World of Warcraft: Shadowlands – Eternity’s End Content Update Now Live

Eternity’s End, the final content update for World of Warcraft’s Shadowlands expansion is now live, featuring new story missions, a new area to explore, some fresh group content, new ranked seasons, and more. Here’s the official launch trailer:

And a “Survival Guide” video:

Here’s a quick overview of the major new features:

NEW ZONE: ZERETH MORTIS

Zereth Mortis was created by the First Ones as a workshop to create afterlives. Its denizens—the automa—have built all that exists in the Shadowlands. It is a strange, otherworldly location that defies all concepts of reality or physics. The Jailer intends to use the secrets of Zereth Mortis to reshape reality and bend it to his malevolent will.

Completing various activities throughout the zone, such as map exploration, collecting hidden treasures, and finishing quest storylines will earn you an achievement, Unlocking the Secrets, that allows you to ride flying mounts in Zereth Mortis.

NEW FACTION: THE ENLIGHTENED

The Enlightened are brokers that arrived on Zereth Mortis a long time ago. They no longer see their world in a transactional manner, but instead they treat their dwelling as a sacred place, and hope to answer to a higher calling—the pursuit of knowledge. Find common ground with The Enlightened to succeed and defend Zereth Mortis.

DECODE THE CYPHER OF THE FIRST ONES

The automa of Zereth Mortis speak in a musical language that is incomprehensible to mortal races. Team up with a curious automa sidekick in this new progression system to learn the lost language of the Progenitors and delve deeper into the secrets of Zereth Mortis, unlocking an array of new zone activities, daily quests, events, and rewards.

PROTOFORM SYNTHESIS

The Forge of the Afterlives is a powerful instrument of creation, and all that remains of the First Ones. Just as it serves to create new realms for the Shadowlands, Synthesis Forges have been used to create the new entities that populate those realms. Now you’ll be able to use them to craft your own mounts and battle pets.

NEW RAID: SEPULCHER OF THE FIRST ONES

Deep in the Sepulcher of the First Ones lies the key to unlock the Jailer’s plans. Gather the power of the First Ones as you pursue Zovaal into the Sepulcher and fight through his forces—but first, you must face Anduin, and discover a way to resist the Jailer’s terrifying Domination magic.

Sepulcher of the First Ones will open its doors March 1 on Normal and Heroic difficulties, and March 8 on Mythic and Raid Finder (Wing 1) difficulties.

PROGENITOR CLASS ARMOR SET

Harness the power of the First Ones by collecting distinctive class armor sets via raids, PvP, or Mythic+ dungeons. The Progenitor armor set will grant your character new abilities based on your specialization, and includes a helm, shoulders, chest, gauntlets, and leggings with 2 set bonuses. The first set bonus is unlocked when two set pieces are equipped, and the second bonus is unlocked when four set pieces are equipped.

NEW BRAWL: SOLO SHUFFLE

The Solo Shuffle brawl pits six players (two healers, four damage dealers) against each other in exciting 3v3 Arena matches. As the name implies, you can only queue for this brawl solo. Play a series of short matches as teams are shuffled and earn rewards based on your performance.

NEW ARENA: MALDRAXXUS COLISEUM

For eons, the Necrolords of Maldraxxus honed their craft at the Maldraxxus Coliseum in the Theater of Pain. Now the Arena is open to any would-be challengers—and there’s no shortage of champions willing to test their mettle. Prove yourself worthy. Only the strong will survive.

SHADOWLANDS SEASON 3

Shadowlands Season 3 begins on March 1. With the new season, you’ll see increased item levels for rewards and new seasonal rewards. The new seasonal rewards for PvP include a new Arena title: “Cosmic Gladiator”, a new weapon illusion, new coloration of the Gladiator mount, and new Vicious mounts–Alliance and Horde themed Warstalker and Croaker.

The new seasonal Mythic+ dungeon affix is Encrypted: Enemies throughout the dungeon possess relics of the First Ones. Destroy the relics to summon the First Ones’ Automa and gain powerful bonuses, based on the order in which they were destroyed. New seasonal rewards for Mythic+ include the two new titles: “the Cryptic” and “the Cryptic Hero”, and a new coloration of the Mythic+ Deathwalker mount.

NEW ATTRACTION: DARKMOON DANCE COMPETITION

The Darkmoon Faire returns on March with a brand-new attraction, the Darkmoon Dance Competition! Put on your dancing shoes and head to the dance party to compete head-to-head against a rival dancer. Watch them carefully as they perform a series of stylish moves then try to match their routine without tripping over your feet.

NEW PETS, MOUNTS, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND MORE!

Then, you might also be interested in this VentureBeat interview with Blizzard’s Ion Hazzikostas and Sara Wons. Here’s a sample question:

GamesBeat: There’s this progression system here with the Cypher of the First Ones, but this one seems like it’s not corresponding to player power as much as we’ve seen with similar systems in the past. Does that represent another core change in design philosophy?

Hazzikostas: I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a core change. It’s more trying to support parallel paths of progression and different play styles, recognizing that there are a bunch of folks who love outdoor world gameplay. That’s what they do, their entire endgame. We hadn’t necessarily served them as well as dungeon players or competitive PvP players or raiders in the past. We wanted to take steps toward changing that. We set up a system that has a lot of depth, a lot of deep understanding of the zone, thoroughly integrated into the zone’s mechanics, as something for those explorers to really delve into.

But we understand, and we certainly heard loud and clear from the community, that if we put power that will increase your damage in a dungeon or damage in a raid behind a system, it now becomes mandatory, whether that’s gameplay you enjoy or not. And so having this as something that is, for hardcore power gamers, optional, but still deep in something they can take at their own pace, it’s something we’re trying to do to offer a range of options without pressuring people to play the game in a way they’d rather not.