Blizzard HALVED The Grind! 5 War Within Updates You Should Know

Summary

This week's Warcraft news covers the launch of Season 1, including Mythic+, Mythic raid Wing two, and LFR story mode. Players can now access a redesigned Anere boss in story mode, offering a stress-free experience and rewards like the Enchanted Runed Harbinger Crest for crafting high-level gear without using runed crests. Mythic+ sees a significant increase in participation, with nearly 730,000 runs recorded in the first 24 hours. The PTR introduces updates like the new judgment tier and classic time-walking vendor. The 20th-anniversary event on the PTR features character updates, a 20% XP and reputation buff, and a detailed celebration. Quick tips include a hotfix for Relic blood of Zar and an efficient way to earn Valor stones by defeating Zack on one question mark difficulty.

Takeaways

• 🎮 The 'Warcraft' game has introduced a new feature where players can earn near-free heroic gear and farm for Valor stones and crests.
• 🌟 Season 1 of the game is officially launched, including Mythic+, Mythic raid Wing two of LFR, and story mode.
• 📖 The story mode's first version is out, offering a simplified boss fight that's easier than LFR and provides an enchanted runed Harbinger Crest.
• 🔨 Crafting gear with the crest from the story mode doesn't require the usual 45 runed crests, saving players resources.
• 📊 The game's new scoring system for Mythic+ is less grindy, requiring only one key per dungeon to achieve full score.
• 📈 Initial data shows a significant increase in Mythic+ runs at the start of the new season, almost doubling the previous season's numbers.
• 🎉 The 20th-anniversary event on the PTR includes a 20% XP and reputation buff, with additional 10% refreshable through daily event participation.
• 🏆 Keystone Master achievement is now more accessible, requiring completion of eight dungeons at a higher average level.
• 🛡️ The PTR update introduces a new judgment tier variant with trousers instead of a robe, catering to player preferences.
• 💡 A hotfix has resolved an issue where learning 'Relic blood of Zar' would prevent other curios from dropping upgrades.

Q & A

What is the significance of the new content release in the Warcraft game?

The new content release in Warcraft is significant as it introduces a variety of new features and updates, including the start of season 1, Mythic plus, Mythic raid Wing two of LFR, and story mode, providing players with fresh challenges and rewards.

How does the redesigned Anere boss in story mode affect gameplay?

The redesigned Anere boss in story mode is designed to be simple and low-stress, making it more accessible for players who typically avoid raids. It also allows players to experience the content without the usual raid mechanics, and rewards players with an enchanted runed Harbinger Crest.

What is the benefit of completing the Anere boss encounter in story mode?

Completing the Anere boss encounter in story mode rewards players with an enchanted runed Harbinger Crest, which can be used to craft level 619 gear without needing to use runed crests, saving players resources and gold.

What is the player's reaction to the introduction of story mode in Warcraft?

Players have mixed reactions to the introduction of story mode, with some viewing it as a laudable first attempt at a feature they've wanted, while others consider it a paid beta test due to some technical issues and the UI throwing errors.

How does the timing of the raid's release in relation to the main campaign affect the story in Warcraft?

The timing of the raid's release has led to some confusion in the game's narrative, as it was revealed that the raid takes place before the events of the Hall of the Fallen, which was not clear to players before.

What is the impact of the new scoring system in Mythic plus on player engagement?

The new scoring system in Mythic plus has been well-received as it reduces the grind by allowing players to achieve full score for a dungeon with just one key, motivating players to push for higher levels and rewards more efficiently.

What are the early statistics showing about Mythic plus participation in the new season?

Early statistics indicate a significant increase in Mythic plus participation, with almost double the number of runs compared to the previous season within the first 24 hours.

How does the PTR update affect the Judgment tier and what does it offer to players?

The PTR update introduces a new variant of the Judgment tier that offers trousers instead of a robe, catering to players who prefer not to use the robe appearance, and also brings back the classic time walking vendor with various mounts and transmog options.

What is the significance of the 20th anniversary event in Warcraft and what does it offer to players?

The 20th anniversary event is significant as it celebrates the game's history with detailed character updates, narrated reenactments, and a 20% XP and reputation buff. It also includes a daily refreshable 10% buff, encouraging player engagement with the event.

What are some quick tips provided for players to optimize their gameplay in the current Warcraft content?

Quick tips include being aware of the hotfix that allows Relic blood of Zar to drop other curios, taking advantage of the time walking event for badge farming, and challenging oneself with the one question mark difficulty for fast Valor stone farming.

Outlines

00:00

🎮 'Warcraft News' - Updates on Season 1 and Story Mode

The script discusses the latest developments in the 'Warcraft' gaming world, highlighting the launch of Season 1, the release of Mythic+, Mythic raid Wing two of LFR, and story mode. It introduces a new, simplified version of the An'ere boss for story mode, which is more accessible and less stressful for players. Completing this mode rewards players with an 'Enchanted Runed Harbinger Crest', which can be used to craft level 619 gear without the usual requirement of 45 runed crests, thus saving resources. The script also touches on the community's mixed reactions to the game's new features, suggesting it could be seen as either a 'paid beta test' or a commendable first attempt at fulfilling player desires. It concludes with a discussion about the timing of the raid's release and its narrative implications within the game's lore.

05:00

📊 'Mythic Plus Stats and PTR Changes' - Insights and Updates

This section delves into the statistics of 'Mythic Plus', noting a significant increase in runs since its introduction, with nearly 730,000 runs recorded in the first 24 hours. It compares these numbers to the previous season's performance and speculates on whether the current season can surpass the record of 36 million runs. The script also addresses changes to the 'Mythic Plus' scoring system, which now allows players to achieve full rewards for a dungeon with just one key, reducing the need for the weekly flip between Tyrannical and Fortified affixes. Additionally, it mentions the introduction of a new 'Judgment Tier' variant and the return of the classic time-walking vendor. The script concludes with a discussion on the 20th-anniversary event, which includes character updates, a 20% XP and reputation buff, and various engaging activities. It also provides quick tips, such as a fix for the 'Brands Curios' issue and a strategy for efficiently farming Valor Stones by defeating a challenging boss.

Keywords

💡Time Walking

Time Walking is a feature in World of Warcraft where players can experience past events and content from the game's history. In the context of the video, it's highlighted as a way to earn Valor stones and Crests, indicating that it's a significant part of the current game content. The script mentions a 'time walking guide' and the benefits of participating in Time Walking events, such as the ability to make significant progress in badge farming in a short period.

💡Valor Stones

Valor Stones are a type of currency in World of Warcraft used to upgrade items. The video discusses a method to farm these stones efficiently, which is a key aspect for players looking to enhance their gear. The script specifically mentions earning 25 Valor Stones for completing a challenging encounter, emphasizing the value of this currency in the game's economy.

💡Mythic Plus

Mythic Plus is a dungeon mode in World of Warcraft that offers increased difficulty and rewards for skilled players. The video script discusses the release of Mythic Plus for the new season and the community's engagement with it, noting a significant increase in the number of runs compared to the previous season. This mode is central to the endgame content and player progression.

💡Raiding

Raiding refers to participating in large-scale, cooperative battles against powerful enemies, typically found in MMORPGs like World of Warcraft. The script mentions a 'follower raid' and the release of a new raid wing, indicating that raiding is a significant part of the game's content and community engagement. It's a way for players to test their skills and teamwork in challenging environments.

💡Story Mode

Story Mode in the context of the video refers to a narrative-driven experience within the game that allows players to engage with the game's lore without the high difficulty or commitment of raiding. The script describes the release of a new Story Mode content where players can experience the story and earn rewards without the stress of difficult combat, making it accessible to a wider audience.

💡Enchanted Runed Harbinger Crest

This is a specific type of item in World of Warcraft that can be used to craft high-level gear. The video script mentions that completing the Story Mode content rewards players with this item, which is significant because it allows players to craft gear without the usual resource investment, thus saving time and in-game currency.

💡PTR Changes

PTR stands for Public Test Realm, which is a testing environment for World of Warcraft where players can try out new content before it's released to the live game. The video discusses PTR changes, such as updates to the Judgment Tier and the introduction of a new variant, indicating that these changes are part of the ongoing development and refinement of the game.

💡20th Anniversary Event

The video script mentions an upcoming 20th Anniversary Event for World of Warcraft, which is a celebration of the game's history and a way to engage players with nostalgia. The event includes a 20% XP and reputation buff, special quests, and the return of classic characters, showing that it's a significant occasion for the game's community.

💡Delves

Delves are a type of content in World of Warcraft that involve exploring and completing objectives in specific areas. The script mentions that Delves are an alternative to Mythic Plus for players seeking gear and that they offer a different type of challenge. This indicates that Delves are a significant part of the game's endgame content, providing variety and choice for players.

💡Keystone Master

Keystone Master is an achievement in World of Warcraft related to Mythic Plus dungeons. The video script discusses the new scoring system that allows players to achieve this title with fewer dungeon runs, which is a significant change in the game's progression system. It shows that the developers are responding to player feedback and adjusting the game to make it more accessible and enjoyable.

Highlights

Time walking guide provides free progress for players.

Introduction of near free heroic gear and good farm for Valor stones and crests.

Season 1 officially out with Mythic plus, Mythic raid Wing two of LFR and story mode.

Story mode V1 is out, featuring a follower raid with a redesigned final boss.

Players can start the story mode in Azetroth with a short quest line.

Completing story mode provides an enchanted runed Harbinger Crest and access to level 619 gear.

Discussion on the game feature being either a laudable first try or a paid beta test.

Unlocking story mode after finishing the max level campaign provides clarity on the raid's timeline.

Mythic plus has seen a significant increase in runs compared to Dragonflight season 4.

New scoring system in Mythic plus is less grindy and requires fewer dungeon completions.

PTR changes include an updated judgment tier with a new variant for trousers.

Time walking is currently active, allowing for faster badge farming.

20th anniversary event includes detailed character updates and a 20% XP and reputation buff.

Quick fire tips include a hotfix for the issue with Brand's curios not dropping upgrades.

Zach on one question mark difficulty can be a fast way to earn Valor stones.

Transcripts

welcome back to the warcraft news it's a

pretty big week and if the time walking

guide that we published isn't enough

like free progress for you well there's

another bit of near free heroic gear for

you and an absolutely insane good farm

for Valor stones and crests that's all

pretty fun and it all matters because

season 1 is properly out Mythic plus

Mythic raid Wing two of LFR and story

mode and S so let's get into everything

that's happened first up story mode so

V1 of the mode is out and it's

essentially a follower raid but it's

only the last boss and she's had a bit

of a redesign essentially anere is

simple enough to be zero stress and

likely more friendly for the follower

system AI now you can start this in azet

you do a short quest line it ties up a

few loose ends and after that you go

straight to the an boss along with five

algar Expedition members as your NPCs if

you're a Raider it's not even a fight

zero friction easier than alfr what it

will do though is get you a kill for

anak and it will get you the final cut

scene so if you're somebody who doesn't

touch raids at all it basically means

you see that content but also for your

effort you'll get an enchanted runed

Harbinger Crest these combined of course

with a spark let you craft up to I level

619 gear that's pretty damn big but it's

also great because crafting one of those

normally means you need to use 45 runed

crests in this case you don't have to

use those crests so for the rest of us

we basically get a bit of heroic crafted

gear but we don't need to use the crests

and it saves us some gold as for the

game feature uh I would say it's either

a laudable and pragmatic first try of

something people have wanted or it's a

paid beta test basically take your pick

I mean hell it even causes Blizzard's UI

to throw up an error and the great Vault

counts it as a kill but uh the great

Vault has got no idea what story mode

difficulty is so that's a bit awkward

now you unlock this after you finish the

max level Campaign and it narly gives us

an answer to a very bizarre question so

we didn't actually know when the raid

takes place as it turns out now aner and

her simps are all put down well before

zatat raid on hallof fall so if you conf

confused why zotth was screaming in Rage

in one cinematic but then next week's

cinematic had her just be cool Cam and

collected well um yeah that's basically

why anorak happened before hallof fall

now that is straight up extremely sloppy

story telling I think I know why they

did it though so time getting the main

campaign is something that has angered

people for a while I've got a feeling

they just didn't want to time gate the

campaign but for other reasons The Raid

came out when it did so that's maybe why

it happened anyway that's the 11.0 story

wrapped but if you want an idea of

what's coming next we just released an

episode of the lore walking podcast on

exactly that and you can get it link

below Val their do games members of

course get loads of things over there

and one of them is the lur walking

podcast dozens of episodes over 40 hours

of content and this time it is all about

the harer they played a small role in

ashad but they will be playing a far

larger role in the future so enjoy the

PO you can sign up down below and let's

talk about some numbers Mythic plus has

been out for a few days and that means

that our nightstalker has put together

some data and shared it with us it's

already days yet of course I promise a

full dive into the stats soon but for

now he's basically spotted that runs

have almost doubled dragonflight season

4 within the first 24 hours of Mythic

plus so as of Thursday night EU time

there were about 730,000 runs on the

leaderboard which is pretty damn

explosive uh there's 1.5 million

characters on the leaderboard as well

just for like unique characters that's

just the first two days and it's only

people doing Mythic Plus and I don't

know about you but I feel like I have

less reason to do it as an example

almost nobody in my guild has done

Mythic plus yet uh with delves with raid

and the world content stuff well we just

haven't got round to it though loads of

us are planning at the weekend so I

wonder if those numbers will Spike even

more the big question is if War within

will be able to beat the dragon flight

season 1 record of 36 million runs in

147 days that'll be interesting to see

but do remember Mythic plus is in a way

a bit more n now Mythic zero of course

is the old Mythic plus 10 so quite a lot

of dungeon gameplay that would have been

counted in Mythic plus statistics is no

longer going to well fall in those

statistics and then many people are just

doing delves instead because they give

you great gear and to a lot of people

with no timer but still a degree of

challenge they're a lot more fun anyway

that means that if Mythic Plus numbers

even keep up with dragonflight even

though Mythic plus is a relatively

smaller slice of the endgame pie like

that would be damn good news for the

game and that's even with it having a

new scoring system that's actually less

grindy so let's talk about that one

thing blizzard didn't tell us is how

Mythic plus score would change with this

expansion now we knew it had to because

we don't have the full weekly flip

between tyrannical and fortified 4 our

dungeons thankfully though they've not

came up with a new and inventive way to

squeeze more gameplay out of us they've

actually done what we wanted you've only

got to do a key once to get all of the

score for a dungeon so there is no more

waiting until next week for the fix the

flip just so you can get score that

means you can just go in start blasting

as high as you can and you can

immediately achieve your rewards rather

than feeling like and it's pretty

demotivating that you want to get

Keystone Master you're actually doing a

bunch of plus 10s or whatever but well

you got to wait till next week for the

fix to flip now this does seem like a

relatively minor change but what it

means is you need to do eight dungeons

instead of

16ish right get all eight dungeons at

plus seven on average and you'll get

Keystone Master instead of having to do

16 at that level and if you get KSM

you'll get this lovely magne inspired

suit and if you've not already down

heroic an or reached 1600 PVP rating

doing that will also get you a basically

a token that you can turn in for a piece

of heroic gear so it's probably worth

doing if you can just watch out though

because when you look at the data some

dungeons are giving real headach So

based on that data Grim Bal Stone Vault

and Siege of baralis one that the Mythic

plus community loves deeply they are

kicking asses right now but on the other

hand the dawn Breer is rather

surprisingly to some pretty much a free

win next up then PTR changes the big

cover story today is that the updated

judgment tier is coming with a new

variant that gives you a trousers

instead of a robe so pretty good if

you're I don't know a paladin who just

um doesn't feel like they can Crusade

wearing a dress then the classic time

walking vendor is in as well and that

means we can see mounts and absolute

stacks of pretty damn expensive old

school transmogs that you'll want to be

farming badges for time walking by the

way is currently active it's an ideal

time to get Farming and as compared to

the Past you can make literally months

of progress in your badges in days I

know that sounds like clickbait it

literally isn't and you can check out

our time walking guide next to learn all

about that the PTR itself is now

protesting and the new event for the

20th anniversary is full of detail there

are characters that we've basically not

seen in years here that are actually

giving us updates on what they've been

up to the best one I'd say so far is L

Walker Cho people absolutely love him

but uh well it's been over a decade

since Pandaria right we're trated to

excellently narrated reenactments of

character stories throughout Wow's

history they got Jim Cummings back to do

the voiceover for the character it's

lovely and the event will also have a

20% XP and reputation buff just as we

expected but this time it's a bit

different because you get a flat 10%

buff just for the event being on but

then you've got to refresh the other

another 10% by doing a daily now all of

it just takes like a few minutes of

engaging within the event it's zero

effort but a pretty good opportunity to

enjoy the celebrations honestly it's a

neat event Full Of Love full of flavor

so thumbs up and let's finish it off

with some quick fire tips some things

that you should absolutely be aware of

number one if you were wondering why you

suddenly stopped finding upgrades for

Brands curios there's a line of the hot

fixes for you here it is fixed an issue

where learning Relic blood of Zar would

prevent other curios from dropping so uh

that was bad and uh now that those

curios are actually dropping with

upgrades your delves should get a bit

more manageable and finally for this

week a fresh way to hurt yourself but

get a lot of Valor stones for doing so

it's not ready for the faint of Hearts

so Zack on his one question mark

difficulty can be a very very short

fight indeed that's of course if you've

got the gear if you're you know good at

doing DPS and you know the tactics he

can go down in as little as 2 minutes

and for beating him you get 25 Valor

Stones 25 Valor stones for two minutes

is really fast theoretically that's like

500 Valor Stones per hour and the more

damage you do the faster that will be in

our testing we've been getting closer to

like a 100 Valor Stones every 15 minutes

or so but that still is with plenty of

mistakes being made and not a fully

tricked out character certainly if it's

just Vier Stones you want that's a hell

of a lot faster than spamming Mythic

plus if you feel up for it we've got a

quick Zack fear guide in our Del's video

from earlier on this week it's a great

way to fill up your Vault and if you

want to know why time walking is super

powerful check out that video as well

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