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What to Expect in WoW Classic Phase 2

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WoW Classic launched back in August and Blizzard's plan according to the latest information is to remove layering two months after launch. While we still don't have a date for Phase 2, it's time to look at what's coming to WoW Classic next.

Phase 2

The first content update for WoW Classic includes two world bosses, Dire Maul, and an Honor System with PvP Rank rewards. Blizzard also confirmed they will remove layering by Phase 2.

Blizzard LogoBlizzard (Source)

What are plans for phase 2 if some realms are horrifically overpopulated at 50K+ players? Will layering stay?

We're absolutely committed to reaching one layer per realm by Phase 2. This is why we need to have upper bounds on the number of players connected to the realm at one time, and queue players past that point. That, of course, is why we're willing to open new servers if necessary, and we've even started doing that in response to the incredibly positive reception we've had during the name reservation period!

Azuregos & Lord Kazzak (World Bosses)

Azuregos will be found in southeastern Azshara. It will take more than 30 minutes to kill him. Blizzard did this intentionally to prevent corpse running during the fight. You can find more information about the encounter over at WoWWiki.

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Image courtesy of WoWWiki

The second boss is Lord Kazzak that will reside near the Dark Portal in Blasted Lands. You can read more about his abilities and loot here.

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Image courtesy of WoWWiki

Dire Maul (Dungeon)

Dire Maul is a three-wing dungeon is located in Feralas. It was once a Highborne city which is now overrun by ogres, satyrs, and undead.

Both the world bosses and Dire Maul were not added in Phase 1, because it would badly affect progression through Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair.

Blizzard decided to break Dire Maul out of Phase 2 and it will go live on October 15.

Blizzard LogoBlizzard (Source)

Our first phase primarily focuses on launching Classic with Onyxia and Molten Core, but we’ve decided to hold off on Dire Maul for a while. Maraudon is still in the first phase, because it was originally released on December 18, 2004, just two weeks after the first player hit level 60, but we recognize that Dire Maul is in a different category. Some of the loot that’s attainable from Dire Maul is so good that it would affect progression through those early raids. We’re also planning to hold off on releasing Kazzak and Azuregos at launch as well, for the same reasons.

Honor System & PvP Rank Rewards

While the initial phase of WoW Classic has no Honor system, this will all change in Phase 2. You will be able to acquire ranks and gear through outdoor PvP. Keep in mind that Battlegrounds won't be added before Phase 3 and it will take a substantial time investment to rank up through the Honor System just as it did back in Vanilla.

Blizzard LogoBlizzard (Source)

Since we broke down the six phases of content that we’ll be rolling out for Classic, we’ve heard the increase in requests for PvP details so we wanted to get you up to speed on our plans there.

As was the case when World of Warcraft originally launched in 2004, there won’t be a formal PvP system in WoW Classic at the outset. You’ll still be able to PvP, of course, and there will be no Dishonorable Kills, so you’ll be free to repeatedly hunt down every player and NPC in, say, Stranglethorn Vale to your stealthy heart’s content.

That’ll change once phase 2 rolls around and we add the Honor System, which will introduce Honorable Kills, Dishonorable Kills, and PvP Rank Rewards. The items you earn from the PvP Rank Rewards will be the versions from patch 1.12. Keep in mind though, just as it did originally, it will require a substantial time investment to rank up through the Honor System. For those interested in the Rank Rewards, earning epic gear will require consistent dedication over a long period of time as a top contributor on your realm. We don’t expect to see many people running around with these items early on, but we’re certain Hillsbrad Foothills will still see its fair share of action!

In the third phase, we’ll introduce the first Battlegrounds: Alterac Valley (version 1.12) and Warsong Gulch, alongside with their associated vendors. One thing to note is that there were a couple of updates to these vendors over the course of the original patch releases, so some items won’t be available right away. For example, the Spell Penetration trinkets available from the Warsong Gulch vendor weren’t introduced until Patch 1.9, so we’re currently thinking that we’ll add these in phase 5.

The Arathi Basin Battleground will follow in phase 4, along with its specific vendor. It’ll be interesting to see how many people stay behind to guard the flag. 

Finally, in phase 6, we’ll have the world PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands, which will come out at the same time as Naxxramas.

Here’s what the PvP content looks like mapped to the phases we recently posted about:

Phase 1 (WoW Classic Launch)

  • You can PvP one another in the world, but there is no tracking, and no formal rewards for doing so.

Phase 2

  • Honor System (including Dishonorable Kills)
  • PvP Rank Rewards

Phase 3

Phase 4

  • Arathi Basin

Phase 6

  • World PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands
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It's really hard to believe the layering thing still. They clearly underestimated the population. The servers are already larger and some of the biggest ones still have a queue during it's peak times! I feel like there's no way you can undo layers with such massive populations just for farming materials. Herbs and thorium are already heavily contested with layers.

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5 hours ago, Laragon said:

They clearly underestimated the population.

They predicted/hoped more than half of players would drop off after the first few weeks, we'll see how it turns out but when has Blizzard trying to be smart and ahead of the game not backfired.

They did the scummy thing travel companies get hate for all the time, they 'overbooked the flight' but rather than just a few seats they overbooked 3 whole planes for a single flight and hoped 2/3rd wouldn't show up anymore.

 

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7 hours ago, Yojiro said:

They predicted/hoped more than half of players would drop off after the first few weeks, we'll see how it turns out but when has Blizzard trying to be smart and ahead of the game not backfired.

They did the scummy thing travel companies get hate for all the time, they 'overbooked the flight' but rather than just a few seats they overbooked 3 whole planes for a single flight and hoped 2/3rd wouldn't show up anymore.

 

This comparison made me laugh but not sure it's accurate. Flight companies know how many paid their tickets. Here they could only speculate based on beta, forum engagement, etc.
I would assume they were like: ok XXXk for 2 weeks then 100K constent if optimistic 1M then 200K! But ended up being with bigger numbers.

 

Disclaimer I gave random numbers for the example, I don't know how many are actually in, but I would not be surprised if this is counted in Millions.

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I wonder how much time will it take to get to R13 pre-bg on Phase 2? In the past on pservers there were some rather illegitimate/insidious  ways to rank up fast. It's going to be a culture shock for me and others on how ranking is actually done in original vanilla.

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On 10/2/2019 at 7:04 PM, Stan said:

It will take more than 30 minutes to kill him. Blizzard did this intentionally to prevent corpse running during the fight.

Can someone explain what that's supposed to mean? I don't understand.

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