Patch Notes for World of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts of K’aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems!

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Hey folks, get ready to peek into the future of World of Warcraft with Patch 11.2, officially titled Ghosts of K’aresh! While Patch 11.1.7 just landed, it seems Blizzard is already revving the engines for the next big content drop, and it looks absolutely jam-packed. This client side patch update appears to be quite the beast, loaded with a new zone, tons of open-world goodies, all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a new season (hello new raid, dungeon, and tier!), some juicy system updates, and even some intriguing lore reveals connecting to the Midnight expansion. Getting a patch of this scale ready will no doubt require scheduled realm restarts. Prepare for the journey ahead! Let’s dive into the exciting details revealed for Patch 11.2!

Patch 11.2 delivers a wealth of new zones, activities, and progression systems to explore, bringing lots of new challenges and significant updates across various aspects of the game, including numerous gameplay enhancements.

New Zone & Open World Features

Patch 11.2: Ghosts Of K'Aresh - Gameplay Enhancements &Amp; New Challenges Arrive
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 20

As with most major patches, 11.2 will introduce a brand new zone for players to explore, but this time, it’s a trip to a completely different planet! Or, well, what’s left of it anyway.

Exploring K’aresh: Players will get to explore the shattered remnants of K’aresh, the original homeworld of the mysterious Ethereals and the Shadowlands Brokers. This zone is described as a very cool locale, absolutely chock-a-block with void themes and dramatic, shattered landscapes. The visuals are said to give off significant vibes from the Burning Crusade expansion, drawing parallels to Netherstorm and parts of Shadowmoon Valley from the wow classic era. Players might even find themselves encountering familiar faces from the TBC era, such as mana rays and phase stalkers – effectively serving as new enemy types in this environment. The zone consists of several huge chunks of land floating in what appears to be the void, and Skyriding (Dragonriding) is expected to be fully usable for fast traversal. The sheer scale of the zone, navigating between floating fragments, addresses some potential issues related to world design encountered in previous expansions.

Tazavesh Player Hub: Players who journeyed through Shadowlands might find the main hub for Patch 11.2 quite familiar! Since the Ethereals and the Brokers are working together, they’ve managed to bring the entire broker city of Tazavesh, the Veiled Market (previously a mega-dungeon) and essentially just “park it” right next to K’aresh. This means the entire sprawling market city will serve as the primary player hub for the patch. Tazavesh Hub provides all the amenities players would expect from a major hub – including vendors, bankers, a base for important quests driving the story, and even portals linking directly to delve locations scattered across Kaz Algar. It’s a phenomenally detailed city, making it fun to explore outside of a dungeon context.

Ghosts Of K'Aresh Revealed: New Trait Tree, Phase Diving &Amp; Iconic Rewards
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 21
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Karesh Trust Renown: Patch 11.2 introduces a brand new faction for players to earn renown with: the Karesh Trust. This renown track is expected to feature 20 levels for players to progress through, unlocking cosmetic items, new gameplay options, abilities to find special treasures and upgrade their loot, and even big ticket items like a couple of mounts (rumored to be void-themed!) and that coveted item, an Infinite Augment Rune. These represent a few new rewards players can chase compared to previous patches. The Infinite Augment Rune is expected to require players to earn reputation and fork over a significant amount of gold (seen at 100,000 gold on the PTR). Players will earn reputation and renown through completing quests, collecting lore items, taking down rare enemies, and all that familiar grindy goodness. You might even find some rare drops linked to the collector’s bounty buff as you explore!

Reshii Wraps Artifact Cloak: A central feature of Patch 11.2 is the introduction of a new ability for players via an artifact piece: the Reshii Wraps cloak. Players will acquire this special cloak early in the new zone. This cloak isn’t just standard gear; it comes with a unique effect tied directly to a player’s specialization, for example, providing defensive benefits for tanks, mitigating incoming damage. It fits in the back slot and won’t interfere with existing tier set bonuses.

Initially, the cloak doesn’t have secondary stats, but players can customize it by socketing in special fibers. These fibers add the stats, and players get one free initially, can purchase more, and can safely remove them for stat swapping flexibility. Beyond socketing, the Reshii Wraps cloak also features its own little new trait tree for players to work through.

Players spend a new Warband-wide currency called threads to unlock new cloak talents and powers in this tree. Progressing through this trait tree is the primary way to increase the artifact’s overall item level and power. As players power up their cloak and unlock new skills and abilities in the trait tree specific to the wraps, they are also expected to unlock matching transmog appearances for the head and shoulder slots. Once the cloak is unlocked on one character via the campaign, others on the account can obtain it right away.

World Of Warcraft 11.2 Client Side Patch Update: Requires Scheduled Realm Restarts
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 22

Phase Diving Overlay: Powering up the Reshii Wraps cloak unlocks a fascinating phased diving feature. After gaining some extra powers through the cloak’s talent tree, players will be able to find and utilize special phase conduits scattered throughout the new zone. Using one of these conduits allows players to “phase dive,” stepping into a world described as being made up of pure energy – an untethered space separate from the normal reality of K’aresh. While in this untethered space, players will encounter unique monsters, treasures, and new enemy types found only in this phased realm. There are also special quests designed specifically for this state. This unique “Phase Diving” overlay content adds a significant layer of exploration and activities to K’aresh, including new rares, treasures, and the Warrant bounty system (detailed next). Players can collect a special currency called untethered coins within this space, which can be spent on a variety of goodies, including Valor Stones, mounts, pets, and a whole bunch of transmog appearances. This adds currency new ui options for spending the untethered coins. The phase conduits also double as a fast travel option, allowing instant teleportation between discovered conduits while phased.

Warrant System: Another feature tied into the new phased diving system is called Warrants. Players will be able to pick up these bounties from a constable located in Tazavesh. Each warrant basically identifies a key target that players are tasked with hunting and eliminating specific monsters. To gain access to the specific target listed on a warrant, players typically need to do preparatory work, which is expected to involve activities like Phase Diving and completing certain previous quests or daily tasks. Once the target is eliminated, players can turn in their completed warrant for some shiny rewards. Notably, warrants are expected to be a source for the new threads currency used to upgrade the Reshii Wraps cloak, making them a valuable activity for profit and progression, helping players acquire powerful gear.

Ghosts Of K'Aresh: Addressing Various Issues Related With New Features &Amp; Systems
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 23
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Ecological Succession System: Patch 11.2 also introduces an interesting feature called the Ecological Succession system. While the name might sound complicated, the feature itself appears to be quite cool and engaging. Within one of the eco-domes on K’aresh, known as the Oasis, an NPC (likely Ve’nari) is attempting to create a flourishing ecosystem. Players are needed to help with this process! This system serves as a source of weekly and daily quests and involves actively helping revive life by introducing new species of fauna and flora, managing their needs, and tracking the ecosystem’s progress via a console. It sounds a bit like a mini-game resembling Planet Zoo, designed to provide fun, repeatable storylines carefully curated for the event while still being decently rewarding.

World Boss: Patch 11.2 adds a new enemy World Boss, Reshanor, the Untethered. Defeating Reshanor, the Untethered is expected to provide a chance at item level 688 Champion gear. Early PTR testing sometimes results in the boss health significantly increased during tuning phases to ensure a proper challenge against this new enemy. Fine-tuning involves ensuring enemy health values are appropriate. Loot from Reshanor, the Untethered is expected to be Warbound, making it a potentially good and easy source to drop adventurer gear and help kickstart alternate characters’ gearing adventures in Season 11.2.

Dungeons & Mythic+

New Mythic+ Pool &Amp; Dungeon Waystones: Realistic Combat Encounters In Ghosts Of K'Aresh
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 24

Patch 11.2 brings a new dungeon, updates to the Mythic+ system, and a fresh dungeon pool for the new season.

Eco-Dome Al’dani Dungeon: Patch 11.2 adds a brand new five-player dungeon called Eco-Dome Al’dani. This is expected to be a three-boss dungeon featuring enemies like Shadowlands devourers and Wastelanders. A particularly interesting point about this dungeon is that, story-wise, it is expected to take place after the events of the new raid, making it something of a story conclusion for the patch. It will be available in Normal, Heroic, and Mythic Zero difficulties right away and will be joining the Mythic+ Season 3 pool. This provides fresh story elements and, crucially, a new option for the Mythic Plus season pool, adding to the number of combat encounters players can face in a 5-player setting and helping them get cool gear.

Dungeon Waystones: One huge quality of life improvement coming to dungeons is an update to how checkpoints work. Dungeon respawn checkpoints, where players respawn after dying, have sometimes been inconsistent. In Patch 11.2, Blizzard is making them incredibly clear to players. New Waystones will appear as large visual indicators both in the dungeon itself and as clear icons on the world map and mini-map whenever a new checkpoint is unlocked within a dungeon. This makes it much easier for players to see exactly where their current respawn point is located, fixing an issue related to world-grouping and unclear respawn points that has plagued players for a while. Waystones are one of a few new ones Blizzard is adding to dungeons.

Ghosts Of K'Aresh: Manaforge Omega Raid &Amp; Acquiring Powerful Gear
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 25

New Mythic+ Pool: The dungeon rotation for Season 3 in Patch 11.2 has been revealed! This season’s pool is shaping up to be quite interesting and will include a total of eight dungeons:

  • Eco-Dome Al’dani (New Dungeon)
  • Halls of Atonement (Shadowlands)
  • Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder (Shadowlands Mega-dungeon wing)
  • Tazavesh: So’leah’s Gambit (Shadowlands Mega-dungeon wing)
  • Ara’Kara (The War Within – Community Vote)
  • The Dawnbreaker (The War Within – Community Vote)
  • Priory of the Sacred Flame (The War Within – Community Vote)
  • Operation: Floodgate (The War Within – Community Vote)
    This pool includes the new dungeon, a returning Shadowlands dungeon, both wings of Tazavesh as separate instances, and the four community-voted War Within dungeons. Dungeon tuning often involves adjusted difficulty scaling to ensure challenging but fair encounters across key levels. While some players might feel that having two dungeons return from the immediately preceding season (Priory and Floodgate) is a bit quick, at least they will be freshly practiced at them!

Mythic+ Abandon Penalty: To address various issues related to world-grouping and players leaving Mythic Plus keystone dungeons prematurely, Patch 11.2 is expected to introduce a new penalty system. The current plan involves adding an option for the group to initiate and vote on giving up on the keystone run. If enough players agree, the keystone dungeon is formally abandoned, allowing players to go their separate ways without penalty. If the vote doesn’t pass and a player leaves anyway, and does this repeatedly, that player may be marked as a “deserter.” This mark is expected to be visible on their name in the Group Finder tool, indicating to other players that they are someone who tends to leave keys. There is also expected to be a kind of “redemption system” to clear this mark by successfully finishing keys. This system, integrated with the group finder interface, aims to provide official tools for managing runs, potentially reducing reliance on third party apps for tracking leavers.

Raids

A Look At Ghosts Of K'Aresh: Wow Classic Era Echoes &Amp; New Content
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 26

It wouldn’t be a new major patch or season without a brand new raid!

Manaforge Omega Raid: Patch 11.2 delivers the Manaforge Omega raid. This is described as a huge mana forge that is being used to siphon power and energy for a potentially massive, world-threatening purpose: to reawaken the Void Lord Demensius, who serves as the final boss. This new enemy is the final boss. This will be an eight-boss raid. Early glimpses suggest it is shaping up to be a very cool instance with an absolutely massive final boss – Demensius is apparently larger than the entire city of Stormwind! An interesting point about this raid is that the Soul Hunters boss encounter (a council fight against three Demon Hunters) will be optional. Players won’t necessarily have to defeat this specific boss to progress through the raid to Demensius, but that boss is expected to drop some very powerful loot designed to specifically interact with the new Reshii Wraps cloak. Raid testing for Manaforge Omega is scheduled to start relatively soon after the PTR launch (like late June), indicating a condensed testing schedule for this raid. Sometimes, PTR tuning will involve the boss health significantly increased for certain encounters to find the right balance, ensuring a challenging raid experience. Players will seek to acquire powerful gear from this raid, representing new diabolical rewards.

Ghosts Of K'Aresh: Tier Sets By Hero Talents &Amp; Adapting Your Class'S Damage Rotations
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 27

Raid Renown: Following the positive reception of the raid renown track system introduced in Season 2, that system will be returning for the Manaforge Omega raid in Patch 11.2! This renown track is expected to be called the Manaforge Vandals track and will include very similar types of bonuses to help players progress through the raid over the season. This Manaforge Vandals track is expected to include extra cosmetic rewards (like transmog or mounts), a stacking damage and healing buff that activates week-over-week, power boosts specifically for the Reshii Wraps cloak while inside the raid, and options to nerf sections of trash encounters. Raid skips and raid teleports are also expected to be unlockable. The Manaforge Vandals renown track is noted as being slightly shorter, with 15 levels instead of the 20 seen previously.

Delves

Patch 11.2 Quality-Of-Life: New Cooldown Manager &Amp; Assisted Highlight Improvements
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 28

Patch 11.2 adds a new delve to the seasonal rotation, located in a familiar place!

Archival Assault Delve: Patch 11.2 adds a new delve for players to explore, though the setting might be very familiar! The Archival Assault delve is entered through an ethereal gateway located in the middle of the new zone. Using this gateway teleports players into the heart of the Azure Archives, an area previously explored on the Dragon Isles. The premise is that some renegade Ethereals are ransacking the Azure Archives, and players need to venture in to clean things up and get rid of the thieves. A unique feature of the Archival Assault delve is that you can see ghostly visions of dead players within the instance, and players can even leave messages within the delve. This adds a new option to the delve rotation.

Seasonal Delve Boss & Mounts: The seasonal boss for delves in Patch 11.2 is expected to be Princess Ky’veza, previously encountered in Anubar Palace.

Source Reward Type Item Name Notes
Princess Ky’veza Mount Ethereal Delver’s Dirigible Tied to “Let Me Solo Her”
Princess Ky’veza Mount Delver’s Mana-Skimmer Customizable
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Class Changes & Professions

Ghosts Of K'Aresh: The Warrant System, Ecological Succession &Amp; A Few New Rewards
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 29

Patch 11.2 is expected to bring a truly massive amount of class changes right from the first PTR build, along with significant changes to tier sets and profession updates.

Massive Class Changes: It seems Blizzard was saving up a lot of updates for this patch, and the PTR shows a huge wave of class tuning and adjustments across the board right from the first PTR build!

Tier Set Bonuses by Hero Talents: In a notable shift for Patch 11.2 and Season 3, the developers are trying something new and potentially very impactful for tier sets. The new tier sets for 11.2 are designed to interact directly with players’ chosen Hero Talents! This means that effectively, every specialization will have two different possible tier sets they can potentially use, one for each of the two Hero Talent trees available to that spec. The tier set bonus is expected to automatically change when a player swaps their active Hero Talent tree, so players shouldn’t have to collect two entirely different physical tier sets. Early glimpses suggest some of these tier set effects designed around Hero Talents seem incredibly powerful, potentially even game-breakingly so, meaning significant balancing and tuning will likely occur. The visuals for these new tier sets are expected to heavily feature ethereal and void themes. Some tier sets might enhance specific single-target or multi target ability damage, helping players deal with incoming damage to enemies. This will require players to adapt their class’s damage rotations. Blizzard will likely make further adjustments based on testing.

Specific Class Overhauls: While there are far too many changes to detail every single one, some major overhauls and updates mentioned include:

  • Restoration Druids receiving some visual updates.
  • Significant and worthwhile changes for Brewmaster Monks.
  • A major rework for Shadow Priests, with numerous talent changes and new talents, potentially affecting their core single target or multi target ability rotations.
  • Many new talents for Protection Warriors, focused on mitigating incoming damage from the new enemy forces encountered.
  • Updates for Death Knights.
  • Note: Demon Hunter had no official buff/tune listed in initial notes, we’ll be on the lookout for future updates.
World Of Warcraft 11.2: Hotfixes That Address Various Balance Needs On The Ptr
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 30

Professions: Professions are also seeing some updates in Patch 11.2. Players exploring the new zone of K’aresh will find new raw materials to collect. Interestingly, instead of many new recipes using these directly, it appears there will be vendors who exchange these new materials for existing Kaz Algar materials from previous zones.

Players can also expect to see a few new ones when it comes to potions! There’s a new healing potion that simply heals for a larger amount than the standard Kaz Algar version, designed to keep pace with players’ ever-increasing maximum health at higher item levels.

The other new potion sounds very interesting: the Umbra Essentia. This potion allows a player to “slink into the darkness,” reducing the chance for enemies to detect them. Notably, it can be used in combat, providing a similar effect to the Night Elf’s Shadowmeld racial. Its known limitations are that it shares a combat potion cooldown and does not work in PvP combat. This aims to address various issues related to world-race stacking in competitive play.

Blizzard is always looking to issue hotfixes that address various balance concerns and potentially make further adjustments to abilities and talents, sometimes including a small additional global cooldown on certain effects.

Demon Hunter New Spec (Speculation): Data mining and lore findings in the 11.2 PTR strongly suggest the possible introduction of a Void-themed Demon Hunter specialization in a future update, perhaps 11.2.5. Data mining revealed an new ability called “inv112 ability demon hunter metamorphosis void” and a model of a void-infused Demon Hunter metamorphosis. Lore supports this with a character learning void powers via a pact with a Void Elf on K’aresh. While not confirmed by Blizzard for 11.2 launch, evidence for this potential spec is compelling and could be mentioned as rumor/speculation (clearly labeled as such).

PvP

The Ghosts Of K'Aresh Story: Experience Iconic Lore Moments &Amp; Face New Enemy Types
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 31

Patch 11.2 includes a new battle via a PvP activity and general talent updates for the season.

  • PvP World Quest (Vanquisher’s Wake): If missing, note that Vanquisher’s Wake is a new island world quest specifically for War Mode PvP. This adds a new open-world objective for players engaging in War Mode. The nature of this quest encourages realistic combat encounters between players vying for objectives.
  • Updated PvP Talents: Acknowledge that several PvP talents across various classes and specializations were updated in 11.2. While specific changes aren’t detailed in this overview, players should be aware that their PvP talents may have changed.

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Quality-of-Life & UI Improvements

Ghosts Of K'Aresh: Delves, Seasonal Boss Ky'Veza &Amp; Truly Iconic Rewards
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 32

Patch 11.2 brings some handy updates that smooth out the player experience, particularly within dungeons and general interaction.

  • Dungeon Waystones on Map: As mentioned under Dungeons, a huge quality of life improvement is the addition of visible Waystones as clear map icons for dungeon checkpoints, making respawn points obvious on the map and mini-map. This is a significant change expected to be very appreciated by anyone who enjoys running dungeons, making it much easier to remember when releasing is a quick return or a lengthy run during realistic combat encounters.
  • War Mode Portal Mechanics: Ensure the mechanics and visibility of the War Mode portals (fast travel points for War Mode participants) are clear on the map and mini-map. These portals provide strategic options depending on your character’s faction.
  • Improved Cooldown Management & Accessibility: Beyond Waystones and War Mode portals, other UI/QOL updates include improvements to the cooldown manager. A new cooldown manager interface provides clearer visual tracking of your abilities. This updated cooldown manager allows for better strategic planning. Players who rely on external tools might find this built-in cooldown manager reduces the need for some third party apps. This improved cooldown manager is easily configurable from the game menu. The patch also introduces the new assisted highlight feature, one of several new assisted highlight UI improvements aimed at making gameplay more accessible. Players can easily find options to enable assisted highlight for various visual cues within the game menu. The new assisted highlight is just one example of Blizzard’s ongoing efforts to make the game approachable. Players seeking accessibility tools can now enable assisted highlight and use the single button assistant.
  • /lean Emote: One small but potentially very important addition coming in Patch 11.2 that has sparked excitement is a new character emote, /lean! Players will be able to command their character to lean back, adding a bit of character flair.
  • Overall, UI/QOL changes beyond Waystones, War Mode portals, Cooldown Management, and the new assisted highlight appear minimal, but these specific updates are significant.

Story, Lore, and the Echoes of the Void

Patch 11.2 Class Changes: Major Reworks, New Talents &Amp; New Skills To Master
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 33

Patch 11.2 isn’t just about new features; it delves deep into the ongoing narrative, tying into the War Within and setting the stage for Midnight!

  • From the start of The War Within, the mysterious Locus Walker warned that the world-soul’s ringing heralds the coming of Demensius the Old Devouring. With Xal’atath now active as the Harbinger, the connection is clear: the ringing and Xal’atath’s presence signal Demensius’s approach, mirroring events on K’aresh long ago.
  • Players learn that K’aresh, the Ethereal homeworld, also had a world-soul. The commonly known history was that the K’areshi accidentally summoned Demensius, were transformed into Ethereals by his arcane magic after their void defenses failed, and then destroyed their planet to break him. The startling reveal is that their transformation into Ethereals actually happened with the help of Xal’atath, who enabled it. The K’areshi leaders apparently kept this truth hidden, and even the planet’s destruction only shattered Demensius, not destroyed him completely. Learning these secrets allows players to experience iconic lore moments from the K’areshi past in a new light. This callback touches on lore from the discovery wow classic era and beyond, allowing players to experience iconic lore moments from previous narratives.
  • A significant lore reveal is that the Shadowlands Brokers originated from K’areshi survivors who went to the Shadowlands after K’aresh’s destruction and adapted differently from the Ethereals. Ven’ari and the Locus Walker even know each other from that time! It’s through these Broker allies that Tazavesh, the broker city from the Shadowlands, is brought to K’aresh to serve as the players’ secure hub.
Ghosts Of K'Aresh Pvp: Vanquisher'S Wake &Amp; New Battle Opportunities
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 34
  • Upon arriving on K’aresh and learning Demensius must be stopped, players are told they need a powerful cloak. This cloak (the Reshii Wraps artifact) isn’t provided by traditional allies; it comes through the aid of Xal’atath! Just as she helped the K’areshi transform, she now provides players with the means to gain power via the cloak, seemingly enabling players to navigate the void-infused raid area and stand against Demensius. This alliance with Xal’atath causes major conflict with Alleria Windrunner, who has been hunting her relentlessly. Alleria is furious, questioning how they could trust Xal’atath given her history. The Locus Walker asks Alleria to trust him, not Xal’atath, creating a tense dynamic. The situation forces Alleria into a harsh choice: work with Xal’atath or face destruction by Demensius. Xal’atath is portrayed as manipulative, receiving an item from a reluctant Alleria and potentially isolating her from allies. The relationship between Alleria and Locus Walker is broken by this forced pact.
  • Players discover unstable K’areshi survivors left on the planet. They attempt to convince these survivors to join their army against Demensius. Interestingly, the method used is described as manipulative, akin to Xal’atath’s tactics – possibly creating a problem and then solving it to gain their alliance.
  • With allies gathered, players work to shut down the mana forges impeding Demensius, leading directly to the Manaforge Omega raid to stop him. The patch campaign leads into the raid story, and the Eco-Dome Al’dani dungeon serves as a narrative follow-up after the raid’s events.
  • The raid features an epic fight against Demensius and other bosses, including void-absorbed Demon Hunters (possibly related to new spec hints!) and Nexus-King Saladar (a cool moth boss!), representing new enemy types to overcome. Players will potentially acquire powerful gear from this new diabolical rewards source.
  • The broader connections to Azeroth and the World-Soul Saga remain somewhat ambiguous. Is Demensius fully stopped, or is this an interlude before Midnight? The narrative seems poised to bridge into Midnight, focusing on Alleria’s story, elven lands, the Void, and Xal’atath’s future plans. A questing detail involving Ven’ari knowing what the void fears (from the Maw) and telling Xal’atath to cooperate hints at a potential counterpoint to the void, possibly related to Sylvanas, undeath, or the Jailer’s power, raising possibilities for Sylvanas’s role if Alleria were to fall to void influence.

Content Unlock Schedule – First Week Access!

Looting In Ghosts Of K'Aresh: Drop Adventurer Gear, New Diabolical Rewards &Amp; More
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 35

In a notable shift for Patch 11.2 and Season 3, players won’t have to wait as long for a good chunk of the seasonal content to become available! Usually, when a major patch launches alongside a new season, only the new zone, hub, and story content are immediately accessible, with players having to wait until the raid opens and Mythic Plus begins in the following week or two.

  • In Season 3, however, players are expected to have access to Delves (including the new delve in Archival Assault!), Heroic and Mythic Zero dungeons (including the new Eco-Dome Al’dani!), as well as the new World Boss Reshanor, the Untethered, in the very first week!
  • This means players can jump straight into this content right away to start earning up to Champion level Season 3 gear. This change should provide more engaging content for the first week of the patch and help smooth out the initial gearing process for Season 3, allowing players to feel more immediately empowered and face realistic combat encounters from day one. This also helps lower geared players catch up quickly.

Tazavesh Mega-dungeon Return (Non-M+)

Addressing Issues Related To World Design &Amp; Gameplay: Insights From Ghosts Of K'Aresh Ptr
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 36

For players who enjoy a challenge outside of the timed Mythic Plus format, the original Tazavesh mega-dungeon is also returning as a whole, continuous instance to work through.

  • It’s expected to be decently difficult, complete with hard modes for those seeking an extra test of skill.
  • Importantly, the standard difficulty of the returning Tazavesh mega-dungeon is expected to be scaled to be about as difficult as a Mythic +10 key. This adjusted difficulty scaling makes it accessible as a target for earning weekly rewards.
  • Even better, completing the Tazavesh mega-dungeon will count as a +10 key run for the weekly Great Vault rewards! This is great news for players who like challenging dungeon content that doesn’t have the pressure of timers or seasonal affixes, allowing them to acquire powerful gear and gain significant weekly vault rewards from this content.

Initial PTR Overview & What’s Next

Ghosts Of K'Aresh: Currency New Ui Options &Amp; Streamlined Progression Systems
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 37

It’s important to remember that all of this exciting information comes from the initial look at the Patch 11.2 Public Test Realm (PTR). As the weeks go by, the PTR will be updated, and existing features will be tuned and changed based on testing feedback. Blizzard will actively monitor this process, and players will get a clearer picture of how everything fits together for the launch of Ghosts of K’aresh!

Raid testing for Manaforge Omega is expected to begin relatively soon after the PTR opens, on a somewhat condensed schedule compared to previous raids. Keep a close eye on those official notes for tuning details and hotfixes that address various tuning needs throughout the PTR cycle and when the patch goes live. These hotfixes that address various balance points and ensure the enemy health is appropriate are crucial for the health of the game.

A Quick Look Beyond This Update

War Within Cataclysm Classic &Amp; Ghosts Of K'Aresh: Exploring Wow'S Vibrant Landscape
Patch Notes For World Of Warcraft: 11.2 Ghosts Of K'aresh Reveal! New Zone, Raid, Systems! 38
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While Patch 11.2: Ghosts of K’aresh is the big focus, other corners of the World of Warcraft universe continue their cycles. Discussions around WoW Classic versions, such as Cataclysm Classic, continue to progress, bringing back elements from the wow classic era. The Season of Discovery wow has also been a major community topic, reigniting interest in the wow classic era through new content. The spirit of discovery found in the classic season of discovery is influencing design across the board. Players interested in the game’s roots, including the classic era and hardcore servers, remain active. The intersection of The War Within, Cataclysm Classic, and Season of Discovery creates a vibrant WoW landscape, showing Blizzard’s ongoing work from War Within Cataclysm Classic content to experiences within Cataclysm Classic Season.

Beyond current releases, broader development discussions sometimes touch on quality-of-life improvements in user interfaces, such as accessibility tools. Features like the new assisted highlight and single button assistant are part of these conversations. These tools, including the new assisted highlight, are designed to help players enable assisted highlight or use a single button assistant if traditional controls are challenging, distinct from functionality provided by third party apps. There might also be speculation about potential future updates that could tie into the Arathor update and Blizzard’s ongoing work on older zones, hinted at by the Arathor update.

But rest assured, the bulk of the excitement right now, as seen in the 11.2 PTR and initial reveals, is centered firmly on the void-infused adventures awaiting on K’aresh. From exploring a shattered void world and powering up a new artifact cloak to tackling new seasonal content and diving deep into fascinating lore, there’s certainly a lot packed into this update, promising the potential for truly iconic rewards. Good luck and have fun exploring the PTR or preparing for the patch launch!

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Dina
Dina
Has a passion for turning tangled topics into clean explanations that actually make sense. She believes any subject can be interesting — if you cut the fluff and add a little spark. With a knack for clarity (and the occasional well-placed metaphor), she helps readers feel smart without making them yawn. Basically, if it’s confusing, she’ll fix it.
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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the name of the new patch?

The official title of the new patch is Ghosts of K’aresh. It’s a major content update for World of Warcraft.

What is the new zone and where is it located?

The new zone players will explore is K’aresh, which is revealed to be the shattered original homeworld of the mysterious Ethereals and the Shadowlands Brokers. It’s a location heavily influenced by the Void, featuring dramatic, shattered landscapes and several large chunks of land floating in what appears to be the void. The visuals are said to be reminiscent of Netherstorm and parts of Shadowmoon Valley from the wow classic era, with elements like big purple energy domes and mana forges. Players will navigate between these floating fragments, and Skyriding (Dragonriding) is expected to be fully usable for fast traversal across the vast zone, addressing some potential issues related to world design in previous expansions.

What is the main player hub in Patch 11.2?

The primary player hub for Patch 11.2 is Tazavesh, the Veiled Market. This entire sprawling market city, which was previously a mega-dungeon in Shadowlands, has been brought to K’aresh by the Ethereals and Brokers working together. The Tazavesh Hub will provide all the usual amenities players expect, such as vendors, bankers, important quest givers driving the patch’s story, and even portals linking directly to delve locations scattered across Kaz Algar, making it a central point for activities and progression.

What is the new artifact system introduced in this patch?

Patch 11.2 introduces a new artifact piece: the Reshii Wraps cloak. Players will acquire this special cloak early in the new zone’s campaign. It’s designed as more than just a piece of gear, coming with a unique effect tied directly to the player’s chosen specialization (e.g., providing defensive bonuses for tanks to mitigate incoming damage). It fits in the back slot and is designed not to interfere with existing tier set bonuses.

How do I upgrade the Reshii Wraps cloak and customize its stats?

The Reshii Wraps cloak can be customized and upgraded in a couple of ways. Initially, it doesn’t have secondary stats, but players can add them by socketing in special fibers. Players get one free fiber initially and can purchase others from a vendor, with an item available to safely remove fibers for swapping stats. Beyond stats, the cloak has its own little new trait tree for players to progress through. Unlocking talents and powers in this trait tree specific to the wraps is the primary way to increase the cloak’s overall item level and power, granting new skills. This progression is powered by a new currency called threads, which appears to be Warband-wide, making it easier to upgrade on alts.

What is Phase Diving and what can I find there?

Phase Diving is a fascinating feature unlocked by powering up the Reshii Wraps cloak through its talent tree. It allows players to find and use special phase conduits in K’aresh to step into an “untethered space” – a separate realm described as being made of pure energy. While in this phased overlay content, players won’t interact with normal enemies but will encounter unique monsters, treasures, and rare enemies found only in this state. There are also special quests tied to Phase Diving. Players can collect a currency called untethered coins within this space, which can be spent on rewards like Valor Stones, mounts, pets, and transmog appearances, providing currency new ui options for spending. The phase conduits also act as a fast travel network, allowing instant teleportation between discovered conduits while phased. This unique “Phase Diving” overlay content adds a significant layer of exploration and activities to K’aresh, including new rares, treasures, and integration with the Warrant bounty system.

What is the Warrant System and how does it work?

The Warrant System is a feature tied into the new phased content. Players can pick up these Warrant bounties from a constable located in Tazavesh. Each warrant tasks players with hunting and eliminating a specific monster. Accessing the target usually requires some preparatory work, which often involves Phase Diving or completing certain quests or daily tasks. Turning in a completed warrant provides rewards, notably including the new threads currency used to upgrade the Reshii Wraps cloak, making Warrants a valuable activity for profit and progression to help players acquire powerful gear.

What is the new Renown faction and what kind of rewards does it offer?

Patch 11.2 introduces the Karesh Trust as the new faction for players to earn renown with. This renown track is expected to have 20 levels. As players progress, they can unlock a few new rewards, typically including cosmetic items, new gameplay options and quests, abilities to find special treasures and upgrade loot, and even significant items like a couple of mounts (rumored to be potentially creepy and void-themed, fitting the zone) and the highly sought-after Infinite Augment Rune. The Infinite Augment Rune is expected to require players to earn the necessary reputation and pay a substantial amount of gold, seen at 100,000 gold on the PTR. Renown is earned through familiar activities like completing quests, collecting lore items, taking down rare enemies, and general open-world progression. You might even find some rare drops linked to the collector’s bounty buff as you explore!

What is the Ecological Succession system and how does it play out?

The Ecological Succession system is a new world quest system found in one of K’aresh’s eco-domes, known as the Oasis. Here, players will work with Ve’nari to attempt to create and restore a flourishing ecosystem on the damaged planet. This system involves activities where players help introduce new species of flora and fauna, manage their needs to help them thrive, and track the overall progress of the ecosystem via a console. It’s described as feeling a bit like a mini-game, designed to provide fun, repeatable storylines carefully curated for the event, while still offering decent rewards like gear, crests, and Valor Stones for player progression.

Who is the new World Boss in Patch 11.2?

The new World Boss introduced in Patch 11.2 is Reshanor, the Untethered. This new enemy is described as a huge void dragon. Defeating Reshanor, the Untethered is expected to provide a chance at item level 688 Champion gear. Early PTR testing sometimes results in the boss health significantly increased during tuning phases to ensure a proper challenge against this new enemy. Loot from Reshanor, the Untethered is expected to be Warbound, meaning it can be freely traded among characters on the same account, making it a potentially good and easy source to drop adventurer gear and help kickstart alternate characters’ gearing adventures or help lower geared players catch up in Season 11.2.

What is the new 5-player dungeon and where does it fit in the story?

Patch 11.2 adds a brand new five-player dungeon called Eco-Dome Al’dani. This is expected to be a three-boss dungeon featuring enemies like Shadowlands devourers and Wastelanders. Interestingly, its story is expected to take place after the events of the new raid, serving as something of a narrative conclusion for the patch’s main storyline. It will be available in Normal, Heroic, and Mythic Zero difficulties immediately upon patch launch and will join the Mythic+ Season 3 pool, providing a fresh story element and a new option for the M+ rotation, adding to the number of realistic combat encounters players can face in a 5-player setting and helping them acquire powerful gear.

What dungeons are included in the Mythic+ Season 3 pool?

The dungeon rotation for Mythic+ Season 3 in Patch 11.2 will include a total of eight dungeons. This pool consists of:

  • Eco-Dome Al’dani (New Dungeon)
  • Halls of Atonement (Shadowlands)
  • Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder (Shadowlands Mega-dungeon wing)
  • Tazavesh: So’leah’s Gambit (Shadowlands Mega-dungeon wing)
  • Ara’Kara (The War Within – Community Vote)
  • The Dawnbreaker (The War Within – Community Vote)
  • Priory of the Sacred Flame (The War Within – Community Vote)
  • Operation: Floodgate (The War Within – Community Vote)
    This pool includes the new dungeon, a returning Shadowlands dungeon, both wings of Tazavesh as separate instances, and the four community-voted War Within dungeons. Dungeon tuning often involves adjusted difficulty scaling to ensure challenging but fair encounters across key levels.

Are there changes to Mythic+ regarding players leaving keystone runs?

Yes, Patch 11.2 is expected to introduce a new penalty system to address issues related to world-grouping and players leaving keys prematurely. The system will include an option for the group to initiate and vote on giving up on the keystone run; if the vote passes, players can leave without penalty. However, if a player leaves the dungeon run anyway without the vote passing, and does so repeatedly, that player may be marked as a “deserter.” This mark is expected to be visible on their name in the Group Finder tool, indicating to other players that they are someone who tends to leave keys, likely making it less likely for them to be invited to future groups. There is also expected to be a kind of “redemption system” where players could clear this mark by successfully finishing keys. This system, integrated with the group finder interface, aims to provide official tools for managing runs, potentially reducing reliance on third party apps for tracking leavers.

What is the new raid and who is the final boss?

The new raid for Patch 11.2 is Manaforge Omega. The premise involves players stopping a huge mana forge that is being used to siphon power for a potentially massive, world-threatening purpose: to reawaken the Void Lord Demensius. This colossal new enemy serves as the final boss of the raid and is reportedly larger than the entire city of Stormwind. It will be an eight-boss raid instance. Raid testing for Manaforge Omega is scheduled to start relatively soon after the PTR launch, indicating a condensed testing schedule. Sometimes, PTR tuning will involve the boss health significantly increased for certain encounters to find the right balance, ensuring a challenging raid experience. Players will seek to acquire powerful gear from this raid, representing new diabolical rewards.

What is the Raid Renown track in the new raid?

Following its positive reception in Season 2, the raid renown track system returns for the Manaforge Omega raid in Patch 11.2. This track is expected to be called the Manaforge Vandals track and will feature 15 levels, slightly shorter than previous versions. Progressing through the Manaforge Vandals track will unlock various bonuses over the season to help players progress through the raid. These include extra cosmetic rewards (like transmog or mounts), a stacking damage and healing buff that activates week-over-week to make the raid progressively easier, power boosts specifically for the Reshii Wraps cloak while inside the raid, and options to nerf sections of trash encounters after earning enough renown. Raid skips and raid teleports are also expected to be unlockable through this track. Players should be able to fully unlock the renown rewards in about 15 weeks.

What is the new seasonal Delve and where does it take place?

Patch 11.2 introduces a new delve called Archival Assault. While accessed via an ethereal gateway in the new K’aresh zone, this delve actually takes place within the familiar Azure Archives on the Dragon Isles. The premise involves players venturing in to clean up and get rid of renegade Ethereals who are ransacking the archives. A unique feature of the Archival Assault delve is that you can see ghostly visions of dead players within the instance, and players can even leave messages within the delve for others to see. This adds a new option to the seasonal delve rotation.

Who is the seasonal Delve boss and what mounts can they drop?

The seasonal boss for delves in Patch 11.2 is expected to be Princess Ky’veza, previously encountered in Anubar Palace. Defeating Princess Ky’veza in the delve offers a chance at some powerful loot against this returning new enemy. Princess Ky’veza is confirmed to drop multiple mounts for collectors. One is the unique Ethereal Delver’s Dirigible mount, which is notably tied to a “Let Me Solo Her” achievement. Another is the customizable Delver’s Mana-Skimmer mount. Perhaps the delve will even feature a new delve specific affix to spice things up.

Will there be significant class changes or reworks in Patch 11.2?

Yes, Patch 11.2 is expected to bring a truly massive amount of class changes right from the first PTR build, indicating Blizzard was saving up a lot of updates for this patch. Specific major overhauls and updates mentioned include a major rework for Shadow Priests (involving numerous talent changes and new talents potentially affecting their core single target or multi target ability rotations), significant and worthwhile changes for Brewmaster Monks, updates for Death Knights, and many new talents for Protection Warriors focused on mitigating incoming damage from the new enemy forces encountered. Players will likely need to adapt their class’s damage rotations. Blizzard is expected to make further adjustments based on testing via hotfixes. Note that Demon Hunter had no official buff/tune listed in initial notes.

How do the new tier sets in Season 3 work with Hero Talents?

In a notable shift for Patch 11.2 and Season 3, the new tier sets are designed to interact directly with players’ chosen Hero Talents. This means that effectively, every specialization will have two different possible tier set bonuses they can potentially use, with one bonus tied to each of the two Hero Talent trees available to that spec. The active tier set bonus is expected to automatically change when a player swaps their active Hero Talent tree, so players won’t need to collect two entirely different physical tier sets. Early glimpses suggest some of these tier set effects designed around Hero Talents seem incredibly powerful, meaning significant balancing and tuning will likely occur as the patch approaches release. The visuals are expected to be heavily themed around ethereal and void elements.

Are there any notable profession updates, particularly new potions?

Yes, Professions are seeing some updates in Patch 11.2. Players exploring K’aresh will find new raw materials. Interestingly, instead of many new recipes using these directly, vendors appear to exchange them for existing materials from previous Kaz Algar zones. Players can also expect to see a few new ones when it comes to potions! There’s a new healing potion that simply heals for a larger amount, designed to keep pace with players’ ever-increasing maximum health. The other new potion is the Umbra Essentia, which sounds very interesting. This potion allows a player to “slink into the darkness,” reducing the chance for enemies to detect them, and notably, it can be used in combat, providing a similar effect to the Night Elf’s Shadowmeld racial. Its known limitations are that it shares a combat potion cooldown and does not work in PvP combat. This aims to address various issues related to world-race stacking in competitive play. Blizzard is always looking to issue hotfixes that address various balance concerns and potentially make further adjustments to abilities and talents, sometimes including a small additional global cooldown on certain effects.

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