Much like past World of Warcraft expansions, the upcoming Battle for Azeroth will be rendering certain older gameplay features obsolete, and in some cases removing them entirely. Now, Blizzard has detailed exactly how Battle for Azeroth’s pre-launch patch will be affecting the game world, and what players can do if they want to earn any soon-to-be-unobtainable rewards.
According to this new update post on the World of Warcraft website, players who have lapsed a little in their efforts to increase the strength of their Artifact Weapon (one of the standout features of the game’s most current expansion, Legion) will be able to instantly boost their weapon’s power to maximum effectiveness by visiting Magni Bronzebeard in Silithus. Artifact Weapons will be rendered obsolete when Battle for Azeroth launches, and their unique traits will cease to function when the upcoming pre-patch arrives, but in the meantime the added power should help in conquering some of Legion’s tougher challenges.
Speaking of which, the unique Artifact Weapon appearances that can be earned via the Broken Shore’s Mage Tower challenge will also no longer be available with the arrival of the pre-patch. To help players earn those appearances, the Mage Tower challenge will now be active indefinitely until the pre-patch launches.
When the pre-patch arrives, players will also no longer be able to complete the Ahead of the Curve: Argus the Unmaker (defeat Argus the Unmaker on Heroic Difficulty) and Cutting Edge: Argus the Unmaker (defeat Argus the Unmaker on Mythic difficulty) achievements for the Antorus, the Burning Throne raid. This also means that the Blood of a Titan quest (and its associated Violet Spellwing mount) will no longer be available, so players who want to complete those achievements should get moving if they haven’t done so already.
Lastly, since the First Aid secondary profession is being removed in Battle for Azeroth, all First Aid-related achievements will no longer be obtainable, so keep that in mind if you’re the sort of player who enjoys showing off your collection of no-longer-obtainable achievements. A release date for the Battle for Azeroth pre-patch hasn’t been announced as of this writing, but since Battle for Azeroth itself is scheduled to launch on August 14, the pre-patch is expected to arrive sometime in early-mid July.
For more of the latest RPG coverage, be sure to read about how CD Projekt Red will be doing a frame-by-frame analysis of the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer in a new blog series, and how Square Enix is still considering some sort of online component for Kingdom Hearts 3.