Patch 6.2 doesn’t have a release date yet, but the changes on the PTR are slowing down. So we can start expecting 6.2 soon, without the TM. To catch you up on what’ll be coming in 6.2 here’s an overview of all that we have covered from the 6.2 PTR.
One thing that they are still adjusting on the PTR are the numbers, for example the daily bonus objectives currently reward 800 apexis crystals instead of 500 per area. We will change the numbers in our preview guide once it has stopped changing.
The live Q&A with Lead Game Designer Ion “Watcher” Hazzikostas has ended. Check out the VoD or our summary of new/interesting information below.
The addition of flight in 6.2.x instead of in 6.2 is because of development reasons. There are a bunch of bugs that need to be fixed now that flying will come to Draenor.
All the reputations required for the Draenor pathfinder quests will be available at the same time. To get them to revered will take you about 3 weeks if you do the dailies in Tanaan every day.
The solution for flying is seen as a blueprint for future content. So you’ll first only have ground mount access and then after playing the content you’ll earn flying. Of course they will have to see how it initially works out in patch 6.2.x.
What to do with flying in Draenor was a difficult decision to make for the team. When 6.2 was on the PTR the team felt they had to make a final decision. Both within the community and in the development team there was a lot of discussion for both sides of the problem. “Never” was a big word.
The reputations in 6.0 are not going to be defended. Originally they weren’t going to be in Draenor at all, but they were added for the Trading Post. The 6.2 reputation design is a lot more of a modern design for reputations.
The idea behind the apexis dailies has promise but it didn’t pan out right. The idea was that you’d do different things such as killing mobs and destroying items in different areas. You’d be able to do different types of things to get progress for your daily. By removing quests entirely there was a lack of story, and the reward structure was not a success.
They approached Garrisons making sure they rewarded you well as they were a core part of Draenor. A lot of systems tied into it because of that. Including outdoor systems. Even though there was content out in the world, the Garrison kept you in your Garrison as it rewarded stuff like profession items.
They’re looking to do some Diminishing Returns on an account wide level for the gold earned via garrison missions. They’re going to do this because of the pressure players feel to maintain alts to earn a lot of gold via their alts for their mains.
To get players out of the Garrison they’re putting rewards back into the world. For example Felblight needs to be looted instead of being earned via the garrison.
The Shipyard is different in that you have less ships and the rewards mean more per naval mission. You won’t continually need to check back in your Shipyard to send ships on new missions.
Garrisons are just tied to Draenor. You won’t bring it over to future expansions. However the core gameplay (a base, followers) might be taken into future expansions. It will not be exactly the same.
The transition for 10 player heroic guilds to 20man mythic was certainly challenging. But there will always be guild that come and go. They still feel changing to the flexible structure and 20man mythic mode was a good idea. The 20man experience is better due to being able to tune specifically to just 20 players instead of 10 and 25, and then failing to balance them exactly the same.
Having Mythic mode is justified, it inspires players to progress their character. Mythic design only takes 5% to 10% of the time to create raids.
Timewalker dungeons are weekend events to make them more condensed events. You’ll be able to focus on quickly gearing alts for example. There’s also the context of where does timewalking fit in? Why would you do other Draenor dungeons if Timewalking gives you better loot? By keeping it limited it allows them to make Timewalker dungeons give higher item level rewards.
Dungeons became irrelevant pretty quickly. It’s another regret of the developers. There was no reason to keep returning to the dungeons due to a lack of a reward system. Mythic dungeons are a way to salvage the dungeons themselves and keep them relevant. Mythic dungeons give 685 – 700 item level loot.
They’re going to look for a way for dungeons to scale over time so that they still matter.
They don’t see Timewalker dungeons as content instead of new dungeons. Timewalker dungeons are a feature that they’ve wanted to do for a while.
On Demonology warlock nerfs: They have concerns about how Demonology plays mechanically as a spec. At the same time an increasing amount of warlocks felt like they were forced to switch to Demonology. They intend to change Demo mechanically in the future. Demo is still viable but it’s not the best. For now it’s Demo’s turn to be the worst spec.
Ability pruning did not go too far. In some cases it did not go far enough. That does not mean they did not prune some abilities they shouldn’t have. Moving forward they’re looking to increase the fantasy of being your class. Being a fire mage, being a rogue.
The game is less dominated by absorbs (healers) than in MoP. The problem is the niche of absorbs needs to be scaled back. Currently it feels like you need a disc priest + another healer. Absorbs also stop the fun of throughput healers, they stop the health bars dropping, which throughput healers want to fill back up.
Professions will be changed in the future. In 6.2 you’ll get a lot more profession items from the daily cooldown and once again Felblight can only be obtained by going into the world.
The duration of a (mythic) fight depends on the encounter. An encounter with the same mechanics through the entire fight should take 5 to 6 minutes. When there are phase changes you can expect them to be a bit longer. And then there’s the classic example of end boss fights with multiple phases and transitions, those will be 10+ minutes. Mythic Imperator did take too long.
Is the game becoming too convenient? That’s a tricky question to answer. They don’t want inconvenience and nuisance to be the things that stop you. There are different risks and rewards. The random group finder helped you find a group a lot quicker and you didn’t have to stand in Stormwind for 90 minutes to find a group. But it did take away social aspects.
For patch 6.1 there wasn’t a lot of time to get a lot of content in it. It might have been better to name it patch 6.0.5. The patch wasn’t meant to be a major content patch.
On Tier 18 PvE and PvP art recoloring: Instead of it being a PvE and PvP set it’s a regular set and “elite” set. So that there’s a differentiation between the gear that’s the hardest to obtain and somewhat easier to obtain. Hence Mythic and Elite look the same with recoloring and the other sets look the same with recoloring.
Once patch 6.2 releases you’ll find 3 new factions to gain reputation with. Leveling them up can be done through a combination of daily/weekly quests and farming mobs. You will need to get revered with each of these factions to be able to unlock flying in Draenor.
Remember that this is PTR content and anything (especially values) can change.
The 3 new reputations are:
Hand of the Prophet / Vol’jin’s Headhunters (Your faction’s reputation)
Order of the Awakened
Saberstalkers
Each faction gives you access to the usual mounts, pets and other fun stuff. However you will definitely want to get honored with your faction’s reputation as it unlocks the blueprints for one of the ships in the Shipyard: the Battleship.
Hand of the Prophet / Vol’jin’s Headhunters
This faction has multiple rewards for you, some of which more important than others.
To gain reputation with this faction you’ll have to do the dailies available in your outpost in Tanaan. Note that after you complete the daily Tanaan Jungle apexis quest, a second set of dailies becomes available. These daily quests will take you into Tanaan Jungle and it will all go quite smoothly, just do some dailies and earn rewards! You’ll earn about 1250 reputation per day, if you have the reputation bonus from the Trading Post this will of course increase. You can find the quartermaster in your Tanaan outpost.
On top of the dailies you’ll also earn reputation through doing the new garrison campaign quests in Tanaan Jungle. Each week there will be a relatively small quest chain for you to do. These earn you anywhere from 700 reputation to 2500 reputation. This means that you should have your Battleship within about a week!
Although not actually related to this reputation, the vendor also offers an item to increase your garrison cache capacity to 1000 resources instead of 500!
Order of the Awakened
This new costume only costs you 50000 apexis crystals! A bargain right?
The Order of the Awakened is quite interested in Apexis Crystals, but they also offer rewards that you can buy with gold. Some of the more interesting items are:
To earn reputation with the Order of the Awakened you can do a daily quest, which requires you to collect 10 items that can be looted from rare mobs and treasures. This daily will earn you 1500 rep per day. You can find the quartermaster in your Tanaan outpost. The second way of gaining reputation is by farming mobs in the Ruins of Kra’nak. The non-elite mobs will give you 10 reputation per mob (12 with trading post) and the elite mobs will give you 25 reputation (30 with trading post).
Saberstalkers
The Saberstalkers have a currency of their own: Blackfang Claw. This reputation revolves around killing Saberon in the Fang’rila area to the south of the faction outposts. You’ll find the quartermaster at the entrance to Fang’rila. This faction offers not one, but two mounts. Other than that the main item you’ll be interested in is the Saberstalker Teachings: Trailblazer which increases your mount speed by 15% in Tanaan Jungle.
To earn reputation with the Saberstalkers you can complete a weekly quest that rewards 3500 reputation. You’ll need to buy 3 challenge totems from the reptuation vendor, costing a total of 40 Blackfang Claws. These totems allow you to summon the 3 elites you need to beat for your quest.
The other way to earn reputation with this faction is to simply kill the Saberon in Fang’rila. You’ll earn 25 reputation per regular elite mob and 500 reputation per rare elite. This works well because either way you’re going to need to kill some Saberon to get the 40 Blackfang Claws for the weekly quest.
Lastly, there is a toy you can get for free by talking to Skoller, who sits next to the Saberstalker Quartermaster. When you do, you’ll get Skoller’s Bag of Squirrel Treats.
Medallion of the Legion
When you’re in Tanaan Jungle you’re likely to come across icons on your map that indicate events. These are 4 in total and the event makes way for a rare elite. This mob has a chance to drop the Medallion of the Legion, which you might remember from our apexis crystal guide. This increases your reputation with all Draenor factions by 1000. Giving you an additional boost.
In patch 6.2 your garrison will be focused on The Shipyard. This is a new building that doesn’t take up any existing slots. This preview will focus on everything from obtaining The Shipyard to leveling it up and the rewards you can get. Update: There is now also a video preview of the shipyard which you can find here.
As with the other PTR previews/guides, this is still on the PTR and anything can change!
Obtaining The Shipyard
To get the newest addition to your garrison you will have to complete a small chain quest.
Go to the town hall in your garrison.
Talk to your faction leader.
After accepting the quest, head on over to the gryphon/rylak master and get a ride to the Iron Docks.
Complete a total of 3 quests in the Iron Docks questline. If you need the resources, also complete the bonus objective for 200 garrison resources.
Head back to your garrison and talk to your faction leader.
You will now be able to walk to the spot where your shipyard will be built and construct it. (Check your map if needed)
You will require 150 garrison resources and 150 gold.
Continue the quests within your Shipyard. You will gain the following:
200 oil
Blueprints for your first ship type: Transport
Your first Transport ship – This will cost 25 garrison resources and 50 oil.
Once your Transport is done, you will have to complete the starting quests in Tanaan Jungle before you can send your ships out on missions.
You will again have to do a small quest chain. Kill a few mobs, talk to a few people.
Once you have the quest to go back to the shipyard you can finally go back and start sending ships on missions.
Your Fleet
You will be able to build up your fleet through your shipyard. At level 1 your shipyard can hold a maximum of 6 ships, at level 2 8 ships and at level 3 10 ships. You build this at the same NPC as you built your Transport ship. While your very first ship took just a few minutes to make, every other ship you make will take up to 2 hours to complete. It works just like a work order, but you can only queue up 1 ship at a time.
The 4 ships you’ll be able to get blueprints for are:
The Submarine – obtained by upgrading the shipyard to level 2
The Destroyer – obtained by completing the introductory quest chain to naval missions
The Battleship – obtained by buying the blueprint from your faction rep vendor (Hand of the Prophet / Vol’jin’s Headhunters) when you reach friendly
The Carrier – obtained by upgrading the shipyard to level 3
These 4 ships will counter ship threats during missions:
Submarines counter Carriers
Destroyers counter Submarines
Battleships counter Destroyers
Carriers counter Battleships
There are other mission threats, but we’ll get to those later.
Your ships can be of uncommon, rare or epic quality. Just like your followers they can be leveled by completing naval missions, however if your ships fail to complete a mission there is a 50% chance that they will be destroyed!
When they are uncommon they have their ship counter ability and they have a crew. The crew will be a certain race and will give it a bonus. For example a night elf crew will allow your ship to complete the mission 50% faster, while a gnome crew will give you a chance to loot equipment from the mission if it succeeds.
When they are rare the first equipment slot opens up
When they are epic the second equipment slot opens up
Threats and Equipment
So let’s talk threats and equipment. Basically these work just like the threats work from your regular followers. There are different types of threats to counter, and equipment helps you do so. You’ll be able to replace already existing equipment in your ships with new ones. So you can choose which threats your ships counter. This means you’ll be able to re-customize your ships as needed.
There are also 2 other types of equipment. Equipment that increases the success chance when with a certain type of ship (like the race boosts from followers) and special bonus equipment.
Increases the mission chance when working with a certain ship type.Provides other bonuses.
To obtain the equipment for your ships you will have to earn blueprints from things like quests and reputation. Once you have done so you’ll be able to buy them for 500 resources from a vendor in your shipyard. This vendor also has an item to instantly complete a ship yard work order!
You can earn the threat counter equipment blueprints by doing the following:
Blast Furnace is earned by completing the introductory quest chain to the Shipyard and Naval missions.
True Iron Rudder is looted from Zoug the Heavy in Ironhold Harbor.
Felsmoke Launcher is looted from Felsmith Damorka in the Fel Forge.
Trained Shark Tank is looted from the Savage Whale Shark in the bay of Ironhold Harbor.
Bilge Pump is looted from Belgork in the tunnels between Zeth’Gol and the Fel Forge.
High Intensity Fog lights is looted from Xanzith the Everlasting in the Throne of Kil’jaeden.
Ice Cutter is looted from Cindral the Wildfire in Ironhold Harbor.
Gyroscopic Internal Stabilizer is looted from Iron Reaver in Hellfire Citadel.
Sending your fleet on missions
Your ships are ready to go and explore the seas of Draenor, but how do you send them out on missions? Well this works exactly like sending out your followers, but in a different mission table. This one is located in your shipyard. This means you will have to go to both the mission table in your town hall and to the one in your shipyard to send all your followers and ships on missions.
You’ll see which threats need to be countered and then you can make a choice of which ships go out. These missions will cost oil, which you can obtain via regular garrison missions, the new apexis daily in tanaan, killing the 4 “event” rares in Tanaan and building an oil rig once you have revered with your faction’s reputation faction in Tanaan.
A final word
From testing the shipyard on the PTR, the pace of leveling ships and sending them out on missions seems to be a lot slower. If you want to complete your legendary ring you will need to use your shipyard, but it seems like it’ll require less time investment than your followers did when they first had to be leveled. The shipyard naval missions award things like a mount, a pet and gear you can send to your alts. So it’s certainly worth putting the time in your shipyard.
There was a lot of information to cover, so if you have questions or suggestions for this guide feel free to let us know in the comments!
The drums of war beat within the fel halls of Hellfire Citadel, even as the Horde and Alliance continue to clash on the fields of battle. Great rewards await those who would face the dangers within the dark heart of Tanaan Jungle, as well as those who take part in the never-ending battle between Azeroth’s warring factions.
With a new PvP season ahead and a new raid on the horizon, it’s time to unveil the Tier 18 PvE armor sets and the Warlords Season 2 PvP sets!
In World of Warcraft Patch 6.2, you’ll oversee your Garrison’s first new major construction project—and take command of your forces in a whole new theater of war. In order to push back against the twisted remnants of the Iron Horde, you’ll need to expand your operations to the shore and set your sights on the seas between you and the mysterious Tanaan Jungle. To do that, you’ll need a Shipyard.
Alliance Shipyard
The Shipyard is a new building available to all Garrison commanders who have reached level 100 and improved their Garrison to level 3—and after you travel to the Iron Docks and discover just how dire the naval situation is, you’ll want to make your Shipyard a top priority. As soon as you return to your Garrison, you’ll be able to raise a level 1 Shipyard and begin construction on your first ocean vessel immediately. Horde Shipyard
Your Fledgling Fleet
In war, you need soldiers to fight on the front lines—with that in mind, your first ship will be the mighty Troop Transport, a vessel designed to help you tackle a variety of seafaring threats. This stalwart ship will help you initiate combat, and will serve as the backbone of your fleet as you’re getting your feet wet.
Ships are managed much like Garrison Followers. You’ll send your ships on naval missions, and each naval mission will present a new set of challenges for you to counter with your ships’ abilities. Some of the new abilities include Salty Crew (improves success chance by 10%), Unsinkable (shields the ship from a fatal shot), and Trained Shark Tank—because navigating through mine-studded waters is no problem when you have trained sharks on your side.
And guns. The sharks have guns.
Setting a Course
Just as your Followers need Garrison Resources to operate, your ships will require Oil. Collect enough Oil to send your ships on many naval missions, and you’ll unlock the level 2 and level 3 Shipyard, allowing you to maintain more ships and take on more naval missions.
There’s oil on Draenor! And as fate would have it, it’s mainly to be found in Tanaan, where the enemy has been collecting the precious substance for a while now. They’ll have to be relieved of it in some way or another . . . and that’s where you come in. Your ships need oil. Your entire war effort now depends on it.
Naval warfare to take place precisely right there!
Your ships also come with equipment, and how you use it will play a key role in your success on the high seas. For example, a ship with a Gyroscopic Internal Stabilizer can deal with Chaotic Whirlpools by staying upright and stable. A ship with a Food Storage Bay has additional space for stashing extra supplies, and is therefore better at taking on longer naval missions.
Your ships can be manned by a specific crew, and the composition of the crew helps determine your results and rewards. For example, a goblin crew increases the gold gained from the mission; a night elf crew reduces mission time; and a human crew increases your success chance.
A tauren crew is sturdy—and rewards a 50% experience bonus.
The high seas are filled with threats, and they won’t be easy to deal with. Take too much of a risk on a naval mission, and you could lose your vessels and all of the time and resources they represent. You’ll want to pay close attention to which ships counter which threats. For example:
Submarines move silently underwater, sneaking up on unsuspecting ships.
Destroyers counter Submarines with Depth Charges.
Battleships fire long-range artillery to sink enemies such as Destroyers.
Carriers deploy bombers to attack Battleships from the air.
In World of Warcraft Patch 6.2, we’re introducing a new series of seven different weekend events, and two of the seven weekends will make Timewalking Dungeons available to characters at level 71 and higher for Outland dungeons or 81 and higher for Northrend dungeons. When you Timewalk these dungeons, you’ll find that your character’s power and gear has been scaled down to a fraction of what they normally are, and you may have never ventured into some (or all) of them, so it’s a good idea to prepare yourself now.
Outland: The Arcatraz
The mighty Tempest Keep was created by the enigmatic naaru: sentient beings of pure energy and the sworn enemies of the Burning Legion. In addition to serving as a base of operations for the naaru, the structure itself possesses the technology to teleport through alternate dimensions, traveling from one location to another in the blink of an eye.
With Outland serving as the strategic battlefront in the ongoing Burning Crusade, the naaru recently used Tempest Keep to reach the shattered land. However, when the naaru set out from their stronghold, Prince Kael’thas and his blood elves quickly raided the dimensional fortress and assumed control over its satellite structures. Now, guided by some unknown purpose, Kael’thas manipulates the keep’s otherworldly technologies, using them to harness the chaotic energies of the Netherstorm itself.
Dungeon Maps
Click to enlarge
Bosses
Zereketh the Unbound
Most creatures from the Twisting Nether require constant directions from their masters, but a select few voidwraiths need no such orders. Zereketh stands at the entrance to Arcatraz, ready to slay all who would dare challenge him.
Dalliah The Doomsayer
Before she was imprisoned by the naaru, Dalliah was one of the most vicious and aggressive warriors within the Burning Legion. Spending so much time as a cellmate to Wrath-Scryer Soccothrates did not improve her disposition either.
Wrath-Scryer Soccothrates
Millennia ago, Soccothrates held a position of honor among the Wrathguards, standing at the side of the Burning Legion’s top commanders. Confinement did not suit his considerable ego. Neither did his cellmate.
Harbinger Skyriss
The naaru believed the persuasive voice of Harbinger Skyriss was silenced when they contained him and forced him into a long, dreamless sleep. The unfortunate warden of Arcatraz learned the naaru were wrong.
Tips
Zereketh is known for summoning void zones. Run out of them immediately!
Zereketh’s Seed of Corruption causes his victim to explode with damage. It’s best to stand apart when you’re the seedy one.
Dalliah’s Whirlwind should be avoided by all but the stoutest of tanks.
Her Gift of the Doomsayer channels healing to you if you have it. Healers beware!
Stay out of Soccothrates’ fel fire.
The one and only Millhouse Manastorm assists you in your battle with Harbinger Skyriss and his many “friends”. Keep Millhouse alive.
Achievements and Reputation
If you’ve not gotten them before, completing this dungeon will award The Arcatraz and Heroic: The Arcatraz, the latter of which is required for Outland Dungeon Hero.
Killing enemies in this dungeon increases your standing with The Sha’tar. For a full breakdown of what you can do with Sha’tar reputation, check out Wowhead and Wowpedia.
Get in there and Fight!
Timewalking dungeons are coming to WoW with Patch 6.2: Fury of Hellfire. Keep an eye out for the weekend-only quest “A Burning Path Through Time”, which rewards a Seal of Inevitable Fate when you complete five Burning Crusade Timewalking dungeons.
We appreciate the spirited discussion on the topic of flying. The subject has brought out passionate viewpoints and sparked insightful conversations on our official forums and blogs, on community sites, and in chat channels. Your feedback has been a valuable part of the ongoing conversations within Blizzard as well, and today, we’d like to share some updated plans for how we’ll handle flight going forward.
The Thrill of Discovery
At the heart of the initial plan to restrict flight in Draenor (even after players reach level 100) lies the design goal of providing the best moment-to-moment gameplay possible in the outdoor world. From navigating the lava flows of the Molten Front in Patch 4.2, to breaching the Thunder King’s stronghold in Patch 5.2, to reaching the heights of the Ordon Sanctuary on Timeless Isle in Patch 5.4, to uncovering secrets deep within Gorgrond’s jungles on Draenor, World of Warcraft is full of memorable moments that are only possible when players explore the world by ground. And as we’ve continued to develop content over the years, we’ve focused more and more on providing players with these kinds of experiences.
However, while we firmly believe that keeping your feet on the ground is a key part of discovery in WoW, we also recognize that breaking free from those restrictions can be fun and rewarding as well, especially for those who’ve already fully experienced the game’s world content. With that in mind, we’re planning some changes in the near future that will allow players to enjoy their hard-earned flying mounts in Draenor—in a way that doesn’t compromise the excitement of ground-based exploration.
Mastering the Outdoor World
In an upcoming Public Test Realm build, we will be introducing a new meta-achievement called Draenor Pathfinder. You’ll earn this achievement in Patch 6.2 by mastering the outdoor environment of Draenor—exploring Draenor’s zones, collecting 100 treasures in Draenor, completing the Draenor Loremaster and Securing Draenor achievements, and raising the three new Tanaan Jungle reputations to Revered. Initially, this achievement will award a rylak mount: the Soaring Skyterror, one of the native beasts that roam Draenor’s skies. Players will remain ground-bound on Draenor until a small follow-up patch (6.2.x), when all players who have earned Draenor Pathfinder on at least one character will unlock the ability to fly in Draenor on all their level 90+ characters.
We believe this strikes the right balance between ensuring ground-based content lives up to its full potential, while providing players who’ve already fully experienced Draenor’s outdoor world extra freedom to “break the rules.” This also provides a general blueprint going forward for content to come. Players will explore new and undiscovered lands from the ground, and then once they’ve fully mastered those environments—a notion that continues to evolve with each new expansion—they can take to the skies and experience the world from a new vantage point.
Thank you for your heartfelt feedback. We’ll see you in (and soon, above) Tanaan Jungle.
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