Listen to this week’s Episode! 🎙️
Timeline of Coming Events! 📅
- 2025 (Winter): Estimated launch of Player Housing in World of Warcraft after Patch 11.2.7, likely during the pre-patch for the Midnight expansion.
- February 25, 2025 Release of World of Warcraft Patch 11.1: Undermined.
- New Undermine zone and campaign chapters are released.
- Cartels of Undermine Renown faction is introduced.
- Four new Campsites are available for the Warbands login screen.
- D.R.I.V.E. system is implemented.
- Cage of Carnage PvP arena is added.
- Operation: Floodgate dungeon is available.
- Excavation Site 9 and Side Street Sluice Delves are added.
- Undercoin from The War Within Season 1 expires.
- Deadline to complete Delver’s Journey from The War Within Season 1.
- March 4, 2025: The War Within Season 2 begins.
- The Liberation of Undermine raid becomes available (Normal, Heroic, Mythic difficulties, and Raid Finder Wing 1: Shock and Awesome).
- New Mythic+ dungeon rotation begins.
- Tier 2 armor sets are available.
- Deadline to achieve Ahead of the Curve for Nerub-ar Palace and Keystone Master for Mythic+.
- March 11, 2025: Liberation of Undermine Raid Finder Wing 2: Maniacal Machinist and Story Mode become available. *
- March 18, 2025: Liberation of Undermine Raid Finder Wing 3: Two Heads Are Better becomes available.
- March 25, 2025: Liberation of Undermine Raid Finder Wing 4: The Chrome King becomes available.
Podcast: Key Terms ✅
- Player Housing: A new, evergreen feature coming to World of Warcraft that allows players to own and customize a home.
- Midnight: The name of the next World of Warcraft expansion, during which the player housing system is expected to launch.
- Warband: A shared account-wide system in World of Warcraft, allowing for greater accessibility of features across multiple characters.
- Delves: Short, repeatable instanced content in World of Warcraft: The War Within, focused on exploration and treasure-hunting.
- Mythic+: A timed dungeon challenge mode in World of Warcraft, offering increasingly difficult content and valuable rewards.
- Season 2: A content update for The War Within that brings new raids, dungeons, Mythic+ Affixes, and PvP rewards.
- Liberation of Undermine: The new raid introduced in The War Within Season 2, where players fight to free Undermine from Jastor Gallywix.
- Operation: Floodgate: A new four-boss dungeon introduced in The War Within Season 2.
- Undermined (Patch 11.1): The first major content patch for World of Warcraft: The War Within, introducing the Undermine zone and other new features.
- Xal’atath’s Bargain: A new Mythic+ Affix introduced in The War Within Season 2 that features the summoning of pulsars.
- The Gobfather: A new world boss found in the Demolition Dome.
- Delver’s Gob-Trotter: The newest Delve mount attainable during Season 2 from The War Within: Undermine(d).
- Cage of Carnage: The new PvP arena that can be found in the Demolition Dome.
- The Gallagio: Gallywix’s gilded casino fortress in Undermine, and the setting for the final boss encounter of the Liberation of Undermine raid.
- D.R.I.V.E. system: A system that will let players speed through the streets of Undermine.
- The Underpin: Brann’s newest nemesis in Season 2, and the focus of a questline where players recover Brann’s hat.
Podcast: Main Ideas💡
- The current best estimate is Winter of 2025, likely during the pre-patch for the Midnight expansion, after the launch of Patch 11.2.7. This feature was initially teased with a cryptic rune symbol but later updated to a house icon on the roadmap.
- The two initial locations are inspired by Elwynn Forest (Alliance) and Durotar (Horde). These locations were chosen due to their iconic nature and sense of home for their respective factions.
- Houses are shared amongst a player’s Warband. This allows characters from both Alliance and Horde on the same account to access and use the same house and its rewards, irrespective of faction.
- Players can earn the title “the Enterprising” for achieving a Mythic+ Rating of 1500, and the Crimson Shreddertank mount for achieving a Mythic+ Rating of 2000. Achieving the top 0.1% of Mythic+ Rating rewards the title “Enterprising Hero”.
- The new raid is called “Liberation of Undermine,” and it features eight bosses. In the raid, players will attempt to free Undermine from Jastor Gallywix, the Chrome King.
- The new Mythic+ Affix involving pulsars is called “Xal’atath’s Bargain: Pulsar”. While in combat, players will need to intercept pulsars summoned by Xal’atath within the time limit.
- The two new Delves are Sidestreet Sluice and Excavation Side 9. These Delves will be introduced alongside a new tank specialization for Brann Bronzebeard.
- Completing the Delver’s Journey awards the player a new Campsite scene, Nightfall Sanctum. It also unlocks customizations for your Delver’s Gob-Trotter, as well as the Delve-O-Bot 7001 toy.
- Rewards include the Gladiator title and the Prized Gladiator’s Fel Bat mount for winning 50 3v3 arena games at Elite rank. Players can also earn new PvP Class sets and rewards through Solo Shuffle and Battleground Blitz.
- The Gobfather is a malfunctioning mech in the Demolition Dome that is running amok in Undermine. Players must defeat The Gobfather for a chance to loot gear inspired by Undermine.
Further Discussion 💬
- What is the potential impact of cross-faction housing, considering both the benefits for player interaction and potential drawbacks for faction identity in World of Warcraft?
- How does the Player Housing system in World of Warcraft compare to housing systems in other MMOs like Wildstar or Final Fantasy XIV, based on available details. What features seem similar or unique?
- How might how the changes coming in The War Within Season 2 aim to improve player engagement with Mythic+ dungeons, Delves, and PvP content.
- Considering the seasonal nature of World of Warcraft, how do the rewards and achievements for Season 2 (like Mythic+, PvP, and Delves) incentivize player participation?
Listen to this week’s Episode! 🎙️
What are your thoughts? Share your ideas on our Discord.