What to do in WoW this week: the Darkmoon Faire continues

Embrace the terror of Mythic Ny’alotha

Below is our weekly WoW advice for January 28- February 4. For the week starting February 4, visit the previous page.

Ny’alotha launched last week with Normal and Heroic difficulties. This week marks the start of Mythic difficulty and Looking for Raid, which even advanced players may choose to do for a shot at Battle-Scarred Augment Runes, the items that cast a buff useful in more advanced content. The permanent Lightning-Forged augment runes require exalted with the Rajani faction in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, which players are still working on. Both difficulties are, well, difficult for different reasons.

Watch the world first race

Now comes the race to clear Ny’alotha on Mythic difficulty. The two top contenders are Complexity-Limit (in North America) and Method (in the EU), both of whom have announced world-first broadcasts and events. Method won the last round, with Limit right behind.

Level up crafted gear

For many raiders this marks the first week where significant progress can be made on crafted items, which require Shreds of Insanity from the raid, world bosses, arenas, battlegrounds, and world PvP (at depressingly low drop rates on the latter).

Getting to craft item level 445 gear requires a fully-built Void Focus. Making 460 gear requires the upgrade of your Focus with 20 of those Shreds, which drop in the raid at a rate of one per boss on Normal, ten per boss on Heroic, and 20 per boss on Mythic. Crafting 475 gear requires the upgrade of your Focus again with a quest that requires 200 Shreds, so most who raid advanced Heroic or better will start seeing that end in sight starting this week.

To learn the later patterns, you have to craft the earlier one (you’ll automatically discover the next-level pattern). Don’t forget that you can put the earlier versions in the scrapper to get many of your materials back to craft the next-higher version.

Complete the Timewalking dungeon

This week’s in-game event is Warlords of Draenor timewalking. Grab the weekly quest in your Battle for Azeroth capital city and then run four WoD dungeons in timewalking difficulty using the Looking for Group tool. This week’s reward has been updated for 8.3 and now gives you Heroic Ny’alotha loot, item level 460-470 (depending on the boss it came from). It’s relatively easy, so definitely get it done.

The quest, which was awarding Heroic-level loot on the PTR, has been awarding normal loot on live servers this week, too.

Keep up with the Mythic plus weekly chest

This is the first week that Mythic Plus-difficulty dungeons award their full loot levels at the end. Complete a +15 to make sure you max out the weekly chest (at item level 475)—that’s also the top level for end-of-dungeon loot as well, with item level 465. Both have Corruption affixes and gem sockets (though so far, Corruption on Mythic Plus end-of-dungeon pieces has been rare).

Evildoers, it's time to serve N’Zoth

With the return of bonus reputation and rewards from completing those Uldum and Vale of Eternal Blossoms quests in War Mode, now is the time to get your N’lyeth, Sliver of N’Zoth, the fun toy that makes you friendly to all of the evil minions—but hostile to players of both factions. To earn it, kill players of the other faction until you earn the Assassin rank—you don’t have to be the 'marked, bounty' Assassin that’s bound to the ground, you just need the rank.

Then use the item, and without dying, kill ten players of your own faction. That'll earn you the toy. Tip: invite others who have finished the quest to join the party and use their toys. You'll be friendly to each other and you can cheerfully farm your friends for the kills.

Boost your reputation with the Darkmoon Faire

The Darkmoon Faire starts Sunday, February 2, so stop in every hour while you’re doing dailies for your WHEE! buff from the carousel or the roller coaster. It increases your reputation gains by ten percent—which is important for that Rajani and Uldum Accord grind. (Pro tip: Pick the carousel. It has one of the best soundtracks in the game.)

Check out the Lunar Festival

The Lunar Festival is underway until February 7, and you can pick up a variety of toys and cosmetics from previous years (including the Lunar Elder’s Hearthstone, one of the better vanity hearthstones in the game) by collecting Coins of Ancestry from elders scattered around Azeroth. New this year is the ability to complete a quest series, starting at Myrael Lunarbloom in Moonglade, and make the flower crowns from previous years a permanent addition to your transmog appearances.

Check out our weekly WoW advice for January 21-28 on the next page.