What is the Azerothian Archives event in WoW patch 10.2.5?

World of Warcraft‘s patch 10.2.5, which is now live, marks the beginning of Dragonflight‘s end as we start to look towards the next expansion, The War Within. Thanks to the recently published WoW 2024 roadmap, we know patch 10.2.5 will include epilogue story quests for Dragonflight that will also cover the Alliance’s effort to reclaim Gilneas and introduce the Azerothian Archives, a new Dragon Isles faction that’s also the namesake of a new event.

Want to know more about patch 10.2.5? Check out our guide to all of the major features in Dragonflight patch 10.2.5: Seeds of Renewal!

Introducing the Azerothian Archivists

There’s a breadcrumb quest called To The Archives! that doesn’t pop up immediately when you log in, but it can be easily found nailed to a pillar of the Roasted Ram Inn located in the middle of Valdrakken. This starts a questline that sends you to Algeth’ar Academy in Thaldraszus to meet Eadweard Dalyngriggle — the Lead Archivist of the Azerothian Archives — and his team of archivists. Completing the subsequent quests, specifically Technoscrying 101 and Excavation 101, familiarizes you with the different members of Eadweard’s team that you’ll work with, the story reasons behind their interest in Traitor’s Rest, the different mechanics and objects that you’ll encounter in the event, and most importantly, unlock Archivist world quests throughout the Dragon Isles.

Participating in the Azerothian Archives event

Alongside the world quests, Azerothian Archives has a public event called The Big Dig: Traitor’s Rest which happens in the Azure Span between Iskaara and Camp Antonidas. It’s marked on your map with a horn that has a timer counting down until the next event begins, like the other public events from prior Dragonflight patches. Eadweard is also located at the event site and will have the weekly quest “The Big Dig” for you to pick up.

Once the event starts, you’ll have 9 minutes to complete various tasks that Eadweard gives you, which take place entirely within Traitor’s Rest.  Each task is marked on your map and isn’t very difficult, ranging from separating rocks, identifying runes, and bringing crates and supplies to other members of the camps. When you complete these tasks you’ll learn more about each sites history and be rewarded with a new event currency called Mysterious Fragments that you’ll use at the Archives vendor. These tasks also reward pages that will fill a bar that has appeared at the top of your screen and, like other Dragonflight events, when you fill this bar with enough pages you can get one of nine different Tomes like Dusty Niffen Tome, the Preserved Dragonkin Tome, or Preserved Djaradin Tome that give more Archivist reputation and Mysterious Fragments.

The final task of the event is to slay Doomshadow, a two-headed shadowflame dragon, and when you do the event will conclude. The first week’s completion rewards 5000 Mysterious Fragments and 3000 Azerothian Archive reputation. After it ends, a four to five minute timer begins counting down until the event begins again.

Azerothian Archive rewards and achievements

Completing various achievements during the Azerothian Archives event uncovers the story of Traitor’s Rest and rewards you with new pets — Hap’he and Reese — as well as a new title “Isles Archivist.” When you’ve earned enough Mysterious Fragments you can visit Provisioner Aristta, the vendor for the Azerothian Archives, at Algeth’ar Academy and she’ll sell you different cosmetic items. Some of the cosmetics available she sells are based on the class you’re currently logged into while others are class-agnostic and can be bought if you have enough currency. Notably, she sells the new Explorer’s Stonehide Packbeast mount for 20,000 Mysterious Fragments.

If Archaeology is one of your favorite professions, or you just want to jump into some more story beats for patch 10.2.5, be sure to jump in and get familiar with the Azerothian Archives!

Originally published on December 28, 2023. Updated on January 16, 2024.