Join the World of Warcraft Classic team designers for an in-depth look at what Season of Discovery Phase 2 has in store for you. We’ll cover new raid information, dungeons, Rune ability updates, PvP changes, profession updates, and more.
This preview aims to provide insight ahead of the PTR (Public Test Realm) release. Similar to the previous Classic PTR, the content for Season of Discovery Phase 2 will not be playable. We also aim to clarify any misconceptions that may arise from datamining. The PTR contains experimental data, items intended for later phases, or items that may not make the final cut.
Please keep in mind that all examples provided are works in progress and may not accurately reflect the final stats.
A Look at the Gnomeregan Raid Dungeon
- Location: Dun Morogh
- Recommended Level: 40
- Raid Size: 10 players
- Number of Bosses: 6
Similar to Black Fathom Deeps in Phase 2, Gnomeregan is a 10-player raid dungeon featuring six bosses, including one new addition. Each of the existing five bosses has been revamped to provide fresh challenges within the raid. Additionally, this dungeon introduces a new world buff.
Expect a plethora of new items and rewards, including epic loot from sources beyond the last two bosses of the dungeon. New class sets are available to acquire, and quests and rewards have been adjusted for level 40 players.
Players can embark on a new profession quest chain, unlocking materials for crafting more potent items.
To cater to both hardcore and casual players, the raid dungeon will open with the launch of Season of Discovery Phase 2. However, there will be two lockouts on the normal weekly timer initially. The first reset occurs on February 13, followed by the second on February 20 during the regular maintenance. This setup allows leading edge players to dive into the raid dungeon right away while ensuring that slower levelers don’t miss out on too many lockouts.
BOSS UPDATES
Here are some changes you’ll encounter in the boss areas within the dungeon, providing new challenges for players:
- Grubbis: Look out for new radiation vents that could affect the encounter.
- Crowd Pummeler 9-60: This boss now resides in a different part of the dungeon, where your encounter takes place on a raised platform in front of a crowd.
- Mekgineer Thermaplugg: Expect to face new mechanical suits as part of his arsenal.
NEW LOOT
“We have placed a few nods to older items that were previously staples in this dungeon. Items such as the Automatic Crowd Pummeler will allow players to pick up just one of these items to reuse over and over as a quality-of-life improvement. Please note that all examples are works in progress and may not reflect the final stats.”
ADDITIONAL ITEMS
“We have also tucked in some fun items as well into the raid dungeon.”
ITEM SETS
To assist players in acquiring pieces they’re struggling to collect, armor piece tokens will be introduced. These tokens can be used by any player to obtain additional set pieces they’re missing. For instance, if you’ve been unable to find boots, you can use a boot armor token to purchase them from the vendor.
Dungeon Updates
In Season of Discovery Phase 2, new skill books will be introduced as drops from creatures in 5-player dungeons. These quality-of-life improvements won’t occupy a rune slot and aim to address issues such as short Aura durations for Paladin Blessings, totem management for Shaman, and manipulation of combo points for Rogues, among other improvements. Here are a few examples:
Rune Ability Updates
“We wanted to provide everyone with a sneak peek at just some of the new runes that they will be able to discover as they continue to level up to 40.”
DRUID RUNES
Eclipse is a player favorite ability from future expansions that we’ve brought back for Season of Discovery. Eclipse increases the critical strike chance of your next two Wrath abilities by 30% and Wrath increases the critical strike chance of your next Starfire by 30% with each effect stacking up to 4 times.
King of the Jungle fundamentally changes your Tiger’s Fury by increasing all physical damage you deal by 15%, as well as instantly granting you 60 energy. As a trade-off for this, Tiger’s Fury now has a 30 second cooldown.
PALADIN RUNES
Sheath of Light will cause damage dealt with your melee weapon to also increase your spell power. It will also cause your critical heals to apply an additional heal over time on the target.
Guarded by the Light will cause your melee weapon hits to restore mana over time, however; the amount healed by Flash of Light, Holy Light, and Holy Shock will be reduced by half.
HUNTER RUNES
Melee Specialist is a passive ability which will reduce the cooldown on Raptor Strike, cause it to trigger instantly, and each usage of Raptor Strike has a chance not to trigger its cooldown. Melee Specialist will also remove the cooldown of Mongoose Bite.
Trap Launcher allows you to place traps at any location within 40 yards and allows you to place your traps while in combat. Additionally, your fire-based and frost-based traps have separate shared cooldowns.
WARRIOR RUNES
Rallying Cry is a defensive ability which can be activated to increase the health of all party and raid members within 40 yards.
Blood Surge gives some of your abilities a chance to make your next Slam instant and cost no Rage.
ROGUE RUNES
Use Shuriken Toss to throw a shuriken at your enemy, dealing damage to your target and up to 4 additional nearby.
Master of Subtlety causes attacks made while stealthed—and for a short time after exiting stealth— to cause additional damage.
PRIEST RUNES
Cast Mind Spike to blast your target with Shadowfrost damage and apply a debuff which increases the critical strike chance of your next Mind Blast on that target. This debuff can stack up to 3 times.
As a favorite from later expansions, Pain Suppression can be cast on a friendly target to significantly reduce their damage taken and increase their resistance to Dispel mechanics for a short time.
WARLOCK RUNES
With Invocation, when you refresh some of your damage over time effects while they have less than 6 seconds remaining, instant damage will be dealt to your target equal to one tick of that spell’s periodic damage. So, you no longer have to worry about refreshing your damage over time (DoT) spells at the perfect moment.
Dance of the Wicked will trigger a buff which increases you and your pets’ dodge chance any time either of you deal a critical strike to an enemy. You will also gain 2% of your maximum mana when this occurs.
MAGE RUNES
Missile Barrage gives your Arcane Blast, Fireball, and Frostbolt spells a chance to reduce the channeled duration of your next Arcane Missiles spell by half, reduce its mana cost to 0, and cause missiles to fire every .5 seconds.
Chronostatic Preservation is a great new spell that allows you to store some of your arcane, fire and frost energy for later use. You can only hold this energy for a short time before it combusts and expires, but you can use this energy to heal a friendly target.
SHAMAN RUNES
Maelstrom Weapon causes damage dealt with melee attacks to have a chance to reduce the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lesser Healing Wave, Healing Wave, Chain Heal, or Lava Burst spell by 20%. The cast time reduction can stack up to five times.
Spirit of the Alpha is almost the opposite of Blessing of Salvation and casts a 30-minute buff on a friendly target to increase the threat generated by that target.
While some Shaman choose to battle with one weapon in each hand, others prefer to hand out devastating blows with a 2-handed weapon. If dealing damage with a two-handed weapon is your playstyle, then you will want to pick up Two-Handed Mastery. Each time you strike an enemy with a two-handed weapon, you gain 30% attack speed with this weapon for 10 seconds.
PvP Updates: Beware The Blood Moon
In Phase 2 of Season of Discovery, get ready for the debut of “The Blood Moon,” our latest PvP event. This event adds a touch of chaos to Stranglethorn Vale, with the ominous Blood Moon casting an eerie red fog over the zone. Drawing from our experience with the Ashenvale PvP event in Phase 1, we’ve designed this event to occur on a more predictable schedule. Now, players can plan ahead and join in the action at their convenience.
Event:The Blood Moon
When:Every 3 Hours
Duration:30 minutes
Where:Stranglethorn Vale
During this event, defeating other players will earn you currency that can be exchanged for various rewards. While teaming up with allies is still an option, the Blood Moon event imposes penalties on those in raid groups.
If you prefer to avoid conflict and stay out of the fray, you can opt out of the event by speaking with the Zandalari Emissary. However, opting out means forfeiting any rewards from the event, and standard realm PvP rules still apply.
Unlike the Ashenvale PvP event, there are no specific PvP objectives in Stranglethorn Vale’s event. Keep a vigilant watch for the Chosen of the Blood Loa, a formidable adversary who poses a significant threat to all in their path.
PvP Rewards
If you’re eager to spend your currency on fresh rewards, head to the merchant located just outside the Gurubashi Arena. There, players can obtain exciting new class-specific items.
TWO NEW MOUNTS
Players can acquire two new faction-agnostic mounts by participating in the event. These level 40 mounts feature unique appearances.
Additionally, there are new quests available to help you earn Arathi Basin reputation. It’s worth noting that this event does not offer an associated world buff.
PvP Updates
“We’re making additional adjustments to matchmaking to address concerns about solo players facing premade groups. While we want to be cautious about impacting queue times, we’re implementing two changes:”
- Players in groups of five or fewer will have a higher chance of matching against other groups of five or fewer.
- Groups of six or more will have a higher chance of matching with other groups of six or more.
This approach aims to pair premade groups with premade groups and solo players with other solo players whenever possible. However, to prevent excessively long queue times, the system will override these rules after a certain period. In such cases, you’ll be matched with the first available group, ensuring you can jump into the action without significant delays.
ASHENVALE UPDATES
Ashenvale will be moving to a 3-hour timer as well with Phase 2. The weekly quest world buff will not apply to players after level 39.
Profession Updates
Following the favorable response to professions in Season of Discovery Phase 1, we’re ramping up and expanding significantly for Phase 2. Players can look forward to discovering around twenty new recipes across all non-gathering professions, including Alchemy, Enchanting, Engineering, Leatherworking, Tailoring, and Blacksmithing.
In Phase 2, professions will cap at 225, with profession specializations opening up later in Season of Discovery Phase 3.
Just like in Phase 1, players will be able to undertake an epic quest chain to unlock access. No spoilers though!Recipes will also include some new materials that players will be able to find throughout the game and trade with others to get the items they need most to craft their wares. Here are just some of the recipes you will find:
Alchemists and Enchanters will discover a few new recipes designed to enhance their gameplay with added utility and throughput. These additions move beyond simply creating items for personal use or sale, offering more depth to their professions. Here are a couple of examples:
No More GDKP Runs
“We are experimenting with a new policy which will no longer allow GDKP runs in Season of Discovery. While we understand that there are some benefits for those who find this a convenient way to gain gear, we also recognize that there are concerns surrounding the erosion of traditional guild and social structures that are a part of the spirit of Season of Discovery. Given the experimental nature of Season of Discovery, we want to try things without this type of transaction taking place in this game mode. With the launch on February 8, we will be restricting this activity. We will have more information to share on our official channels and will be monitoring feedback closely.”
It is Not too Late to Join in Season of Discovery
“For players looking to catch up with their friends above level 25, we will be implementing a 50% experience buff for players between level 1 and 25. Players will also see an increase in experience gained within the Blackfathom Deeps raid dungeon when it is cleared. The raid dungeon will still continue to run with the current lockout timer, and players will no longer gain the world buff beyond level 39, however.
Waylaid Supplies will also see an adjustment, we will share more later, but there will be a significant increase in experience gained from them on turn-in.”
We look forward to joining you on the challenges ahead when Phase 2 goes live on February 8 at 1:00 pm PST (21:00 GMT) – Source: World of Warcraft