This Week in Warcraft: A Comprehensive Guide to What's New and What's Next

Welcome to another exciting week in Warcraft, where updates, fixes, and new content continue to shape the experience for players around the globe. From raid finder loot highlights to guild updates, there's plenty to cover. This guide will walk you through the key highlights of the week, ensuring you're well-prepared to tackle the latest in Azeroth.

Raid Finder Loot and Rankings

The race to world-first continues to be a thrilling aspect of the game, with players pushing to conquer new challenges and secure top spots. This week's hotfixes have brought changes to Mythic Plus dungeons, specifically targeting the Necrotic Wake and City of Threads. Bosses in these dungeons will now deal less damage, a welcome change following a challenging tyrannical week. This should make the upcoming week a bit more manageable for players tackling sub-10 keys.

Class Tuning Updates

Blizzard has implemented several tuning changes that affect a variety of classes:

Death Knight: The Riders of the Apocalypse will experience a slightly faster pace with changes to their slow abilities.
Druid: Feral Druids will enjoy more consistent AoE range, while Restoration Druids receive a 4% increase in healing output.
Hunter (Beast Mastery): Expect a boost in AoE damage.
Mage: Fire Mage AoE and Frost Mage single-target damage have been increased.
Shadow Priest: A 4% damage increase will make these priests even more formidable.

If your class or spec wasn't mentioned, don't worry—Blizzard continues to monitor balance and may address other classes in future updates.

The Great Vault and World Content

The Great Vault remains a cornerstone of gearing strategy in Warcraft. This week marks the availability of the second Great Vault, offering rewards based on your completed activities. Whether you're focused on raids, dungeons, or world content like delves, the Vault provides gear that reflects your efforts.

World activities play a significant role in filling out the Vault's options. Special assignments such as the Theater Troop and tier one delves contribute to your rewards. While the first box in the Vault will reflect the lowest level activity completed, pushing for higher-tier delves can significantly improve the gear you receive.

Guild Banks and Item Recovery

Recent updates have addressed issues with Guild Banks, ensuring that items are no longer at risk of being lost. Unfortunately, some items couldn't be recovered, affecting players who lost rare transmogs and other valuable items. This situation highlights the importance of maintaining item security in such a long-standing game.

Upcoming Content and Events

North American players should prepare for a minimum 3-hour maintenance period, after which the third and final wing of Rinder will open. The last two bosses will drop both Weather and Carved Crests, essential for upgrading gear. Additionally, players can look forward to valuable loot, including tier tokens and trinkets, from these bosses.

The introduction of story mode difficulty is also noteworthy, with players needing to complete certain quests to unlock it. Feedback from the community may lead to changes in how this feature interacts with war bands.

Brewfest and Other Events

Brewfest brings new cosmetics and activities, including the Home Brewer's Sampling Mantle, which can be purchased for 200 tokens. Players can also participate in the Dire Brew event for basic gear and a chance at a mount. Meanwhile, the Battleground bonus event is active, featuring the Temple of Hotmogu as the brawl for the week.

Mythic Plus and Seasonal Changes

The first week of updates in the Mythic Plus world has seen mixed reactions. Players are learning to navigate new affixes and mechanics, such as Void Bound and Devour, which add layers of strategy and challenge. The community is still adjusting, and future weeks will provide more insights into the state of Mythic Plus.

Lastly, the Season of Discovery 5 begins this week, offering fresh content and challenges for dedicated fans.