WoW Season of the Championship: Ahn'Qiraj on PTR with optional hard mode

The first season of the WoW Classic championship continues to set a fast pace. Zul'Gurub and the Nightmare Dragons have only been on the live servers since March 3, 2022, and already Blizzard developers are preparing the fifth content phase on the public test server. Included, of course: the two raid instances of Ahn'Qiraj.

Ahn'Qiraj with optional hard mode

After the designers of the Classic team had already pimped the challenges in Molten Core, Onyxia's Hoard, and the Toughwing Hoard, the big question now is: What are the developers planning for Ahn'Qiraj? The answer: an optional hard mode that entices with better rewards.

Specifically, the announcement on the official forums says: "Players who gain access to the entrance of Ahn'Qiraj will encounter the Prophecy of Chaos, through which they can tackle additional challenges. In order to decipher the eerie writings, you must have a high enough reputation with the brood of Nozdormu. In this way, you'll be able to "add new dangers to the Encounters".

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What else is known? Well, this:

• We may see C'Thun in its original form, which Ion Hazzikostas (then theorycrafting enthusiast, now game director for WoW (buy now )) said was mathematically impossible to lay after many, many wipes.
• However, the Ahn'Qiraj boss is said to be unavailable on the PTR. Exciting!
• For Prophet Skeram, there were several adjustments at once, but they were not explained in detail.
• The new template characters were equipped with items from the Pitchwing Hoard for testing. In addition, the characters are honored by the Brood of Nozdormu.
• There will be adjustments for the opening event and the previous farm part, respectively, so that the gates will open in a timely manner.

WoW Classic: Official announcement from Game Producer Aggrend

Welcome to the 1.14.3 PTR for WoW Classic Season of Mastery!

The unspeakable evil that resides at the heart of the Ahn'Qiraj is still slumbering,* gathering all of its horrifying strength while events unfold above. It is whispered by cultists of the Twilight's Hammer that when their god is unleashed it will have been restored to its full and terrible glory. The prophets of the old gods scoff at the threat posed by the invading heroes of the Might of Kalimdor, assured that overcoming their master's true form will require a "mathematically impossible" level of determination and skill, far beyond the feeble limits of mere mortals' bodies and minds.

• The Temple of Ahn'Qiraj is available for testing.
• The Prophet Skeram encounter has seen multiple adjustments for Season of Mastery.
• Players who gain access to the entrance to the lower levels of Ahn'Qiraj will encounter the "Prophecy of Chaos" and through it, discover additional challenges.
  • Players with sufficient reputation levels with the Brood of Nozdormu may read from its eldritch writings to add new dangers to the encounters found deeper within the temple... in exchange for ever greater rewards.
  • Please note that the increased rewards are not yet hooked up on the Season of Mastery PTR.
  • All newly-created template characters have been updated with Blackwing Lair loot and are exalted with the Brood of Nozdormu for testing purposes.

If you are planning to organize a raid on the Season of Mastery PTR, we'd encourage you to email aggrend@blizzard.com with your raid schedule. We would love to hop onto the PTR and observe your progress if we can. (*The final encounter of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj will not be available on the PTR).

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