The next major patch of World of Warcraft signals the end of the artifact weapons. What will happen to them and the Legendaries has now been revealed.
The artifact weapons have become dear to the players of World of Warcraft in recent months. The cool effects, the strong properties, and of course the ability of the artifact weapon itself is an important element of Legion.
But before all players embark on the next expansion “Battle for Azeroth”, they will sacrifice their artifact weapons. This is necessary to tame the corruption that Azeroth has sustained due to the attack by Sargeras.
But what exactly will happen to the artifact weapons when that occurs? Game Director Ion Hazzikostas revealed this in the developer Q&A last Thursday.
Artifact weapons lose their traits
With the launch of patch 8.0, the artifact power will be “bled out” from our weapons. This means that all “talents” (traits) of the artifact weapon will no longer function. However, the weapon itself will remain, as will the built-in relics – it can still be used for combat.
It was not clarified whether this means that raiding in the transition phase of patch 8.0 will be nearly impossible due to the lack of weapon talents.
Subsequently, the weapons will then be replaced in Battle for Azeroth – essentially exchanged for the next best quest reward. After all, from the story perspective, our weapon has lost all power.
The fate of the legendary items
The situation looks a bit better for Legendaries. They neither lose their power nor their properties and can thus be used for leveling in Battle for Azeroth. Most classes should get a clear speed boost from this, at least at the early levels.
Sooner or later, however, the Legendaries – like all armor – will be replaced because the current item level of 1000 is of little value at level 120.
A particularly cool effect occurs with classes that are revised during Battle for Azeroth. Some additional effects of legendary items will become a permanent part of the classes or be transformed into a talent. If players choose this talent and wear the corresponding Legendary, the effects will stack!
This is likely to create many fun moments during leveling when Legendary and talent trigger simultaneously and simply pulverize an enemy …
What do you think about losing the artifact weapons? Is it good that the traits are first deactivated as a “transition phase”?
Have you seen that there will soon be many more character slots?
