Blizzard has lifted the veil on World of Warcraft: The War Within's next major update, and it's a surprising sequel to the MMORPG's first expansion, as players journey to the shattered homeworld of the mysterious Ethereals.
Update 11.2, Ghosts of K'aresh, brings to mind the Legion expansion's Shadows of Argus update, which also took players to a destroyed planet that has long existed in the lore. In Ghosts of K'aresh, players will travel to the Ethereal former home in an effort to stop the resurrection of Dimensius, a powerful void-lord responsible for the destruction of K'aresh and who players may remember dispatching a fragment of as part of a lengthy quest chain in The Burning Crusade back in 2007. Turns out Dimensius wasn't defeated for good and is back in 11.2 with a major glow-up, sounding and looking far more like a world-destroying entity compared to their original oversized voidwalker look.
The Ethereals, strange energy beings who could be found throughout TBC's continent of Outland, have gone on to be a fan-favorite group within WoW's fantasy universe since their introduction close to two decades ago. More recently in The War Within, the Ethereals have had a larger role to play in the MMO's ongoing story of Xal'atath and her powerful void-infused artifact, the Dark Heart. Speaking with GameSpot, associate art director Tina Wang said the team enjoyed looking back at how the Ethereals have been represented in the past in order to inform the look and feel of Ghosts of K'aresh.
"We really love the old themes from Burning Crusade, the key Ethereal elements, the mana forges, the Eco-Domes, the glowing pink pipes," Wang said. "I think folks who remember and look back at the Ethereals fondly will see a lot of elements that they really connect with."
To help navigate K'aresh, players will gain a new upgradeable artifact cloak, the Reshii Wraps, that will allow players to "phase dive" into an energy form similar to that of the Ethereals. This lets players see the world through a new lens and will allow access to new activities on K'aresh like Warrants, where players will help track down special enemies for lucrative rewards. The Reshii Wraps will also be used for unique mechanics within the update's new endgame content. One example of using the Reshii Wraps given by lead encounter designer Taylor Sanders is how players in the new raid, Manaforge: Omega, will need to swap to their energy form in order to dodge a giant laser that could wipe out the group.
The Reshii Wraps will allow players to phase dive into an energy form to complete new activities.
Another major open-world activity coming as part of the update is called Ecological Succession. Players may remember the large Eco-Domes in TBC's Netherstorm region that helped to define the zone's look, where the Ethereals looked to create new, enclosed ecosystems amidst a backdrop of destruction. In Ghosts of K'aresh, players will get to go hands on and help manage their own Eco-Dome by partnering with the Broker Ve'nari, who will ask for players to retrieve plants and animals from older WoW zones to bring back to the Eco-Domes in an effort to kickstart life once more. It's part of the WoW's team's efforts to take advantage of the huge amount of content already within the MMO, Wang said.
Assistant lead quest designer Stephanie Yoon said progressing Ecological Succession and its storyline will take multiple weeks. It's a slow burn at first, Yoon said, as ecological change doesn't happen overnight. Over time, however, as players introduce new life and meet new characters, the Eco-Dome will change and the fruits of players' labors will become more obvious.
"When I first saw the end of Ecological Succession, I teared up," Yoon said. "So I hope it impacts players as much as it did me."
A new zone isn't complete without a new raid and dungeon, and 11.2 will have those too. The Manageforge: Omega raid will see players confronting Dimensius, who Blizzard described as the biggest raid boss in WoW history. How big, exactly? According to Blizzard, the new version of Dimensius is equivalent to the size of Stormwind itself.
"Players will be fighting against this void-lord, this being the size of Stormwind city, and they'll see him from different perspectives," Sanders said. "They'll be diving from thousands of feet away against lasers and thrown planets, and they'll also be fighting him up close and personal as he's smashing his fists down on the platform next to you that are the size of a school bus. It's going to be an epic encounter."
Ghosts of K'aresh's pink Eco-Domes will be a familiar site to those who played The Burning Crusade.
On the dungeon front, Eco-Dome Al'dani is a new three-boss instance, one where the dungeon's story will actually take place canonically after the events of the raid and dive into how the Ethereals are looking to sustain life on their home planet. For the more solo-minded players, there's a new Delve as well, one that will actually return adventurers to the Azure Vault in the Dragon Isles. Delves are additionally receiving new souls-like social functions like player ghosts, death markers, and the ability to leave messages for other Delvers to see.
Given that the update is all about the Ethereals and the Brokers, the Shadowlands mega-dungeon Tazavesh, the Veiled Market will return for The War Within Season 3's Mythic+ dungeon pool, split into two instances. Tazavesh will be joined by the new Eco-Dome Al'dani as well as Halls of Atonement from Shadowlands and four War Within instances. On the PvP side of the season, K'aresh itself will have a specific PvP zone, Vanquisher's Wake, earmarked for open-world PvP where players will be able to complete their weekly spark quest to earn rewards.
Blizzard hasn't yet revealed when WoW's Ghosts of K'aresh update will release, but it will likely be available for testing on the game's public test realm in the near future. As for what else is coming to WoW in 2025, Blizzard previously announced a Legion Remix event for later in the year, and players are hoping to see more of WoW's player housing system as well. In a recent WoW player housing hands-on preview, we said even in their currently early form, the possibilities offered by the game's housing decoration tools already feel endless.
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Update 11.2, Ghosts of K'aresh, brings to mind the Legion expansion's Shadows of Argus update, which also took players to a destroyed planet that has long existed in the lore. In Ghosts of K'aresh, players will travel to the Ethereal former home in an effort to stop the resurrection of Dimensius, a powerful void-lord responsible for the destruction of K'aresh and who players may remember dispatching a fragment of as part of a lengthy quest chain in The Burning Crusade back in 2007. Turns out Dimensius wasn't defeated for good and is back in 11.2 with a major glow-up, sounding and looking far more like a world-destroying entity compared to their original oversized voidwalker look.
The Ethereals, strange energy beings who could be found throughout TBC's continent of Outland, have gone on to be a fan-favorite group within WoW's fantasy universe since their introduction close to two decades ago. More recently in The War Within, the Ethereals have had a larger role to play in the MMO's ongoing story of Xal'atath and her powerful void-infused artifact, the Dark Heart. Speaking with GameSpot, associate art director Tina Wang said the team enjoyed looking back at how the Ethereals have been represented in the past in order to inform the look and feel of Ghosts of K'aresh.
"We really love the old themes from Burning Crusade, the key Ethereal elements, the mana forges, the Eco-Domes, the glowing pink pipes," Wang said. "I think folks who remember and look back at the Ethereals fondly will see a lot of elements that they really connect with."
To help navigate K'aresh, players will gain a new upgradeable artifact cloak, the Reshii Wraps, that will allow players to "phase dive" into an energy form similar to that of the Ethereals. This lets players see the world through a new lens and will allow access to new activities on K'aresh like Warrants, where players will help track down special enemies for lucrative rewards. The Reshii Wraps will also be used for unique mechanics within the update's new endgame content. One example of using the Reshii Wraps given by lead encounter designer Taylor Sanders is how players in the new raid, Manaforge: Omega, will need to swap to their energy form in order to dodge a giant laser that could wipe out the group.
The Reshii Wraps will allow players to phase dive into an energy form to complete new activities.
Another major open-world activity coming as part of the update is called Ecological Succession. Players may remember the large Eco-Domes in TBC's Netherstorm region that helped to define the zone's look, where the Ethereals looked to create new, enclosed ecosystems amidst a backdrop of destruction. In Ghosts of K'aresh, players will get to go hands on and help manage their own Eco-Dome by partnering with the Broker Ve'nari, who will ask for players to retrieve plants and animals from older WoW zones to bring back to the Eco-Domes in an effort to kickstart life once more. It's part of the WoW's team's efforts to take advantage of the huge amount of content already within the MMO, Wang said.
Assistant lead quest designer Stephanie Yoon said progressing Ecological Succession and its storyline will take multiple weeks. It's a slow burn at first, Yoon said, as ecological change doesn't happen overnight. Over time, however, as players introduce new life and meet new characters, the Eco-Dome will change and the fruits of players' labors will become more obvious.
"When I first saw the end of Ecological Succession, I teared up," Yoon said. "So I hope it impacts players as much as it did me."
A new zone isn't complete without a new raid and dungeon, and 11.2 will have those too. The Manageforge: Omega raid will see players confronting Dimensius, who Blizzard described as the biggest raid boss in WoW history. How big, exactly? According to Blizzard, the new version of Dimensius is equivalent to the size of Stormwind itself.
"Players will be fighting against this void-lord, this being the size of Stormwind city, and they'll see him from different perspectives," Sanders said. "They'll be diving from thousands of feet away against lasers and thrown planets, and they'll also be fighting him up close and personal as he's smashing his fists down on the platform next to you that are the size of a school bus. It's going to be an epic encounter."
Ghosts of K'aresh's pink Eco-Domes will be a familiar site to those who played The Burning Crusade.
On the dungeon front, Eco-Dome Al'dani is a new three-boss instance, one where the dungeon's story will actually take place canonically after the events of the raid and dive into how the Ethereals are looking to sustain life on their home planet. For the more solo-minded players, there's a new Delve as well, one that will actually return adventurers to the Azure Vault in the Dragon Isles. Delves are additionally receiving new souls-like social functions like player ghosts, death markers, and the ability to leave messages for other Delvers to see.
Given that the update is all about the Ethereals and the Brokers, the Shadowlands mega-dungeon Tazavesh, the Veiled Market will return for The War Within Season 3's Mythic+ dungeon pool, split into two instances. Tazavesh will be joined by the new Eco-Dome Al'dani as well as Halls of Atonement from Shadowlands and four War Within instances. On the PvP side of the season, K'aresh itself will have a specific PvP zone, Vanquisher's Wake, earmarked for open-world PvP where players will be able to complete their weekly spark quest to earn rewards.
Blizzard hasn't yet revealed when WoW's Ghosts of K'aresh update will release, but it will likely be available for testing on the game's public test realm in the near future. As for what else is coming to WoW in 2025, Blizzard previously announced a Legion Remix event for later in the year, and players are hoping to see more of WoW's player housing system as well. In a recent WoW player housing hands-on preview, we said even in their currently early form, the possibilities offered by the game's housing decoration tools already feel endless.
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