During Blizzcon 2018, World of Warcraft senior game designer Jeremy Feasel took the stage to reveal details about update 8.2, which won't arrive until well into 2019. Titled Rise of Azshara, this patch will see the Alliance and the Horde juggling their interfactional conflict to also deal with the rise of the naga threat, led by none other than Queen Azshara herself. Oh, and in between all that we'll make a quick detour to a city full of steampunk android gnomes. Because this is Warcraft, after all.
Like any major patch for World of Warcraft, Rise of Azshara will include a wealth of new activities in the form of dungeons, quests, raids, Island Expeditions, and a lot more. But what's doubly exciting about this patch is that players will also venture to two whole new zones. First of all, players will head to Nazjatar, the underwater capital city of the Naga—though it's not underwater anymore. After Nazjatar, players will venture to Mechagon, the city of the aforementioned android gnomes.
In Nazjatar, players will encounter all new story quests while working their way to the Eternal Palace, the setting for 8.2's next raid. Here's several slides from the presentation that show more.
The zone of Nazjatar looks gorgeous, like a surface coral reef adorned with ruined elven temples. But I'm way more excited to explore Mechagon. This rusted, nasty-looking zone is home to mechagnomes that, while not confirmed, I'm willing to bet will become a playable Allied Race at some point. It's a zone full of "death robots" and a king who wants to replace every organ with robotics. It all sounds great.
Feasel explains that all of this leads to WoW's second "mega-dungeon." Like Return to Karazhan, the new dungeon will feature eight bosses and will be only be available on Mythic difficulty. It'll take twice as long to complete as a normal dungeon.
Here's some screenshots of Mechagon:
Of course, 8.2 will also continue the main story of the faction war between the Alliance and the Horde. Jaina, Anduin, Sylvanas, Saurfang, and all of the major characters will appear in more quests that tell the next chapter of Battle for Azeroth's story. Two new Island Expeditions, more Heritage Armor, and a bunch of new loot and mounts will all be coming as well.
Just don't expect to play this any time soon. Rise of Azshara will arrive after patch 8.1.5, and that patch won't arrive until after patch 8.1, which is coming on December 11. Judging by previous patch cycles, I'd say it's safe to expect Rise of Azshara to come sometime around summer 2019.
Stay tuned, as we'll have lots more coverage out of Blizzcon coming this weekend.
