and Theramore Tabard (Alliance) are now available from Horos at any Infinite Bazaar for players who have completed Theramore’s Fall for their given faction on any Timerunner.
    • Developers’ notes: There is no more need to complete it at exactly level 35.
  • Fixed an issue where some steps of the Infinite Power achievements could be skipped for players.
  • Tuft of Yak Fur, am I right? Now they stack.

Warcraft Short Story: “The Goblin Way”

Quote from: Blizzard

Monte Gazlowe, Trade Prince of the Bilgewater Cartel, has been probing working conditions among the goblins, touring factories, mines, and other operations. The process has been slowly eating away at him: Everywhere he tours, he sees a burned-out workforce, cheap machinery, and unhealthy working conditions that consistently drag production and denigrate their people. Worse yet, every boss has the same opinion: “This is the goblin way! Dog eat dog! Only the winner comes out on top!” But is this really the goblin way, or is it just the way Jastor Gallywix wanted them looking?

Monte Gazlowe sighed, looking out over a vast mining operation from his spot on a platform above the mine’s South District floor. This was his fifth “fact-finding” tour of the week, and it seemed like he’d been going nonstop for months, taking stock of less-than-desirable working conditions among the goblins. This one was easily among the worst, though Marin Noggenfogger—Gazlowe’s host and guide—acted like everything was aboveboard.

Noggenfogger waved for Gazlowe’s attention, looking out of place in a miraculously unsullied all-white suit that practically gleamed amid the smoky air and rancid, dripping space. It was clear he’d recently taken over this operation. “Over here!” he called. Then he turned to one of his bodyguards for help. “Is the two-shift working the . . . uh . . .”

“Longwall shearer?” Gazlowe offered.

Noggenfogger grinned. “Yeah, what you said. The Rockchomper Three Thousand. Beyootiful piece of machinery, eh?” He beamed more broadly as he gestured down into the enormous mine at a steam-powered behemoth. Its fearsome metal teeth ground relentlessly into the bedrock to get at the vein of iron ore that was the lifeblood of this operation.

“You gotta lean over the railing a little to really get a good look, unless you wanna go down and see it up close,” Noggenfogger added, beckoning Gazlowe to the platform.

Gazlowe stepped closer to the railing, waving off his orc bodyguard, Vak’kan. Unlike some goblins—including Noggenfogger, it seemed—Gazlowe had no fear of heights.

As the shearer brought ground ore to the surface, Gazlowe leaned against the railing to watch workers—mostly goblins and some orcs—operate walking mechs with steam shovels, which loaded ore into mine carts, which would take it to a processing plant. A number of workers had bandages wrapped around their limbs, likely because of the discarded machine parts cluttering the footpaths, and a few let out fits of wet, throaty coughs while clamping soiled rags over their mouths.

Noggenfogger gave Gazlowe a fidgety smile, nodding as if to say, “Nice, eh?”

Gazlowe peered back down—and then a section of the railing detached from its mooring with a screech and swung out, leaving nothing but space between Gazlowe and a deadly fall.

He teetered for a moment before regaining his balance—with the help of Vak’kan, who shot out a beefy hand to grab his collar and haul him swiftly backward.

Gazlowe whipped a glare at Noggenfogger, his pointed ears rigid. Had this been

Noggenfogger’s aim? To stage some sort of accident? As newly installed head of the

Bilgewater Cartel and de facto representative of his race to the Horde, Gazlowe was aware he had enemies. But he honestly hadn’t thought an attempt on his life would come this soon, let alone be this ham-fisted!

Read and Download the Rest of This Short Story by Andrew Robinson

Hotfixes: May 30, 2024

Quote from: Blizzard

May 30, 2024

WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria

  • Righteous Frenzy can no longer be cast on non-party members.
  • In the Throne of Thunder Dark Animus encounter, the increased damage and attack speed by Anima Golems casting Acceleration Link has been reduced to 100% per stack (was 250%).
  • In the Throne of Thunder Iron Qon encounter, Storm Cloud should no longer deal extreme damage to players.
  • In A Brewing Storm, Viletongue Skirmishers’ Viletongue Sting now reduces healing by 60% (was 90%).
  • Fixed a bug that unintentionally added additional enemy health for highly geared players against Heroic raid bosses.
    • Developers’ notes: In combination with previous recent hotfixes, this should result in health and damage versus Heroic raid bosses being as intended for players of higher and lower item levels, so that players of mixed item levels can have a better experience playing together. Overall, players with higher item levels should do greater damage and have greater survivability.

The War Within Beta Test Begins June 5!

Quote from: Blizzard

The World of Warcraft®: The War Within™ beta test begins June 5! Over the course of the test, we’ll be inviting community veterans, press, fansites, friends, and family to check out the upcoming expansion and give us feedback. Players who purchase or who upgrade to the Epic Edition of The War Within will also gain immediate access to the beta and gain a minimum three-day early access to the expansion.

Players selected to participate* will receive an email invitation directing them to download the game client directly from the Battle.net desktop app. Players who purchase the Epic Edition may also receive email notifications. As always, please be aware of phishing attempts—if you’re unsure whether your invitation is legitimate, please log in to your Battle.net account to verify that there is a The War Within beta license attached (under Your Game Accounts).

Getting Started

Join us in testing The War Within. Players who have opted in can be selected to be testers, and invitations will go out regularly throughout the test. If selected to participate in the beta test, your Battle.net account will already be flagged for access. Players who upgrade to the Epic Edition of The War Within will also gain immediate access to the beta.

  • Make sure your graphics drivers are up to date.
  • Run the Battle.net® desktop app—it may need to update itself if you haven’t run it recently. If you don’t have the app installed, get started here.
  • Once Battle.net is installed and updated, select World of Warcraft from the list of games.
  • In the Game Version drop-down menu above the Play button, choose The War Within (listed under In Development) option, then click Install.
  • Allow installation to complete, click Play, and select any available Test Servers.
  • Create a new test character or use the character copy to import your existing Dragonflight character.
  • Enter the game and test the available content.

If you have issues installing and operating The War Within Beta, please check our Common Technical Issues and Solutions to begin troubleshooting.

What’s Available in the Beta?

New systems, the complete leveling experience, zones, dungeons, delves, Warbands, and the new playable Earthen are all available in the beta. Raid testing will come at a later time.

The Zones of Khaz Algar- Designated Sector AR-934

Beneath the surface of Azeroth, an expansive world exists, fraught with danger and waiting to be explored.

...

The Isle of Dorn

Discover the land of Khaz Algar, off the western shores of Pandaria and home to the Earthen. Their capital city, Dornogal, will become the new meeting ground for the Horde and Alliance.

...

The Ringing Deep

This gigantic cavern serves as the home of the Machine Speakers, Earthen who maintain the gigantic Titan machines of old.

...

Hallowfall

Lit by a massive crystal at its center, this bright underground zone is home to the Arathi who are engaged in a continuing battle against the nerubians.

...

Azj-Kahet

The pinnacle of nerubian society where Xal’atath, Harbinger of the Void, has been gathering and mutating nerubian forces to create an unstoppable army.

For players who are concerned about entering into a space filled with spiders, there will be an arachnophobia filter that can be turned on which will convert spider creatures into crabs.

Meet the Earthen

We’ve met Titan-forged Earthen before in Ulduar and other places, but this society of Earthen has been isolated within Khaz Algar for a long while and have developed their own manners and customs. Visually, they are a bit larger, and gem encrusted.

Earthen will also unlock as a playable race. Replenishing the culture’s dwindling numbers by either joining the Horde or the Alliance. Players will be able to choose either faction to begin their journey.

There are many customizations that will be coming for these Earthen including different gem encrustations, beards for all body types, skin colorizations, and more.

Dungeons

Similar to the launch of previous expansions, there will be 4 level-up dungeons and 4 maximum-level dungeons that are available in each of the four new zones.

Level-Up Dungeons

  • The Rookery
  • The Stonevault
  • Priory of the Sacred Flame
  • City of Threads

Maximum Level

  • Cinderbrew Meadery
  • Darkflame Cleft
  • The Dawnbreaker
  • Old City

If you don’t want to use the Dungeon Finder to take part in dungeons with other players, you can continue the campaign story with Follower Dungeons which will be available to play through in all level-up dungeons.

Nerub’ar Palace Raid Dungeon

The Nerub’ar Palace raid dungeon will offer eight boss encounters. Located in Azj-Kahet, it will result in the culmination of the story we see play out involving the machinations of the nerubian empire and Queen Ansurek’s collaboration with Xal’atath.

Players can also expect new tier rewards for their valiant efforts.

New Features

  • Delves: Deep beneath the surface lies treasure vaults waiting to be discovered. Explore these world instances solo or with up to four friends, along with an NPC companion, to defeat bosses and gain epic end-game loot.

Delves New Mechanical Mount Reward

Mix and match customizations to make your new mount your own.

  • Warbands: Expand the potential of your alternate characters with account-wide progression across your family of characters on your Battle.net account. Share your Warband Bank access, War Within Renown, achievements, collections, and more. Visit our latest article to learn more about Warbands.
  • Hero Talents: Rise to new heights of power with new Hero Talent trees. Each class specialization has access to two choices of self-contained Hero Talent trees inspired by iconic Warcraft universe archetypes. Revisit our previous Hero Talent previews to get a glimpse at what is in development.

 *Please note many of these trees have been updated since the original previews.

WoW Remix Developer Update – 30 May

Quote from: Blizzard

Hello Timerunners!

As we approach the end of the second week of WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria, we’d like to take a moment to talk about some very recent updates we’ve made and look forward to the next 11+ weeks that the event will be available.

We’ve now made several changes to address some issues we’ve seen, especially around max level content such as heroic scenarios, heroic dungeons, and raids. Our goal here is to address the sudden increase in enemy power at level 70 for group content and make the transition to higher difficulty raids smoother for players.

  • Heroic Scenario, Heroic Dungeon, and Normal Raids increase in power more slowly between levels 60 and 70. When first reaching level 70, players will continue to be challenged by max-level content, but that increase in difficulty should now be noticeably lessened.
  • Heroic and Mythic raids have been adjusted so there is a smoother transition between them. Before these changes, there was a stark difference in the power of each raid. Now, players should experience a smoother transition that feels more like a natural progression instead of a huge step.

Even with recent hotfixes in place, there is still a significant increase in difficulty for Heroic Throne of Thunder, Heroic Siege of Orgrimmar, and Mythic Siege of Orgrimmar. WoW Remix is designed to provide players who wish to take on the toughest challenges with the means to do so, by upgrading their gear and collecting additional threads.

Looking forward, we want you to know that we do not plan to change the Bronze cost of upgrading gear. We’ve already seen many players make the decision to upgrade items so that they can comfortably take on Heroic raids (and hopefully earn the large amounts of Bronze available from them). The gains in power that come with increasing your item levels are exponential, not linear, and we don’t want anyone to second-guess their decision to become much more powerful.

For players who primarily wish to gather Bronze and acquire some of the cosmetic rewards available in Remix, many options have emerged. We’re seeing some players level up multiple alts for the 40,000 Bronze available from quests at levels 50, 60, and 70, while other players mainly focus on earning Bronze with multiple level-70 characters doing queued content and repeatable daily quests and activities.

We’ll outline all of our recent Remix hotfixes in our hotfixes update post, and we’ll continue to read all of your feedback. It’s been a lot of fun to go on this journey with you.

Thank you very much!