wow Patch 8.3 Pushed to WoW Vendor

[Stan 5,022]

Blizzard recently pushed Patch 8.3.0 Build 32044 to WoW's Vendor CDN, indicating that the patch may hit Public Test Realms in the coming weeks.

The initial encrypted build of Patch 8.3.0 has been pushed to the WoW Vendor branch, meaning it's likely that we'll see it go live on PTRs soon. Currently, we don't know any details about the upcoming patch and it's going to be interesting to see what Blizzard has in store for us after the final chapter of the War Campaign.

We know that N'Zoth has been freed and what that means for Azeroth is yet to be seen. In early September, we looked at the Shadowlands leak in more detail, which hints at the new expansion and Ny'alotha. Keep in mind that we've had a content preview shortly before Rise of Azshara was deployed to PTRs and we can expect something similar for Patch 8.3.

[durdyenglish 298]

8.2.5 seems destined for brevity.

[Bobbis 208]

1 minute ago, durdyenglish said:

8.2.5 seems destined for brevity.

Eh it wasn't a content patch, sure it finished the war campaign, but the 4 quests took less time than the travel or the cinematics that followed. We also haven't even had RaF properly implemented. 

They will hopefully be weighing up 8.3 vs 9.0 announcement during Blizzcon, and ideally all 9.0 for me, with the first words being "no more AP farming of any kind" but one can dream.

[durdyenglish 298]

7 minutes ago, Bobbis said:

Eh it wasn't a content patch, sure it finished the war campaign, but the 4 quests took less time than the travel or the cinematics that followed. We also haven't even had RaF properly implemented. 

They will hopefully be weighing up 8.3 vs 9.0 announcement during Blizzcon, and ideally all 9.0 for me, with the first words being "no more AP farming of any kind" but one can dream.

Yea I think they do a livestream sort of event for the announcement of 8.3 so they can do a big 9.0 at Blizzcon. Despite sub numbers jumping with Classic, I think they are eager to ease some concerns and give people more content & a rough end date for BfA. 

As for AP, pretty sure the artifact system is here to stay for a bit. It gives them endgame progression content, allows them to add unique abilities to classes/specs/roles without reworking the spell book at large, and gives another layer of control to character ability customization. Personally, I really liked Azerite gear once essences were added. The three pieces give you a customizable tier set and the Heart itself gives you the active and passive abilities we loved from the Legion artifact weapons. If it had launched with essences and reforging was even slightly less prohibitive, it would have been a much more popular system.

 

[Migol 427]

Essences are fine, but the azerite armor really was a dud and needs to be jettisoned asap.    Way too annoying to play the game where you have 2 good, 1 meh and one very bad trait on every piece, and you're playing an eternal hamster wheel to grind up unlocking new piece traits with AP levels.   

Next expansion if they have any sense, they'll "unprune" a lot of abilities, and if they're really feeling ambitious maybe prune some of the horrible talents and whatnot that have just sat there unused in 99% of situations all expansion (and in the case of some like ret aura, last expansion and even WoD as well).

[PatrickHenry 293]

1 hour ago, Migol said:

Essences are fine, but the azerite armor really was a dud and needs to be jettisoned asap.    Way too annoying to play the game where you have 2 good, 1 meh and one very bad trait on every piece, and you're playing an eternal hamster wheel to grind up unlocking new piece traits with AP levels.   

Next expansion if they have any sense, they'll "unprune" a lot of abilities, and if they're really feeling ambitious maybe prune some of the horrible talents and whatnot that have just sat there unused in 99% of situations all expansion (and in the case of some like ret aura, last expansion and even WoD as well).

pruning class abilities that absolutely no one uses im all for.

But the chances of finding a totally trash azerite piece is there, even more slim is KEEPING that azerite piece for any length of time.  Unless youre min-maxing, maybe... 

I mean if its THAT trash wouldnt it be better to just not equip it in the first place and keep what you had?  I mean its either an upgrade or its not...  

I think Essences and Az trait unlocks did exactly what @durdyenglish said and gave the devs everything they wanted,  Was it groundbreaking?  No.  Was it actual set pieces that people were clamoring for?  No.  But it was decently close to both of those as well, especially given they were customizable.  

[Arcling 877]

2 hours ago, durdyenglish said:

As for AP, pretty sure the artifact system is here to stay for a bit. It gives them endgame progression content, allows them to add unique abilities to classes/specs/roles without reworking the spell book at large, and gives another layer of control to character ability customization. 

I would like for it to be gone for good this time, although probably this isn't happening. Normal acquisition of loot would have been fine, and there is enough of rng within that too (warforged), that's already good for some endgame progression. Main issue is that these systems are leftovers from previous expansions, Heart of Azeroth is underwhelming, just a remnant of Legion artifacts (also you have to grind essences separately on every char, which reduces amount of people playing alts, that results in people being less flexible and often means increased queue times). Same with mission table, it is a stripped down version from WoD's garrison. Totally fine with pruning of abilities, if it is for those that feel clunky or are rarely used. 

[Bobbis 208]

5 hours ago, durdyenglish said:

Yea I think they do a livestream sort of event for the announcement of 8.3 so they can do a big 9.0 at Blizzcon. Despite sub numbers jumping with Classic, I think they are eager to ease some concerns and give people more content & a rough end date for BfA. 

As for AP, pretty sure the artifact system is here to stay for a bit. It gives them endgame progression content, allows them to add unique abilities to classes/specs/roles without reworking the spell book at large, and gives another layer of control to character ability customization. Personally, I really liked Azerite gear once essences were added. The three pieces give you a customizable tier set and the Heart itself gives you the active and passive abilities we loved from the Legion artifact weapons. If it had launched with essences and reforging was even slightly less prohibitive, it would have been a much more popular system.

 

Yeah can see what you mean, but it's pretty alt unfriendly, and generally a chore. At least with Artifacts we had an aim and end goal. With Azerite it's pure RNG or save for 10-15 weeks for best ones, and reforging is too expensive (or bag space too limited with the volume of tat thrown around...). Essences are a nice twist, but again, so annoying for alts. Hell, my main hasn't even unlocked Mechagon yet... (got revered on a human first, not been back since)

2 hours ago, Arcling said:

I would like for it to be gone for good this time, although probably this isn't happening. Normal acquisition of loot would have been fine, and there is enough of rng within that too (warforged), that's already good for some endgame progression. Main issue is that these systems are leftovers from previous expansions, Heart of Azeroth is underwhelming, just a remnant of Legion artifacts (also you have to grind essences separately on every char, which reduces amount of people playing alts, that results in people being less flexible and often means increased queue times). Same with mission table, it is a stripped down version from WoD's garrison. Totally fine with pruning of abilities, if it is for those that feel clunky or are rarely used. 

WoD missions were good, and the naval side was a nice addition, legion felt clunkier even though there were less followers. All the different armours / buff items were just annoying, too much at the start then just meh at the end. BfA is just so bland and could be missed entirely. On one hand it's nice to not have to do it more then once a day, but equally, compared to WoD, they might as well have got rid entirely. 

Edited October 3, 2019 by Bobbis
reply to Arcling

[stomp442 2]

honestly screw this ap grind..in bfa and legion.  I loved legion but this *filtered* is ill.   1million leggos in an xpac and 0 in the next.  way to pull the rug out from under us.  show us something new and interesting please gg

[stomp442 2]

4 hours ago, Bobbis said:

 

WoD missions were good, and the naval side was a nice addition, legion felt clunkier even though there were less followers.

i think i had 30 ..now i have 6..how is that less?

[Bobbis 208]

7 hours ago, stomp442 said:

i think i had 30 ..now i have 6..how is that less?

What?

[Ragingwolf 286]

Well we all know toward the end of this expansion the necklace and the Azerite gear will more than likely go away.  However I don't see them bringing back tier sets any time soon.  This will more than likely lead to a newer form of progression with the introduction of the next expansion.  Personally I would like them to go back to the weapon idea from Legion with allotted adjustments to the powering/trait unlocking of the weapon.  The Essence system is not perfect but is alright however I don't like unlocking the same Essences again with each different alt and repeat the same gated reputation time locks on them either.

You can power level the necklace of an alt within a week however pending on what Essences you are wanting for a particular build will require more time to unlock (Common to Rare to Epic quality).  Gear catch up wise you can push from 400 to 420 in less than week if you are playing casually.   I'm just gunning for Epic Grade Essence that work with my playstyle; the alts won't be receiving any of the Legendary Essences unlike my Main.

[durdyenglish 298]

AP grind on alts isn't even that bad, but I will say it's mildly annoying to have to unlock essences again. I think once they are unlocked on a main, they should be purchasable from MOTHER on your alts using titan residuum.

[Hyperion77 2]

The AP grind is supposed to be a type of linear progression beyond max level.  I don't mind the AP grind.  Azerite traits fill the role of set bonuses, which are kind of nice since they allow for a small level of customization dependent on the role you're attempting to fill (i.e. an Assassination rogue that goes for an Echoing Blades/FoK AOE build for M+ vs stacking Double Dose for single target).  

The problems with AP and Azerite traits were pre-8.2 and have been mostly fixed.  Having to re-unlock traits on upgraded gear after unlocking them on previous pieces was the majority of the issue with Azerite gear.  Now that you can hit level 50-60 in just a few days of hitting 120 on a fresh alt, Azerite traits are a non-issue.  

I do, however, believe that the essences should be gated to main characters until the main hits Rank 3 with a given essence, at which point alts can buy up to, at a minimum, Rank 2 without having to grind for them.  I think that Rank 4, being that it is purely cosmetic, should be individually obtained by each character that you want the appearance on.

[Znifler 58]

On 10/3/2019 at 4:45 PM, Bobbis said:

Eh it wasn't a content patch, sure it finished the war campaign, but the 4 quests took less time than the travel or the cinematics that followed. We also haven't even had RaF properly implemented. 

They will hopefully be weighing up 8.3 vs 9.0 announcement during Blizzcon, and ideally all 9.0 for me, with the first words being "no more AP farming of any kind" but one can dream.

I kind of understand the 'grind is annoying', yet I can't find it interesting to not have a long-term goal. Back in the days at max lvl, you had only raids and what little gear it gave as goal to become more powerful (which ultimately is the main purpose of an MMMORPG). Sure you had rep and small things that contributed to that goal of completing your character at max lvl, but still, there was no long-term goal that made you powerful. Paragon lvls in other games are a nice example. You get something for putting in time even after max lvl, yet it's not all-too-powerful rewards, unless you play alot. The last part is nice, because it rewards players who put much time into a game they like. It's a heated discussion of course, especially in PvP, where a 445 ilvl DH with 3 purple essences *filtered* on a newly lvled toon. This is how it should be however. Wouldn't make any sense to let a fresh 120 character be equal to a seasoned one. Sure you can argue skill>gear, but what's the point of having gear/artifactLvls if they didn't matter? Skill still outweights gear though, just not at zero ilvl vs. max ilvl.

Only thing I do not like, is the alt-grind. You do literally everything on your main, only to do it again on alt number x. It becomes tedious at that point, making you not do everything on your alts. Would be nice to have some sort of instant boost stuff for alts that your main can provide, given that you have completed everything there is to do, for that given 'boost thing'. Example. Your main has lvl 70 neck and every essence at rank 3? Make it so that your alt can have every essence at rank 1 and neck at 55 or something, and so on. The best reward would be complete every quest in Kul Tiras, should your Main have done them already - speaking as a completionist. Really sucks to do every quest again and again, just because you want to have it all completed - only to get nothing from it. 

Adding one last thing in this way too long post: I've never experienced this 'AP-grind' myself. I do the weekly stuff, but never have I specifically pursued grinding for AP. If you do the island expeditions (3 at mythic, which is what 30 minutes?), and mythic +10 once, you end up having loads of AP each week. I'm sitting at neck lvl 68 with 445 ilvl, and I've been playing very little lately. Heck I didn't touch my main the last 2 weeks cause I'm addicted to an alt now. 

[Bobbis 208]

3 hours ago, Znifler said:

I kind of understand the 'grind is annoying', yet I can't find it interesting to not have a long-term goal. Back in the days at max lvl, you had only raids and what little gear it gave as goal to become more powerful (which ultimately is the main purpose of an MMMORPG). Sure you had rep and small things that contributed to that goal of completing your character at max lvl, but still, there was no long-term goal that made you powerful. Paragon lvls in other games are a nice example. You get something for putting in time even after max lvl, yet it's not all-too-powerful rewards, unless you play alot. The last part is nice, because it rewards players who put much time into a game they like. It's a heated discussion of course, especially in PvP, where a 445 ilvl DH with 3 purple essences *filtered* on a newly lvled toon. This is how it should be however. Wouldn't make any sense to let a fresh 120 character be equal to a seasoned one. Sure you can argue skill>gear, but what's the point of having gear/artifactLvls if they didn't matter? Skill still outweights gear though, just not at zero ilvl vs. max ilvl.

Only thing I do not like, is the alt-grind. You do literally everything on your main, only to do it again on alt number x. It becomes tedious at that point, making you not do everything on your alts. Would be nice to have some sort of instant boost stuff for alts that your main can provide, given that you have completed everything there is to do, for that given 'boost thing'. Example. Your main has lvl 70 neck and every essence at rank 3? Make it so that your alt can have every essence at rank 1 and neck at 55 or something, and so on. The best reward would be complete every quest in Kul Tiras, should your Main have done them already - speaking as a completionist. Really sucks to do every quest again and again, just because you want to have it all completed - only to get nothing from it. 

Adding one last thing in this way too long post: I've never experienced this 'AP-grind' myself. I do the weekly stuff, but never have I specifically pursued grinding for AP. If you do the island expeditions (3 at mythic, which is what 30 minutes?), and mythic +10 once, you end up having loads of AP each week. I'm sitting at neck lvl 68 with 445 ilvl, and I've been playing very little lately. Heck I didn't touch my main the last 2 weeks cause I'm addicted to an alt now. 

I can agree on all points, even the last about the grind, it's not *that* bad really, i'm in the same boat, and do the island cap rarely, the issue is how unfriendly it is to alts as you mentioned. I like to try all classes, but this expac, I've levelled them and left em till next as I really cba to do mecha/narj again and again, plus wq's etc. Perhaps a little burnt out after legion, perhaps because it's almost identical mechanically so it's a bit stale. Either way AP can *filtered* right off, and when it gets there, it can *filtered* off again...

The long term goal thing is fine, but when there's no real end or finished state (neck 70 and all essences rank 3/4 on multiple chars, and come semblance of a life outside wow is impossible) any goal seems... half baked? and that puts me off a bit. At least back in the day you could be "done".

[Znifler 58]

On 10/9/2019 at 3:26 PM, Bobbis said:

I can agree on all points, even the last about the grind, it's not *that* bad really, i'm in the same boat, and do the island cap rarely, the issue is how unfriendly it is to alts as you mentioned. I like to try all classes, but this expac, I've levelled them and left em till next as I really cba to do mecha/narj again and again, plus wq's etc. Perhaps a little burnt out after legion, perhaps because it's almost identical mechanically so it's a bit stale. Either way AP can *filtered* right off, and when it gets there, it can *filtered* off again...

The long term goal thing is fine, but when there's no real end or finished state (neck 70 and all essences rank 3/4 on multiple chars, and come semblance of a life outside wow is impossible) any goal seems... half baked? and that puts me off a bit. At least back in the day you could be "done".

I see your point there. Maybe the never-ending grind isn't good for our psyche. To be fair, it's very annoying to be a completionist when you kind of want to play alts too. Tried my best to stick with my main, but you eventually want to try new things and go for alts heh. Another note to the 'be done', is that we get more time to enjoy our game when it comes to the MMO aspect. We don't feel the urge to rush for dailies etc. But idk, it's a win-lose situation, and I don't know what's best to be fair. 

[Bobbis 208]

1 hour ago, Znifler said:

I see your point there. Maybe the never-ending grind isn't good for our psyche. To be fair, it's very annoying to be a completionist when you kind of want to play alts too. Tried my best to stick with my main, but you eventually want to try new things and go for alts heh. Another note to the 'be done', is that we get more time to enjoy our game when it comes to the MMO aspect. We don't feel the urge to rush for dailies etc. But idk, it's a win-lose situation, and I don't know what's best to be fair. 

I think it's just to find a reason to play. I used to do it to raid and top meter's / get my guild progressing, but I gave up raiding in BFA, just push M+ which I can do in a couple of nights. It gives me time to do other things, outside of wow and in it.

In a way, the essence system has really helped me here since I no longer want to play many alts, sure I have a DH at 435 and 65 neck and a hunter at 444 with a 60 neck (stopped playing it more recently, not used the AK to catch up). But the rest, all 120 bar monk and just sit in Boralus gathering dust...