Although the next World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands, isn't expected to launch until late 2020, that doesn't mean there's nothing to keep residents of Azeroth busy in the meantime. Last week saw the launch of patch 8.3, Visions of N'Zoth, which means retail WoW players have a ton of new content to explore and start working through.
Although some World of Warcraft patches mostly involve backend changes or some class balancing, Visions of N'Zoth is a true content update that brings in the next era of the Battle of Azeroth expansion. Spoiler alert: The war between the Horde and the Alliance is pretty much concluded and a new, much scarier enemy is beginning to reveal itself. So what does this mean for fans of the MMO?
Visions of N'Zoth is a patch that is jam-packed with new endgame content and options for players. There are brand new mechanics to explore and, although the patch doesn't add any new 5-man dungeons, it actually provides a nice range of new content for casual solo players, small groups, and raiding guilds. The launch was met with some pretty rough bugs that required unplanned downtime to fix over the weekend, but things are running smoothly now and players are losing their sanity to the Horrific Visions as planned.
To help keep things straight, we've gathered an overview description for each of the main new features and outlined what players should expect...
Horrific Visions
Horrific Visions are instanced challenges for 1 to 5 players that give you a glimpse at the twisted future N’Zoth has in store for Orgrimmar and Stormwind. While experiencing a Horrific Vision, your sanity will be under constant attack, increasing the instance’s difficulty—and forcing you to leave before you’re consumed by insanity.
Each time you’re subjected to a Horrific Vision, you’ll leave with more knowledge and fragments of N’Zoth’s corruption. Take these to Wrathion and MOTHER in the Chamber of Heart to strengthen your defenses and earn new tools, which will allow you to delve deeper into N’Zoth’s Horrific Visions and reap greater rewards.
Horrific Visions are likely the most exciting piece of new content for many WoW players. The scaling difficulty and ability to take these instanced challenges on solo or with a group make them appealing to many types of players. The Visions also offer the ability to improve the new Legendary cloaks and earn new gear on a weekly basis. It will be very interesting to see if Horrific Visions start to replace the Mythic+ dungeon grind for some guilds and solo players.
Assaults
Witness the overwhelming might of the Old Gods firsthand in new Assaults on titan facilities in Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Players must drive back N’Zoth’s minions by completing objectives in the area, including defeating enemies and rare foes, looting treasures, and participating in events. After making some progress, you will face the lieutenant leading the enemy’s forces.
Assaults will show up on the map (hotkey: M) once they have been unlocked. You can see where the latest Assault is occurring and the available quests in the area by clicking on the N’Zoth’s burning eye next to the Emissary Quests. You can undertake a series of quests for additional rewards in each location as you take part in repelling the Assault.
Assaults are nothing new to players who already experienced Legion and the early phases of Battle for Azeroth, but things are a little different this time around. The new assaults take players to Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to fight off enemies and perform daily quests. These activities are pretty important because they are the main way that players can earn the resources needed to enter Horrific Visions.
Ny'alotha, the Waking City Raid
Hardcore players who love the race to world first are likely most excited by the addition of a new, 12-boss raid. The new content opens up on January 21 for organized groups and the wings will make their way to Raid Finder between February 11 and March 10. This means there are 12 new boss fight strategies to master and endgame guilds are already busy perfecting each fight.
Raid Bosses: 12
Difficulties: Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic, Mythic
Level: 120
Raid Finder Minimum Level: 410
Raid Unlock Schedule:
January 21 – Normal and Heroic Difficulties
January 28 – Mythic Ny’alotha and Raid Finder Wing 1 (Vision of Destiny: Wrathion, the Black Emperor, Maut, The Prophet Skitra)
February 11 – Raid Finder Wing 2 (Halls of Devotion: Dark Inquisitor Xanesh, Vexiona, The Hivemind, Ra-den the Despoiled)
February 25 – Raid Finder Wing 3 (Gift of Flesh: Shad’har the Insatiable, Drest’agath, Il’gynoth, Corruption Reborn)
March 10 – Raid Finder Wing 4 (The Waking Dream: Carapace of N’Zoth, N’Zoth the Corruptor)
Legendary Cloak
Protecting your mind against N’Zoth requires an object of pure corruption—and Deathwing’s son Wrathion knows just where to find one. Work with the masterful Black Dragonflight to craft and upgrade Ashjra’kamas, Shroud of Resolve, a legendary cloak with the power to save your sanity and stave off the Old God’s influence.
Wearing this cloak will help players venture deeper into N’Zoth’s Horrific Visions, earn greater rewards, and unlock more of the mysteries behind the Old God’s power. This cloak may also come in handy when you face off against N’Zoth himself in the upcoming raid.
It's been a long time, but a relevant Legendary is finally back. Players are now going to unlock a second item that will not be replaced by any dungeon or raid gear to go along with their Heart of Azeroth. The Shroud of Resolve is a powerful new cloak that offers protection against corruption and helps fight off insanity in Horrific Visions. Part of the 8.3 grind is going to be working hard to earn upgrades for the cloak over the coming months.
Corrupted Items
Turn N’Zoth’s dark power against him by seeking out weapons and armor tainted with Corruption, a new addition to items that provides powerful boons—with potentially deadly consequences. Seek out measures to counter these effects, or embrace its power and learn to endure the madness.
Cursed by N’Zoth, corrupted items offer truly exceptional power—for a price. As you don more corrupted gear, you’ll find your spells will do more damage, or your heals will be more potent—but the Corruption will begin to affect you in increasingly perilous ways. At low Corruption levels, you may be slowed periodically when taking damage—while at higher corruption levels, evil forces from the Void may come for you at any moment.
Deciding how much Corruption to take on is a delicate balancing act, but Corruption can be mitigated with your new legendary cloak and all new Essences. By equipping this gear, you can negate some of the corruption and reap the benefits of N’Zoth’s might with fewer downsides.
Corrupted Gear is a new mechanic introduced in 8.3 that offers players some powerful upgrades at the cost of their sanity. The more corruption that players decide to equip, the more negative effects that will proc while they are playing. Part of the 8.3 grind involves earning resources to cleanse gear and leveling up the Legendary Cloak to build up corruption resistance.
These are the biggest features and changes that arrived with patch 8.3, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. There is a new pet dungeon, two new Allied Races for players to unlock, Death Knights for additional classes (if players pre-ordered Shadowlands), and a ton more. The patch is pretty received so far, so it will be interesting to see how fans are enjoying the new grind after a few weeks with the new content.
Be sure to check back for more WoW Classic strategy guides, news, and updates in the coming days. Until then, For The Horde!
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth and WoW: Classic are both available now on PC. Shadowlands does not have a release date yet.