Battle for Azeroth: Azerite and the Heart of Azeroth

Blizzard Posted 2017/11/05 at 1:41 AM by Squishei

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BlizzCon 2017 Coverage

This Article is part of our BlizzCon 2017 Coverage.
If you are interested in knowing more about Battle for Azeroth Reveal, check one of the articles below

You can also see our full coverage in our Coverage Recap

Heart of Azeroth

You'll carry the Heart of Azeroth throughout the entire expansion. It is the new "Artifact Weapon".

The Heart of Azeroth is empowered by Azerite and will automatically absorb any nearby Azerite. No loss of bag space or time spent clicking!

Once the Heart of Azeroth absorbs enough Azerite, it can level up. Upon reaching certain levels, it will awaken some latent properties in another piece of gear.

Upgrading Gear

The current plan is that Helm, Shoulders and Chests will be able to be empowered by the Heart of Azeroth

Each of these pieces has 3 rings; each ring has multiple traits on it. When a ring is unlocked, players will be able to choose a single trait to learn.

The outer ring unlocks first and consists of 4 possible choices. The middle ring unlocks second and consists of 3 possible choices. The inner ring unlocks last and consists of 2 possible choices.

A piece with the same name will have the exact same layout of traits -- You'll be able to see it in the Dungeon Journal. No RNG!

However, higher item level pieces will have more powerful traits, but Azerite attuned pieces cannot titanforge.

Offensive traits will also be paired on the same ring as other offensive traits. Utility traits will always be paired on the same ring as other utility traits. This will create meaningful choices.

Once you choose a trait, the ring will rotate until your choice is at the top!

Magni Bronzebeard

"The King of Diamonds is made a pawn."
“Five keys to open our way. Five torches to light our path.”
“The Lord of Ravens will turn the key.”

the Black Empire postAzerite

As the suffers and bleeds due to the Horde and Alliance conflict, her life essence bleeds onto the surface and crystallizes in to a powerful substance called Azerite.

The Goblins and Gnomes have developed technology that allows players to determine which islands have Azerite on them and allows for the Island Expeditions feature.
Azerite can be found in nodes, chests, creatures, questgivers, powerful bosses and more!

Blizzard Blog

Blizzard

The Heart of AzerothIn the aftermath of the Legion’s assault on Azeroth, the world is teetering on the brink. As the Horde and the Alliance battle, the very essence of Azeroth is seeping out. It’s up to you to not only defend your faction, but to also defend Azeroth herself.Early on in Battle for Azeroth, Magni Bronzebeard will entrust you with a powerful artifact to wear around your neck throughout your journey: the Heart of Azeroth, which represents the hopes and dreams of the world.
Over the course of the expansion, you’ll encounter Azerite, an incredible new resource that’s appeared in the wake of the Legion’s demise. As you gather this substance, you’ll use it to empower the Heart of Azeroth. Unlike the artifact weapons that heroes wielded in Legion, the Heart of Azeroth is not itself an item that you will customize; instead, it will serve as a source of power that awakens latent properties of some other pieces of armor that you’ll wear throughout your adventures.Speaking of gear, we’ll also be performing another stat “squish,” like we did in Warlords of Draenor, to bring player health and damage numbers down to more comprehensible numbers without affecting players’ actual effectiveness against the foes around them.

Battle for Azeroth at BlizzCon 2017

Battle for Azeroth, World of Warcraft's next expansion was revealed!

6 Allied Races are being added in the expansion with custom appearances and special Heritage Armor sets.
We previewed the Lightforged Draenei and Highmountain Tauren races on the show floor.

Zandalari can be druids!

Dungeon Journal was available

The Design a Dungeon Boss panel also highlighted the Shrine of the Storm Dungeon.

class changes

We also found that Class Buffs are returning in the expansion, with one for every class (except Shamans).

We also looked at all the large Talent Changes and some classes got Artifact Traits available as Talents.

Blizzard discussed these topics in some interviews.

Wowhead's interview

An item level and stat squish update is coming in Battle for Azeroth.

Legendaries and Titanforging info was revealed, including no Titanforging on Azerite armor.

The Heart of Azeroth is empowered by Azerite and can empower latent energies in pieces of gear.

Island ExpeditionsKul Tiras and Zandalar

Check out more expansion art in the Art of WoW Panel.

Stormwind and Orgrimmar also received updates!

WarfrontsWarcraft Q&A

We learned increased default bagpack slots are on the way if you use an authenticator.

At the end of the Q&A we also learned that the Battle for Azeroth Beta Opt-In is now open.

coming in Patch 7.3.5

Zone Scaling and Leveling Improvements - all pre-Legion zones will now scale up to certain levels.

Ulduar Timewalking will be the second Timewalking raid, as part of the Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking Event.

previewed at the Opening Ceremony

The events of the cinematic were transformed into a record-setting diorama for the Battle of Lordaeron.

The novel Before the Storm covers the events leading up to the cinematic. The book cover was revealed and convention-goers received a copy of the Prologue.

We speculated on the Burning of Teldrassil which directly leads to the Battle for Lordaeron.

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Comment by wolfkenxI think this is a great change for legendaries because it shows they are listening to the player baseComment by aurora0081Looking forward to seeing how this works in the game.Comment by DefiasVanCleefBetter than the Weapons imoComment by toxicrusaderAs much as I liked artifacts, I don't dig into this medallion thing...

Don't know, but I just think they should go back to normal gear drops and maybe a few legendary quests like the ones from Dragonwrath and the Fangs of the Father.Comment by GreatBaalWanted : "Bear and beer"!Comment by nzaferIt almost reminds me of the mix of "choice" without randomness from the Netherlight crucible and Artifact progression system.Comment by dfirionOh boy..Here we go xDComment by ThorvasI find this progression system to be kinda disappointing. Its just the whole "Your armor has talent-trees" thing. It would have made more sense if we first consumed the power of our Artifacts to grant us a new version of our existing talent trees, and then use Azerite to empower it. Just have talent trees outside of armor and objects.

I wonder what kind of abilities we'll see though. I hope its more interesting than "Your lightning bolt deals X Increased damage"Comment by NehcromWill miss my old artifact weapon though, really loved not having to worry about getting a new or two new weapons. That being said really like how this is looking!Comment by VerzoInterested to see how this all turns outComment by SolidsnakeI am not sure how I feel about this new artifact and three key slot (Head, Shoulder, Chest) item enhancement system.Comment by forsakenknightsI cant wait to play this new expansion it looks awesomeComment by puttekulaI hope farming Azerite will not be the same as APgrind.Comment by firefreezer3I like the new scenarios, and this looks less annoying then the artifacts, but time will tell.Comment by paabo8282I'm glad of the "squish", but wary of the scenarios. I do like the way the ring traits pair up. Talent choice is an important part of role-play.Comment by Nithael014Glad to know we will automatically absorb Azerite instead of clicking or so. Though on the Q&A section it was answered that "knowledge will now do something like reduce the required Azerite for an unlock instead of requiring trillions of AP" but in the end isn't it all the same as APgrind? :p Just maybe in a different way.Comment by JeremySOh, another AP Azurite grind incoming..tho looks like since MoP - there always should be a n upgradably"legendary" and since Legion "parallel" talent tree.Comment by scottypokemonThis new upgrade system looks cool.Comment by KivolsonDiet artifact. EasyComment by SayerelI really hope this doesn't become as grindy as artifact power was and they learned from that mistake. This is an interesting revamp of the Netherlight Crucible it seems.

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