Patch 8.2 brings us to underwater Nazjatar to battle Azshara

Jeremy Feasel, Senior Game Designer for World of Warcraft, had the singular honor of announcing the next major content patch after 8.1 for Battle for Azeroth. During the Battle for Dazar’alor in 8.1 the war breaks out across Zandalar and Kul Tiras, with Alliance and Horde assaults on each land. While we are “licking our wounds” from that battle the Naga attack. Seeking to stop them, we follow a trail out into the ocean where a large crack is revealed. Entering the crack, we are transported to Nazjatar, the ancient land of the Naga and the home of Queen Azshara. As Feasel said, “This land hasn’t seen the light of day in over a thousand  years. There’s much to explore.”

We will stop in the “Ship’s Graveyard” and work our way towards the Eternal Palace, the home of Azshara herself. Along the way, as we’re doing new quests, we’ll be meeting new allies.

Horde will meet Sea Giants, Makura, and Gilbins — races which have been enslaved by the Naga. Alliance meet the new race on the far right of the screenshot above — a deep sea tribe which has been all but wiped out. They realize they cannot repopulate so they have dedicated their lives to killing as many Naga as possible. The Alliance will help them in this endeavor.

The goal for this land is to have a lot of repeatable content. They have taken design elements from Burning Crusades’ Auchindoun Area, and Mists of Pandaria’s Isle of Thunder, as examples, and applied what they learned to make something going on every time you log in. The story will be — they hope — vast and appealing.

The Old Gods will have influenced some of the weapons, mobs, and atmosphere in Nazjatar. We will meet elite Naga warriors and spellcasters. These will be evident in the raid for this Patch — Azshara’s Eternal Palace.

Perhaps there will be an underwater boss. As Feasel said, “We are really looking forward to your feedback about that encounter.”

As you would expect, there are a number of new rewards.

There is a crab mount and a new and improved sea horse mount. Notice where the saddle sits on the crab. It moves sideways. (Note: The pole arms on the far left are representative of the kind of design we will encounter in Nazjatar.)

But, folks, this is the absolute best reward — hands down.

When does all this arrive? Well, we have to go through Patch 8.1 and then 8.1.5. As soon as 8.1 is live, we can expect pieces of 8.2 to be up on the PTR. All of this content is creating a vibrant world with something to do every day you log in.