Taliesin and Evitel Play 8.2: New Information on Nazjatar, Mechagon and Mounts

PTR Posted 2019/04/11 at 2:12 PM by Neryssa

Taliesin and EvitelRise of Azshara Preview StreamEDIT (2:35pm PDT):

This Article is part of our Patch 8.2 Announcement Coverage

Liveblog of the 8.2 Content Preview Stream
Heart of Azeroth:
Heart of Azeroth System in Rise of Azshara
Heart of Azeroth Essences - All Revealed Major and Minor Powers
Theorycrafting Details about the Heart of Azeroth in Rise of Azshara from Sloot

Dungeons and Raids:

Mechagon Zone - Secrets and Exploration

Mounts - New Mounts, Mount Equipments, and Water Walking
Customizable Trinkets - Pocket-Sized Computational Device

Pathfinder Part 2 - Flying Unlock Requirements and Rewards

Rise of Azshara Community Interview Spotlight
Taliesin & Evitel Information - Nazjatar, Mechagon, and Mounts

How do you obtain those new essences? How do they work?
Did you enjoy the Blizzard 8.2 stream with Jeremy Feasil? Have questions? GOOD! We were invited to Blizz to playtest the upcoming PTR and spend literally hours quizzing Ion Hazzikostas and other devs about what's coming up. Join us as we tell you everything we know!

05:14 The new Heart of Azeroth system. Essences, how you get them, what they do, extra traits, how they play and how they will evolve. Is the new Azerite grind worthwhile? (also the new wheel mount)
17:25 The 8.2 release schedule. Time gating and when Mechagon, Nazjatar, the new dungeon and Azshara's Eternal Palace raid release dates. Also season 3 (and some more wheel mount)
20:55 Mechagon! The new zone with all the quests, rewards, characters, visitors, the rustbolt Rebellion and the punchcard trinket- the new Timeless Isle but with added warmode INSANITY (also we might mention the wheel mount)
33:30 Operation Mechagon! We played the new mythic dungeon too. We talk about the bosses and the new Azerite armor rewards
41:00 Nazjatar! What it's got and its unlock schedule. Also Pathfinder and how the the requirements will take (also the mechanical parrot mount)
43:10 The new mount equipment slots. How they work, why it will change and what the inflatable mount shoes mean for water striders.
50:34 Raid philosophy and difficulty
52:00 The UNDERWATER BOSS in Azshara's Eternal Palace! How it will work and why it will be good to be a druid.
57:40 The final boss of Battle for Azeroth and Azshara's Eternal Palace dungeon journal spoilers.
01:03:15 patch 8.2.5

Notes from the video:

Heart of Azeroth Revamp

The new essences essentially work as new talents that are unlocked with more Heart of Azeroth levels.
The new Heart of Azeroth essences were available for testing at their presentation - All essences were unlocked, and the first two slots were available.
Essences are obtained by huge rifts of Azerite that are opening all over Azeroth. You'll go around Azeroth closing these rifts and collecting essence for your Heart of Azeroth.
There is a major slot and a minor slot in your Heart of Azeroth, with another minor slot unlocked at Heart of Azeroth level 65.
You will receive small upgrades after unlocking your final Heart of Azeroth slot, as an incentive to keep leveling your necklace.
You can get essences from sources like rep grinding, PvP, Mythic+, Raids. Examples are you will get a level 1 Essence at Honored with a certain faction, level 2 at Revered, and level 3 at Exalted.
Raiding essences are obtained by completing Normal difficulties (level 1), part of Heroic (level 2) and finishing Heroic (level 3). Level 4 might take Cutting Edge and it basically adds a dramatic spell effect, with no further improvement to the ability itself.
Every essence you get works as both a Minor and Major effect, depending on which slot you apply the essence on.
Most of the Major Essence effects are new, on-use abilities, and are pretty spectacular.
There are essences that are neutral and work on all specializations, and healer/tank-centric essences.
Certain Essences can affect specific abilities, changing from class to class and role to role.
Lower level Essences are easy to collect - It is expected for players to have access to at least 6 Level 1 essences by the end of Week 1 of 8.2.
Azerite Traits on Azerite Armor are still a thing, with new exclusive traits for Nazjatar and Mechagon. You will not need more Heart of Azeroth levels to obtain these traits - Levels after 50 all go towards working on Essences on your Heart of Azeroth forge.

Mechagon

Mechagon is a little bigger than Timeless Isle, but not as vertical.
Mechagon has little to no timegating, working on the best elements of Timeless Isle.
At first in Mechagon, you will meet with a Prince that explains that his father, King Mechagon, has gone mad. Then, you're transported into a fortress that works as a hub for the zone.
Mechagon is really whimsical, with mechagnomes riding in circular vehicles. It has a lot of character.
The Mechagon reputation is the Rustbolt Rebellion, and all the dialogue with the faction is very gnomish. You can donate bits and bobs from mobs you kill in Mechagon.
After you complete the introduction quests to Mechagon, most quests are hand-ins with resources you obtain from mobs in the zone, like rares.
You will aim towards different rewards in Mechagon. Most of the 8.2 story will happen in Nazjatar, while Mechagon feels like a collect-a-thon zone.
The Mechano-Cat mount is one of the rewards from the grind in Mechagon. You can even customize your Mechano-Cat with stuff like painting their chassis different colors!
Visitors appear in Mechagon every day, offering quests for more grinding objectives within Mechagon.
Although Mechagon is not time-gated, the amount of grinding required to earn all rewards from the zone means you will not be able to earn everything it has to offer very quickly.
Mechagon has the most secrets per square inch in the game, according to Jeremy Feasel. There are some obvious secrets that are organically introduced, like a cave with a friendly trogg with pink bots who hates the color blue. You can get sprayed blue and go back to the trogg, who will now hate the color orange.
Mechagon is full of mini-puzzles.
You can receive missions to receive items like turrets that can be used to defeat enemies.
The more you play and grind Mechagon, the easier the zone becomes, in theory.
War Mode works the same in Mechagon. If you fight in the central hub, the neutral Mechagon guards will kick your ass, but anything goes everywhere else in Mechagon.
The main reason a lot of people will want to complete Mechagon is for the meta achievement. There are a lot of achievements to complete!
For raiders, you will want to work on the exclusive trinket. The Mechagon trinkets has 3 punch-card slots, that works like gems.
Some punch-cards will be created with schematics, or you can even pick up punch-cards in some places.
There are three colors of punch-cards, and 1 slot for each color on the trinket.
They can work as static stats like more Haste, to interesting effects.
Quests will not appear on the map, you will need to explore Mechagon to find new quests and objectives.
Even if you run out of stuff to do in a given day, you can just set out to grind mobs to collect bolts and pieces in Mechagon.
Actual rares with long spawn times are making a return in Mechagon, which gives even more of an incentive to grind.

Nazjatar

Nazjatar is not timegated - The entirety of the zone, sans Azshara raid, will be unlocked from Day 1.
Nazjatar is actually huge, and where most of the story is happening.
Mechagon and Nazjatar will be open on Day 1 of 8.2.
Nazjatar Raid and Mechagon Dungeon will open after the first few weeks of 8.2. Speculation is either 2 or 3 weeks after the beginning of 8.2.

Operation: Mechagon

Operation: Mechagon will have strategic bosses that can't just be zerged down. As there is little trash in the dungeon, the bosses need to be interesting to make up for it.
The second half of the dungeon is basically a gauntlet with little trash, but events like spinning blades and conveyor belts and flamethrowers.
There is a stealth section where you need to stand within vents to stay hidden, very reminiscent of the baskets in Suramar.
There is another section that works like a bullet hell, with lots of projectiles to dodge.
Operation: Mechagon should be treated as a 5-man raid, instead of just a dungeon.
Loot in Operation: Mechagon has a comparable ilvl to Mythic Karazhan, when the Legion dungeon was launched. It has a separate lockout, just like Karazhan.
Schematics for the punch-cards for the Mechagon trinket can drop from the dungeon. Some of those synchronize with certain Azerite traits you can get from Mechagon.

Pathfinder

Pathfinder Part 2 will require achievements and reputations from both Nazjatar and Mechagon.
They will be using the Legion Pathfinder as a model for BfA Pathfinder, which means it should take 2-3 weeks for an average player to unlock flying.
Flying will be enabled on all BfA outdoor zones, which includes Nazjatar and Mechagon.
The mechanical parrot is the reward for BfA Pathfinder Part 2.

Mount Equipment

Mount Equipments can be used on your mounts for additional effects.
Effects include immunity to daze effects, water walking and a parachute when dismounted from high altitudes.
Mount Equipments are made with crafting professions - Blacksmiths will likely create the anti-daze equipment, for example.
If you have a Water Strider mount, at the beginning of 8.2 you will receive a free water-walking equipment in the mail - The Inflatable Mount Shoes.
This is because Water Striders are losing their innate ability to waterwalk.
The mount equipment slot is universal - When you equip one, all your mounts will have that effect.
Adding a mount equipment over an existing equipment overwrites and destroys the last equipment, which means you will need to constantly buy new equipment if you want to use different effects.
If you can buy a Water Strider, the vendors for them will sell the waterwalk equipment at a greatly reduced price.
These effects are active starting at level 100.
Sky Golem's harvesting effects still work, but the mount equipment's effects won't work on it to compensate.
Vendor Mounts like the Grand Expedition Yak will receive the mount equipment's effects, as "no one really rides on them for real".
Class effects like Death Knight's Path of Frost stacks with mount equipments.
Ion has acknowledged that Water Striders will no longer work before level 100, and are working on a solution for this.

Azshara's Eternal Palace

Nazjatar will have an underwater boss. According to the dungeon journal, it is the second boss in the raid.
You will fight in a 3D setting, but there will be no mechanics that require you to know where your raid members are.
There are platforms where you can use your ground effects on. You can swim from platform to platform to keep hitting the boss. There will be gauntlet events when swimming from platform to platform, like the jellyfish from Shrine of the Storm.
The boss won't move, so it is easier to aim ground effects to hit the boss.
Swim speed is the same as running speed, but it obviously feels slower. Druids have a massive advantage in this fight thanks to their access to Aquatic Form.
The raid will be granted underwater breathing for this fight.
The final boss of BfA will be revealed at the end of Azshara's Eternal Palace.
There are hints of who the final boss will be on Azshara's dungeon journal.
One of the halfway bosses of Azshara's Eternal Palace is Lady Priscilla Ashvane.
Ashvane's initial model is of a massive sea giant. At one point, the sea giant shatters, and Ashvane will emerge from it with a much different form from her human self.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaliesinEvitel

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Comment by SnakeslickNot Fair. :( lolComment by ZerOrbitWatching this specifically to learn more about that circular bike mount.

Edit: Skip to 6:20 or read this comment.

Completing the Meta Achievement for Mechagon which basically means doing everything. It's worthy of the challenge!Comment by ganomexUNDERWATER BOSSComment by SoeroahDamn, so nothing about the island drop system v.vComment by GrimoraUNDERWATER BOSSComment by 1808749This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by aronkochWrong the water strider will loose his ability with These equiptment all mount will be able to walk over waterComment by 1808749This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by KesBulWrong the water strider will loose his ability with These equiptment all mount will be able to walk over waterComment by Drorithsome really interesting info!Comment by StackoBearRemovedComment by JosephcurwenIon has acknowledged that Water Striders will no longer work before level 100, and are working on a solution for this.Comment by AlixieDruid master race. BTW, will mount equipment slots work for druid travel forms?Comment by JosephcurwenRemovedComment by AuriusThis is because Water Striders are losing their innate ability to waterwalk.

RemovedComment by guitar92RemovedComment by fureeousIon has acknowledged that Water Striders will no longer work before level 100, and are working on a solution for this.Comment by WillowwhispRemovedComment by AesiriaI'm assuming Ashvane's going to look like Ursula from The Little Mermaid :PComment by SilverDragon234Aren't all bosses supposed to be fought on solid land?This is because Water Striders are losing their innate ability to waterwalk.