With Patch 8.1, the island expeditions of World of Warcraft are set to become more exciting. We take a look at what Blizzard wants to change.
Island expeditions in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth divide the player base into two camps. Some enjoy the expeditions, while others find them too monotonous and boring. To convince the skeptics, Blizzard wants to make some changes to the island expeditions with Patch 8.1 Tides of Vengeance.
New spawn behavior on the islands: There will be more “open spaces” on the islands. This means that enemies will more often cluster in small camps, and there will be opportunities to slip by unseen between these camps. This is intended to help alleviate the issue of players dragging an enemy with them every five meters that they didn’t want to engage.
Completely new islands: With Patch 8.1, there will be two entirely new islands, Jorundall and Havenswood. Havenswood will visually resemble Gilneas and will primarily showcase buildings and even parts of a castle. Jorundall sounds more like a region of the Vrykul. This should bring some variety since most islands are otherwise rather “wild and exotic.”
New events: Lastly, there will also be new ways to collect Azerite that are a bit more dynamic and interactive than just running around and gathering enemies.
For example, one can find and capture an Azerite extractor. As long as it is under the control of one’s faction, it continuously gathers Azerite. However, the opposing faction can take over the extractor and secure the bonuses for themselves. One should always check to see if everything is still functioning.
Another example is the “Holdouts.” Here, players must protect an NPC or device from incoming waves of enemies. In PvP mode, this would be the perfect opportunity to annihilate enemies in their position.
Additionally, Hazzikostas also mentioned “general tuning and improvement of the reward system,” but did not provide any specific details.
Some changes are already live, because:
Do you think these changes are enough to make the island expeditions more popular? Or will you never be able to warm up to this content?
You can find all information about Patch 8.1 Tides of Vengeance in our comprehensive overview.
