Patch 8.3 of World of Warcraft is almost here. We will tell you how to prepare for this update to make sure you don’t miss anything important.
The year 2020 is approaching, and for fans of World of Warcraft, there should soon be a pleasing announcement. Patch 8.3: Visions of N’Zoth is on its way and will be released on January 15. However, this update brings some new features and changes that one should prepare for thoroughly to not fall behind on release day. We will tell you how to optimally prepare for Patch 8.3 and what points you should keep in mind.
1. Preparations through reputation unlocks
With Patch 8.3, there are a few new unlockable features. These include Vulpera as a allied race for the Horde or the Mechagnomes as an allied race of the Alliance – the Vulpera are even quite useful. Those who want to start with these two races right from the start should have their reputation with both factions pushed to exalted already.
This is currently particularly easy because the 15th anniversary of WoW is ongoing, granting 15% additional reputation points.
Pre-order buyers of “Shadowlands” can create Death Knights of the allied races and Pandaren with the next patch – if the respective races are unlocked. Therefore, those who plan to start a Death Knight should unlock the corresponding race now.
Lastly, new legacy armor for Goblins and Worgen is also coming. For this unlock, a character of the respective race and exalted reputation with their home faction is required. But thanks to the tabards of Gilneas or the Bilgewater Cartel, this can be done very quickly.
2. Catching up Twinks – now or never
If you want to play a new character class in endgame with Patch 8.3, you should ideally level your character to 120 right now. Currently, there is not only a 15% XP buff from the birthday event, but also on the battleground “Korrak’s Revenge”, where players receive XP automatically every few minutes – finishing the battleground even grants a whole level-up depending on your level.
Leveling Twinks has not been as easy as it is right now for a long time. Anyone who misses this opportunity is just making a mistake.
3. “Bunkering” Artifact Power to have a head start
With Patch 8.3, it is once again possible to improve the Heart of Azeroth through Artifact Power and level it beyond level 70. For those who want to have a slight advantage here, should farm reputation with the current factions until they can pick up a Paragon Chest. However, this should not be picked up yet, but instead wait until the patch release. This way, a hefty chunk of Artifact Power is waiting, which would otherwise expire.
Ultimately, this method is probably interesting primarily for hardcore players who need every little percentage of advantage. As a “normal player,” it hardly matters whether you lag behind with the Heart of Azeroth by 1 or 2 levels.
4. Spend Titan Residuum beforehand
If you want to have the best Azerite items, you need a lot of Titan Residuum. In previous patches, large amounts of it could already be collected in advance to spend it with the release of the update. However, that is not the case this time.
The release of Patch 8.3 will convert all your collected Titan Residuum to silver, making all players start again from zero. Blizzard seizes the opportunity to shrink Titan Residuum back to a healthy value, ensuring that numbers don’t reach into the hundreds of thousands.
So: Spend your Titan Residuum now and buy the items you want. Later, this will no longer be possible.
5. Island Expeditions: Save your Doubloons
Even a year after the release of Battle for Azeroth, Island Expeditions are still a controversial feature. However, the developers have listened and already adjusted some things so that collecting transmog items, mounts, and toys will be easier in the future.
With Patch 8.3, it is possible to specifically purchase “Loot Boxes” for Doubloons. The boxes contain a selection of rewards from certain species that would otherwise be awarded at the end of an island. So, if someone wants the pirate parrot mount, they can spend their Doubloons on pirate loot boxes and possibly get it with a bit of luck.
If you want to flood the market with many transmog items, you should start hoarding Doubloons now to be able to spend them immediately upon the release of Patch 8.3.
6. Save resources to make big money
Unlike ordinary “end patches” of an expansion, Patch 8.3 Visions of N’Zoth comes without its own resources. This means that the current endgame resources, which were collected in Nazjatar, will still hold great significance in Patch 8.3. They are needed to craft equipment up to an item level of 470.
The demand for crafting materials such as Zin’anthid or Osmenite ore will surely rise, and in the first weeks, outrageous amounts will likely be required for them. So, if you want to make a little extra income, you should start accumulating these resources now to satisfy the large demand upon the patch launch.
7. Legendary transmogs are finally coming – get them now
After many years, Blizzard is loosening a rule that has bothered transmog fans. With Patch 8.3, it will be possible to use legendary weapons like Thunderfury, Thori’dal, or Val’anyr as a transmog template for your class.
Now is the perfect time to complete the legendary quests or visit old raids one more time to farm these legendary weapons.
Will you take some aspects of this list into consideration? Or what else will you do before Patch 8.3?
