Wowhead News, Tips, Tricks, Ideas

World of Warcraft Classic's Season of Discovery has brought many changes into the Classic world, including new raids, items, and a whole lot of new class spells through the rune system, but some things truly never change. It is always a debate whether the Horde or Alliance are the most powerful faction. In this article, we'll examine the strengths, weaknesses, and differences of the two factions in Season of Discovery. When we talk about comparing the Alliance and the Horde, there are two main things that differentiate them. The first and most important is that in the Vanilla versions of the game before The Burning Crusade Expansion, only the Horde had the Shaman class and only the Alliance had the Paladin class, and the same holds true in Season of Discovery. Both classes offer considerable buffs to the party and can fulfill a damage dealer, healer, or tank role — but do so in very different ways. The second difference is the racial abilities available to the races of each faction. Powerful activated abilities like the human racial Perception define Horde vs Alliance PvP involving stealth classes. Undead's Will of the Forsaken wreaks havoc on enemy Warlocks and Priests, significantly hindering their ability to control the Undead player. The racial bonuses don't just influence player versus player combat though, and the historically strong PvE Human racial Sword Specialization may be overshadowed by increased availability of weapon skill in Season of Discovery.

Blizzard has announced a 2-week sale on various game services including Level 70 Character Boosts, Name Changes, Race Changes, Faction Changes, and Character Transfers!

Blizzard has confirmed that Heritage Armor quests will be available in MoP Remix: Timerunning, however the quest will not be available to complete until after the event ends.

Our class guides are now updated for Dragonflight Season 4! Our update includes a summary of everything you need to know to start Awakened Season, the best items to chase after with Bullions, and the best builds to run in every content type.

We've datamined the Zone loading screens for The War Within including Nerub'ar Palace Raid, Deephaul Ravine Battleground, and several new dungeons like Darkflame Cleft!

Following the trend of previous expansions, there are four new Inscription crafted Darkmoon Deck trinkets coming to the The War Within!

Hello! Welcome to the 323rd edition of the WoW Economy Weekly Wrap-up! This week we take a look at the initial flurry of information coming with the War Within Alpha and how it might affect gold making and professions. We also take a look at the economy in Season of Discovery and how the inflation of incursions has influenced gold making. My name is Samadan and I'll be your guide through the World of Gold Making!

We have a preliminary list of all enchants available in The War Within expansion. These include many weapon enchants, cursed ring enchants, which boost one stat but reduce another, and even a mount speed enchant! Note that all of this is alpha information, which will likely change before launch based on feedback. Values aren't final, either.

Similarly to what happened to Solo Shuffle in Dragonflight, The War Within is formalizing Battleground Blitz addition to the PvP modes of WoW. This addition includes new seasonal rewards exclusive to the mode.

The War Within is packed full of new cosmetic Transmogs to earn, so finding some linked to the Professions system is a no-brainer! Players will be able to learn a new Artisan's Ensemble in The War Within — but only after putting in some work, first.

Work Orders have been a controversial addition to Crafting Professions since the rework in Dragonflight. While many players appreciated the ability to simply press a button to craft instead of having to go through a lengthy trading process, others quickly lamented the lack of Public Work Orders — or more specifically, Public Work Orders that were worth the gold to craft them in terms of pay. Blizzard has heard these criticisms and announced a new feature for Work Orders in The War Within: NPCs will place Work Orders in the crafting system to potentially alleviate some of the availability scarcity that currently plagues the market. Announced in the latest Wowcast, Blizzard stated that the NPCs won't provide monetary payments as lucrative as crafting Work Orders for other players.

Blizzard has posted upcoming Priest hero talent updates on the War Within Alpha, noting that Oracle will get a capstone change and the Archon tree will revolve around Halo!

It looks like the Season 4 rollover has started early on NA servers. New Crests have started to drop, Season 3 gear is now legacy and Flighstones have been reset.

Blizzard has posted an updated on the upcoming Totemic & Stormbringer Shaman Hero Talent Trees coming in the War Within offering a sneak peek at what they have planned.

It's been a busy week in WoW and here's Blizzard's recap of the awesome events that happened this last week.

As another season draws to a close, Raider.IO is creating Dragonflight Season 3 Recaps! See how much you've grown as a player with personalized infographics detailing your Mythic+ and raid statistics detailing your total number of raid bosses defeated this tier, most run Mythic+ dungeons, and your favorite players to group with over the course of the season.

Blizzard has announced that they have no updates for Hunters in The War Within at the this time, but are expecting to have revisions in a future build.

With the first build of The War Within Alpha, we have loading screens for some of the new dungeons, the new Deephaul Ravine battleground, and the Nerub'ar Palace raid!

We've datamined Winter Veil 2024 gifts, tucked and wrapped away in the first War Within alpha build!Box of Puntables is the 2024 Winter Veil Gift inside Gently Shaken Gift, which allows you to summon and punt creatures. There are two achievements referencing the 2024 gift:

Blizzard has announced that starting tomorrow, April 23, free character transfers will be periodically opening from PvP to PvE realms in Season of Discovery for both US and EU players. Citing player satisfaction, these transfers seem to be a limited-time event — while an official end date was not specified, Blizzard stated «throughout the rest of the week,» so make sure to take advantage of the character migration if you want it!

Players looking to tackle the toughest content in The War Within are likely all too familiar with the preparation needed for raids, PvP, and Mythic +. To fully unlock your potential, you aren't just running into an instance portal full speed into a pack of enemies — you're toting a full bag of consumables along with you to provide every edge possible. The War Within will be no different, offering players both new and more familiar consumables to work with: everything from enchantments to flasks and potions will be on a raider's To-Do list before that weekly lockout comes around.

As expected, there are several new alchemy potions and phials coming to The War Within, though players may be surprised by some of their new effects, which include PvP content flasks that increase honor gains! As in Dragonflight, most of the profession crafted items have three ranks of quality that increase their potency, though for the sake of simplicity, only the rank 3 versions are linked below.

As a part of the April 23rd Patch Notes, Blizzard stated that Seal of Martyrdom will now be able to «twist» with other seals such as Seal of Command. Seal Twisting seems to be making a reappearance as a part of the extensive feedback that Season of Discovery developers have been receiving over the last several weeks.

Today, we are looking at the DPS balance on Amirdrassil during the week of April 16th. For this analysis, we will use data provided by Warcraft Logs Raid statistics for Dragonflight Season 3. Mythic Amirdrassil Statistics Page

Season 4 launches tomorrow and it's important to note that the Season 3 tier set pieces do not count towards the Season 4 tier sets, even if the bonuses are the same. For many specs, the Tier Set that won the Season 4 poll is the same set bonus as Season 3.

In this post, we're taking a look at all the new «Earthen Dungeon» armor and weapon models in the War Within, presumably from the eight new expansion dungeons. Note that while the weapons come in many colors, the available armor tints are limited--we expect them to increase as the alpha progresses. The cloth set will also have a robe option in the future.

May 7th is the release date of Patch 10.2.7 Dark Heart! Introducing new Dragonflight content, the patch is likely to be the expansion epilogue, setting up events leading into The War Within. Another major feature for players to look forward to is Mists of Pandaria Timerunning, a brand new way to level characters and earn dozens of new and old cosmetic rewards at the same time! Patch 10.2.7 Dark Heart Overview

The first The War Within Alpha added only a few toys, mostly tied to professions and Warbands. As it is the first build, it is likely that many more will become available later.

With Alpha upon us, we got an early preview of the new 10v10 Battleground, Deephaul Ravine, coming in the The War Within.

With datamining starting, we have our first look into the Gladiator Mounts of The War Within. The gladiator mounts are an armored version of other gargoyle mounts being added in The War Within and both are similar to Venthyr's covenant mounts, albeit with way more details.

Diablo 4 is celebrating Earth Day by donating up to 666 buckets of maggots to the Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital! Players can help contribute to this cause by Liking the post from the official Diablo account. Every 25 Likes will provide 45,000 more maggots to help feed birds who are undergoing treatment and rehabilitation. Some Diablo 4 players even received an email that goes into more detail about the charity and their cause.

With Blizzard officially revealing the start date for Mists of Pandaria Timerunning, they've also given us a good idea of when it will end, as The War Within Alpha client lists the event running from May 16th to August 19th! While this is not yet officially confirmed and nothing on the Alpha is definitively final, the fact that the start dates match makes it likely that the end dates will as well. This gives players three months to enjoy the remixed content and chase its huge collection of rewards. WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria Timerunning Overview These dates also tell us that Patch 10.2.7 is set to release one week prior, on or around May 7th, although the other retail content coming with the patch has yet to be revealed.

Blizzard has announced that WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria will be globally launched on May 16th at 10 am PDT! The special timerunning event allows players to relive the fan favorite expansion in a brand new way, with dozens of new and old cosmetic rewards, and offering a quick way to level new characters! WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria Timerunning Overview

We continue our datamining of The War Within Alpha and now have all the battle pets. The first alpha build added over 100 new companion pets. Note that some pets won't be available on release as this is alpha.

While most of the weapons from War Within are themed around the zones and cultures of Khaz Algar, weapon models to match both Night Elf Heritage Armor tints have also been added. As the Night Elf story continues its extended epilogue of renewal, we've seen many Kaldorei rewards in Dragonflight's final patches, from Darnassian Transmog to weapon transmogs around Bel'ameth. Although the Night Elf Heritage Armor questline awarded some traditional glaive appearances, those can only be transmogged by classes that can use one-handed swords and did not match the Heritage Armor set.

Team Liquid and Raider.IO have joined forces to sponsor the Mythic+ Charity Pro-Am charity event to raise awareness and funds in support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in gaming. This event will pit 6 Mythic+ Dungeon teams against each other in a race to see who can complete the highest key in 5 hours. This year, Wowhead is proud to sponsor the Charity Pro-Am competition, lending our support to Raider.IO, Team Liquid, and all of the charities involved in this annual event! The event takes place on May 25th, 2024 at 9am PDT/6pm CEST on the Team Liquid Twitch Channel.

We've datamined new armor models for a very scarecrow-inspired transmog — take a look! It is currently unknown what items these models link to, but they certainly give off farm and harvest vibes.

Blizzard has announced that they will be implementing some Class adjustments as a part of April 23rd's scheduled maintenance.

Blizzard has responded to Shadow Priest feedback on the Voidweaver Hero talent tree!

We're previewing all of the raid weapon models coming with the Nerub'ar Palace raid in The War Within. The weapon designs are inspired by the Nerubians ruled over by Queen Ansurek, who has allied with Xal'atath in return for dark power. If you'd like to learn more about the rich history behind this enigmatic race and their proximity to the Old Gods, check out our lore writeup: The Nerubians in The War Within — What We Know So Far Note that this is an early alpha look at the weapon models, and more colors and weapon types may be added in future builds as there are many icons named «nerubianraid» and some aren't attached to items yet:

Delves, the new endgame pillar for world content in The War Within, will reward a customizable flying mount! An evolution of the customizable Dragonriding mounts from Dragonflight, this Airship has numerous personalization options. Here's a look at everything available, plus you can try out the options for yourself in our TWW Dressing Room. Airship Customizations in Dressing Room

Many of the popular gearing systems from Dragonflight appear to be returning in the War Within!

Another fun collection update coming in Dragonflight Patch 10.2.7 is the ability for players to customize their own Personal Tabard, following a short questline in Valdrakken! Just like the Guild Tabard, players will be able to customize their personal tabard with its own icon, colors, boarder, and background, sharing all the same options between them, but this also means that players should no longer feel the need to create their own one-person guild just to show off their favorite design! As noted by MrGM, the tabard is unlocked account-wide, though the designs are character specific, allowing each character to customize the tabard as they see fit, using helpful Tabard Designer NPCs located in major faction cities or a new designer in Valdrakken.

War Within follows in Dragonflight's footsteps as far as gems go, with the main change being extra sockets for PvP content and different unique gems.

The War Within Alpha adds some elaborate cosmetic models, including Kobold Candle and Fungi helms. Notably there are 3-piece sets (shoulders, tabard, cloak) themed around some major factions in the expansion--check out those Kobold shoulders! Many of the cosmetic helms were also confirmed to be from delves at BlizzCon.

Game Rant interviewed George Velev and Andrew De Sousa on Hero Talent and dungeons in The War Within, discussing the upcoming Dragonriding Escort Dungeon, the Dawnbreaker, and Hero Talents! Game Rant Interview We've briefly summarized some of the major points below, but please read the full interview for more interesting questions and full context!

The War Within is bringing new Profession recipes to players, which means new and interesting effects on crafted epics! Players will remember how useful some crafted items like Elemental Lariat were in Dragonflight, and The War Within is introducing effects just as interesting and unique on the newest epics for players to experiment with. These effects don't come free though. While not yet present on any of the crafted items, we have found a new Embellishment tag, suggesting that the most powerful special effects on crafted gear will be limited similar to Dragonflight. While we've mainly discovered Leatherworking and Jewelcrafting effects so far, we're sure there will be many more to come!

The War Within adds cosmetic armor styled after the garb Earthen civilians wear in Dornogal, the main city in Khaz Algar. While we don't know how to obtain this armor yet, we're reminded of the Valdrakken Civilian Sets from Dragonflight which were obtained through the Valdrakken Accord Faction. These Earthen sets have elaborate 3D components and as such, only load properly on Dwarven models--so these might be a limited race-specific reward, if they're ever made available to players. These models may also not be available at launch--if ever--as all the individual items like Earthen Mining Hat have the note «This appearance cannot be collected.» But they have many interesting details so we hope they are eventually! You can check out the Earthen Civilian armor sets below, or click on the links to style them in our TWW Dressing Room.

The start of an expansion is always an exciting time, between leveling characters, discovering new locations and stories, and learning new Professions. Those who have an excess amount of Profession Knowledge won't get to carry it forward to The War Within, though — players will be starting from scratch with their Professions. Several new Spells named Studying have been discovered, specifying «Khaz Algar» Knowledge — meaning Dragon Isles Knowledge won't be applicable. NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Skinning Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Herbalism Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Alchemy Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Blacksmithing Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Enchanting Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Engineering Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Inscription Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Jewelcrafting Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Leatherworking Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Mining Knowledge by 5. Used by Item NEW Study to increase your Khaz Algar Tailoring Knowledge by 5. Used by Item These spells are associated with several different Profession Knowledge consumables, notably all books — one for each Profession.

The War Within is bringing us new Embellishments for crafted gear, including several Jewelcrafting options as well as Armor and Weapon Embellishments. We're not getting these powerful effects for free, however. While not yet present on any of the crafted items, we have found a new Embellishment tag, suggesting that the most powerful special effects on crafted gear will be limited similar to Dragonflight. While some of these Embellishments are clearly a work in progress, we're sure there will be many more to come!

We've datamined numerous cosmetic armor sets from the War Within alpha that resemble civilians from a fantasy town would wear in their daily life. From merchants to scholars, there's a set for all walks of life. While we don't know how to acquire these sets quite yet, one of the «merchant» sets is fittingly available from completing a dungeon meta achievement. Check out all the different armor tints below, or preview them in our TWW Dressing Room by clicking on the links above each image.

In an interview with Hirumaredx, Lead Visual Development Artist Gabriel Gonzalez and Senior Narrative Designer Abigail Manuel discussed the art, story, world building, and zones coming in The World Within!

As players quest through Khaz Algar in the War Within, they'll acquire simple gear from leveling themed after the homelands of the Earthen. Here's a look at all of the new weapons and armor from War Within questing. Note that we expect more color variants to be added later in development and we'll update our coverage accordingly!

Here's a first look at the rewards coming from The War Within pre-patch event! While the vendor costs are missing, we can see what dozens of rewards will be--including ilvl 493 alt catch-up gear, translucent battle pets, and Dalaran-themed weapons, all sold by Remembrancer Amuul in Dalaran.

Today we're previewing the environment of the new capital city in The War Within: Dornogal. Dornogal is located on the center portion of the Isle of Dorn, the first zone in The War Within. The city is large with an ancient dwarven aesthetic. Below, we have pictures separated by areas, and what you can expect to find in each of them!

Blizzard has updated the Season 4 Patch Notes, noting that the number of Catalyst Charges are resetting with the weekly reset and each character can get 1 Dinar per week.

Blizzard released a video previewing Delves on their official YouTube channel!Highlights of the video:

The most recent Cataclysm Beta build has added more details about how the Upscale Resolution Texture system will likely work for Cataclysm Classic. As you log on to Beta, there's a new button on top of the Addons one in the character selection screen. This button guides you through enabling HD Textures for Cataclysm Classic. Clicking on it will close the game and lead you to the installer options for Cataclysm.

Blizzard has announced that Awakened Raids will now rotate weekly instead of every two weeks.

Blizzard has posted upcoming Mage changes coming in the War Within which includes removing the double lust talent!

It's the last week of Dragonflight Season 3 and players have noticed that the Spiteful Mythic+ affix is doing about 60% less damage! If you compare logs from before Patch 10.2.6 to after Patch 10.2.6, you'll notice that the unmitigated damage of a melee swing from Spiteful is now ~225k (down from ~600k). They also have about 60% less health! This makes the Spiteful affix be basically just a nuisance that healers need to heal through rather than have any chance of killing players.

With today's announcement of Dragonflight Season 4, Blizzard revealed that all Dragonflight raids will be Awakened starting the week of June 4th, limiting players' opportunities to overgear raids during Season 4. With Dragonflight Season 4 being a Dragonflight «Victory Lap» as Blizzard called it previously, many players were looking to use this extra power to overgear some of the raid content of the season to farm transmogs, mounts, and manuscripts that they ended up missing. However, with the rotation announcement that all raids will be Awakened starting on the 7th lockout of the season, this opportunity is heavily reduced. With this, players will only have four weeks in which each of the Dragonflight raids won't be Awakened. That is unless the Awakened system is different from the Fated system in Shadowlands. Back in Shadowlands, once all raids became Fated, it didn't give players the ability to turn it off. It is possible that Dragonflight's Awakened system will be different, but it is unsure at this point. Some of the rewards affected by this:

Blizzard has posted Dragonflight Season 4 Patch Notes which includes details on Bullion Acquisition and the raid rotation!

Blizzard has posted upcoming changes to Warlock coming in the War Within Alpha!

The War Within data includes an interesting addition: a new heirloom ring. The data indicates that it will be a reward from the pre-expansion patch event or a new World Event present in Khaz Algar. It seems like this new heirloom will be similar to Dragonflight when you could obtain Unstable Elemental Confluence during pre-patch and still during the expansion. The ring is created using Lifeless Stone Ring, which casts Infuse Memories. This spell requires three reagents:

In an interview with Associate Design Director Maria Hamilton, Taliesin & Evitel discuss the challenges of planning a narrative over three expansions in the World Soul Saga, where each expansion is at in terms of development, who Xal'atath really serves, and whether or not Azeroth is really a Titan!

Blizzard has posted some upcoming Death Knight changes for all 3 specs coming to the War Within Alpha.

Herbalism is the first Profession to undergo tweaking in The War Within, introducing a new farm-based minigame as well as changing how some pre-existing mechanics like Seeds work. While generally following the same framework as it did in Dragonflight, Herbalists will see some new bonuses and effects in their Specialization trees, as well as have the chance to find all-new Herb Nodes out in the wild!

During the War Within alpha, we encounter the Earthen of Khaz Algar, and can learn some interesting details about them if we stay awhile and listen.

With players able to swap between Skyriding and Steady Flight in The War Within, now Dracthyr will be able to do regular Steady Flying in addition to Dragonriding. The only restriction this addition has is that it ends the moment you touch the ground, so it can't be used like Druid's Flight Form to Herb or interact with objects.

Blizzard has released development notes for The War Within Alpha, which include a large list of class changes! Among them are specific Warrior class changes, alongside developer comments for those changes in the class feedback thread. Note that there are no Protection Warrior specific changes this build, though some of the class changes do impact them. Arms Talent CalculatorFury Talent CalculatorProtection Talent Calculator Experiment with these changes for yourself using our updated talent calculators!

Blizzard has released all the Monk class changes alongside developer notes for The War Within Alpha, noting that the goal of the class tree is to add more options and utility, such as an Enrage Dispel! Brewmaster Talent CalculatorMistweaver Talent CalculatorWindwalker Talent Calculator Experiment with these changes for yourself using our updated talent calculators!

The War Within introduces a plethora of new pets to collect. Here, we highlight some of the models of the upcoming pets, including Nerubians, Lynxes, Moles, Fireflies, and more! Make sure to use our table of contents to navigate along the post.

Blizzard has posted the very first The War Within Alpha development notes and includes major class reworks!

Blizzard released the War Within Developer Notes, which include a large list of class changes! Among them are specific Paladin class changes, alongside developer comments for those changes in the class feedback thread for Holy and Retribution in specific. Holy Talent CalculatorProtection Talent CalculatorRetribution Talent Calculator Experiment with these changes for yourself using our updated talent calculators!

The War Within Alpha test has started, and the first wave of invites went out just a few minutes ago!

In Dragonflight, Professions received a complete overhaul, changing the system from one that was relatively one-note into a more nuanced way of creating items. Secondary crafting stats, such as Inspiration and Resourcefulness, were introduced in order to better target the ability to craft specific ways: if you wanted to earn a lot of bonus materials simply by crafting other people's items, Resourcefulness could allow you to do that, while being Inspired might allow you to craft the best gear more easily. Inspiration, however, was quickly determined to be a «meta» crafting stat — allowing players to create top-of-the-line gear well before their Profession Skill would technically allow it. This Secondary crafting stat was the subject of many conversations among players, some enjoying the ability to «hit it big,» while others lamented the added layer of RNG to crafting to min-max their gear. In The War Within, however, it seems that Inspiration is getting a rework — and will be removed entirely in favor of a new system. We've datamined a new Alchemy Phial, the Phial of Focused Inspiration, which indicates that Inspiration will no longer exist in the manner we're used to. Blizzard released a crafting-specific Professions Update called Concentration in The War Within, detailing the new system, Concentration: Greetings members of the Artisan’s Consortium! As we reveal much of the content coming in The War Within, we’d like discuss a new system we’re cooking up for professions. Inspiration We added Inspiration in Dragonflight to try and capture the fantasy of critical hits while crafting. If you weren’t quite capped out on your gear and specializations for a given craft, or if you weren’t using max quality reagents to guarantee that max quality item, Inspiration was a way to get that lucky crit. It could save you some money (by using lower-quality reagents) and you could craft a better item than you would otherwise. That was the hope at least, but it ended up (understandably) becoming a situation where crafters take this luck-based system, tell their customers that they would recraft an item an indeterminate number of times, and summarily charge a specific price per recraft until their Inspiration struck. So we’re making changes, because:

Blizzard has released all the Druid class changes alongside developer notes for The War Within Alpha, noting that they are reducing melee range talents across the entire game. Balance Talent CalculatorFeral Talent CalculatorGuardian Talent CalculatorRestoration Talent Calculator Experiment with these changes for yourself using our updated talent calculators!

Blizzard has released all the Evoker class changes alongside developer notes for The War Within Alpha, noting that Devastation Evokers are getting a threat reduction on some spells due to threat issues! These changes include:

In this post, we're taking a look at «Dalaran Defender» weapon models added in the War Within alpha. Early signs point to Dalaran playing a role in the build up to the expansion, and vendors from the pre-patch event will sell these weapons. The Dalaran weapons reflect the style of the city, with the trademark pink Kirin Tor logo and golden details. We've also found Dalaran Defender armor, but these appearances could be placeholder as they match the Ensemble: Void-Bound Battlegear sets coming from the Trading Post and doesn't thematically fit the colors of the city. On the other hand, these items could be a tribute to Xal'atath and the shadowy threats of the War Within.