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Greetings everyone !

Let's start by doing a little recap: Oribos, our Shadowlands realm has been released for 3 weeks now, and things have been looking great. We've continued to apply fixes and script things ever since the 20th of December, but nothing major has been hindering player's experience so far.

This time has been valuable to us, as we didn't want to release the major content (Mythic , rated PVP and the raid) without making sure it would be in the best possible state while at the same time not making wait too much. For the past weeks you've been able to experience the new leveling system, the Shadowlands questline, Torghast, dungeons and a lot of cool features. That being said we're aware of the limits those have, and we can now safely add new content for your to enjoy !

On Monday January 17th 10:00AM Server Time, we'll be starting the Season 1 of Shadowlands, which include the Mythic mode for dungeons, rated PVP, but also the release of the first wing of Castle Nathria in LFR, NM and HM difficulties alongside the weekly chest: The Great Vault. 2 New World Bosses will also be added in rotation (1 will be available each week) that loot 207 ilvl gear: Mortanis and Oranomonos the Everbranching. Finally, we have a full rework of the Battleground system, which you can read about below !

On top of that, at the same time Boris will also be returning to our servers for a full week to offer a free boost to the max lvl (50 on Oribos) to get you started or help you get a new alt !

Feeling excited ? Let's see a bit more in depth what this release includes !

THE GREAT VAULT 

Let's start by looking into the Great Vault, Shadowlands' new weekly chest system.
Back on Battle for Azeroth you were used to 2 different chests: a weekly Mythic and a weekly PVP one. The gear contained in both was random, which means you could get an unnecessary piece several weeks in a row.

On Shadowlands, this frustrating system got changed: there is now only 1 chest, that can contain up to 9 gear proposals unlocked through Mythic , PVP and Raiding. When you open your vault located in Oribos, you will be able to select the piece of gear that you like best among the ones which are proposed to you, making it far more efficient: the more activities you complete the higher the chances of you getting that BIS item you're missing ! Here is how you unlock the different gear proposals:

• In Raid: You will have to kill a certain number of different raid bosses: 3 to get the first proposal, 6 for the second and 9 for the third. Killing the same boss in a different difficulty won't count, and the ilvl of the gear will depend on the highest difficulty in which you slained the required number of bosses. If you kill 4 bosses in HM and 2 in NM, all of them being different ones the first proposal will be HM ilvl, and the second one NM ilvl. At the time of the update, since only 3 bosses will be available you will only be able to unlock the first proposal for the Raid category.
   
• In Mythic : You will have to complete a certain number of Mythic runs: 1 to get the first proposal, 4 to get the second and 10 to get the third. The ilvl of the gear will be determined by the lowest level of your top 1, 4 and 10 dungeons of the week. Let's take an example and consider you ran 10 dungeons successfuly at those key levels: 14-13-11-11-9-7-7-7-7-2: you therefore unlocked all 3 proposals, the first on being based on the 14 key, the second one on the 11 key and the third one on the 2 key. It's thus important to complete 10 dungeons each week at the highest key level possible to make sure you not only get the 3 proposals but that each one contains the highest ilvl possible !
   
• In PVP: You will have to gain a certain amount of honor from rated PVP each week: 1250 to get the first proposal, 2500 to get the second and 6250 to get the third. The ilvl of the rewards will be determined by your highest rank achieved last week.
   
• In case no loot interests you, you can instead chose to get 3 Mystesriously Thrumming Orb which grant Stygia.

Pretty straightforward ! Even if you only wish to play Mythic or PVP, doing so will still grant 3 proposals instead of 1 on BFA. But this new systems is also a good incentive for your to make sure you play a bit of each content !

MYTHIC SEASON 1 

The endless trial you're already familiar with begins ! Tougher challenges, new affixes, but also better rewards: push your key to get the best possible gear at the end of the dungeon and in the weekly Great Vault. Loots ilvl will follow this table:

The affix system is the same as you experienced on BFA starting at keystone level 2 with either Fortified or Tyrannical. At level 4 a second affix is added, and a third at level 7. If your key is level 10 or above, the season affix Prideful will always be present !
A few changes have occured for the affixes, we've compiled a brief summary for you here:

• Teeming and Skittish have been removed from the rotation. They might return in future seasons though !
• Bursting is now a Magic effect that can be dispelled. Damage is now a flat amount that scales with keystone level, rather than a percentage of players' maximum health.
• Volcanic damage is now a flat amount that scales with keystone level, rather than a percentage of players' maximum health. Additionally, players hit are now knocked high into the air.
• Sanguine's pool duration has been reduced to 20 seconds (from 60).
• Grievous: Damage is now a flat amount that scales with keystone level, rather than a percentage of players' maximum health. Non-periodic heals remove 1 application of Grievous Wound.
• Explosive: Now appear slightly farther away from enemies that summon them.
• NEW: Inspiring - This new level 4 Keystone affix will cause some non-boss ennemies to have an inspiring presence that strenghthens their allies. It works like the Tide emissary from BFA's Beguiling affix.
• NEW: Spiteful - This new level 4 Keystone affix will cause corpses of non-boss ennemies to spawn Spiteful Shades that pursue random players and inflict heavy melee damage 
• NEW: Storming - This new level 7 Keystone affix will cause ennemies in combat to periodically summon whirlwinds that inflict damage and knock back players.
   

The season 1 affix is Prideful, and works similarly to Reaping from BFA:

• At every 20% Enemy forces killed, a Manifestation of Pride will spawn near player's location. Killing it will grant them Prideful for 60 seconds, increasing their damage, healing, movement speed and mana regeneration by a significant amount.
• If the group drops combat with the Manifestation (by death or other means) its health won't reset and it will simply return to its spawn location.
• On top of auto attacking the highest threat target, the Manifestation has 2 spells:
  • Bursting With Pride - every 2 seconds - dealing AOE damage and gaining a stack, increasing subsequent cast damage by 40%. The damage will therefore increase with every cast, meaning you need to kill it before it gets overwhelming. If you wipe, the stacks will reset to 0.
  • Belligerent Boast - every 7 seconds - targetting a random player and placing a 4 second debuff onto them: once it expires, 4 missiles will be fired from the player, dealing high damage and stunning any ally it passes through.
     

UPDATE: Valor will only be released later on. We initially thought it was included in the season 1, but on retail this is a catch-up mechanic that only got added months later.

For the past weeks you discovered the new dungeons and got acquainted to them, now it's time to up the stakes !
With tweaked and new affixes, we wish you all good luck, and will display your achievements on our ranking page !

PVP SEASON 1: SINFUL GLADIATOR

For those of you that thrive in the heat of PvP fights, start climbing the ladder in 2vs2 and 3vs3: face your opponents in the arena and prove your worth as a champion of Azeroth - and the Shadowlands !
This will be the first PvP season and will last until the second raid, Sanctum of Domination is released (expected duration is 6 months).

Since Oribos' release, you can already earn honor by participating in PVP activities which you can then spend at the vendors to get honor gear starting at rank 1 (ilvl 158) which you can then upgrade up to rank 7 (ilvl 197) with this currency, gated by your renown level.

By playing in rated PVP, you will earn a new currency: Conquest. With this you will be able to buy conquest gear. Starting at ilvl 200, you will then be able to upgrade it using honor, gated by your pvp rank:

• Unranked (from vendor): Item level 200
• Combatant (1400-1599): Item Level 207
• Challenger (1600-1799) :Item Level 213
• Rival (1800-2099): Item Level 220
• Duelist (2100 ): Item level 226
• Elite (2400 ): Item level 233 *Weapon, Shield, Offhand ONLY

If you fall below the minimum cutoffs (1400, 1600, 1800, 2100, and 2400 respectively) you have a 30 point leniency period where you remain in the same bracket.

Conquest gains are gated by a season cap, meaning if you missed some weeks you will be able to catch up. Upgrades cost in honor are pretty high on top of needing you to climb the ladder, but this new system will be a lot less stressful and much more rewarding to gear yourself up doing pvp activities !
Also remember that getting honor from rated PVP every week will unlock gear proposals for the weekly Great Vault ! 

We wish you good fortune in the battles to come, and may you become a Sinful Gladiator !

RAID: CASTLE NATHRIA

The first wing of Castle Nathria; 'The Leeching Vaults' will be released in LFR, NM and HM difficulties !
It contains the following 3 bosses (including guides to help you):

• Huntsman Altimor
• Hungering Destroyer
• Lady Inerva Darkvein
   

Although in NM and HM you should have to go through Shriekwing first, it will be disabled so you can go straight to Huntsman Altimor.
As explained in our previous post, we prefered to release wing by wing to ensure the good state and follow-up of the raid. With that being said, the release schedule will be speeded up to every 2 weeks: This means you can expect the second wing: 'Reliquary of Opulence' to be released on Monday January 31st.
Remember to kill all 3 bosses every week to unlock an additional proposal in your great vault, and in the highest difficulty possible to increase its reward's ilvl !

BATTLEGROUND SYSTEM REWORK

One of our developers has been hard at work on the Battleground system for the past months, and after a round of testings it's ready to be finally applied on Oribos ! Basically the whole code has been rewritten, but here is a list of the notable changes:

• You can now rejoin a Battleground if you disconnected in it (from Internet issue, or if you close the game manually).
• You can now queue for multiple Battlegrounds at the same time (max 3). Same goes for LFG.
• Quick joining has been added: if you join a group of people in queue, you will automatically be added to the queue.
• Cross-faction has been removed in BG: if there is any imbalance between horde and alliance in queue, you will be offered to toggle mercenary to fight for the other faction and fasten queue time.
• Matchmaking has been rewritten to more accurately find players of the same rank
• Deserter system has been fixed to now work as it does on retail.
• Battlegrounds that already started will now be prioritised to add new players who just entered the queue. In addition, they can now start as soon as enough players are available (this will fasten queue time)
• All battlegrounds are now pre-loaded, which reduces stress caused to both server (delay) and client (FPS)

On top of that, we have a few news:

• A new arena has been implemented: Empyrean Domain
• Wintergrasp is updated to 9.0.5 version (some bugs were fixed)
• Isle of Conquest has been updated and bugs were fixed
• There are now new buffs on all Battlegrounds
• Various fixes for all battlegrounds (mostly visual effects)

We hope you'll enjoy those changes, and we'll keep a close eye in case anything weird happens ! Ready ? Fight !

BORIS RETURNS

To celebrate Shadowlands first season release, from Monday January 17th to Sunday January 23rd, Boris will make his return on all of our realms !
This means that once per expansion per account you can benefit from a free boost to the max level (50 on Oribos) including basic gear to jump straight into the action !

Take this opportunity to try on a new expansion, invite friends or simply try out a new class !
Boris will be present in every starting zones and main cities. Simply talk to him to benefit from his boost.

With all of those new contents added on Oribos, and more to come in the following weeks you should be busy enough !
We're continuing to keep a close eye on the reports you guys are making, and are applying fixes daily to improve the server: make sure to check them on our website here: https://firestorm-servers.com/changelog/sl

Thank you so much for your patience and your help in this new adventure into the Shadowlands, we'll see you next Monday !
The Firestorm Team