Argus quests and Netherlight Crucible will be time-gated

In patch 7.3, the introductory quests on Argus will be time-gated. However, it won’t be time-gated for too long — you’ll basically have everything done in the second week after release, with the Netherlight Crucible unlocked on day 14.

The devs learned from the Broken Shore quests, when everyone logged on before raid and had to hurry through the questline in order to unlock the new traits as fast as possible. Rather than experiencing the quests and natural progression of the story, players rushed through the content to unlock the gameplay system.

Another reason for the gating is that there are several big lore moments in 7.3. Going from these huge reveals to immediately collecting random leaves or investigating a minor area is kind of jarring. There are natural stopping points in the story that allow a slight pause between first two weeks. If all five chapters were available on day 1, the story gets kind of jumbled and there are multiple things competing for your attention. Gating the quests over two weeks allows players to progress through the story without being rushed, and then immediately unlock the needed systems as soon as they log in on the third week.

Argus schedule:

• Day 1 (patch day): Play through the first two chapters on Argus, which unlocks world quests on Krokuun and Antoran Wastes and unlocks the currency vendor, reputation for the new faction, and Argus emissaries.
• Day 7 (second week): Chapters 3 and 4 in Mac’Aree, opens access to invasion points and world quests there.
• Day 14 (third week): 5th chapter, unlock the Netherlight Crucible and Seat of the Triumvirate, the new dungeon.