news

Greetings, BFA players!
If you're longing for information regarding the state of development on Sethraliss, this news is for you. If you occasionally (or regularly, we don't judge) play PVP, you might also enjoy to hear that we made some fixes & additions recently.
Since those will be quicker to cover, we'll start with them; then in the second part of the post we will cover everything that is currently being worked on and planned for BFA, including some broad ETAs. And before you ask, yes Island Expeditions are coming shortly! Read more about them, and a lot of other contents below.

But first, let's dive in with some already applied stuff!
 

RECENT PVP FIXES

Several of our developers have been working on adding some nice stuff related to PVP recently. Here is the list:

• An Arena Replay NPC has been added ! Its name is Jazdaqat (it has a Valkyr appearance) and is located in 4 different places: Durotar (in front of Orgrimar) / Elwynn Forest (in front of Stormwind) / Hook Point (in Boralus Harbor) / Mugambala (in Zandalar). When talking to Jazdaqat, you will have the possibility to select a bracket (2v2 or 3v3) then a player from the top 32 of this bracket, one of his 32 last matches, and finally a character from the match to watch the replay from his point of view. Use this to learn from the best and laugh at epic fails!
• Rated BGs are finally working! After nearly a year, you can now embark on 10v10 battles, with 'rated' rewards (this is better than regular BGs, check it out!)
• The Enlistment Bonus has been added! Before queuing for regular BGs or Brawl, if your faction is outnumbered (counting players already in BG in queue) you will get a bonus to your honor and Azerite Power gains. As for Epic Battlegrounds, they always have the "call to arms" bonus, doubling your rewards! Come fight for your faction, now is the time more than ever!
• Queue Status display has been added: when you're in queue, you can now see how many players are currently queuing, as well as how many players are already playing the mode you're queuing in. Pretty convenient!

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

With the release of the Mythic Mode of the raid 'Battle of Dazar'Alor', it's a pretty big chapter of BFA that's closing. Therefore, you're probably wondering what's planned - and when you can expect it - for the future of Sethraliss: as we explained in our 8.2 client update post, we plan on following the normal order of content release. BoD was the end of 8.1 content, thus we're now looking at 8.1.5 patch content. Once this is done, we'll get to 8.2 patch content, pretty straightforward! In details, here is how things are looking so far, with estimated times added (bear in mind that they could fluctuate as time goes by, but we plan on doing those roadmaps frequently to keep you posted):

8.1.5 CONTENT - ETA 3/4 WEEKS:

• Crucible of Storms: Similar to Trial of Valor from Legion in size (this one only has 2 bosses), this raid will make you uncover the secret that lies beneath Shrine of the Storm... Currently under testing by our Quality Assurance team, it will be released in LFR, NM & HM difficulties. Its Mythic Mode will then be released around a month later, as we did for BoD. There are no azerite armors to loot there, but all the other pieces have special effects, reflecting the Old Gods' unstable power: great benefits don't come without drawbacks! The Intro questline will also be fully scripted, but not mandatory to access the raid.
• War Campaign: you will continue where you left of, and will make a shocking discovery... Also, Lady Jaina Proudmoore will be reunited with someone she hasn't seen in ages.

8.2.0 CONTENT - ETA JUNE:

• Nazjatar: All the intro questline is scripted, and testing will begin shortly. A developper has started working on the daily quests & the Bodyguard system. Once this is scripted, World Quest will be worked on, and finally the events of the zone: not all events might be available right on release, but the missing ones will be added bit by bit as they're scripted. All the rest, up to World Quests will be there though!
• Essence System: Your Heart of Azeroth will receive a new type of customization! You will receive your first essence during Nazjatar's intro questline, and 4 different questline "steps" will also be available on release, each of them requiring a higher level of your heart of Azeroth: at the moment, 2 out of those 4 have been scripted, and tests have started. Every way of unlocking essences will be scripted on release: PVP, PVE, questing, etc.
• Eternal Palace: This is the 8.2 Raid, featuring 8 bosses and Queen Azshara. The first boss has been scripted, tests will start once CoS is shipped to live. Our PVE dev team that worked on BoD is currently fixing issues & ensuring that it's in a good state, but they will soon switch to EP in order to start scripting the rest of the bosses. The first wing of the raid will ideally be released at the same time as the rest of the 8.2 content, if not then just a tiny bit after. After that, one wing will be released every 4-5 weeks as it was the case for BoD.
• Mechagon: 5 out of the 8 dungeon bosses have been scripted, zone development will start shortly but we're still not sure if it will be ready for the 8.2 content release. If not, it will be released a bit later.
• New Season: In PVP, the Notorious Gladiator season will start, while in Mythic a new affix will replace Reaping: Beguiling!

ISLAND EXPEDITIONS:

They are still under development, and undergoing testings, but things are looking good (understand really close to being released). We apologize for the time it took for them to be released, some unforeseeable events didn't help. A developer is still working full time on them, and tests are done every week: 3 islands are nearly ready while the others are still in a more "raw" state:

As a reminder, our Quality Assurance team could use your help: as you can see, there are a lot of content / systems to test!
Whether you're more familiar with raids, dungeons, questlines, professions, or classes, you can help us improve the server! You can send your application here (in English) and if you have questions, feel free to ask any admin on discord, or any BFA QA directly.

Thanks for your time, and we hope this cleared a few of the questions you might have had! We'll do our best to answer some additional ones in the comments below.
The Firestorm Team.