Whether if you are for the HORDE!!!!…. or for the ALLIANCE!!!!, we come with peace to bring you exclusive details on the upcoming World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth expansion! It was a pleasure for us to be invited by Blizzard to visit their HQ in California to meet and interview Matt Gross, one of the lead designer for World of Warcraft and Patrick Dawson, the technical director for World of Warcraft. Before we let you in on some exclusive details from the developers, we’ll start with some backstory of Battle for Azeroth.
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth has brought the Alliance and the Horde to the brink of war due to the Legion’s devastating assault and the emergence of a powerful new resource, Azerite. The Horde will be conquering the whole of Kalimdor while the Alliance will conquer the Eastern Kingdom.
Events that happened during the burning of Teldrassil (the World Tree), will spark the event for Battle for Azeroth. With both factions divided by the sea, both the Horde and Alliance need to seek out new allies with Naval Power. The Horde will seek aid from the the leader, Prince Talanji of the Zandalari Trolls, while the Alliance will seek aid from Jaina Proudmore, the leader for Kul Tiras.
Battle for Azeroth, the seventh expansion for Blizzard Entertainment’s internationally acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game this August 14th, 2018. Players can already pre-purchase Battle for Azeroth at the official site which will provide a level-110 character boost to use immediately. In addition to that, players can also begin their journey to recruit their first four of the expansion’s new Allied Races which includes the Lightforged Draenei and Dark Iron Dwarves on the Alliance, and Nightborne and Highmountain Tauren on the Horde. Further progress in the story mode will also allow Horde players to recruit Mag’har Orcs to be their allies and unlock them as a playable race while Alliance players will get access to Dark Iron Dwarves.
“In Battle for Azeroth, the stakes for the Alliance and the Horde are incredibly high, and a player’s faction will have a more meaningful impact on their experience than in any World of Warcraft expansion to date,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Whether they’re journeying to unexplored lands to recruit allies or fighting to secure war resources, players will redefine what it truly means to be ‘For the Horde’ or ‘For the Alliance’ when the expansion arrives this August.”
Some of the features in Battle for Azeroth expansion includes:
Island Expedition
Players can explore uncharted islands to gather Azerite as a powerful resource to aid in war. Mobs and events are different for each island expedition that provides an uncharted island exploration experience. There will be players or AI opponents from different factions on the island expedition. The AI known as Advanced NPC Champions have different variations of aggro that will challenge players, either to wipe them out or dodge players while collecting Azerites. Whichever Faction that reaches 6,000 Azerites will win the island expedition. Currently there are a total of 6 distinct islands for players to explore.
Warfront
Warfront is a 20 vs 20 PVE map at Arathi Highlands. The location can only be controlled by either faction at one time. Once the area is controlled by the Horde, the Alliance will receive a quest to donate resources for the war efforts. Once the resource requirements are filled up, the Alliance can initiate a Warfront to take control of Arathi. Warfront is inspired by the RTS (Real Time Strategy) of Warcraft and Warcraft II which allows players to join in and experience the war. The war will be region based instead of a server based.
PVP
Instead of a separate PVP or PVE server, there will only be roleplaying or non-roleplaying servers. Players can opt themselves into War mode which can be enabled from their base and will be transferred to a world with other players who also enabled War mode.
Check out the short gameplay video of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth below:
You can also check out the full interview with Matt Goss and Patrick Dawson below:
Some exclusive details and changes
Based on some of the interview questions with Matt Gross and Patrick Dawson, there will be some changes with the loot system. Instead of the common “split raiding” culture in guilds, the loots from raids are now personalized and will be character binded. However, if the item is of save value or below your current’s grade, players can choose to trade it off.
On other major changes, the developers also noted that they are changing some of the talents and skills of 2 classes which are the Survival Hunter and Demonology Warlock. However no details were released to us on what are the changes they have made. On the other hand, flying mounts will not be featured in the coming expansion. So players will only be able to equip their normal mounts to explore the Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor.
Battle for Azeroth – Standard, Digital Deluxe, and Collector’s Editions
The standard edition of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth will have both physical and digital versions that are available at SRP $49.99 (MYR 193.26/ SGD 65.68) while the Digital Deluxe Edition is at SRP $69.99 (MYR 270.65/ SGD 91.95). The Digital Deluxe Edition contains an arsenal of in-game bonuses for a variety of Blizzard games which includes Seabraid Stallion (Alliance) mount, Gilded Ravasaur (Horde) mount, and Tottle the Baby Tortollan pet for World of Warcraft; an “Azeroth is Burning” card back for Hearthstone; Primal Flamesaber mount in Heroes of the Storm; Horde and Alliance sprays for StarCraft II; and a collection of faction-themed extras for Overwatch.
A Collector’s Edition is also available at SRP $99.99 (MYR 386.66/ SGD 131.36) which includes in-game items from the Digital Deluxe Edition and an array of loot to fuel player’s faction pride as seen below:
- Horde & Alliance Double-Sided Mark of Allegiance: Declare your allegiance with this hefty two-sided emblem (stand included). Place it on your desk or shelf and proclaim your chosen faction to the world.
- Hardcover Double-Sided Book: Elegy & A Good War: This limited-edition hardback collects two new World of Warcraft novellas depicting the Burning of Teldrassil from the points of view of the Alliance and the Horde. Each story includes original artwork exclusive to this edition.†† Written by Christie Golden and Robert Brooks.
- Battle for Azeroth Digital Soundtrack: Each Collector’s Edition contains a key to download the stirring orchestral pieces from the expansion’s soundtrack—the perfect mood music for laying siege to your enemies.
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Collector’s Edition is available for pre-order now. The supplies are limited so those who are interested will need to check with their local retailer for pre-order details and availability. Players who have already pre-purchased a digital edition of the expansion can upgrade to the Collector’s Edition at launch where Blizzard will credit their account Blizzard Balance in the amount of their original purchase if they redeem their collector’s Edition key before 31st December 2018.
For more information about World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, visit the expansion’s official website.
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