Of Heroes and Monsters

Heroes!

As the Burning Crusade approaches, champions the world over have expressed an interest in the dangerous PvE encounters that they’ll face in Outland. TBC is packed with chances to test your strength against these evils, and this in-depth article will expand on what you can look forward to when you step through the Dark Portal:

Overview:

1. 16 Normal Dungeons
   1. To conquer both while you level and when you're 70
2. 16 Heroic Dungeons
   1. Custom Tuned
   2. Released in batches starting on August 23rd
      1. Heroic Dungeons release one 'zone' at a time every day after the 23rd
         (Hellfire, Coilfang, Auchindoun, etc.)
3. 8 Raids; 3 difficulties each released over the course of the expansion
   1. New never-before-seen mechanics!
   2. Flex (Accessible, New Mechanics, but not as unanimously easy as Vanilla Flex)
   3. 10 Man Heroic (Fierce and difficult new Mechanics)
   4. 25 Man Heroic (Fierce and difficult new Mechanics)
   5. Competitive Raiding:
      1. Unique Titles, Pets, and Mounts for Heroic Completion and World First
      2. Enter the Hall of Fame for World Firsts on the Ascension Website
   6. Raider's Commendations
      1. Though TBC won’t release with Raider’s Commendations, they may be added later in the expansion as a catchup mechanic.
4. Mythic+
   1. In development and planned for as a major content updating sometime during the Expansion
5. Call Boards
   1. Hundreds of Call Board Quests planned to be introducing during the expansion
   2. Professions
   3. Open World Content
   4. Heroic Daily Dungeons
   5. Weekly Raids
   6. Faction Leaders

Normal Dungeons

As you adventure through Outland, slaying monsters and gaining levels, one of the first challenges you’ll encounter is normal dungeons. These classic dungeons can be accessed as early as level 58, and will be your first chance to grab rare TBC loot to start powering up your Hero. There are 16 Normal Dungeons in Outland for you to conquer, and as you travel from zone to zone, you’ll be able to grab your allies and take them down for some great rewards.

Dungeons:

• Hellfire Citadel: 
  • Hellfire Ramparts
  • Blood Furnace
  • Shattered Halls
• Coilfang Reservoir: 
  • The Slave Pens
  • the Underbog
  • Steamvault
• Auchindoun: 
  • Auchenai Crypts
  • Sethekk Halls
  • Mana Tombs
  • Shadow Labyrinth
• Caverns of Time: 
  • Old Hillsbrad Foothills
  • the Black Morass
• Tempest Keep:
  • Arcatraz 
  • Mechanar 
  • Botanica
• Isle of Quel’danas: 
  • Magister’s Terrace (Releases with the Isle of Quel’Danas Patch later in the Expansion)

Heroic Dungeons

In addition to their normal versions, each of the 16 TBC dungeons has their own custom-tuned HEROIC version. Heroic Dungeons are upgraded from their standard TBC versions, and will offer a real challenge to groups of classless Heroes. These dungeons have been hand-polished, built for Classless TBC, and will serve as opportunities to gear up, pit your build against dangerous foes, and prepare for the dangers ahead.

Heroic Dungeons will release in batches (one zone, 2-4 dungeons at a time) starting August 23rd: a couple days after launch. In this way, Heroes will have the chance to focus on the content, getting the gear they need and the reputation they need to access the heroic keys while progressing towards the next release.

Call Board Quests

Hundreds of Call Board quests for both Professions and Open World content are hitting the scene in TBC to offer Heroes additional chances to snag Call Board rewards. The Burning Crusade has an immensely more interactive Crafting System and a much more Dynamic Open World that we look forward to exploring with these Quests.

These new quests will see Heroes adventuring through Outland, taking down specific foes or crafting rare gear and items to encourage trading and market fluidity, and completing these quests (or crafting the materials for other Heroes) will offer great rewards.

Lootboxes have been scaled back and refined based on the Community Feedback. Lootboxes from Call Boards in TBC served to really inflate the amount of unnecessary gear and were too RNG to be a productive reliable means of gearing. The pacing of Burning Crusade as a core really, diminishes the need for catch-up mechanics so heavy handed. 

Marks of Ascension will now see their use on Freepick as a means to obtain Mysterious Scrolls. Mysterious Scrolls upon use will unlock a random Epic or Legendary Enchant to your collection. These quests will be available on Khadgar as Daily and/or Weekly and or weekly quests. This will allow you to unlock Epics and Legendaries more reliably now that there are many times more enchants on the altar.

The reliance on this new use of Marks of Ascension will ensure Call Boards are still rewarding.

Call Boards will now award 10x the prior amount of Mystic Runes to allow you to roll through the altar more readily. Mystic Orbs will still be awarded from these quests as well!

Raiding Overview

The ultimate PvE challenge lies in Raids, Heroes! Ascension TBC brings 8 new raids with 3 difficulties each over course of the expansion for you to conquer. These raids have been outfitted with custom new, never before seen mechanics to give some fresh polish to the encounters you know and love. The focus on TBC raiding has really pivoted towards expanding on the existing encounter with clear, visually robust new mechanics, that the community can clearly distinguish as a novel Ascension addition.

Additionally, the different difficulty ratings will ensure that all players have a chance to face these incredible challenges. 

Raids: (Flex, 10 Man Heroic, 25 Man Heroic)

• Karazhan
• Gruul’s Lair
• Magtheridon’s Lair
• Serpentshrine Cavern
• The Eye
• The Battle for Mount Hyjal
• Black Temple
• Sunwell Plateau
• Flex Raiding: Raid with anywhere from 10-25 Heroes, Flex Raiding allows players to jump into a raid with a wide tolerance of players. Flex Raiding in TBC has been tuned to offer a slightly more difficult challenge than what was seen in Vanilla. Though Flex will still be accessible to everyone, it will be a more difficult battle than in Vanilla, so build your raid accordingly and bring your best to Flex Raids!
• Heroic Raiding: Available in both 10man and 25man, Heroic Raidings are finely tuned challenges with new, never before seen custom boss mechanics that will push your Guild to the limit. Heroic Raids are expressly for the elite, and have been designed with both competitive raiding and constant challenge in mind. Guilds hoping to succeed in these incredible trials will need to use both teamwork and the full breadth of their classless Hero’s capabilities. Should you meet the challenge, you’ll be rewarded with unique mounts, pets, and titles for your accomplishments in these heroic modes.
• Guilds who claim World Firsts in Heroics will become immortalized in the Hall of Fame, a new section of Ascension’s Website specifically devoted to the most Legendary Heroes on Ascension. 

Burning Crusade Raiders Commendations

• Raider’s Commendations

Raider’s Commendations are a unique Ascension currency that Heroes acquire for boss kills in raids. Once they’ve defeated the final boss of a Raid, Heroes can spend their commendations to purchase gear from that raid! 

Raider’s Commendations acted as an effective catch-up mechanic for Vanilla. Given the pacing of TBC, presence of Badges of Justice, and sentiment of the community the Burning Crusade won’t release with Raider’s Commendations. When and if we do release this mechanic, they will be a unique Commendation different than the ones obtained in Vanilla.

Note: Make sure to record videos of your boss encounters with time stamps to be validated for Ascension World Firsts. The competition will be fierce, and only clear, unobscured video footage will qualify you for the rewards and prestige that come from snagging World First Achievements!

Mythic+

Mythic+ mode is in development for Ascension’s Burning Crusade! This mode will see you using and combining various Keystones to give your Dungeons incredible new levels of difficulty. Every keystone has a unique effect, hand-crafted for Ascension and ready to add supreme challenge to your adventures.

Mythic+ is slated to appear in a future major update during Burning Crusade expansion. When it does, Heroes can look forward to utilizing dozens of powerful Keystones and using their effects to add unique gameplay, interesting twists, and incredible challenge to their Dungeon runs.