FAZ 134 – “Manatees for Monks”

This week Manny and Joce talk about the free mount vote, the Shadowlands development road map, and then dissect the third of four Shadowlands animated shorts. All that and more on this week’s For Azeroth!

You can find Warcraft Radio on Twitch, YouTube, and Twitter, as well as Discord. 

Vote for the a Free Mount

The Warcraft Team has announced a contest to decide the next free mount added to World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.

• 5 concepts:
  • Wandering Ancient
  • Soaring Spelltome
  • Nerubian Swarmer
  • Curious Caterpillar
  • Gooey Slimesaber
• Vote before Sept 18th 3 pm PDT
• Poll results will only reflect the votes counted in your region
• The winner will be added to the Mount Collection tab in Q1 2021 for every player with Shadowlands activated on their account
• Contest Article

Development Roadmap

Yesterday, Ion Watcher Hazzikostaz posted to lay out the direction for the remaining time in the beta. He took the time to address several issues that have been discussed by the community.

• 9.0.1 and 9.0.2
  • The development has now been given two separate designations. These are for the systems patch that will come out ahead of the pre-expansion event and a day one patch to go live shortly before the launch of Shadowlands.
• Alt Leveling
  • A new option has been introduced to have your alts follow the narrative as your first character did or to be free to level in any direction through the Shadowlands.
• Tor’ghast Progression
  • They will be reducing the tutorials at end game for Tor’ghast
  • Elements of the tutorials will be split off into a quest campaign for Tor’ghast
  • The Twisting Corridors is being tuned to be a Challenge Mode with 18 floor runs with higher difficulty and cosmetic rewards as you climb to reach certain floors.
• Covenants
  • The team will not be pulling the ripcord. Covenant power has become too ingrained into the systems.
  • Switching Covenants will be as simple as going back to Oribos and reselecting a different faction.
  • Rejoining an abandoned Covenant will be a two week ordeal that is mostly ceremonial (a time sink)
  • Catch up mechanics are in place so that people joining late or switching will not be eternally behind.
  • “From the earliest sketched designs of the covenant system, our goal was for the answer to “what do you play?” in Shadowlands to be “Kyrian paladin” or “Venthyr paladin” rather than just “paladin.””, to get that result, had to be tied to power
    • They’d rather balance than remove power from the system
  • Development on Covenants continues…
• PvP Itemization
  • The team agrees that the gear from PvP Vendors is not adequately rewarding
    • They are considering different options including a specific PvP bonus
• Sockets
  • Gem Forging will continue in Shadowlands; however, you will be able to add gem sockets to your gear by purchasing an item upgrade from a vendor
  • Only certain pieces can have a gem socket in Shadowlands:
    • Helms, Rings, Necks, Bracers, and Belts

• Watcher’s Blue Post

The Rest of the Highlights

As with last week’s patch, a large amount of changes are available to test. Here are some highlights:

• Tor’ghast Events are open for testing:
  • Being tested as a daily rotation.
  • Each adds a predetermined option to your first “anima power and if you choose that power additional powers will be offered to enhance that power in that run.
  • Beasts of Prodigum: You gain a Maw Beast
  • Chorus of Dead Souls: You transform into a Deadsoul Chorus with unique abilities. While in this form, your party members can right-click you to join your form and cast on the move.
  • Unbridled Darkness: You get a vial of darkness. Using it turns your screen completely dark and you are unable to see your surroundings. While under this effect, you gain large combat bonuses.
• Class feedback and tuning:
  • Large wave of Tank balancing
  • Rotational changes still coming for many dps
  • Reworked Kyrian Dungeon Bonus in Necrotic Wake
  • Additional spells removed from the GCD: 
    • Innervate – Druid
    • Mana Tea – Monk
• Unique Release Spirit Animations for each covenant
• New Login Screen and Music

Podcast (faz-pod): Download (Duration: 1:36:23 — 88.3MB)