wow Patch 8.2: Heart of Azeroth Updates

[Stan 4,673]

Heart of Azeroth is going to be updated with a new Essence system, allowing you to unlock combat-related powers (an active ability and passives). You can learn more about Essences in our guide. Here's the official blog post explaining changes coming to the legendary neckpiece.

Blizzard recently unveiled improvements coming to the Heart of Azeroth system in Rise of Azshara and you can find the recap here.

Magni and MOTHER are going to rebuild the Chamber of Heart in Patch 8.2, because Titanic Essences begin to coalesce everywhere in Azeroth. You, as a player, will begin collecting these Essences and unlock new powerful customization options for your Heart of Azeroth.

The Heart Forge will be usable right after you unlock your base in Nazjatar. Essences can be used at the Heart Forge to unlock various abilities and function pretty much like talents. There's a new interface which allows you to swap out the abilities/passives. Each essence has a Major slot component (active ability) and a passive one. 

Click here to learn how Essences work!

The Major slot opens right after you complete Magni's questline in Patch 8.2. The two Minor slots will open at Heart of Azeroth level 55, and 65 respectively. Essences can be obtained through world quests, PvP, and raids.

Essences will have four ranks.

• Rank 1 provides an ability based on your role (tank, damage dealer, healer).
• Rank 2 & 3 enhance your Essence's Major & Minor effects (e.g. more charges).
• Rank 4 adds a flashy visual to the spell that will make you stand out.

The new system will restrict characters from collecting Essences meant for roles their Class cannot fill, meaning a Death Knight can't collect a healer Essence, but a Paladin will be able to collect all three.

The new system looks really promising and we can't wait to test it out on PTR starting next week! We'll be posting all unlockable Essences and spells soon. Until then, tell us what you think about the system and partial return of Legion Artifacts!

Blizzard (Source)

Azeroth’s need has never been greater—and now more than ever, Speaker Magni Bronzebeard and the titan watcher MOTHER need your help to heal the world’s grievous wounds.

In Rise of Azshara, we’re introducing a new system for the Heart of Azeroth that will provide additional power customization options: Essences. You’ll collect these Essences by taking part in a variety of content, and infuse them into the Heart of Azeroth using the new Heart Forge in Silithus, giving you access to new abilities and bonuses. 

The Speaker’s Quest Continues

Once you’ve established a new hub in Nazjatar, one of the new areas in Rise of Azshara, you’ll receive a summons from Magni to join him at the Chamber of Heart. There, you’ll learn that MOTHER has completed her calculations related to what's plaguing Azeroth, and determined a way to heal her well ahead of her original 77-cycle estimate. New forms of power have begun to coalesce and manifest around Azeroth’s wounds, and MOTHER has discovered that these “Essences” are compatible with the Heart of Azeroth. To make use of them, she has created a new device in the Chamber of Heart that can harness that incredible power: the Heart Forge.

The Essence of the Heart Forge

The Heart Forge lets players infuse their Heart of Azeroth with Essences to grant new combat-related powers. Once you’ve collected a new Essence—obtained by participating in a wide variety of content—you’ll head to the Heart Forge to infuse your Heart of Azeroth with it, “learning” the Essence and permanently adding it to your collection. Much like Talents, once you’ve learned an Essence, you’ll be able to apply it or swap it out through a new Heart of Azeroth interface within rest areas, cities, or when using items such as the Tome of Quiet Mind.

Each Essence has both Major (generally active) and Minor (passive) abilities. Upon completing the initial quest from Magni, you’ll open a single Major slot in the Heart of Azeroth. Placing an Essence in the Major slot grants you that Essence’s Major active ability, which is added to your Spellbook. You’ll also gain the benefit of any Minor passive abilities from the Essence.

There are also two additional Minor slots in the Heart of Azeroth that will activate the Minor (passive) abilities of any Essences added to them. The first Minor slot will become available at Heart of Azeroth level 55, and the second Minor slot will become available at Heart of Azeroth level 65.

In Essence

Essences are acquired from a variety of content in Battle for Azeroth. You’ll earn your first one by completing the quest line with Magni, but you’ll be able to earn others through completing specific activities, such as PvP, raids, or World Quests.

Each Essence has four ranks that provide new effects. Rank 1 provides a unique ability based on your role (damage dealer, tank, or healer), while rank 2 and rank 3 provide enhancements to both the Essence’s Major and Minor effects. Rank 4 adds a flashier cosmetic effect to the spell, providing a unique visual that will make you stand out from the crowd. Once an Essence is learned, you’ll be able to hover your mouse over the Essence in the user interface to see what you get with the next rank. And because of how Essences are collected, it’s possible to receive and infuse a rank 3 Essence without having learned rank 1 or 2.

It’s important to note that while many Essences are role-agnostic, some of these are only usable by a specific role (tank, healer, or damage dealer). Characters who can spec into multiple roles can collect any Essences that are appropriate for those roles, but the system will restrict characters from collecting Essences meant for roles their class can’t fill—for example, a Warrior couldn’t collect a healer Essence.

More Azerite Gear Ahead?

Essences add a whole new layer to the Heart of Azeroth system, in addition to the Azerite Armor that you already have. With all the content coming in Rise of Azshara, there’s  are sure to be some new Traits to discover and gear to collect along the way.

Last Update: May 10th

[Sombra 28]

i fear we will have the same problem like  in legion

 

as soon as every problem was fixes in legion ( legendary drops, artefact grind ) it was over

now we get 8.2, and the game starts to be fun again, and after some time, we have 8.3 and its over again ...

[OxO 24]

I'm not looking forward to that Azerite grind to 55, let alone 65 ?

It's already an absolute nightmare of complete boredom on alts and I honestly just gave up. My main and alts are all low 40s and I just don't care anymore. 

 

[Stan 4,673]

25 minutes ago, OxO said:

I'm not looking forward to that Azerite grind to 55, let alone 65 ?

It's already an absolute nightmare of complete boredom on alts and I honestly just gave up. My main and alts are all low 40s and I just don't care anymore. 

 

Azerite Knowledge is there to help you with it. The amount of Artifact Power needed to reach a certain HoA level decreases each week. By the time Patch 8.2 is live, I think you will be able to quickly farm the rank required to unlock the first major slot.

[elmurufdd 45]

this is weak af . other stuff from 8.2 looks good but this is just as bad as azertite super unfun makes the neck even shittier . gg 8.3 q and a ion says " we *filtered* up again lol"

 

[Arcling 732]

3 hours ago, Stan said:

Azerite Knowledge is there to help you with it. The amount of Artifact Power needed to reach a certain HoA level decreases each week. By the time Patch 8.2 is live, I think you will be able to quickly farm the rank required to unlock the first major slot.

Still, it's going to take a while for people who stopped doing WQs, or might rarely do one emissary once. After so many months, it's just boring.

Nothing interesting about this new system, quite similar to Legion artifacts, giving extra ability and some passives.

[jinsu2301 273]

28 minutes ago, Arcling said:

Nothing interesting about this new system, quite similar to Legion artifacts, giving extra ability and some passives.

I'm personally fine with that. For me, the AP system has always been nothing more than a nice bonus on top of whatever I've been doing. It's never been anything I actively persued. As long as they don't repeat the same mistake of making a certain amount of unreasonable grind necessary to not feel scuffed, it's fine.

37 minutes ago, elmurufdd said:

this is just as bad as azertite super unfun makes the neck even shittier

care to elaborate? also kudos for somehow getting around the word filter.

[Ragingwolf 248]

I don't like the possibility that when I change from DPS to Tank I'm going to have to sit in a rested zone and switch traits on the damn HoA not to mention grind another lengthy ways to 65 on 1 character.  Where as in Legion when I wanted to switch I auto equipped the Tanking Glaives with traits already auto selected and go on my merry way.

[Tupi 30]

seems like more keybinds?

[elmurufdd 45]

1 hour ago, jinsu2301 said:

I'm personally fine with that. For me, the AP system has always been nothing more than a nice bonus on top of whatever I've been doing. It's never been anything I actively persued. As long as they don't repeat the same mistake of making a certain amount of unreasonable grind necessary to not feel scuffed, it's fine.

care to elaborate? also kudos for somehow getting around the word filter.

neck is supposed to be passive these active abilities make it way harder to play demo lock or surv hunter or any class with alto fo buttons im alrdy out of key binds as it is adding th ese in only makes it worse also they seems very very weak and only realy workable in mythic plus were u have tons of adds . also its legion all over again cuz u will have to grind ur bis one which we know will takes ages for some this proves blizzard didnt learn from their mistakes and u can save this ion will say they made msitakes with 8.2 just liek he did about azertie system at launch . ist a system that cant be fixed they r trying to hard to fix a broken system . just get rid if it 

 

[Xaethron 36]

40 minutes ago, Ragingwolf said:

I don't like the possibility that when I change from DPS to Tank I'm going to have to sit in a rested zone and switch traits on the damn HoA not to mention grind another lengthy ways to 65 on 1 character.  Where as in Legion when I wanted to switch I auto equipped the Tanking Glaives with traits already auto selected and go on my merry way.

Its ok. Just use a tome. I think youre also forgetting about the fact that in Legion you had to grind that AP for each spec on top of each character.

Edited April 12, 2019 by Xaethron

[Ragingwolf 248]

Just now, Xaethron said:

Its ok. Just use a tome.

Yeah...inb4 tome prices skyrocket on my server.

[Skymarshal 5]

RIP maintaining alts

[jinsu2301 273]

9 hours ago, elmurufdd said:

neck is supposed to be passive these active abilities make it way harder to play demo lock or surv hunter or any class with alto fo buttons im alrdy out of key binds

people have been asking for more active abilities...

9 hours ago, elmurufdd said:

they seems very very weak and only realy workable in mythic plus were u have tons of adds .

you have only seen three essences so far...

9 hours ago, elmurufdd said:

its legion all over again cuz u will have to grind ur bis one which we know will takes ages

no, we don't know that yet.

 

don't paint the devil on the wall. wait until we've seen it on the PTR, then we can still complain if things aren't right.

[PatrickHenry 293]

4 hours ago, jinsu2301 said:

people have been asking for more active abilities...

iTS ALMOST LIKE SOME PEOPLE ARENT EVER HAPPY

Whodathunkit really...

 

14 hours ago, Xaethron said:

I think youre also forgetting about the fact that in Legion you had to grind that AP for each spec on top of each character.

some people dont take off the rose-colored glasses even at night.

[Allseye 96]

I personally didnt like the legion artifact and so i dont like hoa. I just dont like to have slots "locked" to one item. This whole progression doesnt make it better. I mostly feel forced instead rewarded. I unlock some abilities and so everyone does. It leads blizzard into balancing problems and it seems they try it over and over again. Even without such additional abilities balacing seems challenging.

So in summary, it probably will lead to more problems then anything else. But well blizzard, surprise me. 

[Tarazet 144]

I can see that Burning Embrace trait being standard issue for tanks, and healers hating our guts for using it on Grievous week.

[Keilvog 0]

I think more active abilities that are in no way linked to our class will not be fun to use.

Personally I was looking for something that made sense on the classes I play, someting that interacts with other abilities I use, even if it was passively.

Not just another random "click here and do 100 damage" button.