Warcraft
BlizzCon 2026 | Opening Ceremony, MDI Semifinals, WoW: Forever Creator Showcase
09-12-2026 · 9h 23m
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Music
You
you
You
We turn the home.
How is coming, brother?
How is coming?
How is coming, brother?
Never accept the world as it appears to be, dare to see for what it could be.
I'm still detected.
Because some things are just worth fighting for.
Sir Dominion ships warp again.
Mother of mercy.
Here you go.
It's out of power.
Oh, welcome! Come warm me a frozen bitch with a blade!
Someone is calling out from the heart of the world.
I'll kill the lion!
Please welcome Johanna Farris.
Hello, BlizzCon 2026.
and the long and winding roads that have led us to today.
What a special moment for all of us,
and a chance to gather around the games, the universes,
the bonds that continue to inspire our work,
our friendships, and our lives.
We're going to continue to inspire the world
our friendships, and our lives.
On behalf of everyone at Blizzard,
thank you for being here.
Whether you're here in person with us in Anaheim,
or tuning in from all over the globe,
I have to say it is deeply moving to look out and see what I see,
and to be together again in this particular way.
Now, this is by no means my first BlizzCon,
but it is my first one standing on this stage in this capacity.
...
...
And I have to say, this is a good-looking crowd.
...
What a beautiful sight to behold, gorgeous souls all over Anaheim,
and in this convention center,
hailing from every corner of the globe.
So many different stories behind why you are here to gather as one.
And personally, it is deeply inspiring.
It is an honor.
And it is a moment that I will hold in my heart forever.
Now, we all have our reasons for being here.
And BlizzCon and Blizzard is often a very personal thing.
It's certainly personal for me,
given the role that video games have played in my life since I was very young,
and given how deeply and strongly I feel
about Blizzard's role in the world as a beacon
of creativity, as a place
where lives can change and are changed
often on the daily. So whatever your reasons
are for coming to BlizzCon 2026,
my hope is that this weekend can serve as a kind of
oasis. I mean, to be very clear, we also wanted to be a big old party,
but an oasis too. A place for us to connect and reconnect, perhaps to heal,
perhaps to be seen, be better understood, certainly to nerd out together,
and to just be with our people.
So this is your invitation to come as you are, to have a blast,
and to truly make legendary memories together with us.
Now it's been a while since the last time we had BlizzCon.
We're aware.
And bringing this one to life has taken blood, sweat, tears,
and a whole lot of love.
Team Blizzard have been working so very hard
to make this an event that can inspire as much as it can inform.
And speaking of my teammates, if you will allow me to say this while I have the chance.
I love you.
Your creative spark.
Your world-class care and consideration.
Your gentle genius, as I like to say,
that makes Blizzard so unique in the world.
Thank you.
And to everyone here making BlizzCon what it is,
thank you for fostering more joy in the world,
even when times can be tough.
I know that they are tough.
Even when we might be carrying so much,
sometimes unseen or unspoken,
it makes it all the more
significant to come together in this way,
and to join us in the journey of dreaming bigger,
and for pushing what's possible.
Now, this weekend, I do have to say,
is jam-packed with goodness.
But I also have to admit
that there is so much going on at Blizzard right now,
we couldn't even fit it into this weekend if we tried.
And I'm pretty proud of that, too.
So as the devs take the stage today,
show them some love, y'all.
It's hard to get up on the stages.
And you'll be hearing things
that are near and dear to our hearts,
including something near and dear to mine
in this first announcement.
Fun fact,
when we first started planning BlizzCon way back when,
I flat out told the team,
I'm not going,
I'll cut the check, but I'm not going,
unless we have something real to share about this game in particular.
So I'm very happy,
And I'm here to be able to share something
straight from the nexus of our hearts.
Oh, this will do nicely.
This one belongs to me.
That's right. Heroes of the Storm is pleased to welcome Zalatath. She will officially be
coming to the game later this month, and she'll be available on the PTR starting this Monday.
Those of you here in Anaheim will be able to play her all week long in the Blizzard
Arcade.
Now, to all the Hots players out there, I hear you, I see you.
Thank you for believing in this game, for carrying the torch, and for reminding us
sometimes very loudly, what this game means to you.
And who knows?
We might even have another new hero on the way
in the near future.
So stay tuned, and we will see you in the nexus.
Now, secondly, for decades, we've
brought entire universes to life through our games.
But the stories within them have never belonged to just one medium.
And there are still so many stories we want to tell.
And we thought it was time we brought those stories to life beyond gaming
in a big way.
Perhaps on new screens.
After all, we are more than just blizzard games.
We are Blizzard Entertainment.
And in that vein, we've been working very hard
to find the absolute best creative partnerships
to tell even more stories.
So while exciting things are underway across all of our biggest universes,
today we are happy to announce one project in particular.
We are thrilled to share that we are in development on a new animated series for Diablo, with Netflix.
And as a big Diablo player myself and as someone who loves the indulgent darkness of sanctuary,
I am very excited to see this project come to life.
And Diablo, I promise, is just the beginning.
To our Overwatch community.
To our Warcraft community.
And who knows, perhaps even some of our other universes,
just know that there are great discussions being had.
And trust me, while I begged and I pleaded to be able to share more today,
I can't spill the beans just yet.
But I know.
I promise, as soon as we can, we will share more details with you.
All right, before I pass the mic,
I just want to say thank you again to everyone here
making these memories alongside us.
And my hope is that BlizzCon can feel like a sacred space
where you can enjoy, you can make lasting bonds,
and make this place and this community feel like home.
Beyond that, my hope is that in our coming together in this way,
We can remind the world why community like this matters so very much.
Why artistry matters, why creativity matters,
and why making games and playing games together will matter always.
Thank you, everyone. Have a wonderful good night.
Let's have a close-up.
Joining us now, Dan Hay.
MUSIC
28 years ago, I saw a very specific blizzard cinematic,
and it changed the course of my life.
I saw the danger and the mystery,
and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
So I sent my first demo reel and resume off to Blizzard Entertainment right here.
Not just because I wanted a job,
but because I wanted to be part of something.
I wanted to be part of this, this community,
the building of these worlds,
a part of this thing that we all love.
Blizzard wasn't just a company to me,
it was the dream.
So I sent off the letter, and I waited.
I waited for days, I waited for weeks.
And then one day, I got a letter back.
I remember the weight of it in my hands.
I remember opening it. I remember the font.
I remember the blue logo at the top of the page,
and I saw those first words,
and I read, unfortunately,
...
at this time, we are unable to,
and I knew that was it.
It wasn't going to happen.
But that's the funny thing about dreams.
Dreams don't die.
Dreams don't fade.
Dreams are patient.
Dreams wait.
So I waited.
And for the next 25 years, I made very cool games.
I worked with incredible people.
I built things I'm truly proud of.
But in the back of my mind, always there was this one thought.
One day, Blizzard.
One day.
And then, a few years ago, my phone rang and I looked down and I saw the name Blizzard Entertainment.
And, bang, I was right back there. 25 years disappeared.
I was right back there in that moment, holding that unopened letter and feeling that same moment.
And so I answered the phone and this time, there was an opportunity.
This time, there was a mission to assemble a team worthy of carrying the legacy of one of Blizzard's most beloved games.
and that team is here today.
Team, beat the world.
World, make the team.
A team built with one purpose, a team built with one goal, to return to a universe forged
in interstellar war.
This is something new, an open-world shooter where every step is earned, not from above,
down on the ground, in the mud, in the fire, honoring the past, its tone, its truth, but
with an opportunity to push beyond it.
We are here standing shoulder to shoulder with you.
We are here to reignite this universe alongside each and every one of you.
We are here to make StarCraft!
And let's be honest, it's about damn time.
The galaxy is harsh and unforgiving.
And our enemies surround us.
So I ask you this.
Do you feel safe?
Small return to destroy our lands and slaughter our families.
Will you let them?
So, so firstborn, judge us from their shadows.
Will you beg them for salvation?
Will you do to protect our people? Will you flee or will you fight?
Then let's begin.
You are the best and the brightest that Dominion has to offer.
You are singularly. You are unstoppable.
Meaning survives depend on you. You cannot. You will not be defeated.
You are warriors!
You are the elite!
And the Dominion will give you the training, the tools, and the opportunity to feed your spirit and fulfill your destiny!
You will come the greatest fighting force the sector has ever seen.
You fight now for a cause that will echo through history.
You fight now for mankind's very survival!
You will become more than just one of us.
You will become more than just recruits, you will become more than just soldiers, you will become heroes, now go forth for the fury of the Dominion!
Oh my God!
That was insane!
You know, they didn't let me watch that until today,
until right now.
This is pretty incredible.
And there is so much more coming,
so let's get into it.
Yeah!
The world of Overwatch is so special to me
and to this team.
It is a future full of hope, optimism,
and bravery, and at its core, it is a game about heroes.
They are the beating heart of everything we create.
We are releasing 10 new heroes this year.
From someone as absolutely ridiculous as Jetpack Hat,
yes, to someone whose connection to Doomfist
could set something much bigger in motion.
And you've just got to see it.
I
You won't know the plan, bring me the box, move quickly.
See you soon.
Let's go.
Look, we all know he's been out doing no fist lately.
But your feelings matter too. You should talk to him.
We'll talk later.
He's in there?
For now.
Somura, what is your status?
I'm not done!
Do you have any assets?
Come on.
Attention, telegram.
You're...
You're likely to be caught...
...in a sheet.
I think...
...this is heavy.
Reinforcements...
What are you doing?
My DMP will fly this thing.
And the controls to open this thing!
We go, we back!
Get them out of there!
We wish to be here!
Come on, come on, come on!
I told you.
Believe this to me!
of
I
I would ask what brings you here but clearly you need a hand oh I like this guy
I should have called Sheena.
You're here, now.
Joining now, Ben Bell and Miranda Moyer.
The ninth hero joining Overwatch this year is Doctrine.
Doomfist's newest ally is a support hero armed with a scepter that heals allies and damages
enemies.
He can rush through battle, shrouded in darkness, while his drones heal teammates and speed
up their attacks.
That really sets doctrine apart is infuse, which transforms his next ability.
Imagine not just dashing, but taking flight.
And who says vampires need to be creepy and overwatch?
They're cool.
And they come with mechanical bats.
You can learn all about doctrine in today's deep dive panel.
We are fired up for doctrine, and he's coming next month in season five.
So let's be honest.
What you all really want to know is when can you play him?
And if you're here at BlizzCon, the answer is right now.
And if you're viewing this at home, doctrine's hero trial will start as soon as we finish
talking.
Earlier this year, we kicked off the first year-long narrative in Overwatch history.
That story has already taken some exciting turns, so we should probably get you caught
up on what's going on and why we just watched Doomfist break into a prison.
Miranda, our narrative lead, is going to break it all down for you.
So personally, I am still freaking out over the heroes of the story of news.
shout out to the gall mains in the audience. I know you're out there, but I'm
gonna lock in and try to give you guys a good recap. So at the top of this year,
Vandetta challenged Doomfist for control of Talon. And after a tough fight, she
defeated and presumably killed him. Presumably, allegedly. And then she
says, hey, enough with all this hiding in the shadows nonsense. Talon is gonna
take over the world. After a little pit stop to blow up Watch
point Gibraltar, she kicked off her big global conquest. She raided watch point
Rameza, she allied with the Hashimoto clan in Japan, and she even got the
Junkers to attack Busan. She left all of these messes for Overwatch to handle
while she kept claiming victory after victory after victory. However, it turns
out in the background of all of this that Doomfist is alive. I was also
shocked. I was very surprised. He's alive and if you ignore the part where his arm got cut off
and he got thrown out a window, then he's doing great. And after a little bit of introspection,
after regrouping with his favorite girlies, he's back. He's far more aura than ever as you saw.
And if he wants to get back on top, he's going to need a hand from a figure of his past,
doctrine. And I think that just about gets us caught up.
And if you've been waiting for the right time to come back to Overwatch, Season 5 was built
for you.
We have a new map, Room Spotting, a new hero, Doctrine.
We have the return of Doki Watch.
We have Unvaulted Battle Passes, and we have two of the most requested hero reworks
ever.
Or should we say re-reworks?
Robert Hobb will now actually be able to help out his team, plus his hook and instant death
combo should be a lot less frustrating to play against.
And Sombra has received her own hotfix, turning her into a support.
here we'll get to play these reworks as well as the new Mapdromes voting all weekends.
Season five will also see the conclusion of the reign of talent story. Then in season six we will
release our tenth hero of the year who's investigating certain parts of the world,
certain sectors of the world you could say. But we're going to keep quiet on any more clues
about him just yet. This is my first ever blizzcon and it is amazing to be here with all of you
and I love what we do because we get to do something that's really important for the world.
People need a place to come together, to be with friends, to get connected to community
and being here with all of you in person is incredibly inspirational for me. Speaking of
of inspiration, we have an amazing lineup here at BlizzCon.
We're thrilled to have Yoah Sobi performing tomorrow
during the Overwatch World Cup.
We are also so hyped to have Leseraphim back at BlizzCon
to close out their own game.
And to celebrate their return to BlizzCon,
we also have an all-new in-game collaboration.
And it's available starting right now.
But that's not all.
Lesaraphim will also be joining Devs later today
to talk about the collaboration
and their newest music video, Made My Night.
And in addition to awesome game demos
and all these talented musical acts,
there's something that I'm personally really excited about.
Tomorrow, right here on this stage,
we're doing something that is completely new.
It's a live overwatch tabletop RPG called Questwatch.
and it was written by Matt Mercer and the Overwatch narrative team.
Cassidy will be your Game Master, guiding a group of heroes,
including Symmetra, Sombra, Reinhardt, and Vendetta,
through a one-of-a-kind story that was built just for this weekend.
Now, I love tabletop gaming, I'm an aspiring Game Master myself,
and I'm definitely going to be in the audience with all of you for this one.
I think a lot about what makes Overwatch special,
and at the heart of it is our vision of a hopeful future.
Toward that end, following Quest Watch will be auctioning off custom miniatures,
artwork, collectibles, this jacket,
created by members of the team,
and signed by developers and voice actors,
all supporting Make-A-Wish.
I have a personal connection with Make-A-Wish.
So to be able to partner with them, to raise money, to help more families, the way they
helped mine is such a special gift.
This has been the biggest year in Overwatch's history, and it all started at our 2026 Overwatch
spotlight.
That's when we made our ambitions clear to be the best competitive experience in the world.
Whoever you are, wherever you are in the world, however you play shooters,
we have an Overwatch hero that was built for you and we want to be the game for you.
And since we have you here, I have to sneak in one quick plug for our next spotlight in
February with a new story, a fresh set of heroes, and some amazing new systems.
We are aiming for peak Overwatch.
Overwatch is so incredibly special to us.
I genuinely can't even begin to say how much this game means to all of us, and we can't
I thank all of you enough for all of the passion, dedication, and hope that you have
shared with us for the past 10 years.
Thank you so much and have a great blessed dawn.
across the world. It may already be closer than you think. As your loved one been drawn
into an internal conflict between heaven and hell, look for the warning signs. Mysterious
literature. Occult clothing. Unidentified items. Playing video games to the point of
In three decades, over 130 million of us have made sanctuary our home,
and stood against the forces of hell.
Side by side, generation after generation, through friendships and fandom, cosplay and conventions, from LAN parties to live streams.
They're literally like goosebumps.
Oh my gosh.
We share in every victory and defeat.
And today, more of us than ever continue the fight.
For this conflict is eternal.
And evil never truly dies.
It always returns more powerful than before.
Welcome to the world of Diablo, welcome Tiffany Woff and Brent Gibson.
What's up BlizzCon?
I absolutely love seeing all of you together like this.
I've been to every BlizzCon, my first few as a player.
I'm sorry, Brad, but for the Alliance.
I keep promise you weren't going to hurt my feelings on stage.
How about the Lord?
Yeah, I know exactly how you feel. When we were preparing for this, we had a lot of discussion
about what 30 years looks like.
And for me, it was about sneaking upstairs
when I was 16 years old to install Diablo I
on a computer that my mom brought home from school
for the summer.
And sorry, mom.
I didn't uninstall it.
Yeah, well, I got the Diablo II battle chest
for my 18th birthday.
And pretty soon, I was at LAN parties,
doing bale runs and hunting for Stona Jordans.
And we weren't alone.
Together, it's been 30 years of slaying demons,
grinding for that perfect drop, and saying, one more dungeon.
And I know all of you have crafted your own stories
just like us.
Since 1996, more than 130 million players
have helped shape Diablo into what it is today.
But anniversaries aren't just about looking back.
They're a chance to get excited about what's still ahead.
And after Johanna's announcement
that the Diablo animated series
is in development with Netflix,
I'd say the future is off to a pretty great start.
And we've got a lot more to show you today.
You know, one of my favorite things
about working with this team
if they love a good surprise.
Brent.
What did you do?
I have no idea what you're talking about.
But like I said, we love a good surprise.
We started the year off by shadow dropping
the Paladin at the game awards.
And then we followed up by bringing the warlock,
one of the most metal classes to Diablo IV,
Diablo mortal, and Diablo II resurrected.
And in just a few days,
Diablo IV begins its biggest anniversary moment yet,
celebrating 30 years of darkness.
Season of Hell's Legacy launches Tuesday,
September 15th.
This season, as the dead return from pandemonium, a familiar soul will find
his way back to sanctuary.
Deckard Kane.
Deckard leads you into waking nightmares where some of Diabla's most
unforgettable moments come back to haunt you.
We return to places every Diablo player remembers.
Tristram Cathedral, the World Stone Chamber, and the Durants of Hate.
Yeah, and, and, waiting inside are Bale, Mephisto, and the birthday boy himself, Diablo.
You'll face all three prime evils, reclaiming the fragments of their souls.
And then you're going to decide which evil you would want to embrace.
And that choice will unlock new powers and will reshape the entire season around you.
Of course, it wouldn't be a party without some presence.
You'll collect legendary gear inspired by every era of Diablo.
the return of iconic treasures like the Stone of Jordan.
And yes, I still get excited every time one drops.
For all of you here at BlizzCon, you can jump into a special season of Hell's Legacy experience
today on the show floor.
You're going to be battling your way through some of Diablo's greatest moments with an
old friend to take you along the way.
And trust me, you'll want to stay a while and listen.
And maybe you'll find an utterly malevolent evil waiting to butcher you at the end.
Sounds high stakes.
We're really doing this, huh?
Yeah, I gotta keep my dad's innocent check.
Moving on.
For everyone else, you won't have to wait long to play at home.
It's fine long oh hey Joe it's Diabla's Joe Shelley everyone
In the clock
Welcome to the party Joe thank you so uh what you got there well since I'm sure
nobody has heard anything about why I might be holding this I'm excited to
officially announced that the Diablo 4 Age of Hatred collection is coming to
Nintendo Switch 2 on September 15th alongside the season of Hell's Legacy.
And if you're here at BlizzCon, you don't have to wait. You can play the Nintendo Switch
Which two demo on the show floor today?
All right.
Also on the Diablo show floor this BlizzCon, you can test your skills in Diablo Immortal
Tournament.
And we've got a special collaboration to talk about.
Tomorrow, you'll hear all about it from the creator of Spawn himself, Todd McFarlane.
When I found out that Todd was going to be here,
the 13-year-old me just freaked out,
like really freaked out.
And honestly, the 46-year-old me is still freaking out today.
Todd was my first taste of real dark fantasy.
And he's inspired an entire generation of storytellers.
And tomorrow, you'll hear from him directly
at a live panel and drawing session
or he's going to give you a glimpse at what awaits
when spawn comes to Diablo Immortal on September 29th.
So Diablo has always been shaped by the heroes, villains,
and stories that players remember most.
Earlier this year, Diablo 4 players finally set foot
on the shores of the Skobos Isles.
And almost immediately, one question started showing up everywhere.
Where is the Amazon?
Yeah, trust me, we were all asking the same thing.
And Lord of Hatred, the vision for the Amazons really took shape.
And we realized there was a huge opportunity we couldn't pass up.
So next year, one of Diablo's most iconic warriors arrives in Diablo 4.
So please welcome the Amazon.
After being in Skobos, getting to play the class that's from there, that's so cool.
I can't wait to play her.
As someone who spent way too much time playing a Boaz on in Diablo 2, this is a reveal I've
been looking forward to for a long time.
Yes, this fearless fighter moves with speed, precision, and an absolute control over the
battlefield.
As the Amazon, you're going to wield the bow, of course, but she'll also be bringing an
entirely new weapon to Diablo IV, the iconic Javelin.
The Amazon class pack is going to arrive the first half of 2027.
So make sure you join us tomorrow for the Diablo 4 What's Next panel, where me and the
team are going to take a deeper look into what inspired the Amazon's gameplay, look,
and feel.
We'll also be premiering the season of Hell's Legacy gameplay trailer, so you're not going
to want to miss out.
So that's what's coming for Diablo 4.
But today, we're also ready to look beyond the age of hatred,
to give you a first glimpse of Diablo's next era.
For 30 years, sanctuary has stood on the edge of the Libyan.
And every time, heroes have arrived to push the darkness back.
Until now.
The angels were supposed to save us.
George!
It's a warrior for the leaders and the moral artists.
Praise be to God!
I'm proud to be with you!
Sanctuary is his.
The Lord of Terror is returned.
That's right!
Diablo 5!
Diablo 5 is coming in spring, 2029.
The heroes are gone, sanctuary has fallen, and Diablo has won.
For the first time, you won't be fighting to stop Diablo from taking sanctuary.
You'll enter a world where he already has.
There are no towns or safe places waiting to protect you.
And that changes everything, how you survive,
what powers you're willing to claim,
and what you're willing to sacrifice.
At the heart of Diablo 5 is the simple question.
What must you become when the world has already fallen?
So, join me and Tiffany this afternoon
for the Diablo 5 Forging the Next Era panel,
where the team will take you inside the fallen sanctuary we're building.
And we'll talk about how we're evolving the world,
classes,
and the story for Diablo's next era.
Thank you for continuing to come back to Sanctuary.
Thank you for believing in Diablo.
And thank you for walking through the darkness with us for 30 years.
We'll see you in hell.
Oh, that's the oboe.
Oh, that's the oboe.
Please welcome the leader of the lion's smith.
Whoa, that Diablo is so dark.
Let's go back to the tavern.
Hello, Blizzcon!
It is so good to be back, and I am thrilled to be here.
Heartstone has been my favorite game since I first played 13 years ago, and I am so proud
of everything the team has been crafting for you.
It means the world to us that you're here.
All right, let's see what cards we open.
Oh, we found Brendan. Give it up for Brendan. Yeah!
For mana, overstatted, no overload, no balance patches required.
Wow, I'm just a common.
Golden common. You're quite animated.
I'm going to choose to focus on the overstatted.
Hello, everyone. It is so cool to be on this stage.
I don't know about you all,
but I'm still recovering from the chills I got from that StarCraft trailer.
Yeah. Yeah.
That was the game that introduced Blizzard Entertainment to me as a kid.
Fast forward 16 years,
our stone launches, and I've been hooked ever since.
It is such a special part of my life.
Nathan, do you mind if we take a selfie, actually?
That's it.
You're really cool.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It has been such a privilege getting to help shape
what comes next for Hearthstone.
So without further ado,
let's take a look at our next card.
Epic!
Oh, so this gets to be an epic.
Well, it's a pretty epic expansion!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
I
For the first time in Hearthstone, we're going tens of thousands of years into Azeroth's past,
right into the battle between the Old Gods and the Titans during the Black Empire, when
the Old Gods were at the peak of their power.
That's saying a lot because they weren't already pretty terrifying in 2016.
Corruption. Madness. Tentacles. The classics. And because an old God expansion wouldn't be complete
without giving you something new to experiment with, we've added an appropriately chaotic keyword.
With Assemble, we can now merge two Hearthstone cards together to create a powerful new card.
Like, what if we had Marsland Thresher and merged it with Dragon Base?
After you cast a spell, deal 5 damage to a random enemy?
Nothing bad could possibly happen with that.
The Assemble mechanic pulls from a curated pool of over 250 cards,
And I have a sneaking suspicion that we are going to find some pretty busted combos
Once reign of the black empire launches in a bit over a month on October 20th
Okay back to our card pack our next card is a
Battlegrounds card
That's right
Bob's got some strange new guests in the tavern, too.
There's a brand new minion type, aberrations.
They're strange, unpredictable,
possibly leaking from dimensions
they definitely should not be leaking from,
and they're gonna shake up lobbies
in some really exciting ways.
Every aberration that dies
brings the old gods a little closer to waking up.
And when they do, you and your opponent
are definitely going to notice.
For everyone that's here at BlizzCon,
apparitions are available to play on the show floor today.
Alright, we have two cards left.
Let's do this one next.
Epic!
Ah, our overhauled journal.
One of our goals for Hearthstone is to make every trip to the tavern
feel like part of a larger adventure.
So we asked ourselves,
What if we put narrative into the game, sharing the story of each expansion?
We thought that was cool.
And what if all the quests, achievements, and events were automatically and cohesively
tied together with that narrative?
That sounded really fun, so we're going to do that.
The updated journal launches alongside the Black Empire, and over the course of the
expansion it will grow alongside the story, connecting everything you've been doing
along the way.
of, we've got all new events coming too, from deals on a mysterious black market to epic
boss fights. And tavern brawls are getting even bigger too, including something we've
never done before, 2v2 Hearthstone, where you and a friend can team up and take down another
duo in the brawl. That means double the teamwork, double the chaos, and let's be honest, someone
else to blame when everything goes horribly wrong. I know you're not talking about me.
This is just the beginning. The journal is going to keep growing with new events, new
adventures and new ways to experience each expansion story. So whenever you pull up
of a chair, there's always something new to discover.
Plus, there's plenty we haven't shown you yet.
We're sharing our roadmap and more details
about the journal, everything else we talked about
during the what's next panel later today.
Nathan, we still got one more card to flip.
Oh, that's right.
Ooh.
Whoa, now get there.
Why do we fight?
For the challenge.
To cultivate your spirit.
To rise above.
But mostly to just have fun.
The most class is coming to Hustle.
Chin is agile, adaptable, and always ready to change his approach.
I have loved feeling how flexible the monk is.
You can adapt to what's happening in the game and then pull off some incredible combos when
the moment feels just right.
We're doing more in Hearthstone than ever before and it feels awesome.
The Hearthstone Tavern doors are open to everyone, whether you're playing on your PC while watching
TV, multitasking on a video call, or folding laundry while you're playing on your phone.
The Tavern is always there for you.
Uh-oh, I'd better wrap this up.
We'll have more to share about Monk next year.
Until then, keep laughing,
fairy-crafting, and good luck fighting off the Black Empire.
Thank you all for being a part of this incredible community.
And thank you for joining us on this adventure.
And we'll see you in the tavern.
What's up, police?
Come on, give it up for Holly Longdale.
What's up, please come!
Do we have any wow players out there?
That must mean we must have some Horde?
Where's my Alliance?
Excellent.
I am so excited to be here with you today, and so is the team.
I wanted to give a shout out to the team.
They've been working really hard for you.
I love you all.
You're going to get to see the team on the show floor this weekend, and we're going to
be running tabletop adventures with you.
So come by and hang out with us so we can make some incredible memories together.
All right, let's get to it.
We're going to light a fire that's going to burn for decades.
And it starts today.
We're about to launch a kick-ass year of Warcraft.
We're going to start with the World Soul saga, so please welcome Ian Hazakostas.
It is so great to be back out here this is going to be an amazing day, this is going to be an amazing weekend, an amazing year for Warcraft fans.
Let's kick it off with some Wholesale Saga.
So it has been really fun so far this year watching you all jump into midnight and rediscover the lands of Palphilos.
We've been admiring your wildly creative home decorations
that make us glad we decided not to implement those neighborhood HOAs.
And of course, we've been reading all your theories
about where this story is headed.
We've been pretty tight-lipped about that over the last few months,
saying, that'll have to wait till BlizzCon a whole lot.
But well, look where we are.
Three years ago, on this stage,
we announced not one, but all three expansions
that comprised the World Soul saga.
And today, we stand just about at the midpoint of that journey.
Beginning with the assault on Dalaran, then into the depths of the Earth,
and back out again, we've been hot on Xalatath's heels,
battling to save our world from being plunged into darkness.
Now, as we regroup following the events at the Sunwell,
we're currently in the middle of a time-honored narrative interlude
known as a Troll Patch.
Speaking of which, congratulations to Team Liquid on last week's World First Clear.
Any hometown audience here, but also kudos to Echo for their excellent play.
They can get a neck-and-neck race that came down to the wire.
We have heard from many of you that Crisibula Tech seemed a bit like a digression from the main plot.
but hopefully over the next few weeks,
it's going to start to become apparent
how it's leading us inexorably towards what comes next.
For a while now,
the World Soul Saga narrative has been about moving chess pieces into place
on the proverbial board,
getting ready for our endgame, setting things up.
But we are just about done with that phase of things.
From here on out, from now,
and to the end of not just midnight, but the whole World Soul Saga,
it's all gas, no brakes.
types. And that starts with what comes next. The next major content for midnight, Eclipse.
That is patch 12.2 for those of you keeping track at home. Zalatath has been a step ahead
of us at every juncture, but she now stands, or I guess technically hovers, before her
ultimate objective. And I think it's about time we confront her directly. Now
some of you may be wondering what exactly is that objective? Well let me just
show you.
You know what I'm here for, you know what I am, now open the gate.
A number. Void-combustion critical. World-core access denied.
Fascinating. How many eons have passed since your creators abandoned this place?
The Titans are eternal. They will never abandon that which lies within. Your incursion is doomed to fail.
Let's try anyway. Shall we?
Are you capable of fear?
That suffocating feeling, when you realize you will not survive and you are powerless
I felt that once, never again.
Where you are.
Not the titans, nor the old gods, nor all mortal races, keep you from me. Soon, we shall become one, and then everything that could ever challenge my supremacy will be devoured.
That's right, Xalatath has been after our world soul since the days of, well, that
Hearthstone expansion we just saw, Black Empire.
And now she stands but a toes length away from total victory.
And if she succeeds in claiming her prize,
well, that will be checkmate.
So we have our work cut out for us to say the least.
But I know you're up to the task.
Now, if you want to learn more about not just Eclipse,
but everything else that lies ahead of midnight,
please join us this afternoon right here
for our Midnight What's Next panel.
We'll be digging into story, systems, and features,
including a new standalone game mode on the way,
and a peek at the next remix experience coming next year.
So that's midnight.
Now, I know many of you came here hoping to learn a lot more
about the last Titan.
Believe me, we can't wait to tell you all about it,
but we can't get into too many details just yet,
at least not without some pretty catastrophic midnight
spoilers.
But suffice it to say that the events that will unfold
in Eclipse in the World Core will set the stage
for a revelation and a conflict that is not just the final chapter
of the World Soul saga,
but the culmination of over two decades of World of Warcraft.
The Last Titan will bring an extraordinary chapter of Warcraft to a close
while laying the groundwork for what comes next.
Now, the Last Titan isn't just a return to Northrend.
It's a reflection on a whole generation of your valor, your deeds,
From the shifting sands of anchorage, to the frozen throne,
to the world breaker, to the burning legion,
to the afterlife and back again.
We have fought to defend our home, our world,
and she needs us one last time.
Early next year, once we're on the other side of a eclipse,
we will have so much more information to share with you.
But for now, let me just leave you all with a glimpse
of what you'll be up against in the last time.
You're going to have to forgive me, but holy shit.
That big sucker is coming with friends.
That mood right there is where Warcraft is going.
We heard you.
We are putting the war back in Warcraft.
Armies, battles, bloodshed, survival, it all harkens back to the stories that started
at all.
It's hard to believe it's been over 24 years since we launched Warcraft 3, even longer
for Warcraft.
And like I said before, the team's been working really hard for you.
And that includes our Warcraft 3 team.
They have been tinkering, my friends, and they have a story to tell.
Are you ready to go to war?
For the first time in 23 years, we have a new campaign in Warcraft 3.
And Forsaken Kingdom will see some new faces, some are peeling and totally gross, and some
will be familiar, like Sylvanas.
You'll experience the fall of Lordaeron and how it came to be known as the Undercity.
And with our forces and our elite strats, of course, we'll find out what it truly
means to be forsaken.
The city is no more fun with Kosas and the Undead.
We have to fight back.
We have to drive out these monsters and reclaim our home.
We call it the Unde City.
Called from the cities of the Capitans, in the Florida, it's called the Capitans.
The Capitans are not the end.
Oh no.
It is merely the beginning!
Whoever you are and why, you are now none of us.
This forsaken kingdom, need not stand alone.
My friend, be the light!
I will be the light of your life!
Welcome to the Horseshoe.
It's time to give them a kiss.
On your own, on your own.
Kiss.
Kiss on the tail, baby.
We're playing through this campaign really is amazing.
It's been so much fun.
It really takes me back and gives me all the feels.
But if you want to learn more, we have two panels later today.
And by the way, Warcraft 3 for Staking Kingdom launches today.
And if you're here at BlizzCon, you can play it on the show floor.
All right.
We ain't done yet.
So let's shift gears a little bit here.
It's time to talk about something new.
Maybe address some of the rumors out there,
because we know a lot of you love that nostalgic flavor
of vanilla.
So what if we take vanilla and really plus it up?
Our home, Azeroth, her untold stories, called to our hearts, revealing lands unexplored for
The garden secrets and new horizons.
I
Almost as far as you can.
To home.
To the furniture.
Forever.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, this is Classic Plus.
I have to tell you though, you only have a little bit of time to rally your friends,
your newbies, your former crew, anyone you want to live in Azeroth with.
Get ready, because World of Warcraft forever launches in seven weeks on November 4th.
I'll say that again, November 4th.
November 4th, everybody.
So beta starts this Thursday.
And if you're here, you could play forever on the show floor.
World of Warcraft Forever is your new permanent home.
It's a new beginning that never ends.
And I promise you, if you're a past current or a new player, now's the time to get into
the game that changed everything.
Let me tell you why.
We're giving you another way to play
wow that's friendly, familiar, and new.
It's going to live right alongside our modern and classic games.
Forever is focused on what made vanilla so memorable
in the first place, the world as the main character.
Instead of one big heroic story, you will carve your own path.
It's also a place dedicated to community and making sure that it's nurtured.
And above all, there's no rush here.
It's the journey that counts, not the destination.
There's going to be a lot to discover, too.
It's not all going to be solved or predictable.
Ultimately, it's easy to get into and play and deep enough to stay forever.
Honestly, this is a new opportunity to get back to what the heart is of MMOs and what
that makes them so damn special.
It's like that absolute frickin' magic of adventuring
and running into battle or the thrill of a new encounter
with your crew when you're trying to click your way
out of a certain peril.
The adrenaline of it all.
For faction, for friends, for lint!
We love our loop.
Even the chill moments are going to bring us home.
Like meeting a new friend on a run like I did when I was making a trek from Taldor
Silt to Iron Forge, with the music, giving the vibes the whole way.
It's about all of us, and it's about feeling at home with your people.
There are so many great moments like this to come, and a lot more.
Between the well-worn pages of the history we know, by the stories we haven't heard.
Countless adventures, untold.
Untold, from the time when it all began, through the hidden paths in ancient forests,
above and beyond familiar peace, your journey awaits.
Let the drums of war thunder forever.
I cannot wait for you to join us in forever.
It all starts up after the events of Warcraft III's Forsaken Kingdom when Lordaeron falls
but before a molten core, so essentially year one of Vanillawow.
But the future is untold.
We may see stories that could have happened and some that didn't happen at all.
We are all going to meet up on our original continents and embark on the journey to 60
and stay at 60 indefinitely.
The simple explanation for that is we don't want to race ahead and leave our accomplishments
our gear and our friends behind.
That said, we will progress in new ways and get updates as we go, new stories, new experiences,
and more.
And it's all based on what we've been hearing from you.
And for that inspiration, we want to thank you.
We are nothing without our community.
Forever exists because the team soaked up many, many years of ideas and passion
for Classic Plus.
They brought their own magic to it and created this adventure for all of us.
We've got a lot more to tell you, so stick around for our What's Next panel, which will
be right here immediately after this.
And tomorrow morning, we'll get into the details in our deep dive panel.
Yeah.
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Oh my God.
Wow.
Guys, oh my heart.
I love you.
It's quite a start to this BlizzCon party, right?
Not bad.
StarCraft is back?
Yes!
Yes!
Diablo 5 is on the go.
We've got a new hero in Overwatch.
Valotab is floating around the Nexus.
And she's trying to steal our world soul, rude.
And we all get to play in Azeroth forever.
And that's what our worlds have always been.
The time we get to spend here is truly precious.
Hey, I'll see it again.
I love you all.
And this is where opening ceremonies take place.
And this is where opening ceremonies take place.
And this is where opening ceremonies take place.
And this is where opening ceremonies take place.
This is where opening ceremony begins, ends, it ends right now, but our adventurers are
going to begin.
I do want to say from our hearts to yours, thank you, truly thank you.
And now it's time to play, have an absolutely epic, badass place in BlizzCon.
Please come!
MSI, take the next step in upgrading your visual experience with MSI's QD OLED monitors.
Built to last, brilliance ahead, Gigabyte, upgrade your life, Secret Lab, pro-grade
ergonomics for the highest level of play.
Oh
NVIDIA GeForce RTX Game Changer.
And now, join the World of Warcraft team for a first look at the next chapter of Azeroth.
Hello again, Longtime No Z.
It is amazing to be up here actually able to at last talk about what somehow
both the best-kept and worst-kept secret of the summer.
And shout out to the classic WoW subreddit.
No, it's not too late to start World of Warcraft forever.
This is a story that really began nine years ago
in these halls when we announced WoW Classic to the world.
Then a couple years after that, of course,
we welcomed you in to dive back into Azeroth
to experience it as it was in the beginning.
And millions came in and settled in and began tackling
Nixia and Ragnos, leveling up to 60,
really re-experiencing that journey.
But the conversations naturally started to emerge
around what would come next.
And those conversations grew louder.
Many people, of course, hoped to continue on
into the burning crusade.
And a chance to go back through the dark portal
and show Illidan just how prepared we've all become
after 20 years, the mid-maxing next level.
And of course, that is what came to pass.
But there was another group, even back then in 2020 or so,
a group of dreamers, people for whom the vanilla game was
just about the perfect MMO, if not for already being solved
and already being experienced.
They didn't want to leave behind that world grounded
in the immediate aftermath of Warcraft 3
and begin a journey forward through the timeline.
They didn't want to replace their hard won rate
epics with greens from Zangermarsh.
They didn't want to go from the sprawling expanse of Eastern kingdoms and Kalimdor
to an outland that you could fly across in just a few minutes on an epic mount.
What if we could stay at level 60? They asked.
And so did we.
What if we could build some new content and tell new stories in that immersive world?
And what if we could make mean specs even just a tiny bit viable?
Paladin's talking to you here.
But this was 2020.
And the reality is that the team that we had at the time,
the development pipeline that we had at the time,
were something that had been purpose-built to restore and curate
an old version of the game,
not to add to it, not to build new things.
And so, for a time, that dream stayed a dream.
But that ember of an idea smoldered over the months and years to follow.
And it took hold within the classic team as well.
People on the team would come forward left and right,
pitching versions of what it might look like
to add content, to change that vanilla game.
And that led us to 2023,
when we decided to test the waters with a certain experiment,
also announced right here.
Season of Discovery was an experiment on many levels.
Right?
SOG was awesome,
but it was deliberately pushing boundaries.
And we pretty much said that outright at the time,
because it was a time-limited seasonal experience.
it gave us a chance to find the limits of how much change was too much change.
How far could we go before things started to feel like they didn't belong in that world
or alongside those philosophies?
But we did make a bunch of new quests, new items, new class abilities,
even all new dungeons and raids like Charizard and Crypt and the Scarlet Enclave.
And we sure found those limits,
but along the way, we learned a ton of valuable lessons.
And probably a couple of years ago, by the middle of 2024,
looking at how it had gone,
we were certain that it was not only possible,
but compelling to pursue this vision.
From season of discovery, we learned what worked and what didn't.
We learned how to build content 20 years later
that felt like it belonged alongside the original stuff.
And in the meantime, we'd absorbed years of experience
of how players today approach the classic game,
which is different in many ways from how it was back in 2005
when the internet was a different place and knowledge was a different thing.
But most of all, we heard loud and clear
from everyone in season of discovery that they didn't want just a temporary season,
but instead a forever home,
where their investment would be meaningful or their journey could continue forward.
And so here we are.
Thank you to all those dreamers along the way
who kept this idea alive and gave the team inspiration over the years.
It's been a lot of fun over the last year, reading and watching all the online discourse
about what Classic Plus could be, should be, and definitely shouldn't be.
But now let me turn it over to the team so they can tell you exactly what it is.
Hello, BlizzCon!
So, what exactly is wow forever?
For us, it begins with a simple belief.
There are still adventures worth telling in the original world of Azeroth.
We're not looking beyond Azeroth for the next chapter.
We're not moving forward to Outland and beyond.
Instead, we're looking deeper into the world players already fell in love with.
The Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor,
the places we've traveled through for decades.
We're revisiting mysteries that were never fully explored,
stories that were never fully told,
regions that existed on the map
but never had the chance to become adventures of their own.
We believe Azeroth still has secrets worth uncovering.
And that's what WoW Forever is,
not expanding away from Azeroth,
but expanding deeper inside of it.
So before we show you exactly where that journey begins,
I wanna talk briefly about the principles guiding
every decision that we've made.
First, let me get my slides here, sorry there.
First, approachable and familiar.
We believe the world should still feel like classic.
Every addition we make is measured
against the spirit of the original game,
not whether it's new, not whether it's flashy,
but whether it feels like it belongs.
That's why you won't find flying mounts.
You won't find level scaling.
And Azeroth should remain a dangerous world
where preparation matters, communication matters,
and working together matters.
Yes!
Thank you.
We're not interested in making the game difficult simply for difficulty's sake.
When challenges are overcome,
we want it to be because players prepared, learned,
cooperated, and succeeded together.
Now, second, world as the main character.
Yes.
We believe Azeroth itself should be one of the most important characters in the game.
Leveling is just as important as endgame.
Yes.
And we want to keep investing in the world itself through new zones, new quests, new rewards,
and new adventures across all levels of play.
Not every story needs to be about saving the world.
Sometimes the most memorable stories happen in a remote village,
along a forgotten road,
or a corner of the map that you never expected to revisit.
Now third, journey before destination.
We believe your effort should matter,
and it should continue to matter
while forever is designed as a long-term home.
We're not planning around future-level cap increases
that invalidate your accomplishments.
The professions you invest in matter,
the routes you choose matter,
and the gear you earn matters.
The experiences that you have with friends matter.
Our catch-up system is quite simple.
Play the game!
And finally, protect and nurture social experiences.
Many of our favorite memories from classic
happened because of other players,
because someone helped us complete a quest,
because a stranger joined our group,
because a dungeon run turned into a full-time game.
And that's why we're here today.
We're here today to help you find a way to get to the world.
And we're here today to help you find a way to get to the world.
and run turned into a friendship.
We've had to be disciplined when adding convenience
to the game because every quality of life decision
affects how players interact with one another.
Now, we want to create reasons for people
to explore and adventure together.
And that's part of the philosophy behind new systems
like camping.
And it's why every patch will include content
for different kinds of players,
whether you enjoy solo adventures,
dungeons, raids, PVP, or something in between,
because the best adventures are the ones that we share.
So those pillars guide every decision that we make,
but what do they actually mean in practice?
For us, it starts with Azeroth itself.
People often talk about vanilla Azeroth
as though it's a solved game,
as though every mystery has been answered,
every story has been told,
every corner of the world explored.
But when we look at Azeroth, we see something very different.
We see potential.
We see unfinished stories.
We see unexplored places.
We see regions players have been wondering about for decades.
The Gilneas, Mount Hyjal, Uldum,
the mountains north of Angora, I wonder what's up there.
The spaces that exist between the familiar parts of the world
and the possibilities don't stop there.
Forgotten kingdoms, tighten mysteries, the Emerald Dream,
the Caverns of Time,
countless adventures still waiting to be told in the vanilla world.
But every journey has to begin somewhere.
And when we started planning well forever,
we wanted to begin with places deeply rooted in the world
players already know and love.
So let's take a look at where our adventure begins.
So today, we're introducing four new regions to Azeroth.
Yes, four new adventurers built directly into the world of the Eastern kingdoms in Kalimdor,
because Azeroth is not finished growing, and this is how that growth begins.
So let's start with a place many of us have wondered about for more than 20 years, Mount
Hyjal.
We all know the story.
We know the story of Archimonde's defeat.
But what happened afterwards?
How did HYDRA recover?
How are the forests healing from the corruption?
How are the wild gods affected by the events atop the mountain?
And what dangers still remain?
And Mt. HYDRA is a new end-game leveling zone
where players can finally journey through the dark whisper gorge
and explore one of Warcraft's most important locations
during a period of history that we've never really experienced before.
Now, you'll encounter new stories, rewards,
new reputations, and both solo and group content
as you help shape the future of this recovering land.
And for players seeking a greater challenge,
Hydral also serves as the home of one of our launch raids,
Hydral Summit.
And...
AND!
And it serves as one of three entrances
into one of our other raids, the Barrow Deeps.
Because some of Azeroth's greatest victories still have stories yet to tell.
But not every adventure begins with a famous landmark.
Some begin in places we barely noticed at all.
If you've ever flown between Morgor and Desilis,
you've probably seen a set of ancient ruins passing far below.
A small detail in the world, a mystery hiding in plain sight.
Welcome to Schenderlas.
Here, you'll meet Mordent Evenshade
and learn more about the Schenderlar,
the people whose history is deeply connected to Althroclas,
Dire Maul, and Prince Tortheldrin himself.
The players will also continue storylines involving the Galkus
and the Magrum Centaur tribes
while discovering new reasons to visit dungeons like Maradon and Razorfen Downs.
That's a great example of one of the things we love most about Azeroth,
even the smallest corner of the world
can become a truly memorable adventure.
Now, one of our core beliefs is that the journey matters,
and nowhere embodies that philosophy
better than our new zone, the River Glades.
Located along the eastern coast of eastern kingdoms
between Red Ridge, Burring Steps, the Badlands,
and Swamp of Sorrow, this place is big,
the River Glades is a major new leveling zone
inspired by stories that stretch all the way back
to the earliest Warcraft games.
Years ago, human forces pursued retreating orcs to this region,
and when help never came,
many of those settlers were forced to remain behind
and build lives of their own on the frontier.
Generation later, the descendants still endure.
This is a rugged land of rivers, grasslands, trade routes,
struggling communities, old grudges and new opportunities.
Humans and orcs, ogres and gnolls,
Doblins and Murlocs, all competing to survive
in a region where no one has it easy.
And that's what makes the Riverglades special.
This isn't a story about saving Azeroth.
It's a story about living in Azeroth,
spanning from the mid-30s to the mid-40s.
Riverglades introduces more than 150 new quests,
content for both Horde Alliance players,
new reputations, new rewards,
and entirely new ways to progress through your leveling journey.
The players will also discover a neutral goblin port
that expands trade routes throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and beyond.
And for those of you looking for trouble,
you'll find Kroll Dock Stronghold,
an enormous outdoor dungeon
where a powerful ogre civilization is conducting some very questionable business.
And yes, we thought it might be nice to have another option
besides running Scarlet Monastery for the 25th time.
Yes!
Applause
So far, we've explored places tied to the familiar parts of Warcraft's history,
but Azeroth should still be able to surprise us.
Sometimes the greatest mystery isn't beyond the horizon.
Sometimes it's above us.
Welcome to Zephyrus Isle.
Thousands of years ago, a group of high-born exiles
forged a pact with the elemental wind spirits
and they built a civilization in the realm of Skywall.
This wasn't entirely without precedent.
Classic players may remember stories like Thunderfury
and Prince Thundaren,
where we first caught glimpses of the elemental powers beyond Azeroth itself.
Now, Zephyrus gives us an opportunity to expand on some of those ideas
while still creating something entirely new.
But the civilization of Zephyrus is in trouble.
The air spirits that once protected these islands have vanished.
Ancient structures are beginning to fail,
communities are becoming isolated,
and the sky-born people are divided over what comes next.
Some seek answers from the wind spirits,
some wish to reclaim the arcane traditions of their ancestors,
others have turned to darker powers.
Zephyrus Isle serves as a brand-new starting experience
from levels one to twelve
and combines classic warcraft aesthetics
with elemental architecture inspired by sky wall itself.
And that is why we're introducing an entirely new playable race,
the Skyborne.
Yes.
Now, the Skyborne are not a neutral race.
At character creation, players will choose whether their Skyborne joins the Horde
or the Alliance.
And while they share a common ancestry,
they no longer share a common vision for the future.
Now, Horde-aligned Skyborne
embraced stronger ties to elemental traditions
and work closely alongside the Earthen Ring,
granting access to the Shaman class.
Now, Alliance Skyborne pursue the arcane legacy of their ancestors
and work alongside the Kirin Tor, granting access to the Mage class.
Now, bold factions can play warriors, hunters, rogues and druids,
including some brand new Skyborne druid forms graded specifically for the race.
Yes.
And the Skyborne also feature new ratios, customizations,
voices, dances, and a wide range of unique visual options.
And more importantly, the skyborne represent exactly the kind of story
we want to tell in Well Forever.
Something new, something exciting,
and something that feels like it belongs in Azeroth.
Now, whether it's helping restore Hygel,
uncovering forgotten histories of Shendrolos,
building a future on the River Glades frontier,
or taking your first steps through the skies of Zephyrus,
These are only the first chapters of WoW Forever.
This isn't a seasonal experiment.
This isn't a one-time expansion,
and it isn't the end of Azeroth's story.
It's a commitment, a promise,
to keep growing this world with new regions,
new mysteries,
new adventures and new stories for years and years to come.
But a living world needs challenges.
New dungeons, new raids, new battlegrounds,
new rewards, and to show you what's waiting for adventurers brave enough to answer that call,
I would like to hand things over to Nora. Thank you.
Greetings, adventurers!
I'd like to start by expressing just how proud I am of the team for making this dream a reality.
Like many of you watching right now,
we've poured our hearts into World of Warcraft,
and it's an honor to be entrusted with this beloved world
and this incredible legacy.
Ah!
But ah, look at me!
Getting all sentimental when there are matters
that require our attention.
There's adventure to be had all across Azeroth,
and, well, let me just show you.
In the Alterac Mountains,
A disruption has thrown the magical city of Dalaran into chaos.
The mages of the Curentor have erected a magical barrier over the city
to conceal the restoration efforts after the events of Warcraft 3.
But as you can see, the barrier seems to be down.
Furthermore, I'm hearing all sorts of strange reports,
enchantments backfiring, arcane constructs going haywire,
demonic energy has been running rampant, there are cats everywhere.
I guess that part's normal.
Anyway, far be it from me to imply that the all-powerful mages of the Cure and Tord don't have the situation under control,
but perhaps if you're willing to brave the dangers, you could lend them a hand, especially if you're around the bulls 28, 33.
There might be some magical artifacts in it for you, and besides, there's a whole city to explore.
So no, this isn't just a dungeon.
Of course, the optics of some ragtag group of adventurers
helping out these powerful mages, but not go over well,
but I'm sure we can find some roundabout way to get you into the city.
Anyway, that's just scratching the surface.
Let's turn our sights closer to home.
The once great city of Lordaeron was devastated by Arthas and his scourge.
The Forsaken have been hard at work trying to restore the city.
There are memories here. Old family heirlooms, keepsakes from loved ones who never made it out of the city in time.
The ruins of Loron are treacherous, a scourge still lurk in its darkest corners.
But to make matters worse, we've heard reports that necromancer has moved in, and all signs point to an attack on another city.
Honorable members of the Horde may choose to take up arms and assist the Forsaken in reclaiming these ruins,
ideally in the level 15 to 20-ish range,
While members of the Alliance ...
Heh.
Well, I can't imagine the forsaken
taking kindly to your presence here,
so you may need to find a way to sneak in.
But don't worry, Alliance.
We have something close to home for you, too.
The Dwarven capital city of Iron Forge
is carved within the mountains of Denmero,
and its mighty halls run deep.
Beneath the city proper lies the Hall of Thames,
a final resting place for the Dwarven monarchs of old.
This is a place that has been,
well-tended and for the most part left undisturbed.
But if you guys can believe it, someone's broken into the place.
I suspect the dark irons.
And perhaps if you're a member of the Alliance,
you might feel inspired to uproot these intruders,
although I'll warn you, ghostly whispers echo these corridors.
It's probably best to make sure you're at least somewhere in the 13 to 18 level range.
As for Horde, one thing's for certain.
The dwarves, I know, would never let some horde waltz
right into their sacred burial chamber.
I suppose if you're curious, you'll need to find a way to sneak in
or perhaps carve your way through.
But enough about home, you're here for adventure.
Azeroth holds many secrets, and it's no surprise
that there would be no so many archaeological dig sites
to scatter throughout the land.
These courageous enough to brave errant titan constructs
may set their sights on one dig site in particular.
Located in the wetlands, just about Welgar's excavation,
you'll find a place trapped in tide.
Although we don't know much about it, but that's the point.
A strange mist has been floating down from the mountains,
flashing lights have been spotted on the horizon,
so there must be something up there.
You'll check it out, won't you?
I would make sure that you're in the levels 29,
they're 24 to 29 range, I'd say,
so you're prepared for what you might find.
I'm sure the explorers' league might be interested in those findings,
but if you're not a fan of swamps, I understand,
so how about something a bit more tropical?
These ancient, trolled ruins located off the coast of Stranglethorne Vale
have been submerged in waves and had a bagged sea creatures
for as long as I can remember.
And I don't mean to alarm you,
but those ruins have suddenly risen out of the ocean.
You can see it just off the coast.
Maybe some sort of city?
Well, one thing's for certain, we're
going to need somebody to go in and make sure nothing
de Ferris is going on in there.
I've heard reports that trolls and Naga have been spotted there.
And I thought I saw a pirate ship crash into the place.
I wonder how they're doing.
Could be pretty dangerous, so I'd
make sure you're at least around levels 35 to 40
before venturing into that place.
Actually, I'm looking around the room
and y'all look pretty tough, so.
If you want to head over to the World of Warcraft demo area,
you can check out the drown city today,
right here on the show floor.
Now, some players may find this prison familiar,
and no, I'm not implying you're a bunch of criminals.
Although, there may be a few devilish rogues among you.
But no, this prison is famous
because it's rumored to be the place where the Defias once held
high-ranking nobles for ransom.
It was at one point even rumored to have held King Varian Ryn himself.
In the past, we were able to go visit this location,
but we couldn't actually go inside.
In forever, of course, now you can.
And it would be nice if you considered going down there
to clear the place out.
There seemed to be some sort of conflict happening
between the Defias and the Naga inside,
so now would be an opportune time to move.
You'll want to make sure you're ready to pull up a fight, though,
A group's around level 48 to 53, should do it.
Ah, the sheep or its terrace.
Where have I heard those words before?
In Ralph of Lich King Classic,
I recall there was an old Titan facility
deep within a show-as-art basin.
But were there others?
What happened to them?
Anyway, perhaps one of our most treacherous locations yet,
in the hills of Ungoro Crater
lies a place seemingly untouched by time.
I've heard it described as, I quote,
a whole lot like Jurassic Park, whatever that means.
There are old Titan buildings scattered throughout the area,
wildlife running amok,
beautiful power crystals scattered throughout,
and you guessed it,
there must be some source of power here, right?
Well, if you're interested,
perhaps you can go and investigate
if you're levels 58 to 60 maybe.
Look, I don't know why you would want to venture
into a stronghold crawling with ogres,
But if you're into that sort of thing, I've got the opportunity for you.
In the River Glades, outrunners have been kidnapping folks,
and I've heard several ramfackings have occurred within the region.
Sturdy adventurers in the level 40 to 55 range could potentially put up a fight
and end the ogre's mischief in the region, but be warned,
in the twilight hours of the night, I've heard weird chanting coming from the place.
Could it be cultists?
But back to nature. In times past, I could have sworn I remember standing before a gate
in Azhara and wondered what it was on the other side. I tell you, but if you're around levels
55 to 60, you might as well go check it out for yourself. A great furballed city lies
within. But if you're familiar with the furballed's plight, well, I suspect they
might be struggling to stave off some sort of corruption. It could be very dangerous.
The tunnels leading into Black Maw Holds run deep
and wind far into the mountain.
In fact, should you decide to explore these tunnels,
you might find yourself in an entirely different kind of danger,
which brings us to our first raid.
To the night owls, the Barrow Deep is a sacred place.
While there may be a variety of Barrow Dens scattered throughout the land,
it is said that the winding tunnels
lead to one pivotal location we call the Barrow Deeps.
None truly know how far or how deep these tunnels run,
but it must be massive.
The Night Elves hold some of their most dangerous prisoners in this location.
In fact, rumor has it,
an infamous demon hunter was once kept here.
Perhaps you'll get to see his prison.
The Night Elves are hesitant to let anyone in, including allies,
But I've heard that, like the furbols of Black Maw Hold,
they may be dealing with some sort of corruption.
But these dangers are no joke.
In fact, if I were you, I'd send no less than 10
of my greatest adventurers.
But we've got more danger in store.
At the Battle for Mount Hygel,
Malfurion Stormrage chose to sacrifice
the power sustaining the Night Elves immortality
for a chance to defeat Legion Commander Archimonde.
It worked, but I mean, holy smokes.
Coming to terms with losing one's immortality
mustn't be easy, and there must be some
who disagreed with his decision, right?
Anyway, fast forward to today,
and we're hearing reports that someone or something
has been draining the power from the land
surrounding the Paijil summit.
Now, like the Baradipas, you'll want to be prepared.
If you were to send, say, 20 of your finest,
I'd say you'd have a reasonable chance of surviving.
This is by far our largest raid in WoW Forever.
Beautiful snowy peaks tower over the area,
a raging river carves a path through ancient elven ruins.
The whispering of ghosts from the third war can be heard.
Wow.
There's plenty of adventure to be had,
and perhaps plenty of powers to be had as well.
Legendary power.
But this is World of Warcraft.
and tension is at an all-time high between the Horde and the Alliance.
Rest assured, you'll get to duke it out in the classic battlegrounds
you've always known and loved, but we have something more for you.
Off the coast of Kalimdor lies the Darkspear Islands,
a strategic location for those seeking to gain an upper hand in the conflict.
This is a 15 versus 15 battleground
that follows the same rule set as Eye of the Storm.
If you want to win, you'll need to control strategic positions throughout the islands.
The catch is that this battleground features a raffy basin-style capture points.
You'll need to interact with a flag, then stand to defend it to secure that location.
Or, you guessed it, you'll be joining the Dark Spear Trolls
as they fight to eradicate the Alliance from their islands.
An Alliance you are to report to the Theramore Expeditionary Force for deployment.
We've also spent a lot of time thinking about classes back in 2005 and 2006.
The class team modestly redesigned several of the talent trees,
such as priests, mage, hunter, druid.
They made, the changes they made back then weren't really about making every class equally good at everything.
Rather, they wanted each class to feel unique.
They wanted to give us a reason to bring each class on our next adventure.
The changes we've made in classes and while forever
follow that same spirit.
We want to cover gaps where they exist,
but we don't want to erase what makes each class unique.
For example, Paladins,
there's a new seal that allows you to tank a bit more effectively.
Palladins, Paladins, Paladins, Paladins
If healing's your jam,
you might find talents that enable you to do a bit,
just a bit, of group healing.
And ret paladins, I don't know, maybe now's your time to shine.
We've moved away from talents that simply give you small, incremental improvements,
and have instead tried to give you talents that you notice.
You may find yourself in situations where you're making real, meaningful trade-offs,
depending on how you want to build your character.
But that's not all.
WoW Forever is huge, and you've got hundreds of brand new items to look forward to,
including all sorts of really fun and exciting on-use and on-equip effects.
For example, check out this sharpened cutlery I found backstage,
which you can equip as your farm weapon.
And possibly related, we have this grave robber's shovel for, you know,
when you want to dig a grave.
Anyway, we've gone through and made a variety of updates
and existing items and rewards throughout the games.
Check out the title charm now super effective against certain sea dwellers
and white mane Chippewa, which has increased healing and damage done
alongside a reduction in the cast time of resurrection spells.
Now, let me touch on race abilities in WoW Forever.
We want to give you reasons to want to spin up a new character
and embark on a new journey,
which is why we've done a pass over race abilities
to make them feel more distinct, more unique,
such that each race has something special to bring
that other races do not.
You can see a sneak peek of a few of our upcoming racial passives,
a 5% increase of damage dealt against beasts if you're a dwarf,
and a 5% chance to drain health from your target if you're undead.
But I highly encourage you to check out tomorrow's
Wow Forever Deep Dive panel,
where my friends will go into a lot more detail
on what I've teased today.
But I'm an introvert,
and it's time for me to crawl back into the shadows from whence I came.
So I'm going to go ahead and hand things off
to our wonderful production director, Clay Stone,
who will share even more fun and exciting
WALF-River updates.
["WALF-River Updates"]
Thanks, Norah.
And hello, BlizzCon!
My name is Clay Stone and I'm the Associate Production Director on the
WoW Classic and WoW Forever team. So we've talked a lot about things you might
be expecting, but let's take a minute and talk about some things perhaps you
weren't expecting. Let's start with our rendering updates. You have to see a bit
of this in our gameplay trailer during the opening ceremony and admittedly we
We went pretty hard.
Not every zone is going to be set at sunrise or sunset all the time.
But I want to make a bold, controversial statement.
We believe, while classics art style is timeless, which is why our focus was not on changing
the game art, but on small ways we could push specifically things like the environmental
effects.
as the way rivers now flow in Elwynn Forest, or the way the fog rolls into duskwood at night,
or the way the moonlight now breaks through the leaves of the trees in Ashenvale.
It's the same original Azeroth that players fell in love with all those years ago with
just a few small but powerful effects updates to make it more immersive than ever.
Next, let's talk camping.
So in addition to the new professions content arriving elsewhere in WoW Forever, with camping,
We are doubling down on trade skills.
Almost anywhere in the open world, players can craft a campsite.
Other adventurers can stop by, stay a while, and use their trade skills to craft something
for the campsite, granting everyone there a specific buff.
When we think about our core pillars and nurturing and protecting social experiences,
this is one of those things we're talking about.
And because players need to sit there for a moment before they gain any buffs, maybe,
just maybe, they just might talk to each other.
Legacy system.
If camping is us doubling down on trade skills and community, WoW Forever's new legacy system
we'll see us tripling down on an element of classic
that is only found in classic, the one to 60 leveling journey.
For as epic as Endgame is, and I promise you,
while forever's Endgame is epic,
we know that there are some players
who just love the classic leveling journey.
APPLAUSE
Although the legacy system benefits everyone,
it very much aids players who love to run alts
as they unlock new perks across their alts
by achieving new goals on each new leveling journey.
We are really excited about this one
and how well it fits in the classic wild design philosophy.
Now, I'd like to switch gears and talk about the community.
And if there's one thing I've learned in my time
as part of this community,
it's that players love to debate what is and is not classic.
Players discuss in social, in forums, and even make polls.
And if there's one thing every player agrees on,
it's what is Classic Plus?
When I took this survey, I was like, oh, my gosh, yes.
Blizzard is gonna see this and we're gonna be able to have proof and say look
This is what we want blizzard now you can do it in reality after looking at this data. It's like
The exact opposite of what I thought
My gosh like it's literally proving that like nobody knows what they want like that's hilarious, bro
So, since we're all in agreement on what we want, let's talk transmog.
Now, some of you are saying, yes, finally, this is my moment, I feel seen.
But we know some of you are saying,
Transmog? Not in my classic plus.
We say, is it too much to ask for both?
In WoW Forever, Transmog is entirely opt-in.
If you want to turn it on, it's on
and everyone you see in the world can look their very best.
But for classic players,
players, especially those of us who enjoy world PvP. Many of us want to see other players
for who they truly are and what they've accomplished. So, turn it off. And it's clown suits for
everyone.
the world, you decide. There is a lot more to learn about the classic modifications we've
made to this system for those who choose to use it. Stop by tomorrow's deep guide panel
to learn a lot more about this, as well as the camping and legacy systems and much more.
For now, let me move on to another absolutely not at all controversial topic, character
models. Now, many players enjoy Wow's newer HD character models, but many of us also feel
that Classics ArtSale is timeless, as I said before, and deserves to be preserved, which
is why we've made it completely toggleable game-wide. Your character, the NPCs, other
player characters together, unified in either HD or SD. For fellow classic players, that
That means you get to see all the beloved original races rendered in their glorious original
SD designs.
And for those of you who prefer a more modern aesthetic, you can go with the modern HD designs.
You choose what you see.
Oh, and there is one more thing.
We feel like classics animations are just as important as its art style.
you will see a newer modern HD Dwarf running with its modern animation set.
Now, let me show you that same HD Dwarf running while attached to the classic animation set.
I am so proud to announce that we have gone back
and painstakingly restored the classic animations you know and love
across the game's HD character models.
No bouncy dwarves in the skin.
So let's see.
We've talked about a few new zones, a new race, nine new dungeons, two new raids, classes,
systems, but friends, this is only a glimpse of while forever.
We simply don't have enough time to talk about new professions content, new reputations,
All the new itemization rewards updates
blowing up much of the old meta, the new PVP system,
our first new legendary, our change to riding skill
to preserve that classic, classic moment when you finally
earn your right to ride your first mounts,
our official support of game pads
for players who prefer to play using controllers,
playable this weekend on the show floor
in an in-development state, by the way.
And of course, the integration of previously unfinished
and unused vanilla wow content.
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But that's all now.
I want to take a second to talk about where we're going.
We have learned a lot since season of discovery,
including the benefits of a strong roadmap,
which is why we are building WALF Forever
in the way it was originally conceived back in the early 2000s,
but with everything we've learned for the past 25 years.
A fast-paced production for a slow-paced game,
which will allow us to deliver where we go from here.
We have big plans for the coming months.
You will see new raids unlocked on December 9th,
followed by even more new raids, new dungeons,
PVP updates, world content, and so much more,
all in addition to the original vanilla wow content.
And this includes new quests throughout the leveling
1 through 60 journey as we add to this horizontally
expanding evergreen classic Azeroth.
And I want to take a second to briefly point to that major updates box right there in summer
at the far end.
It's a few words there that say revamped iconic raid.
There's been a lot of speculation about when this game could take place, which is why
I want to reiterate that this game takes place
at the beginning of World of Warcraft
and tells stories authentic to that time period.
The original iconic raids that you know and love
have not opened yet,
and we're excited for you to rediscover them in the future.
But, friends, this is just a taste of the year ahead
and not even a peek at where we're planning to go beyond this.
However big you think this game is,
based on what you've seen so far,
I promise you, it is so much bigger than that.
Our ambition is mighty, but most importantly,
we have room to pivot based on community feedback.
We are building this game with you,
and we are not just building for today,
but for something that lasts.
And nothing is off the table, not even a new class.
Going back to this real map,
you may have noticed there's a big gap right there,
right around the winter time frame.
Let's discuss that.
But first, I want to take a second to talk about a picture.
A picture that was framed and has hung on my wall at Blizzard since 2023.
Hardcore represented a turning point for us as a team.
We had tried a few things before it,
And as Ian covered, we've absolutely tried new things since.
But hardcore represented the moment
when Blizzard and the community came together
and showed not only why World of Warcraft
is one of the greatest games ever made,
but why that original adventure still holds
so much promise for where we could go in the future.
Which is why I'm also so proud to announce
that hardcore will be coming to wild forever.
That's it.
Please check out the Hardcore panel tomorrow for a look at Wow Forever Hardcore.
To me, Hardcore was the start of a promise.
And Wow Forever is not some experimental seasonal realm nor some recreation of where we've
already been. Wow Forever as a name and the logo represents a promise. And you
happen to pick up the collector's edition. We hope you love the logo on the box.
And when you open that box, we hope you love it on the game box. And when you see
what else is inside that box, we hope you love, we hope you love your very
own Dwarf and Bear statue, which signifies where this all began, not just with
hardcore, but also way back in November of 2004. On behalf of the WoW Classic team
and the entire World of Warcraft team, thank you. When I started on Classic, our
dream was to get here. We are here because of you. Thank you for being
here. Thank you for your feedback. Thank you for believing in this dream. I'll see you in-game
on November 4th. Beta starts this Thursday and you can play the demo here today. Have a great
Great plus on everyone.
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Hello and welcome to the World of Warcraft stage live here at Playspot 2026.
All right, now that everybody knows what is in store for us for the future of World of
Warcraft, are you guys ready to talk about the present?
Are we ready for some WoW eSports?
All right, four teams have qualified for the global finals and today we will be crowning our MBI champion and one team will be walking away with $300,000.
I am so excited to get started here. My name is I am going to be here with you all weekend here at the World of Warcraft Stage, but for now I'm going to hand it over to the desk.
Thanks so much, Aya. There's no more counting down the days. BlizzCon is here!
And so are the Mythic Dungeon International Grand Finals.
Is everybody ready for some Mythic Plus speedrunning?
Woo!
We have a new season in Midnight, but there are old scores to be settled from season one.
On your desk, Coast Rook.
Finally, literally here on the same desk with all of you.
We've got makes, we have titles, we have Duranos,
and we're going to be kicking things off for you today
with an MDI brand finals.
Now we have some huge, huge things ahead for you,
but let's take a look at the schedule today
so that you know what to look forward to.
Our semi-final matches will be kicking off here,
and then once we take a break from those,
the dungeons will not be done,
because we will be having a Wow Forever creator showcase
that will be happening with some of your favorite creators
who will be showcasing not just only the dungeon,
You can play here live at BlizzCon, but also a dungeon not yet seen that we'll be able to play in WoW forever.
Very exciting stuff, and that will lead us straight into our grand final match at our trophy ceremony afterwards,
where we will determine the MDI Grand Champions.
And there they are, the creators that you will be seeing with the WoW Forever creator showcase.
We've got Andy Fuchsia, Vivianos, Tyler, Zarya, and Guzu have a great time with them,
and you'll get to see those dungeons as they run.
It's going to be an amazing time, but right now we've got MDI action coming in for you.
So let's talk about what the Mythic Dungeon International is.
Now for some of you who maybe have never seen it before, this will be a 14 single elimination bracket.
But Mikes, can you take us through a little bit more of what the MDI is for those who might be new to it?
Yeah, I mean, first of all, welcome to everybody that has never watched an MDI before.
I know this is a bright stage here and a lot of people are looking for wow news,
But we are pitching teams of five against each other in a head
to head speed running competition,
where we give them a dungeon pool of five,
and they have to play that first map,
and they can ban out the other ones.
But here is our first team.
This is big lucky.
Aura.
Big lucky.
The Aura is so strong as we see them here.
I mean, these players, like you were saying,
are going to have to go head to head to see who can be
the fastest through these dungeons.
If you want to see literally the best players in the world
from around the world facing off,
We are going to have that for you as we have our first matchup between Dignitas and Big Lucky CN
Here coming in to join the global state, which is so great to see as they all come together
But that'll take us to our bracket as well. We're starting this first match off. So tunnels with this first matchup
What are you thinking we're going to see? Yeah, so we got Dignitas versus Big Lucky the Chinese number one seed versus the
season one finals winners
Basically Big Lucky's been practicing a bunch
Meanwhile, Dignitas, they have had maybe a little bit less practice because they had multiple players competing in the race world first
But I have a little bit of a fun fact about Dignitas
Apparently after competing in the race world first whenever it was like midnight in CEST all the way in Europe
Harthjax would instead log on to the tournament realm and he was only getting three hours of sleep at night while competing in the race
World first so Dignitas was putting in a bunch of practice that other people didn't realize that was even possible. That's crazy
That is wild
I mean they were trying to figure out how they can optimize it. This has been a huge thing for the teams
I mean Drat knows all year has built to this for them coming in through season one and a lot of them said that they
Really wanted to make it to blizzcon. That was their dream. That was their goal and our top four standing here
I mean the pressure has to be real for them
Yeah, the pressure is huge right you've got this massive wild card of being on stage being at blizzcon in person
Plus we've got several other wild cards as well
It's the start of a new season.
This is one of the earliest MDIs we've ever had
when it comes to how long the season has been out,
how long they've been able to play these dungeons,
which means that there has to be a lot of pressure
on the innovation, the strategies that they bring to bear here,
and the meta, the compositions that they think are best.
Yeah, I mean, it's all taking shape right coming in,
and we'll see these season two dungeons.
But let's talk about one of the first teams
that we'll see today.
Dignitas are returning champions two times in a row.
Now this team has had an incredible journey throughout the MDI showing that hard work can't pay off in titles
I think you have some more insights about them. Yeah, I feel like for as a team
This is going to be like a really unique challenge for Dignitas
It's always something that's kind of interesting whenever you're playing for the comfort of your home
Not on the worldwide stage not at blizzcon of all things and some of these players
You know, they're not streamers
They don't stream with cameras and like the fact that they are coming to the US
And I know that for players like yargi and AJ and they don't really stream with cams
What is this experience going to be like for them?
I think that that's kind of a big question.
Are they going to be nervous?
Or are they going to be able to overcome the challenges
that is playing on the BlizzCon main stage?
I mean, it's a lot of pressure,
but it's also so much excitement in front of everybody here.
And they looked pretty chill in their player portraits, you know?
It seems like they were vibing.
So we're going to be seeing them come in here
as we get a little bit of their gameplay
and make students inflate into what we've seen with Dignitas.
Yeah, I mean, if you look at the history of this team,
it's probably one of the most beautiful storylines you could make up.
This is a team that started at the bottom in Dragonflight season 2,
started with a fifth place in the overall placement,
then a third, and then that first and another first in that last season.
And every single time they come up, you kind of look at this team
and you think, what are they going to be capable of this time?
What are they going to cook up?
A lot of their teamwork rains around, of course,
Kira, their main tank, their team leader,
and he's really a little bit shy with interviews.
I'm kind of hoping that we get to talk to him today, you know
He's been coming up to put himself out there streaming more showcasing
What a solid foundation he is for the team and honestly if dignitas win this they are not just the
Champions of the best team right now. They will become really a defining team in MDI history titles. Yeah, I ran into a
Kira outside the CVS yesterday whenever I was walking back
And it was him and some other player right and we haven't seen many of these players and they in the
The unnamed player goes up to me and goes, do you know who I am?
And I was like, I have a gamble.
Basically, I had a 33% chance.
I go, you're heart's jacked.
And he goes, no, this is Jargi.
And then I was like, oh, OK, it's nice to meet you.
How are the nerves?
How are you feeling about this competition?
Because I knew that Jargi had been a little bit nervous.
And then the guy looks at me and he goes, he just laughs.
And he goes, I'm AJ.
I was like, this guy's an absolute bork.
Like, oh my gosh.
It's one of the things that's
so great about BlizzCon, though, right?
We get to meet so many people, be it guildies,
be it folks that you've been running content with for years,
friends, found family, or the teammates you made along the way.
And for us on dusk, it's always so special to get to meet the players.
Speaking of which, big lucky are CN teams.
It's so special to have them here with us and to be able to see them compete here at BlizzCon.
Big lucky is a team that fought hard and worked their way up the ranks.
They have some well-known CN content creators, but here in NA,
they're sort of taking the stage and we're getting to know them as well.
Dratnos, big lucky, what do you think they're going to bring to the table?
I mean, this has been a very exciting team to watch this entire season making their way up here,
finishing in the top ranks of last season's MDI.
And there are some players here that you might actually recognize as well.
Back in BFA, Henry there, Broken Shun over on the far left,
played in at the time a little guild called Limit back then.
So player you might be familiar with, Loda as well,
one of the top players on the Mythic Plus leaderboards going back many years.
Yeah, they have a long history and they're well-known for their mythic plus their speedrunning particularly in the sienna region
But this has been the first season with season one that they've really been competing on this stage in speedrunning makes
We actually caught them yesterday while we were doing rehearsals and we talked to them just a little bit
And we're like, how are you feeling? What are the nerves and they were telling us that as the race was going on longer and longer
At first they were like, yeah, it's gonna be a really hard competition
but seeing a lot of their competitors caught up and playing around the race, they were like,
actually, hold on, we might have a real shot here because they were saying we've already won by being
here in the first place, but they're still going to try nonetheless to really up them. And I think
a lot of people have them as favorites. I think that they, even though they're coming in as the
fourth seed, the fact that they probably have the most practice, I think that Drannas talked
about this earlier, the meta read and the strategy developments that are persistent in
in the dungeons, especially this early on in the season.
I think that that could actually be a series winning kind of advantage for Big Lucky,
depending on how much practice and how many strategy innovations they have come up with today.
It really could be. And honestly, both of these teams, I think they have what it takes.
Can Big Lucky push their dream further than just BlizzCon and take it all?
Let's take a look at a content piece to showcase both of these teams to you in a little more detail.
I think the toss once again breaks their own world record.
Yeah. So basically we're playing for many, many years together already,
and the team was formed basically by me with my friends
and we are playing with some roster changes
within few last years.
I think they are all wonderful teammates.
You know, we like type-knate like a family.
We recognize each other's strength
and we accept each other's shortcomings.
So I think overall we have like pretty great vibe.
Five percent left for Tignitas
as they show no signs of stopping the boss goes down.
We've had a little bit less time to practice
because of the race for first.
So we had a little bit less prep than Big Lucky had, but at the same time, I think we kind of did catch up.
So I hope we will have something to show up on the matches versus them.
I think Dignitize currently the best team in my opinion.
So it will be really tough to play against them, but I think we still have a chance
because we do have a little bit early setup on the practice because we don't need to rate.
Big Lucky is going to be finishing out that sky rage with a 1-0 in their favor.
Anything can happen and like one mistake and you can be like out of the tournament.
You can install lose the game.
I mean, these two teams, they have so much on the line and both of them have more than earned their place here.
Now, whether or not the practice time is going to make a big difference or if Dignitas, who have just been unbelievable, even at a format that they thought when they came in, they were like, oh, speed running.
I don't know are we as good at that is keep pushing and then they just stopped the competition
But they will have to be facing off in our season two
Dungeons and this is gonna bring some new challenges and we can see some of our bands here
Both a little bit the same year on Kings rest titles
Yeah, I mean I think double banning Kings rest kind of makes sense whenever you're coming into a competition where you don't really know
How fast the other teams are you're typically going to ban for like the dungeon that you believe is gonna be your hardest
And with the dungeons being 16 to 19 level this season
I think that 19 King's Rest, that is going to be really tough.
I know the teams are kind of like, well, that seems kind of high.
And they're like, we're going to do it. We're going to do it.
Like, we'll get there. And of course they will. We'll see them too,
which makes it even more exciting today.
But of course this first matchup, Dignitas versus Big Lucky.
I mean, we have to make some predictions about it ourselves.
And for those of you who are watching around the world,
get some predictions in that chat as well.
So, Dranos, we'll start with you. Who do you think is going to take it?
It's three new dungeons, right?
We've got Alter Fangs, we've got Murdero,
we've got Den and Alarak.
I'm gonna go with Big Lucky.
I'm gonna go with Big Lucky in a 2-0, I think.
Wow.
With these dungeons, with the time
they've had to practice them,
with the optimizations they've been able to make,
I think they're gonna be able
to unseat our champions here.
Okay, I mean, talking big, but Big Lucky,
they could have that Big Lucky break
and they could absolutely see it through.
Tettles, where are you kind of leaning?
Are you towards Dignitas or Big Lucky?
Flip a coin, it always comes up Big Lucky.
I'm a big lucky two one.
I'm so horny.
I thought that was cool.
I thought that was cool.
Listen, I got you.
For all my you fans out there, I'm, of course,
going to sway in the favor of Dignitas.
Dear back-to-back champions, OK?
You cannot disrespect them.
And like we heard, they put in some extra time
despite being tied up in the race.
So I think they're going to win this with a two one.
You know, I think the desk is split.
We might have to cut it right down the middle,
because Megs, I'm with you.
I'm going to go Dignitas.
We have seen them evolve into a team that has not just shown that they have skill,
but that they have worked so hard to get to this point with that skill.
I mean, their journey had me emotional the first time they even
won a couple of seasons back and just seeing them excel since then makes me root for them.
So I'm going to say 2-1 towards Dignitas.
I think that's what I'm going to say.
All right.
It's better entertainment anyway.
Yeah, you know, better entertaining, more entertaining this way.
But honestly, it's going to be entertaining the whole way across.
We have both of these teams ready to take the stage.
So I bring them out for us.
Thank you, Rook.
I'm so excited to introduce these teams as these guys have covered already.
They are ready to go back there.
It has been long anticipated by both of these teams.
So let's get going.
Let's get these teams out on the stage.
I'd like to introduce you to Dignitas.
Jira, AJ, Burr, Hearthjacks, and Yorgie!
Of course it's not a competition without an opponent.
So, all the way from the other side of the world, let's bring out Big Lucky!
Shun XCM Strawberry, Xiaoxiao, RJBC, and Loda.
Okay, good luck to both of these teams.
And I cannot wait to get started. I'm going to send it back to the desk.
Thank you so much. I agree to see the players take the stage here, both for
Dignitas and Big Lucky. Now we've been talking about how highly contested this
matchup can be. Big Lucky, they've had that time to put some practice into
really focus since they faced off with these teams earlier in season one. Can
that make a difference for them or are we gonna see Dignitas with their
unparalleled speed and damage output a lot of times really be able to just
charge through these season two dungeons? This is gonna be a huge one
for them as we come into Dignitas versus big lucky titles.
What do you think it's gonna be like here
with these two showing down?
I think that the probably the most interesting questions
like what is the composition going to be?
For DPS, there's a lot of specializations
that are pretty good.
We've seen the rise of things like Frost DK,
obviously, assassination road, demonology, Warlock,
Arcane, Mage, Elemental Shaman.
If you look at some statistics,
those seem like some of the absolute top tier
specializations.
How are those gonna fit in?
What healer are we gonna get?
I think that that's kind of an interesting question.
Is the lust gonna come from a healer
or something that we have to kind of figure out?
And then tanks, I feel like there's kind of multiple tanks
that can be pretty good between the Vengeance Demon Hunter
and the Blood DK.
So trying to figure out what is the best composition
and are these teams gonna have differences
in terms of what they believe the best composition
is going to be, that's a huge deal.
Absolutely, I think the tank question
is a very interesting one.
That Blood Death Knight is so unstoppable,
so able to survive almost everything.
But the Vengeance Demon Hunter
adds a lot of extra damage when you factor
in that Chaos Brand as well.
How much damage is magic in these compositions?
So big open question there.
And like you said, DPS comps as well.
I mean, these comps, right?
Season two is just into a lot of the teams
they think are still feeling out,
like we've been saying,
exactly what they want to bring to the table
and what's going to be strongest for them performance wise.
But of course, you also have the live venue
and the energy of BlizzCon here affecting the players
as they come in.
So makes with the energy of everybody here in the venue,
how do you think these teams are gonna handle it?
Lay on here live with everyone?
I mean, that's a lot of nurse, right?
And just standing out there on the stage
and hearing the crowd go wild,
there are some players that really take that
as an adrenaline and put it into the game.
And there are some players where that puts on
a lot of extra pressure.
So we'll see what kind of metal our players
are made of today they will need to perform.
And let's hope that our amazing crowd out here
can actually lift them up further
and get them on their spirits.
Let's go. Let me hear you.
I think I'll do it. I will lift my spirit.
So everybody make sure you keep cheering for the teams,
especially as they get into their first map.
Now reminder, this will be speed running.
So these two teams have to go head to head
to see who can complete the dungeon the fastest.
But these dungeons are new.
So it titles with the season two pool.
Do you think there were any unique challenges
that the teams are going to have to deal with?
I think alter fangs.
One of the first engines that we're going to see in the series,
I think that this has a bunch of unique tech opportunities,
particularly slated around the very beginning of the dungeon.
I've seen some stuff on live where teams are potentially skipping totems,
jumping down into that Ravi pit and kind of dealing with that.
Also though, looking forward,
the second dungeon in the series is that murder row on an 18.
I caught up with Big Lucky and was talking about that dungeon with them,
and they said,
you know, there's a couple of dungeons, Blinding Vale and Murder Row,
where you can still pretty easily wipe if you're not careful.
I mean, yeah, I think seeing how many times
players wipe today is going to actually
be a kind of interesting question.
When we were in season one, we saw a lot of the teams
even go deathless at these high levels.
But when you're coming into new dungeons,
you're still figuring out comp.
There's a lot to kind of sort out there, I think,
and try to figure out with your strategies.
So I mean, do you think there's
a chance that maybe these teams have something really
unique or sort of surprises in store for us round those?
I think so.
I think the risk versus reward when you think about, hey,
We have a poll.
It should work.
But it's not always going to work.
Do we go for it?
Can we go for it on the big stage here at BlizzCon?
Do we have that mental fortitude to decide to do something
like that here on stage?
I am very curious if any of our teams
are going to answer that question.
Yes.
I believe in it.
I hope we get to see it.
I mean, it brings up a good point, right?
Over the course of the Mithic Dungeon International,
we often have us talk about, do you go big?
Do you go home?
Do you play it safe and is that something where if you can just save that time, not have any penalties because of deaths, that could make a difference.
But at this high end gameplay live at BlizzCon with one day of competition, I mean, Tettles, it's kind of a different beast.
Do you think the teams can afford to play it safe?
I mean, we were talking about nerves. I think nerves is something that we really want to look out for.
I mean, I'm turning around, I'm looking out of the crowd. There are so many people here at the same time.
Dignitas this is two tiers in a row that they were able to win two seasons in a row that they have won the MDI
Are they gonna be able to make it happen in a third?
I think that's gonna be key. Dignitas, right? For so long they were even just saying we want to be in the top three
That's our goal for the season to be in the top three and then we saw them become a
Champions and they have held on to it since that's a huge feat for them to accomplish makes it is and after all
This is the grand finals. We don't have double elimination here if you lose
you are out. That is not how the MDI is normally played so everything is on the
line for this series for these dungeons. Of course if you can get your foot up
ahead on this first dungeon here that's already one point you can get maybe to
that 2-0 but it's going to be really really difficult with the caliber of
play but let's see what Chat says. Oh interesting Chat seems to be with us
makes they're saying Dignitas are gonna take it here but you know what
25% on Big Lucky? That's not too bad, Ratnose.
Yeah, not too bad, you know, it's gonna make it all the sweeter when Big Lucky.
You're right, you know, we all love voting and cheering for an underdog.
So we're getting into our first map of the day here in the BlizzCon 2026.
Grand Finals for the MDI makes there's a lot of action ahead of us.
There absolutely is. And we're into the altar.
Frank, let's see if our teams are going to be listening to actually go for those totems.
titles, why have you seen and what are we looking for here?
I think that the big thing that I noticed
is the difference between the compositions between the two
teams.
Big lucky, playing that Arcane Mage has really good priority
damage, extremely good burst.
Dignitas playing that Frost Death Knight.
Frost Death Knight has really good priority damage, less
funnel, because they don't have resonance like that Arcane
Mage does.
But at the exact same time, look
at how much damage Jargi is doing, 2 million DPS
on this first pull.
And this is assassination rogue.
The assassination rogue is actually the main character.
Because not only are they doing big overall DPS,
But they're funneling that into insanely good single target.
And I mean, on the right side, X-Tem is not far back.
He's also reaching those two million spikes over there.
Poor big lucky.
So we might have a very interesting competition
on our hands, as our players have their bloodlust run out
from this very first hole.
They should be on equal points in terms of the count.
Yes, both of our teams have 20.93 percentage
as they're making weight.
But the buck does not stop here.
we're into this next huge hole. A couple of those cooldowns still on cooldown though.
Restor Druid looks pretty OP. It looks like it's called the Elder Druid in like part of the wild.
And look at AJ on the left side of the screen there. He is spamming Starfire.
He's not even healing his group. He's doing 300,000 DPS and 300,000 HPS just by spamming Starfire.
That's that Restor Druid, Mark of the Wild, plus called the Elder Druid Damage.
And wow, Restor Druid looks insane.
Yeah, honestly, look a little bit behind on that for the team with the lucky right-hand side,
but should be catching up in a little bit.
In terms of pacing on the dungeon here, they are looking quite good right now,
but that first boss is right around the corner.
So there's not a whole lot of time between here and then,
and they will need their pulldowns there as well.
So let's see if one of her teams can get that jump locked up first.
Yeah, it looks like Big Lucky was a little bit faster coming off the first pull, but it looks like Dignitas is actually going to be able to get the second pull dealt with earlier.
It looks like it's just those two Harrowers. One of the Harrowers is actually dying really early for Dignitas.
Are they going to be able to like run around and then go click the Totems at the exact same time?
I'm trying to see what they're doing.
Yeah, look at this. AJ's running off to the side. It looks like Hartjax is also running off to the other side.
Verb is destroying this final Totem.
And Dignitas, it looks like they are going to be able to get the first boss pulled before Big Lucky here.
Yeah, jump is in. They have arrived and it's time to play big. Here comes our first boss of the MBI grand finals.
Hold first by Dignitas. Robbie has been engaged. Big lucky. Just a snitch behind. Two, three seconds, but in an MBI,
that can be the difference maker between two teams. They will need to claw this back. And the box flight is a great chance to do so.
I do feel like Dignitas maybe has a little bit more single target damage with that frost at night compared to that our team needs.
But ultimately it really kind of comes down to how frequently do you have your offensive CDs that arcane surge the arcane mages like offensive CDs
They come up every like 130 compared to the frosty case breathless and for ghosts and all their offensive CDs
And so it really just kind of comes down to when are these
To be used because I mean look for Dignitas here. You already he already pressed his breathless into ghosts on the last pull
It's becoming available again for him right here with that pillar of frost
Big lucky did catch up a little bit in terms of boss HP, but I think that Dignitas is gonna start opening up a bigger
lead right here
59 to 64 on the boss HP.
Probably is interesting because in the boss where you get just constant uptime, there's
not really much that pushes you away from a class like that.
Frosty Kay really benefiting here, not needing to move out of melee too much.
Yeah, you have to walk out and sometimes get those dopes, but you're just going to
tell everybody else to get those for you and you will get your beautiful uptime
as that breath is still going and it is still going for Yargain.
Yeah, I mean a bit of a healer boss I would say. You have these toxic spits that are going out.
You see those three circles that are on to different players.
It's basically just like a healer used to heal me kind of moment.
And then you have to be able to break the scavenge shield as fast as possible.
Now something that's happening for Dignitas that's not happening for Big Lucky is Dignitas is actually closer to the exit of this room
as the final scavenge for Ravi is being broken.
If Dignitas can actually beat this next shield and say Big Lucky either gets that next shield
or they have to move that boss around, that actually can save Dignitas somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds.
Yeah, it's very important to cut down on that walk time, especially
ultra fan suggestion that is so big, so wide, you need to run so far.
And every single second matters here. The dignitas into the single ditch is 9%
still to go on Robbie as they are inching closer towards that
hill. That should be good. They're right on that
exit and Robbie is going to be falling here and they're on their way.
Big Lucky 8% still to go. Big Lucky also 10 seconds away from that
next shield. They are moving the boss all the way into that corner and they have to be able to
beat this shield otherwise this could be catastrophic for them. One percent on the boss and one second
remaining oh my gosh big lucky you're able to get the boss killed off too. Equaling it up against
Dignitas they are 15 seconds behind but we do have the most volatile part of this dungeon ahead
of us. This second area of trash the high evolutionist the poisons that go out on the player
the rattle AoE that you see Dignitas is dealing with on the left side this is an insane amount
to damage. That is true and you can see all of their buttons light up like a
Christmas tree at the top of your screen. A lot of defenses are necessary to get
through this one. Dignitas, it doesn't even look like they're struggling
temples. I mean they are the best team in the world for the last two seasons.
Are they going to be the best team in the world for the third season? It's
kind of something that we have to answer today and look at this. This is
the Kira classic. He is not waiting for those small mobs, those blood
letters those random NPCs to die off instead he's charging forward. A and Z get slammed
down on top of this high evolutionist and they are just pressing all their defenses and they're
going to just tank this poison that's going out on to everybody. Wow, Digitoss actually
able to save probably 5 to 10 seconds there just with that movement.
And a lot in these new dungeons comes back down to how many stops, how many interrupts,
how many CCs you have because there's a lot of gas in dungeons like the Altar of
that are really important, those spits, those toxins.
And of course, here with the evolution
is also that evolve that needs to be CC'd, hard CC'd,
to actually get stopped.
And then on top of that, we have that rattle.
So the team's really trying to coordinate here,
and you're really happy to have those melee classes
with those short interrupts, please.
Wait, are they gonna actually keep these bloodletters up?
Okay, so the rattling ride,
that's the mob that's actually needed
to spawn the second boss.
If they're able to keep these small adds available,
that is perfect for her to give the funnel damage
to get extra energy regen.
And then do more damage to the Riving Coil.
This is so smart by Dignitas with this strategy.
Look at that, the Ursel's Bortex and the Typhoon
to keep the mobs off the boss.
That way, Yargie and Heartjacks
don't kill those mobs off.
And Verb is able to get more energy regen.
That is insane.
Very nicely done by Dignitas here
to optimize their funnel damage.
Get a little bit more onto the Riving Coil.
But of course, a lot on this Floss Fight
comes down to the phase where she splits.
and then you need that big A.R.E. and you can see that Jargon, for example, is still holding on to that breath,
making sure that he has that damage available then.
Also nice, because you have the Blood to K and the Frost to K, you have double the amount of Bricks.
So you can really get them together, make sure you're not going anywhere.
Bricks not a rainbow!
Alright, and look at this Dignitas on the Riving Coil. They get the boss to split first.
It is a time-based split, but now all of the damage that they do to this Uncoil rise,
That gets done back to the boss the moment that they re-assimilate.
You have about 25 seconds before these mobs will re-assimilate.
So jumping all of their damage into them like you were kind of calling out.
Look at this.
You argue what that breath of syndrome goes to rolling.
As you just skyrockets up the meters,
Harvstaks even electing to press his ascendance here,
trying to get those mobs as low as possible
because whenever they cast that assimilation,
how low is the boss going to be?
It looks like it's going to be 13% for Dignitas.
They took it from 75 to 13% in that 25-second window.
That's a really, really good boss melt that they just had there.
We're going to be seeing whether or not they're lucky.
Can't keep up with this, but Digniton already once again on a finish line,
on a boss here, in the over of Fang.
Single ditches, four, three.
Oh, there it comes, there it comes.
As if they are going to be the first team to finish off her second boss here as well.
And they're on the move.
Yeah. Okay.
What are they going to do in this final area is kind of an interesting question.
They do have a decent amount of trash count.
It looks like they're going with a saff on the high evolutionist.
Okay, that was just so that they could get everything ripped up now. They went with it. Oh, wow
That's an aoe blind and now the players that are out of combat are clicking the totems to be able to spawn the mini boss early
This is a genius by Digtotoss here to get that mini boss spawned as fast as possible
What is big lucky going to do on the right-hand side? It's a question that I have
So we're also seeing some cc the ploids to be able to get those totems going
And it is going to be xm that finishes them off
So they're also getting at the serpent unlocked here, which is a really really big time save
If you have to wait for that mob to actually get uncaged
Then you're just spending way too much time in this area. So nicely done by both of her teams
I think I like the thing that's this version just a little bit better because it looks just a fast flash here
It was flashier!
Yeah! But both of her teams have done it. That's the big part
Yeah, big lucky was doing some sap juggling is what it looks like where some mobs
and then, you know, the road
would end up banishing or melding
it off to be able to kind of
click the next totem. But at the
end of the day, look at dignitas
on the left side that ascendant
serpent has gone down, and this
is just a vintage dignitas. They
are running straight up the
stairs into this final corridor.
They are not even stopping to
kill all of the trash off,
instead electing to save the
additional five seconds to get
the next poll started. I mean,
if you had to describe Kira
in one sentence, it's all gas,
no break. Oh yeah, that guy
likes to go and his team
and his team likes to go with him.
You can see exactly that right here.
You're still going.
And this is the Dignitas special, everybody.
You think they have to stop somewhere and they're safe.
Whoa, no, no, I'm gonna go all the way to the boss here.
Is this the last?
That's insane, that has to be lost.
Right off the cooldown, right now they have it available
and we're gonna be into this room.
That's absolutely awkward.
10 minutes and 15 seconds.
The second loss of the dungeon,
Dignitas has ran all the way down the hallway.
They are not out of the woods yet though.
There are some living Venoms that explode whenever they die.
If you don't press a defensive,
you just end up dying off there.
But you see Verb, he's pressed his cloak.
You see Yagi, he's pressed his icebound forward too.
Hothjack's presses his wall.
AJ's presses Bark skin.
With that bloodlust, Dignitas looks like they're gonna
be able to get all the way through the final hurdle,
this last trash pack that's right
before the final boss here.
A couple of them running in now.
Hothjack says moving over, making sure
you can get an interrupt on to one of these choices,
making sure that that's not going to be a problem there.
There he had to play by Dignitas.
And there's really, they made it look like it was nothing.
Is this a Dignitas season?
Like, what is this?
We were a little bit worried in regards
to their practice time.
They do have a couple of mobs left,
but I think with that final trash mob going down here,
it's just Zul'jan and Dignitas here.
The boss has already been pulled.
On the right-hand side, we're seeing
the first couple of deaths of the series
as both the mage and the shaman
for Big Lucky going down.
They are able to onk and battle res those players,
losing their bloodlust.
This can still spiral a little bit out of control for them,
but all eyes are on Dignitas.
I will say, if you look at Big Lucky,
it can feel like it's underwhelming what they're doing.
It's not.
It's absolutely a very big hole
that they had on their side as well,
but because we're seeing Dignitas on the left hand side,
it just looks so different.
But we still have that last boss to deal
with for Dignitas.
And so John, is a boss that can get chaotic quite quick?
You still need to make sure you get your debuffs down.
You still need to make sure you're soaking everything.
A single death here can just quickly unravel.
Is this count?
Is that chosen 3%?
They're in fight with 3.06%.
OK.
All right, we're good.
They're not paying a boss to their previous name.
Thankfully not.
But let's say here comes that ritual of the fang once more.
got to make sure that everything is getting soaked here by the team and that
is looking very very good. Count is now at 100% as well and it's just pure
single target for dignitas as they are on their way to make that first point.
Here's the ascendance. The breath of Cintra Gosa for Yargi just fell.
Hearthjacks, whenever he gets his Stormkeeper available he is going to
unload all of his damage into the final parts of this boss. 47% remains
on Zul'jan here. We see Burb, he's gonna have his offensive CDs available
in just a couple of seconds, I think it's going to be one more rotation of the bone slicer
and needing to kind of soak through those beams that contact the boss.
But for Dignitas here, if they're able to get all of that dealt with, it looks like
it's coming home for them.
It definitely looks that way.
And I mean, I can hear the crowd celebrating already after they finished off that very
first big hole, but Sultjohn still has a little bit of extra HP that they need
to chew through here.
So we're going to be getting on to our last couple of percentages here one more
time you got to dodge those axes big hit on Takira that is able to heal himself up
just in the moment one more time that ritual of the fang is going to be
hitting here one of the beans looks a little bit scary there but Yaki is on it
of course and that is it. Dignitas on our BlizzCon stage are going to be taking the first point.
Dignitas take the first point and the first map here everyone give them your
energy because that was an incredible map that we just saw from them unbelievable now big lucky aren't
out of it yet they do have a chance to make a comeback but this was a phenomenal run especially
when we weren't sure how much polish Dignitas was going to have given some of their recent practice
concerns so Tedels we've seen a lot with them and that second lust that huge pull from Dignitas
just how dangerous was that for them I feel like perfect is the only word that I can use to
to describe that run from Dignitas right there.
That bloodlust with those trash mobs,
you saw Big Lucky went slightly smaller even
and had a couple of deaths to that pull.
And I think it just proves how good Dignitas really are.
And I actually think that the anti-magic zone usage,
being able to layer both of those two AMZs back to back
to give your entire party some additional DR,
I feel like that's where that Frosty K kinda comes in,
comes into effect there.
And look at Yargi at the top of the meters
for Dignitas, nearly 500,000 DPS.
Wow.
The DPS from Dignitas is always unreal.
Just when you think they couldn't pull out any more,
somehow they find these extra numbers.
And Dratnos, you were watching over on our analyst desk
what we're using from both of the performances of the teams.
Yeah, I mean, of course, the first thing you look at
when there is a difference in composition
is how well do those different specs do.
And if you look at it, you're like, oh, the Arcade Maid
is not doing much damage.
But look at the other two specs for Big Lucky, right?
The Frost DK is doing a little bit of cannibalizing
of the damage from Verb and Hearthjacks,
but it's not enough to make up for how much overall
it is bringing.
It's so absurdly high the amount of damage
that that Death Knight brings.
And I think a great highlight as well,
like you mentioned, that second anti-magic zone,
you think about building a composition with raid buffs,
and oftentimes you're focused
on the offensive side of things.
You're focused on, oh, we have a mage
that's providing arcane intellect
and a rogue that's not benefiting from it, right?
Those sorts of things are what's going through your mind
as a TPS player, focused on damage optimization,
but especially as a healer, as a tank,
as somebody who's wanting the key to be not just timed,
but survived, that extra anti-magic zone
comes in very clutch when you are doing a dungeon
that threatens your characters with as much magic damage
as Alter of Fangs does.
This is a very magic damage intensive dungeon.
So I think a very clever use of that second death knight
bringing that second anti-magic zone,
More than anything though, I think it's the damage it's providing.
I think there's a difference on this poll as well.
When you look at gathering these high evolutionists, getting them all in range for that Gorphine's
grasp by Kira, that is something that the Frost Death Knight excels at too.
I think that the Assassination Rogue is probably the main character.
Looking at how both Dignitas and Big Luck you were playing around these dungeons,
for Dignitas they were actually aggressively trying to get funnel into each and every
single boss.
That way the Assassination Rogue was then able to convert that into single target
damage in a way that we hadn't really seen.
We do see it from some seasons.
I remember like more than season two,
that version of Arcane agent's resonance was extremely OP.
There's been versions of Valtracchi,
Reaper Havoc, Demon Hunter, that have been extremely OP.
But I mean, this assassination road,
that feels like the main character.
Yeah, I think when we look back at our funnel classes,
that is usually how you come back to, right?
Maybe because of a certain boss at some certain time.
But...
I personally am very, very happy to see this
because in this dungeon pool for this new season,
I feel like a lot of the dungeons
are super funnel-heavy.
just thinking of like Arena and the vanilla rack.
There's a lot of those big HP target units in there.
And so we're going to be seeing some assassination
rogue everybody.
We are indeed.
And it's going to be absolutely destroying
the enemies in its way.
Now, this first map, as we said, went to Dignitas.
And you all just got to witness it, but murder row
is going to be up next.
Now, this one, I think, is an interesting one
for the teams here.
How do you think, given the performance we've just seen,
either Big Lucky or Dignitas will approach it, Dratnos?
I mean, I think it's got to be a morale boost for Dignitas to take that first map.
But some solace for Big Lucky is that moving from a 16 altar of fangs to a plus 18 murder row
is a completely different environment.
We are going to move to a much more lethal amount of damage that all these abilities are doing.
It was already lethal at plus 16, at plus 18 it is going to be one mistake
and players are going to start to die.
And the opportunities for these massive bowls,
the combination of the keystone level and the dungeon,
mean that there's only a couple of big opportunities for pulls like that in murder row and you'd have to be, you know, a little bit crazy to go.
It might be though.
You're calling our players crazy?
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
It's a calculated risk they're taking.
Exactly.
But I have to say, as I watched them pull that, I was like, they're making this look so easy and I know this is actually so ridiculously difficult for them.
And I mean, Mikes, you were highlighting as well with Dignitas, some of their CC allocation, how well they were using it, how they were able to sustain through a lot of those.
of those, but for Big Lucky, do you think it really was just a damage difference that
cost them that time or is there something more they can refine?
I think it's not just the damage that they put out but also the way they pass through,
right?
At the end of the first boss at Ravi, we can also see that four Dignitas there just
already moving, but I fear we're already into game.
The Holy Paladin!
And Big Lucky are back!
And I'm seeing a Paladin for Big Lucky.
Wow!
The light will guide Big Lucky here.
Look at this.
the Holy Paladin. The Holy Paladin on on live for highest keys it is one of the
best HPS healers. At the exact same time we saw that Rester drew it in that
altar fangs doing just so much overall damage. What is the Holy Paladin's purpose
here is kind of a question that I have and you see Lota there for big lucky
he's already pressed that bop on himself it looks like he was gathering
some trash bop for Shun on that blood decay. A lot in this first area comes
down to what do you think is the optimized way to unlock these spies
to talk to them and get the weight unlocked towards that first boss and I've
seen different pack things being unlocked by our teams. I feel like that
Paladin really can help you with that just making sure you get into some
areas without that player dying and I'm getting it all gathered up on your
tank. Look at the damage difference though. A.G. on the left-hand side doing
365,000 DPS, Loda on the right-hand side doing 233,000. So you have to be
able to make use of the Paladin utility in a way that is able to out DPS
what that uh, holy paladin's actually able to provide and that's tough because you also don't have the devourer right like you have the
You have the devourer, but you don't have the mark of the wild and so there's a big damage difference in that as well
At the same time dignitas is electing to play with two decades, right?
So big lucky getting the upper hand there by having that mage in there as well right now
We're just gonna be seeing our range players getting this rose snitch that's up there in this house
I think both of our teams are on a very similar route from as far as I can tell here
here, but look at that shroud shroud being deployed by Dignitas to get another interrogation out
Very interesting. I wonder if it's gonna be able to like take advantage of that now something
That's actually super valuable here is the gym that allows you to
Purchase. Oh, wow. Dignitas is actually skipping all of the trash that is in this room
This is a huge deal and it looks like big lucky on the on the right hand side
It's also getting ready to pull the boss everybody's interrogating the snitches
It looks like the trash that's in that boss room is something that's going to be taken into the boss here
Wow, this is insane by both of these teams and Big Lucky you're actually able to get
Christy and Manaheart pulled before Dignitas.
Yeah, that is really, really exciting here but do they have the same amount of trash with them?
It looks like Big Lucky currently is on 10.69 and Dignitas still has their trash running in
but has a little bit more so 11.15 is what I'm seeing right now.
That's not a big difference maker all things considered but where do you have that
single count difference between them is what it boils back down to so let's see who's gonna get this boss into face first
Who's gonna get nibbles kill drop? I mean digtoss look they've lost to this boss and big lucky actually press lost on the first pull of the
Dungeon there's actually a bit of a strategy difference between the two and digna toss here pushing nibbles to that 20% now
Kristy Amanda Hart
She's gonna stop nibbles are gonna be taking 100% bonus damage are digna toss going to be able to one-phase this boss on an 18
is a big question. You see the ascendance coming out. The breath of
Cinderghost is not available, but the assassination road cooldowns are and the
boss is dropping lower and lower. Four seconds remaining for Dignitas here.
It looks like the boss is actually going to be at 15%, but big lucky on the
right-hand side, Christia Manohar is dead. Oh my god, for big lucky, they storm ahead.
That is the comeback we were waiting for. That is the comeback we were hoping to see
for big lucky. And you can just see how big of a difference Baker it is
is when you're able to get that one face down.
Dignitas still in fight.
Dignitas still needing to deal with another round of this carnival,
whereas Big Lucky is already into the next area.
There's a little bit of RP here.
That's going to last you for extra time,
but that's a big time difference.
That is a massive time save.
And also, Big Lucky, they're going
to be able to have their second bloodlust a little bit
earlier, about a minute and a half.
Now, is that going to matter in the long term?
It's hard to really say.
Now there is something that might be available for Dignitas that's not available for big luck.
It's that weapon that I kind of cited earlier.
You trade in a gym in the boss room, you're able to pick up a weapon.
It makes the mobs take 20% increased damage.
If Dignitas are saving that for later, that could actually be a massive swing in terms
of time.
Alright, let's see if they're going to get a 5 star review.
That's really important to me personally as our teams are getting through it.
We're seeing some combos, we're getting some food delivered here.
It's a time to take a little bit of a breather for our teams, I believe as
well.
My favorite is the Zorfis here. Whenever I get on that broom and I'm able to spin around
and get all of the- Yep, that's my favorite, exactly.
It's also the most AFK job here. I don't really like the serving food part. That's a little
bit too involved for me. But now, big lucky, they are going to be able to get the second
boss pulled here in just a couple of seconds and they're taking all the trash mobs into
it. Now on an 18, these mobs, these warehouse workers, they do enrage doing the insane
amount of damage to your tank. Expect both of these teams to front load some
of their defensive pulldowns as well is whenever the boss actually presses that
AOE that killing screen, a lot of damage going out to everybody.
That's right.
They need to be careful with that.
Just looking across the bar so you can see that Big Lucky is
already sending a lot of their cooldowns
and a lot of their defensives at the start here.
Dictatus is now going to be following suit
on the left-hand side here as well.
But of course, Big Lucky is ahead on overall dungeon
progression.
So let's see if they can keep that lead
onto Zane Blades arrow.
That's another boss where you get a lot of uptime.
you only need to run out whenever this murder in a row happens.
Shit.
Boo.
I didn't make that name, and they're going to be needing to just step away for a second
there, but other than that, you are pretty much just free DPSing onto this boss for the
most part.
So I expect they could have to maybe claw back just a little bit with that Frosty
K.
I think it's kind of interesting, because the Frosty K actually should lose a little
bit more damage than say, like the Archean Mage, considering the fact that the Archean
able to stay next to the barrel continue to have uninterrupted uptime at the exact same time if dignitas can prioritize their melee DPS and say let
Verb and Yardee be able to get those near side barrels that can actually be a pretty big damage difference
But I think it's going to be about movement and dignitas. Wow. Look at this
They're actually able to catch up in terms of boss HP big lucky were 28 seconds ahead
Are they just the goats like what is this?
That's Grotsky K, baby.
We're gonna get another set of cooldowns in just a little bit.
Six seconds until that breath does come back here.
And really, Dignitas just acing the DPS
totally onto that single target here.
But there is a whole new area right after this.
This dungeon falls wide after.
So lots and lots of chances to maybe make this back up.
But Dignitas says 28 seconds.
We never heard of her.
I mean, they're gonna go get your green on this split.
on this split like what is this they're about to kill the boss first. How's it even possible?
Damage from everywhere. I think I think that they probably save the weapon. I think that that has to
be like whatever Gragas comes back with a review maybe he'll have a better insight as to like
where that weapon was used. And for Digitoss here they are going to be able to down Zane
Blade Sora just a couple of seconds earlier than Big Lucky here. They are going to be going
into that final area. Verb looking like he's taking a little bit of a detour. Herb and
You already run in the wrong direction.
We're for big lucky.
They're running up the stairs as well.
Just a couple of seconds separate the two teams.
We just got lost on the way for a second there.
That's all right.
That happens to everybody, right?
Yes.
That has happened to everybody.
Onto this area now, there we are
going to be seeing those assassination
ropes shine again, right?
We were talking about how a lot of those dungeons
have those high HP targets.
Now, both of our teams are electing
to skip that first punisher.
But later on, that's not going
to be possible for all of those moms.
You know what we call this area makes?
Count Mountain.
This is where you get all of your count.
And for Dignitas and Big Lucky,
they need to get about 65% of their enemy forces here.
They're probably gonna be pulling
almost all of the mobs here.
Are those golems at the end going to be pulled?
That's kind of a question that I'm asking.
They do a lot of damage to you.
And on an 18 queso level,
I would not be shocked if Count Mountain
takes his first victims of this map.
I can't with you and there's so many names.
Just so you know.
Oh, it's Count Mountain.
Well, they're getting through it. That's the important matter here. Dignitas already halfway through that first pack on the right-hand side.
Big Lucky mirroring the pack that we are seeing. Both of those teams do have those sheath and furnishers in there, so they take it a little bit longer just in terms of HP.
Big Lucky actually has the mini boss on top of his clothes. Well, they have that demon hunter mini boss that is already in this pack.
already in this pack and you can actually see over top of the damage meter
look like Dignitas had about 21% of their enemy forces, while Big Lucky is able to get
29% of their enemy forces and you do see that Ivy coming out of the
Film Master. Oh wow, the Film Master is actually dead for Big Lucky. Are Big Lucky
going to go to the boss? Oh but a death is actually happening on the side of
Big Lucky. The rogue, the main character is going down. Dying to that drain life
from that corrupted warlock. That is a huge damage loss for Big Lucky.
That is really not ideal. That's not where you want to be. However, however,
I'll pull back a little bit we recovered we got that rest out. He's back with the team. We're still chilling that is working out
It didn't spiral into more deaths, but they are a little bit behind now
Let's see dignitas is going to be making their way towards the boss area here
Oh, wow also already dealt with that mini boss stairs even under no more into how do we call this boss tells?
That's a good question. He made up a name earlier. What was the thoughts I think the annihilator
He does look like Zakuul from all the way back in Hellfire Citadel, so kind of a cool boss. He's got his axe.
He doesn't actually do too much to the entire group. There are some damage sources that can be kind of dangerous,
so you actually see that axe is being laid, and it's pulsing on the entire group. It does get killed off by Dictantos.
Realistically, this is just like a tank movement kind of fight. Expect Kira and expect Brokenshun to be able to move the boss away from the center
to make sure that there's enough space to be allocated for the remainder of the fight.
You just lost like two movements and then you're totally fine big lucky on the right-hand side with that death
They were a lot slower getting this possible and dignitas are 40% of a boss ahead of big lucky now
If you have a little bit more count once they actually finish out the pack that they're dealing with right now
So that's the only saving grace I can deliver right now
But there are of course half a boss HP bar behind dignitas on the left-hand side
Let's see if a day can maybe play catch up here if they can get that trash count down
a little bit faster with the help. I mean before I actually have you do have that funnel now on to
Chateau which is how I'm going to be calling this boss. Chateau? Chateau I think that's a good name
and they're going to be able to just utilize that a little bit but I'm not sure that's going to
be a big difference maker. There's two X's in his name. That's right. I don't get it either.
All right and now we're seeing big lucky here on the right hand side. I actually think that
Funnel damage is kind of keeping it keeping them in it now something that you have to notice as well 15 seconds worth of death differential
It's really hard to out DPS 15 seconds. We see a time and time again inside the NDI
What is the ending sequence for dignitas versus big lucky going to be is kind of a question that I have?
We're talking about dignitas. I have an idea. What if after this we go all the way?
What if all the way to the boss area at least
I think that might happen.
What, is that two golems?
Uh, maybe.
It's Dignitas.
I'm just saying.
I'm trying to hype them up.
Look, the blowmoss is available in one minute.
All right, how big is Dignitas going to go?
That is the question.
The BlizzCon crowd is cheering.
Verb deploying the shroud.
Where are Dignitas going to go?
They're skipping the first golem in Count Mountain.
Those mobs are kind of annoying.
I wouldn't be shocked if you only are able to pull one.
But how much more trash is Dignitas going to grab?
They're grabbing a bunch of these m's.
Are they going to make a detour at Emp Island here on the left-hand side, or are they just going to continue to run?
It looks like Dignitas are trying to make sure that most of their players are staying out of combat.
Some of them staying mounted up. Oh my god makes. I think you might be right. Look at this.
They're running all the way into the boss room. Now the boss, it does take 15 seconds to be able to activate.
There is a little bit of RP, but Dignitas with the bloodlust coming up in 20 seconds, it looks like they're going all the way.
They need to be so careful here on this path.
path you already saw AJ and Yagi both taking some extra hits there, but Kira able to grab
it back.
Oh, Kira is solo.
He's fighting for his life here, but Dignitas has managed to get into this last area.
The pull count that they're currently fighting with is over 30%.
That is everything they need remaining in this dungeon.
It's that and the final boss, and Dignitas are going to be able to claw their way
to a 2-0 here on our BlizzCon stage.
They are not out of the woods yet.
Muttlust is still running.
There's still so much to defend coming out from this pack here.
I mean, I think that Kira can still die here.
Look at him.
He's dropping so incredibly low.
I believe that this is the last defensive available to him.
He does have that iron bar available again from AJ.
AJ pressed it at the very beginning of this pull.
If he's able to rotate back to it,
this pack has lasted so long for Dignitas here.
They've been in combat for about a minute and a half,
but they've been fighting this pack for about 45 seconds.
Their Muttlust is going to fall.
Okay, Aouda has fallen there for Emely,
and that's exactly what we were talking about,
and why running ahead here is so scary.
Your healer pulls aggro,
and suddenly everything just kinda comes to a full stop.
Oh, Kira's in perv!
Kira's in perv!
Oh my god, she's able to,
he's able to, that's like,
get her, get her, get her, oh my god!
Are they gonna be able to battle res him?
Yargie able to get the quick B res.
Is Kira gonna be able to get
threat on the trash pack
with the question that I have here?
He's trying.
Everybody pressing Shadowmell,
that has it available.
Yargie pressing that melt.
Burm doesn't have it available,
but he's gonna be able to tricks
Are Dickensack gonna be able to recover from this? Oh my god.
A lot of these moffs are so so moffs.
Hurt Jackson so much! Hurt Jackson's dead as well.
Hurt Jackson passed for all and he doesn't encourage her.
He could just be back any second now and he does not.
But it fell down!
It is just falling apart for Dickensack.
You're not gonna be able to pull their way back here.
We're running out of battle losses.
We're running out of time as well.
They now have four of the best going up against themselves.
They're still in the fight with this pack.
this pack. The majority of the teams need to be here.
Dargi is the only player that's not here.
Harthjax and Virga, BattleRez.
Harthjax is able to onk.
So there is a major difference in depth differential.
Look at this.
30 seconds of depth differential in favor of Big Lucky.
That's crazy.
And Big Lucky looks like they're gearing up to pull the boss.
They're angling in a way that makes me think
that they're going to pull the boss.
At the exact same time here,
Dignitas is also about to pull the boss.
Where is Dargi?
Well, he's on his way.
He's on his way.
Mounted up.
This is very bad for Dignitas and very, very good for Big Lucky.
Big Lucky, look at this.
Now they're able to press their bloodlust.
Dignitas pressed it on that insanely sketchy trash pack.
And now Dignitas are finally pulling the boss.
This feels like it's Big Lucky's dungeon to win.
It absolutely does.
After that first area, Big Lucky already stepping ahead
on that single-phase boster, now they're back in the goal
position for this dungeon.
Are they going to be able to finish it out as well?
They're still in fight with the remaining trash.
We just saw what this trash can do.
Shun is also under pressure.
You can see up there that I've already
parked there for him as well.
And so a lot of lethality waits in the wings for our tank
until this pack has died.
I think that until this Golem dies for Big Lucky,
they're still in a lot of danger.
This big Golem, he pulses on the entire group for A.B.
I saw that Shun actually took the debuff from the boss
as well whenever you gauge a little bit early.
At the same time, he's on a BloodGK tank, so he should be able to death strike through that.
He is basically the only player that I believe could die here, and it would cost Big Lucky their run.
At the same time, they don't have any battle res that's available.
They do have an Onk on their shaman if it comes to that.
But, oh, the anti-magic zone coming out for these slams,
and actually getting zoned off of that circle by those, uh...
A.O.E.
Yeah, exactly, by that A.O.E.
And now the boss is teleporting away again, and for Big Lucky here, once that Golem dies,
I think that they are in a much easier situation.
Dignitas are keeping it incredibly close in terms of boss HP, but again that 45 seconds with a depth penalty against them is a huge deal
It absolutely is they would need to finish so much faster than big lucky to maybe claim this one
But it doesn't look like it's gonna be in the cards one more slam from this defiled golem as he finished
Yeah, why is he still there?
Get rid of that guy. All right, perfect.
Big luck here, saying we are not giving up without a good fight.
And that's exactly what we're seeing here.
Taking the lead early, falling back behind, and now making it back.
Wait, they go back out. Oh my God.
Please tell me that's not true.
That's... I'm pretty sure that's true.
We have to go back to Amp Island.
Oh my god.
Uh, uh, uh.
Uh.
Did he know?
Guys?
Guys.
Do they know?
All right.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Let's go.
We're right here.
40 seconds.
45 seconds.
Look at, Jigatosa stopped the timer.
At the top of the screen, big luck he has to be able to get the remaining 1% trash
count in the next 30 seconds.
Hold it up.
Oh my god.
45 seconds have never felt faster than he right now.
Are they able to get the count?
Are they able to stop the clock?
18-17 is what they need!
The big lucky best done it!
I'm able to take the second map even with that missed count at the end.
Oh my gosh, that was so nerve-wracking towards the end
And I also think it's very important to say here, you know makes earlier you were saying the titles was being cheesy
But don't you hear you make that murder road joke earlier?
That was that was the name of that past. Okay, that is not my fault.
Well, this was a wild ride of a map and it just goes to show that just like we were talking about earlier
Sometimes you take that big risk and it does not pay off that wipe so heartbreaking for dignitas at the end
And titles I have to ask if they had gone smaller there
Do you think they still would have had the time advantage?
I mean, I'm pretty sure that they were in the lead if they did the exact same polls and the ending sequence that big luck
He did they were going to win
But ultimately the reason that this team is so good was a little bit of their downfall there because they pull so big
They pull so fast. There's basically no regard for anybody's life if you're here including his own life in some instances
Yeah, and you know they come back to bite them at the exact same time
They had the fastest murder row
I want to ask something to
Dratnoss because we were talking about it on the cast there is that gem that you can pick up for a lot of extra damage
I didn't know if you were able to figure that out
But do you know where the teams have used it just for my own information? I didn't see where they use it
I was on the first boss, but that's all right. I've got that action button
I'm not sure we thought big lucky might have used it on the first boss and then
They would have had you did on the on the later pack, but that would have been nice
I mean we did get those some inside strats into other aspects of this particular map
So what were you saying as you were analyzing?
Yes, this is very much a rogue is the main character dungeon.
I mean, we're already a little bit from the damage meters
in the last dungeon.
But in this dungeon in particular,
it's not just the damage of the rogue.
You know, their ability to activate those informants,
to be able to shroud your group around as well.
Very, very valuable.
And then they're also doing some of the most overall damage.
And then they're also doing by far the most boss damage
in a lot of these cases when
you are able to take the trash onto the bosses.
And our MDI teams love taking trash onto bosses.
Like you guys were mentioning though,
the first boss difference here
was how Big Lucky came out into the lead.
Able to actually burst down the first boss
during this destabilized window,
whereas Dignitas left it about 10%.
Now it's not the end of the world, right?
If you have the boss sub 10%,
you can still finish it off through that shield afterwards.
It's not impossible to do, but it does slow you down.
Dignitas were able to speed back up though.
They were just doing more damage
in this section of the dungeon.
I think this might be part of the healer difference as well,
that Druid contributing about 50% more damage
than the Holy Paladin does
before you factor in the damage from Mark of the Wild,
which is not trivial when you're buffing specs,
like the Rogue, like that Frosty Cave.
But yeah, we saw a couple of these pulls
N'Kira was doing,
and he was coming in without that purgatory available.
Very easy to go down.
Remember, this is a plus 18 key.
This is one of the highest level keys
that we have here at the MDI at BlizzCon,
and you can see the lethality of these mobs.
The attempts to recover it here, it's valiant,
but it is hopeless when there are this many mobs.
When you're playing a Blood DK,
you don't have an AOE taunt,
your group doesn't all have Night Elf,
they don't have Shadow Melt,
so they are all gonna go down,
except for AJ with that meld ability,
able to save himself at the end.
I do wonder if this is like a five product
of the dungeon being ran on the 18,
or like what the deal was,
because they were in combat with that pack
for like a minute 20 with their bloodlust rolling.
So like why does that pack still alive? It has so many durable enemies, right?
You have the defiled golem, but you also have the warlocks, and the warlocks will shield themselves
They'll heal themselves. It can take just a long time
And you don't want to focus them down because you need to be putting damage into the boss once you're in boss combat
Or into the golem as a priority over the warlocks. The imps at the end here, let's just say let it be known
It happens to the pros as well
So the next time you're getting mad at your tank because you've killed the last boss
And you're like why didn't we get our dungeon chest yet?
You see it can happen to anybody just turn around fill an extra pack of him's not a problem
I mean, it's very true dignitas, you know going under missed count the name for some seasons had the shadow of miss count hanging over them
Well, they've left that pretty far behind at this point now
Of course this was huge for big lucky it evened out the score
It saved them and it has kept them on the blizzcon stage now
They want to see if they can take it all the way and that would be a massive upset
Were they to overtake dignitas here in our first series?
Do you think, Tettles, that this is going to turn the tide for Big Lucky?
That is a really interesting question here.
I feel like the Dena Nalirak, it's a dungeon that's going to be extremely volatile
and I feel like strategies that are in the first area can actually swing things so heavily.
I feel like a team that has a really good, you know, how you actually get that RP dealt with in that first area,
you can actually save like 30, 45 seconds over the competition there.
For nerves though, it really is an interesting question.
You were playing on the largest stage.
If you're Dignitas there, you were mere moments away.
Like you were probably 10 globals away from killing off
that trash pack.
One parry away.
Genuinely one parry away, and you would have been able to
actually take down the Series 2.0.
I mean, it was close, right?
You have to be able to recollect your thoughts.
So you have to take a breath, you take a second.
All right, focus on the next dungeon in front of us.
I mean, that's all you can do.
And especially when the pressure is on,
and you are alive with everyone,
You just have to figure out where you find your center, but makes Dignitas.
We know they're huge powerhouses.
This team has overtaken and just outperformed so many expectations for them over the years.
But Dignitas here, are we seeing them in the same form that they were in season one?
Or do you think there might be a sign of weakness?
Oh, I think we're seeing exactly the Dignitas that we're used to,
where there's these huge polls, these huge risks,
and 99% of the time they go right.
Let's remind everybody that Dignitas used to be called miscount for a very specific reason because that happened to them many times throughout the MBI.
So they're not above this either. Mistakes happen. And like you guys were mentioning, I think it could have been one parry and that would have gone a whole different way.
I think Dignitas only lost one map in the entirety of season one.
I think so. They did indeed. You are right. And I mean, here we are coming in now. They've lost one, but can they take it here?
Here, whoever takes this point wins this and moves forward.
The pressure is on.
The stakes have never been higher.
And Dignitas versus Big Lucky are on their final map makes.
They absolutely are.
And Tels, you were talking about that this RP at the start,
how quickly you can get those devotions
that you're giving up to the gods.
Yeah, I'm just making friends up.
That is a big, big factor.
You want to deal with a lot of the trash here
because it's easy to do a lot of trash in this area.
as long as you're not having too many of these totems.
So that's the one thing you need to pay attention to.
And that's the one thing that can really, really
throw a wrench into your gear here.
But looks like right now, both of our teams
are well underway.
Yeah, the Spirit of Hunger, those are those Lieutenant mobs
that are kind of littered throughout that front area.
They spawn the totem.
Whenever that totem goes off, it puts a curse on you,
which makes you have less maximum HP.
You see that starvation effigy on the right-hand side
for Big Lucky there, casting that ability onto players.
Now, it does only last for 20 seconds.
Again, you can de-curse that debuff off the tank or whatever.
And so they have multiple de-curse on both the sides with the shaman and with that druid.
So it's like fine.
But for Big Lucky and Dignitas, are they going to be able to get all five of these devotions that they need here?
Ooh, Yarg is even going fishing.
Importantly, Hearthjacks is not on that assassin rope any longer.
He's now gone back to that mage that we know and just are so used from him as well.
And right now he's just standing there.
Okay, Hearthjacks is well-reduced.
is well regarded as the best mage in the world, right?
For Mythic Plus, by all of his peers,
he is regarded as, like, by far the best mage in Mythic Plus.
I feel like for Dignitas, if there was ever a dungeon
to put him on a mage,
you probably want it to be in your final map of the series.
Well, let's see how that is going to go for them.
Both of their teams have arrived in the boss area right now,
and it looks like both of their teams have also unlocked.
Oh, same time.
Before Munger. Yeah, it's the Charlier for Dignitas.
They just engaged a little bit later big lucky as soon as it came up
They were into that fight as well and both of our teams are gonna be measuring their strengths right now in very similar
Compositions left-hand side now without the rope right-hand side without that frosty K
Let's see who comes out on top
I think the only players that are actually in a lot of danger here are the tanks for both big Nautas and big lucky
Those territorial nature are so those big bears that you actually see live throughout the dungeon
They do like AUV inrages to other bare mobs, and so they can actually cause a lot of problems beyond that.
It's just making sure that you run over these mushrooms, make sure that they don't explode on your group.
Everybody's gonna have to be able to participate in that. Ideally, the melee DPS won't have to run over too many, or lose any melee uptime, if, you know, basically any at all.
And wow, look at this on the left-hand side. Yargie on that Frosty K, able to do 800,000 DPS, but Horthjacks on that Mage at a million DPS doing way more damage to the RJBC on the side of Big Lucky.
Yeah, that's the first Jack's dip as we like to call it in EU, but he is just showing up
at a very big right now, we're at his wave right now.
Both of our mages notably are on the same spec here, so that's not going to be a difference
maker between them, but the Void Longer is dropping lower and lower for the side of
things that you're mentioning in these mushrooms here.
Yeah.
Haja Jack is going to be carrying a lot of those.
You don't want your Frosty K to be running around, especially when Breath is up and that
is going to be off once again in two seconds.
Do you think that there's going to be much of a count difference
between these two teams?
It looks like Dingtoss is going to have about 2% less enemy forces
compared to Big Lucky.
Do you think it's going to turn into anything real?
It really depends, right?
We just saw how big of a difference 0.1% can be.
Sorry.
It matters.
OK.
I think, generally speaking, though,
we tend to look at about 5% to 10%, meaning like, oh yeah,
these teams are likely to do a different fall.
But I think that for both of these teams, yeah, I think the 2% is probably not moving too terribly much.
And for Dignitas, it looks like they're going to be able to get the horde longer.
Filled up just a couple of seconds before Big Lucky, maybe somewhere in the 5 or 10 seconds range.
Now, the question for the second area, how big are these teams going to go?
Are they going to be able to run all the way up that frozen platform through that ice gauntlet?
And where are they going to stop and start to DPS down the first trash pack?
Dignitas does take down the first boss, and within a couple of seconds, Big Lucky are hot on their heels.
And AJ's burning some incense here.
I don't know, I mean, if you can get the buff, why shouldn't you?
So just grabbing that on the way there is going to be with the team in just a second.
And they don't need a healer right now.
Alright, Kira's just gonna run, AJ's just gonna run.
And by the time that the pack is gathered, I'm sure AJ will be back here.
Right-hand side, though, that's where interesting stuff is happening.
So, strawberry, they're rogue actually electing to pull out Shroud,
and they're just gonna skip that whole first part.
And I assume grab a lot of the count that's waiting here.
So this trash that Dignitas has gathered is easy.
This trash that Big Lucky's gonna need to gather
is convenient but a lot harder.
How big are Big Lucky going to go?
I expect the answers to be quite large.
These avatars that you can actually see on the right-hand side for Big Lucky,
these mobs are extremely annoying.
While they do give a lot of count,
they put up some area denial.
They put up a big circle,
and they force you to have to walk away from the save zone.
Then you get pushed by the Fridja Wins,
and it's this whole kind of song and dance where you have to do a bunch of annoying movement.
They also will root you periodically, which means that you have to be able to GPS out of that root.
And there is that AOE area denial that we're seeing from Big Lucky right here, from that avatar of Detriments.
Yeah, it's just a whole lot of things that are colliding with each other.
You want to be hiding behind the tree that you're seeing because of those winds that you mentioned.
Then there's that AOE that denies you, and then there's that root.
And then sometimes there's that root into that AOE and you're just kind of sitting there,
hoping that it's not going to go off before you can make your way out of it,
Look at the count. Yeah, I mean we're getting there. I mean look at the count for big luck here
They're going to be getting 17% enemy forces as these mobs die off
That is a huge count difference between them and Dignitas. Meanwhile Dignitas on the left-hand side
They're not pulling that avatar determination instead. They're running straight up the left-hand side
How far is Dignitas going to go? It looks like they're going into the avatar of determination
Are they gonna run straight into the mini boss? Are they gonna kill off the mini boss?
Guys, I can just say it again, I love watching Vikratas. It's such a treat to see them go.
It is one of my absolute favorite things in the whole world of NBI. So, here once again, in a really, really bad big pack here.
Not 30, but 26, 27%. Let's see if we can reach 30. That was the same amount of trash that we saw in the dungeon where it just all went wrong for them.
But it's still going to be a massive pull that they need to deal with.
I think Big Lucky's position here is actually quite a bit better
because they pulled all the trash on top of this mini boss.
Now, the mini boss does not need to die.
You can actually just go and channel the power of friendship mechanic
and get the boss activated as quickly as possible.
You don't have to kill this mob off.
At the exact same time, this mob gives you like 7% enemy forces
and it doesn't really do all too much.
And so the fact that Big Lucky have now actually killed that mob off,
if they have any avatars to deter them,
they need to actually kill that mob off
and then they're looking to pull the boss and it looks like for Big Lucky
They are going to channel that power of friendship mechanic that I kind of called out earlier, and they're getting ready to get this second boss engaged.
Yeah, just so you know, that's not the official name wrote, so you can make fun of him for that.
I will.
This is the official name in my mind.
Oh, wow. Dignitas. They're grabbing additional trash. Where is this count from?
Oh, wow, they're into that.
That's the right-hand site. Yeah, so there's a little bit of a frozen lake area, and for a while, people would be going around this on the beta,
on the beta, but then Lizard put a bunch of mobs there to stop us from doing so and the
leg area became a little bit more deserted, but let's see what Dignitas is doing. They're
grabbing everything into the boss, but big lucky they're already there.
Is Dignitas going to have more counting?
I'm not going to do math on broadcast levels.
All right, fair enough. The Sentinel of Winter, the second boss of the Dena Nalorak
has been engaged for both of these teams. And the time between the two, I think
was about five seconds that separated both Dignitas and Big Lucky. It's really
gonna come down to who is able to do more boss damage. Now looking at these
compositions, I think that Big Lucky should have a bit more boss damage here.
They have that assassination mode. That's that main character that has that
insane funnel damage. At the same time, Dignitas, they're known as the team
that has the most DPS whenever you're like, how can they even do more damage?
Somehow Dignitas always finds a way. That's true. They are definitely very
known for doing so but Big Lucky has been able to claim that second map so let's see if they can
do it again right now. They are ahead on Sentinel of Winter both of our teams still have a couple of
those trash mobs that are now slowly dying off of them. We should get an answer to your question
titles as that is happening. One more Rumbler for the side of Big Lucky and on the left hand side
we also have one more of those Rumblers now dying off for Dignitas. Yeah I think that how
Dignitas dealt with that fractured shipper mob is actually a lot better than the big luck he did.
Dignitas actually elected to CC the second fractured shipper mob, only focused down one,
stacked the boss on top of that, and then just left the second one naturally die off through
bleed. As opposed to big luck, you need to commit a little bit more damage to them.
For Dignitas, I kind of expect the exact same thing. You see that that right side fractured
shipper scale mob? It's going to be kicked, it's going to be CCed over and over again.
I actually think that the boss is even going to die before it even does its special ability
for both Big Lucky and for Dignitas here. Both of these teams are at 7% HP. It looks
like the second boss is going to be down for both of these teams within a couple of seconds.
Dignitas able to actually down it before that frozen Tempest cast, giving them a couple seconds
advantage. That's right. And they also have a really tiny sliver of advantage over on
on our account, so coming back to your question.
They are leading by 0.1.
4.0.14?
Carry the one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mac.
And they're now on their way towards the bot.
Now PSA for everybody that has seen this dungeon on beta
and not here, don't jump into the water
in the right-hand side.
You will get eaten by a giant shark.
Projects pulling him off to the side.
He's got his ultratime available.
He ports back, envisages it off,
runs on by, skipping that mob.
What are they going to do now?
It looks like, oh my gosh, they went AOE blinding sleet,
and somebody's going to meld,
Yargie's going to actually meld that trash back off.
Mass Invis for Dignitas!
Oh my God, hotjacks with the Mass Invis.
We were wondering what they were going to be doing
with that mage cooldown,
but on the side of Big Lucky on the right-hand side,
they have a much easier path with that rogue shroud,
just slamming down that rogue shroud,
using some saps.
And so while it was really fancy for Dignitas,
it looks like it was a few seconds faster
for Big Lucky.
On the right-hand side, for big lucky, there's still two CCs deployed, so there are still
marks in the background there.
You can see a purple and blue.
We need to keep those in mind before we freak out about Count later.
I'm just pointing it out for everybody here, but both of our teams are on the way to get
that final boss unlocked.
When's the last?
Get in flight with that final boss, and like you're mentioning, LUST is available.
Are we going to be seeing them use it here on any packs, and it looks like the
answer to that is going to be, whoa, we're going to be using it onto the boss.
I mean, it makes sense. A lot of fights, especially in the MBI,
tend to be made a lot faster with additional single target damage from them.
While it's a lot harder normally to get more single target damage
than to just commit, like, offensive CDs to AoE,
it makes sense that whenever this trash pack's not dealt with a boss,
it's gonna have to be something... Oh my God, what is Dignitas doing?
Yeah, what are they doing?
Did they miss a boss?
Oh, maybe this is intentional.
So maybe that's what they want to be pulling into the boss right now?
This feels kind of slow, no?
It feels weird, yeah.
I mean, Big Lucky's doing something similar, so maybe it's just the best strategy.
Alright.
Yeah, it looks like Zhao Hei Zhao ends up slamming down a Hexen and a Cap totem
to have some mobs trickling in just a little bit late.
And for Big Lucky, they're going to be engaging the boss,
but Dignitas on the left-hand side of the screen have already engaged Nalarak,
the final boss of the Denim Nalarak.
That's right. It's all or nothing.
We are on match point here for the MDI Grand Finals.
Which team is going to be...
Oh, but the horse is gone!
But the horse tracks has fallen!
Does go down here.
The rest comes back out, but that's
15 seconds against the clock in the bloodlust window.
Bad news, good news.
Good news, he didn't press his arcane surge.
Bad news, he lost bloodlust.
And they were less than 15 seconds ahead.
This is huge for Big Lucky.
Big Lucky needed to be able to deal with the exact same
trash pack that Dignitas were dealing with,
except that they have a death.
Then it's going to turn the tables again
back in Dignitas's favor.
You do see the boss is actually getting lower and lower for dignitas, but big lucky. They have not pressed their bloodlust yet
Exactly. I'm looking at that as well. I'm trying to squint at that
At the time are here to see when our cooldowns are gonna be available
It shouldn't be much longer for them still to try and get a lot of views out of that lust
So that's when we expect them to accelerate here. Keep in mind
There is that 15 second difference between those two teams
now that they will need to be in the big lucky AMZ down lust comes out how much burn can they get and onto now
Yeah, and I mean look at this
It looks like big lucky and dignitas are playing in an insanely aggressive strategy with how they're dropping their green circles
You can actually see those vices of an hour after those
Probably green animated bear icons that are spread around those are dropping the circles
And then occasionally now the rack does the fury of the war god ability and those mobs tried to run in Zuljara and contact her
They are placed in such a difficult way to actually body block them
But for big-lucky and dignitas the strategy involved then placing them so they could get more boss damage now dignitas on the left hand side of the
Screen they are going to be able to down Nalorak first the timer is going to stop at
14 minutes and 14 seconds 16 seconds
Where are big lucky going to land for 3% for big-lucky 2% 3% 1%
before. I think they did it as well. Oh my goodness and it upset that couldn't have been any bigger.
Big lucky downs the two-time back-to-back champions dignitas. That is incredible. The Chinese number
one seed their main objective was making it to BlizzCon. They put in a lot of practice to get
here and they are able to upset the world. The four seed beating the number one seed.
Big Lucky have taken the first series of the day.
It's time for Big Lucky to stop just relying on Luck and Dream bigger because they are in our grand finals
and they have earned it with some nail fighting exchanges here back and forth on these maps
with our two times reigning champion, Dignitas.
And while Dignitas will be eliminated here, big luckies certainly have a lot of work cut out for them
as they look ahead to that grand finals match. What a phenomenal final map there though and a great
series overall for both of our teams. Now we'll have to take a look at some of what went down in
this map and of course our teams will need to speak for themselves a little bit but I mean makes
just right off the bat. Were you expecting as we talked about you were on Dignitas' side?
Come on, I have to keep that aim by a strong, but I think big lucky and showed up in a really big way
And that is absolutely and the deserving win that they have gotten here
I'm really curious if we're gonna get more upset now as this day and the in the eye continues
Yeah, I think you know this is what dignitas deserve
They benched the main character the rogue able to do so much of that damage especially to those bosses
Although some might say it may have come down to a couple of seconds. Maybe it was one death. Oh my god
I don't know. Some might say some might say some might say some might say you two must be feeling pretty good about yourself here with a big lucky prediction, you know, I predicted 2 1. I was right. You were you were well done titles. Well done. Even if you can't pronounce boss names, you can at least predict the outcome of these series.
Now we have over on the stage, I who is ready to bring us into an interview here with big lucky our winning team of our first series.
Thank you, Rick. Hello. I am here as shown from big lucky. Congratulations on that first win.
What does it mean to you guys as a team to compete here on the BlizzCon stage representing the Chinese server?
It is actually an honor to be here and we appreciate all the fans and fans that supported us and I hope that we didn't disappoint you guys.
Amazing amazing and leading up to this moment. What was your practice schedule like?
I know it was looking a little bit different compared to you know, some of the other teams with first going on.
What was your routine?
We do manage to keep a 10 hours practice schedule every day.
So we do maintain that throughout the month before the season start.
So we're lucky that we have some extra time because we don't have to wait.
So yeah.
And you guys just defeated a monster of a team in the form of Dignitas.
What does that mean to your confidence moving forward?
Yeah, having this victory definitely gives us some confidence that maybe we can defeat the next team and have a chance on the champion.
Amazing. Feeling ready?
No. Thank you for the support.
Alright, thank you so much. Congratulations once again.
All right, back to you guys.
Oh, you know, it has to feel good.
Like we were mentioning, initially Big Lucky just said, hey, we really want to go to BlizzCon.
Getting on the stage means everything to us.
But hey, winning on the stage also has to mean a lot as well.
Is that the biggest upset?
I think that's a huge upset right at the start.
I mean, I feel like that has to be one of the biggest upsets in MDI history.
The four seed taking down the one seed,
the back to back returning champions and Dignitas.
A lot of people have them as their favorite and big lucky shock in the world really.
Incredible to see.
And we have some replays as well.
We can go into this in a bit more detail and just what happened to their draft nose.
Absolutely.
I think the start of this dungeon is one of the most MDI feeling starts of a dungeon you can have.
There's so much nuanced how you're going to navigate around the start here,
how you're going to activate all six of those offerings that you need to actually enable the boss,
and you want to do it in such a way that you can still then take some trash onto those bosses.
And you also need to be very careful because several of those enemies,
those Spirits of Hunger, can be quite lethal.
Yeah, going into the first boss, all looked good for both teams.
The pace was almost equal for the two of them.
One, I think, crucial difference between what the two teams did.
Dignitas actually sent back AJ after the boss died to go and activate that warding incense that you can get and get a 10 minute buff
It's actually a 5% versatility buff that you can get your hands on where it's big luck
You just said no no we're going forward. We are not going backwards in this dungeon
So they said we don't need that versatility right?
We don't need that extra one and a third one and two-thirds of a mark of the wild
We're just gonna move through this dungeon even more quickly one thing
They definitely focused on was taking trash into bosses in such a way that their road was going to be able to really shine
With that boss damage, but here you can see the activation of that warding incense from AJ
After that boss went down both teams were just on such a similar pace as well
It was really cool to see because some of the poles were set up pretty differently
And then we got to this point midway through the dungeon where you just looked at the timer
You looked at the count you looked at the boss HP when they were fighting the second boss
And it was equal right they got into the same point through completely different means which was very very cool to see of course
Dignitas with a a little bit of a larger full here was big lucky able to get into boss
After having killed a little bit of a smaller bowl a little bit more quickly, right?
So that's sometimes the trade-off that you're looking at when you're navigating the middle of this dungeon and
Dignitas carefully avoiding any further deaths as well in the in the tank department
There was a little scary one for a bit setting up this goal.
Sometimes the blood decay health can be a little bit
worrying as a healer, but you got to relax,
know that they can just death strike their way out of it.
But look at the health, right?
Look at the boss health.
Look at the enemy forces count here for both teams.
Pretty much identical, although Dignitas did accelerate
at the end of the boss fight.
And then we saw a very similar move
to get to the final boss as well.
Skipping this bear by using alter time,
getting to the side and then snapping back,
envising off that threat.
Nice little move that both teams did.
They then skipped the next trash,
although it had to be slightly different
because Dignitas didn't have a robe,
so they had to use mass envisage,
but there was our death.
That was the decisive death there,
hearthjacks going down to one of the
bonded beast tamer shoots,
which I believe only go on their threat target,
so may have been an issue with that there.
They did their absolute best to try and stay in it,
ended up being four seconds in favor of big lucky at the end there.
What an incredible performance though from them.
Absolutely. I mean it just goes to show even when you start out a series and
you're thinking maybe this isn't going our way.
If you hang in there and you see it through to the end which they did
bringing it to that map three you have the chance to take it.
As we look back over the three maps I mean tunnels this series
over some of the ups and downs some of the things that stood out to you
with these two teams.
I mean I feel like if you're dignitas you're going to be taking
yourself a little bit obviously from Big Lucky's perspective huge congratulations to them they put in a lot of work
They put in a lot of effort for Dignitas
It was two dungeons that they absolutely could have won if they were able to stave off some of the deaths
I think that that would have actually been the difference
We actually even saw the horse jack step that death by itself even though he lost a bunch of damage
And he lost the bloodlust they still killed the boss first and like it was just those 15 seconds of depth of
Perential and it's that's tough
I mean Dignitas only lost one map all of last season and now they lost two in one series
But that's how the cookie crumbles, right?
You cannot have those oopsies.
You cannot have those small mishaps.
MDI as much as it is about those big fleshy runs,
about those smart tech.
It is also about being consistent, about staying clean,
and that's exactly where Dignitas, unfortunately,
wasn't able to step up to their own mark.
I mean, I think the consistency this early on in the season
is something that we absolutely need to talk about
for the future series as well.
Just the ability to be able to do the biggest strategies possible,
possible, but also make sure
that you're doing them with 100% success rate.
I think that that's going to be something
that's difficult because dignitas, they always
go bigger, go home. And unfortunately, it's
so early on in the season that their strategies
just weren't 100% yet.
It's true. And it's the big risk, especially
coming into new dungeons, a new season
and feeling things out. But, you know,
we looked at the bracket there for a second,
and coming up next, we are going to have
another huge series. I mean, they all are.
It's the grand finals, everyone.
But Drat was liquid versus a mandatory
NA showing down with EU.
This is going to be an exciting one. This is one of the biggest rivalries in Warcraft
These players have been babbling each other to be the first team to get an objective completed for the better part of the
Past decade and now they will get their chance to do it here live at blizzcon
There's not going to be a series you'll want to miss you will not so you know grab your ice cream run to the bathroom
Or if you're at home, I don't know go pet your cat if you have one
But you'll come back right after this break because we are gonna have a huge matchup liquid versus mandatory
you are not going to want to miss these two clashing here live at BlizzCon.
BlizzCon is brought to you by
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Welcome back to everyone. We are once again jumping in for more of the
Mid-Bit Dungeon International Grand Finals here live at BlizzCon.
It has been an incredible opening to our day with our first series
resulting in a major upset. I mean, it was not what we were expecting
but Big Lucky came in and showed that they put in the work
and they made it here, which was amazing. But we have an even bigger series
ahead of us with Liquid and Mandatory here, as these two teams
with a lot of rivalry are going to be facing off. I mean, Zyro, you were backstage.
Welcome to the desk. Thank you. How's the day treated you so far? Oh, man. It's been amazing hearing the roars from the crowd
Is every little thing happens on stage is absolutely unbelievable. I was writing notes for this for the series
I thought I think the toss at one. Yes, and then I heard the roar and I'm like, oh wait care. Just die makes and I were just
Oh my god
Great, I mean you have to love it when teams come and they really play at their hearts out
And when they do you see some amazing things happen and big lucky did exactly that now
now. BlizzCon's energy, like you
said, Zyro has been phenomenal,
and I know everybody here is going
to keep carrying that forward as
we have a bit of a showdown here.
Now this is going to be a little
face off. We are on NA. How many
NA fans do we have out there
right now? Well, that's a lot,
but we have over on mandatory
side EU EU. Are you represented
at BlizzCon? I'm sure those of
you online as well, shouting
as well, shouting from wherever you are in the world.
But Mandatory is going to be the first team
that we talk about here in this next matchup.
EU coming in and makes, you know,
as our EU representative, we'll toss it over to you.
Yes, so this is a team that basically
doesn't need an introduction.
I will still give in one, because Mandatory,
as a team name, and Mandatory,
the team that is now playing, they have unique histories,
and both of them are full of trophies, full of wins.
This is what we call the most winningest team of all time in the history of the MDI.
Just look at those players and see every single one of them in your Wow Esports history before.
However, since that rebrand to mandatory, they haven't really reached that peak that we expect from them just yet.
It's true. You know mandatory for being one of the most decorated teams of all time
did not actually quite perform as well as we thought in Season 1.
Now they'll be going up against Liquid, which is going to be some stiff competition for them,
and we're seeing here some of the gameplay that featured them.
But Mandatory, as they are now, titles, do you think they can stand up to what Liquid brought in Season 1?
I feel like this is going to be a test between the two teams to figure out who is the most consistent.
For Mandatory, their fans call them Les Avengers.
It's the French version for The Avengers, if you couldn't tell.
Thank you, Ted.
And Mandatory, like you said, they
have some of the most accomplished players
of all time on their team.
They are able to do the biggest strategies
and have been able to go the fastest
and been the most consistent team for the better part
of a decade at this point.
Are they going to be able to figure it out
on the BlizzCon stage?
They have some of the only BlizzCon champions
on their team as well.
And so I feel like for a team,
they should be the best prepared at the same time.
They told us that their practice
has been a little bit rough.
It's true.
And you know, coming up under another banner,
Now, mandatory, of course, with many of these players
that we've seen, you're kind of writing a new chapter
in that legacy, even if you are very storied players.
So I think it's going to be really key
that mandatory can really feel that pressure right now
to get back on form, but be able to overcome it
and play the way that we know that they can.
Now, of course, over on the other side,
Team Liquid are NA representatives.
I know we have some folks on desk
that have a little liquid history, Zyro.
What do you think we're going to see from Liquid here in our grand finals?
Yeah, you know, just in case you weren't aware, there's this little event that happened about a week ago called the Race 2 World 1st.
Any Race 2 World 1st fans here, by the way?
No surprise.
Of course, Team Liquid coming off a five-time back-to-back Race 2 World 1 for champions.
But guys, they've never won an NBA before, under any banner.
So, this would be an amazing time to do it.
These guys are unbelievable.
They've got Yip's tanking, they've got Sevi healing.
Boomi is back.
He was sick for our Season 1 finals, but he's feeling better now.
And of course, we also have Wolft is going to shine as well.
These guys are unbelievable players.
Can they get their first NBA title here?
I'll try to find out.
I caught up with this team a little bit yesterday
and asked them how practice had been going.
And Yipz had one sentence for me.
Green split, green split, green split.
We're going to win.
That is confident.
But honestly, Liquid, I think they backed that up
when we saw them play in season one.
Although at first, their precision seemed to shine.
They picked up speed over the course of the season
and landed some runs that made them absolute top competitors,
even with the Liquid Banner and MDI being a little bit of a newer one,
all things considered.
Of course, though, we know that while the individual players on Liquid are really strong,
they have to be able to come together and determine if they're just strong players
or if they are an MDI winning team.
Now, Mikes, given their performance, I mean, going up against Mandatory,
what do you think they need to do to be able to overcome Mandatory's might?
So I think a big difference, Maker, and that was already mentioned just in passing,
is that Boomi is back, right?
And that is one of their key players.
And that team of five, every player is a key player
to be very frank with you.
And we absolutely need to see how they're now going
to perform with him back in the team,
with him back in the practice.
That is going to be a very, very key factor for them.
Absolutely.
And you know, it's kind of interesting too.
I feel like not only are we going to see some
of these players coming in Boomi, like you said,
being a really big figure that was missing in season one,
but we also, I think, over on Liquid have a bit
extra pressure, a shine I know really wants this MDI win. He's been trying to
come back, coming up as sort of a runner-up over the years, but really wants
to see if maybe this is where he can determine to set himself above the
competition. He was actually part of one of the winning teams of one of the very
first MDIs way way back in 2018, but he's never been able to reach that height
ever since. He's gotten second place several times over the past couple
of expansions so I can see why he really wanted to get this one. That pressure is on, but it's on for both of the teams and of course they're
going to have to face off live with everyone here, which is a totally different factor
when you have that energy, but also that stress knowing that everybody's watching you.
Now our two teams are going to be facing off as they come in for the season two maps.
So with that in mind, titles, we've already seen these maps tackled, but do you think
we're going to see anything different from Liquid in mandatory?
I've heard a little bit of a rumor that there might be a bit of a comp difference
between the first games.
Oh, yeah.
I heard that number, too.
Should I spoil it or should I just let it play out?
No, no, no.
Go spoilers.
Go spoilers.
could have been a false flag, right? It could have been that they did that to irritate the
other teams and now they're playing something different.
It would be weird if they lied to us, but I guess it's always possible.
It's always possible.
I think it's a practice mix. Did they have time to practice ghost comps?
Listen, I'm just saying we're not going to leak anything here.
I think they could make something happen. And like we've been saying, the meta is
still taking shape here with season two. We're literally watching it unfold live.
And I mean, Zyro, you got to witness a little bit with our first matchups. But
Is there anything that you think might be an unexpected curveball with the maps that we have ahead?
I'm not too sure. We still don't have any of the big maps early on in the series
But I'm kind of eyeing that last map in the series if we get to that 19 kings rest
That could be a bit of a bloodbath. I think that's gonna be bad right?
You think so? I mean I feel like you almost for sure have to ban it. That is such a scary dungeon.
I think Dynanalorak is also kind of a volatile in a way that I mean we saw, we saw
Horthjacks die to the last pull of Dynanalorak
I feel like even that first pull can actually be pretty volatile. Obviously the hardest dungeons on this
season or a murder row on 18 and Blimey Vale on 19, which neither those are actually present
inside of this map. Well, those are the two dungeons that whenever you see those on the
sheet, you're like, oh, this could be a little bit fireworks here.
Well, you know, the threat of those dungeons still looms over the teams, even if it's
not in this series, and the threat of one another because these teams again, such strong
contenders and they're going to be going head to head. So let's take a look at what they
had to say and some of the history they both share in the MDI.
Look at those two teams, Raktul is just vanishing.
I feel hyped going into my final.
Of course, I love playing on stage, having mandatory back-as-hop.
You can just focus on gaming, right?
That's the thing.
Everything is just under control.
I feel like we come together a lot better as a team going into BlizzCon.
Having the support of a big team like Liquid is like insane for me because I grew up loving
watching esports and seeing like liquid basically my entire life.
Playing for them is a huge honor.
And Liquid only continue to get faster, moving them up the ranks from possible contenders
to some of the biggest threats in our competition.
We will only lose to Liquid if we make mistakes.
We're definitely going to win against mandatory.
Liquid cannot win against us unless they get a head start.
And a head start is literally the only reason why they've won the races as well.
And Liquid did it!
Oh my god!
They have further solidified their dynasty.
The vibes that we have as a team, since we've been playing together for so long, are very
nice.
It's just nice to be back.
Boomi being back for Liquid doesn't really change much for us.
We just lock in and do our thing.
Everything is good for mandatory as they claim that second map as an equalizer between
them and Liquid.
To be mandatory, it's not going to be that hard.
They have no chance of beating us.
Good luck, but I don't think anything can save you.
I'm sorry you guys spent all this time practicing to lose in the first round.
It's just unfortunate that you landed in our bracket.
Wow, there were some fighting words.
I mean, the confidence was real, Meg, so you think they're going to back it up?
I hope so. I expect both of those teams to really show up in a big way,
so I'm ready for some entertainment.
I am too. And honestly, I mean, these two going head-to-head, like we said,
there's a lot of history between these players and these teams,
But you know, you do have to wonder with those wins for liquid titles.
Do you think that's going to give them a little bit of a confidence boost from the
R, I guess the race to old first, does it carry over to MDI?
I feel like this is a little bit of a different stage, right?
Even whenever you're playing at the race to old first, or you're playing from
the land venue, mandatory, even like in the season one finals played from the
land venue, I don't think that any of that actually prepares you to be
able to play on the Blizzcon stage.
All right.
I mean, it's a very different beast, but we'll see if they're able to tackle it.
Now, we've heard that Aya has some special guests that we're going to cut to a special interview for us all that I think we'll add a little bit to the competition.
I sure do, Ruck. I've found some special people. I've found Mr. and Mrs. Jinji.
Hi.
Hi, how you doing? Are you excited to see us set up there?
I'm ready.
That's amazing. Now, I'm really curious. What's it like raising a pro player?
I don't know, it's normal for me.
Yeah, I can say.
Have you been able to meet any of the mandatory fans,
the Genji fans while being here at BlizzCon?
No, not yet.
Okay, okay, all right, we'll come say hi to them,
give them some support.
Yeah, let's hear it.
I'm sure we can all relate to our parents
telling us to pause the game
and it looks like these guys didn't.
All right, any advice for your son
as they head into the series?
Just win.
All right, just win.
We'll see what he does with that back to you.
You know, thank you.
I that's not not so much pressure.
You know, just win just win the whole thing.
Honestly, I have to give big props to a ginger's parents.
I mean, when you raise a winner, I mean, it's just normal.
It's just an everyday thing raising an eSports competitor.
But honestly, I think it's got to be special having your parents
here getting to share this moment, not just with everyone
around the world and live at BlizzCon, but also with your family,
which is great to see.
Now, we mentioned a little bit that these two teams,
they've had a lot of back and forth, and that was true as well
for season one. Now there were some moments there. We saw some play where liquid and mandatory
kind of mandatory knocked liquid down to the lower bracket. Liquid got a lower bracket rematch
and then beat mandatory. Do you think that rivalry is still hanging over them, Zyro?
Oh, I mean, for sure. You could see in the little content piece that we had that there's
still a little bit of a little bit of saltiness from the race there. That's certainly going
to be in the back of the mind of some of the mandatory players. But you have
to remember back in the season one finals, liquid did knock out mandatory and big
lucky actually on the same dungeon that pit of serrano is a real powerhouse
pit for them if they can zero in on another dungeon in this new map pool like
that they're gonna be really scary it's true whether it's the competition from
race world first or the competition from this past season these two teams
definitely want to be the one that comes out victorious but in order to do
that they are going to have to face each other on the maps we have ahead
for them now we talked about it a little bit before our special interview
but they are gonna have to go through these map bands will come into
play as we go through the series. So looking at the maps that we have for these two teams here and now
Tettle starting out in Void Scar Arena, does this give you any expectations of what we might see even
comp life? Void Scar Arena is kind of an interesting dungeon. I feel like it's one of the more linear
dungeons. If you can get a lot more priority damage, I feel like that's where the priority
damage, the frosty cave, the assassination rogues, the arcane mages, that's where those
specializations really shine. Even something like an elemental shaman that's like the best
spec in the game in like five target damage, that's where that specialization can be good.
I would expect to see less of these large AoE powerhouses like maybe like an Unholy DK,
maybe like a little bit of a Warlocks, a little bit worse here, maybe some specs like that.
Maybe even an Arms Warrior. I couldn't be shocked to see an Arms Warrior in Voids of Irving,
that's what I could actually rock in that dungeon.
I would love to see a Warrior, but one thing that really is interesting to me here is Team Liquid
actually banning out the Temple of Sextralis and leaving open potentially that King's Rest
And of course, that Ben and Malorak that we just saw.
I'm really curious if you have some insight into that, Sarah.
I was talking to them backstage, but it was more about the picks that they're playing,
like the characters they're playing, and we already decided we didn't want to do any of the league.
Yeah, definitely.
We'll wait until we actually see it in there in the dungeon.
The dungeon picks are interesting, though.
I'm a little sad that we banned out the King's Rest.
I kind of want to see the Bloodbath, but we'd have to get to a Game 3 for that anyways.
Wait-Spire Arena, like Settles was saying, though.
I mean, there are some situations where you can pull trash on top of the first and third boss,
But like the second boss, that's you know, you got to take a portal to get there
There's no real way to get trashed there unless they found some sick in the eye tech. I don't know
I think it's gonna be a really interesting series though. That was true
That's a good point honestly Zyro because some of these dungeons of course more linear than others
Do you think with the team and the setups that we've seen with the series?
I mean titles are there any of these dungeons that have more room for kind of innovation in them?
I mean, I think all the dungeons have a lot of room for innovation
I would say the voice for me is probably a little bit low in terms of tech
But I think especially with Dungeon, like, all sort of things, or Den of Nalorak, I think
there's a lot of skips that can be done, and I think that pathing differences between
these teams are something that can actually be massive.
Like, even that last section of Den of Nalorak, even though Big Lucky and Dignitas were
actually running kind of the same in-sequence, that's a really unique in-sequence, like
going to Alter Time, Invis, into Mass Invis, or Shroud, like, that's kind of a weird
setup that you wouldn't think of, unless you have, you know, tens or hundreds
of hours prepped in that dungeon.
Yeah, I mean it's interesting to see right with the teams knowing some may have had more practice time or less practice time
What all they'll have kind of iterated upon experimented with we're not totally sure
But I think you bring up some really good points about which ones we might see or what potential there is across the board in these maps
And of course though there's a lot that we've been seeing here at blizzcon and makes I know for you and I
This is actually our first one anybody else out there. Are you a first-timer at blizzcon?
I hope you're having fun.
I mean, there's no way you couldn't be quite frankly,
but how has the energy been for you to finally be here with everyone?
Dude, it's been insane.
It's been so is the fact that when I came here this morning,
the queue did not only leap around this building,
the entire street,
the building that's next to it,
but also the parking lot and the parking lot next to that is absolutely incredible.
this has to be one of the longest bliss conqueues ever. I saw videos of people coming here at 5 a.m.
and already saying that they felt late. I mean, I've been coming to every bliss come since 2013.
That's the longest I've ever seen the line. Absolutely insane. I mean it was astonishing.
I literally looked out my window at the hotel and I was like why are there so many people in the parking lot?
Oh my gosh, the line goes all the way over here. And the thing is though everybody you could feel the energy people chatting.
I've had so many conversations with folks, some who knew me or some who didn't, some who are friends,
or some who are brand new folks that I was just meeting, and every single person is just united
in this love for the game and all the games that Blizzard Entertainment creates. Speaking of, I mean,
titles are opening ceremonies. We had some big reveals and some big news as well for Wow.
How are you feeling? Are you going to hop in with some Wow forever?
Okay, I think that the 10 and 20 man raids, that's something I'm really excited about yet.
10 and 20 man raids in new dungeons. Those are kind of the cool things because one of the
major persons that I have for classes is like 40 man raiding, but the 10 and the 20 man that makes
it a lot easier to be able to jump in and play with my friends. Hey Nattles, I have great news
for you because right after this series we're actually showcasing some of the dungeons for
the new World of Warcraft driver here on the stage.
So we're going to get an exclusive look.
We are. And one of those dungeons is also going to be one that you can't even play here at the venue
because folks who are here live at BlizzCon have been able to go around and try out one of these
dungeons for themselves. But we will have a preview of another one on that panel with some
fantastic content creators who are going to be jumping in to give them a run.
So a lot more insights to come about while forever. And honestly, just seeing it, I was
I was just like in tears, like overcome and I think that's just so true for so many people. I felt that as well. I was tearing up and I was just like, don't let my mascara run like we've got to we got to keep it together. But this game has meant so much to so many people and to know the promise those adventures that they first went through will continue to be something that they can have forever in their lives moving forward. I think it's just so wonderful. So it's been an amazing start to BlizzCon and we are just halfway through.
We are just halfway through the first day.
I mean, there's so much more to come,
but honestly, I'm gonna say, Zyro,
is there anything else that you are
particularly looking forward to?
Oh man, I mean, whatever's happening next in midnight, right?
I wanna go to that midnight, what's next panel,
and see what's going on with the new raid?
What's Zalatath up to in the core?
This troll patch was a little bit of a side quest.
It was kinda cool, but I wanna get back to the story.
What's going on down there?
What was the Voidwell for?
It's true.
I mean, there's a lot of questions still,
and a lot of the glimpses that we got
maybe provided us the start of some answers,
but definitely nothing definitive.
So I think we're all looking forward to knowing even more.
And I mean, Tubbles, of course,
there were also announcements for things like Diablo 5,
the Netflix series that's going to be happening.
Oh, I'm so stoked.
We're going to have Netflix series all of that.
I know.
I think so many of us are like,
if they're going to start doing animated series,
then all the games could be open for adaptation.
Hey, BlizzCon, how would you feel
about a wow animated series?
I'm just saying, I'm just saying, me too, I would as well. Yes, you know, I think it'd be great, but honestly, I think it's going to be so fun to get to watch that as well. And the return of Starcraft, which I think is a huge one, I remember, gosh, playing that with friends when I was so young before I even had any idea how to do any of the strategy in it, but to know that now we're going to be singing your chapter as well as going to be phenomenal.
Now everyone we have our next series that will be coming up liquid versus mandatory
Of course here at blizzcon the energy is so real for the teams
But we have to ask because it's been a little bit since wow eSports was here in full force
Teddles, do you think it's really drastically different playing land? Is it more of an advantage to be in person?
Or is it more of an even playing field? I think it probably depends on who you are as a person, right?
I feel like there are some people that have notoriously fed off the energy.
Genji, I think for example, that guy feeds off the energy of the crowd.
He is one of, if not the most accomplished World of Warcraft player of all time,
trying to return to atop the mountain here at the MDI.
I feel like for some of these players, it's going to be different.
You know, maybe some of them are going to have the nerves effect them a bit more,
but I would not be shocked if Genji is able to feed off the crowd
and get that electric energy that only BlizzCon can provide to kind of power him up.
Well, you know, you heard it from titles.
If you're cheering for mandatory, you better be extra loud
because Genji is only going to get stronger the louder you cheer.
But over on Liquid's side, I mean, Zyro,
they also have history as competitors,
even if it's not necessarily in MDI.
So do you think they're going to really be at that much of a disadvantage
with the live venue?
You know, I was a little confused when you were watching that video package,
because when I asked about Boomi coming back to the team,
Genji was like, I don't think he's that big of a deal.
but something people might not know about Boomi is
before he got into the competitive WoW scene,
he was a literal world champion in the fighting game scene,
so he has stage presence.
He knows what it's like to be up there.
He can also feed off that energy as well.
I do think what he said wasn't so much as to,
oh, Boomi doesn't make a difference,
but it doesn't make a difference to them
as how they're approaching the game, right?
They're still gonna get in there.
They're gonna try their best.
They're gonna play in the best way that they can.
They're gonna try to innovate.
Whether or not the other team has five Boomies,
one or zero, it doesn't matter to them.
I think the line of like, liquid can only beat us if they have an advantage is insane.
That's crazy.
Head start.
Head start.
I mean, you know, seeing liquid come into the scene, I think a lot of folks were kind
of going, well, we haven't seen them compete.
A lot of us might have more experience, but I think that since they have entered the
MDI, we've seen them just continually go, okay, well, if you think that we're
this good, we're going to be a little bit better.
We're going to be even better.
We're going to be wildly better.
And that constant move forward is something that is not something to be overlooked, especially
as we just saw Big Lucky come in and upset and take down Dignitas, who we thought for
sure were going to have a big advantage coming in given their run and their reigning championship.
But I mean, for both of these teams, like we've said, playing live, it can energize
you, it can also be an extra stress, but no matter what, you cannot deny that being
at BlizzCon is an experience you will never forget for your whole life, especially
for our players have made it all the way here on this stage to compete for $300,000 and the glory of being BlizzCon champions.
And of course, I mean, boomie, we're talking about this, you know, captains, the teams, the compositions themselves.
We're also looking at these amazing cosplays out on the floor. This is so good. Oh man.
I mean, honestly, I would love if we could have like cosplay contests on the side and some MDI have both simultaneously cosplayers running MDI.
could be somebody trying to get us fired look I'm just innovating you know or I
could get all of you to do cosplays that could be a fun time everybody in chat
let us know who you think everyone should cosplay on the desk but I mean
boomie we talked about the fact these teams their players right there is a
structure within them a team captain I think can play a lot of different roles
on the teams themselves sometimes they are really big pivotal figures or
shotcaller, sometimes they are just focusing on other things, but Zyro, do you think that the team captain is a huge backing force of the team, typically?
Yeah, for sure. I mean, they're the person running comms mostly in general in the dungeon. You know, if something goes wrong, they're there to make sure that everything goes right.
They're always just sitting there reminding everyone what's going on, what the plan is throughout the dungeon.
And even in this situation, like what happened to Dignitas at the end of Murder Road, the only reason they were able to make that look like it worked was because of their team captain.
The comms were great, they were able to still kill the boss.
It wasn't enough in the end, but that's the kind of thing Team Captain is there for.
And I mean, we saw Liquid in the season finals in season one,
they were able to make it look really good.
But then of course, they ran into Dignitas and kind of all fell apart there.
I mean, you talk about Team Captain, you talk about Shotcaller.
I think it realistically comes down to like strategy, innovation and practice,
especially with the NDI, making sure that you have like good but consistent.
That's the kind of keyword, good but consistent strategies.
To the point where you feel comfortable running them dungeon after dungeon,
and you never really open yourself up for opportunities
to have a death or a one-off wipe,
or make sure that everybody feels comfortable
in the role that they have on game day.
That's the most important thing.
I think it's about the hours of practice
that came beforehand, not the game day shot calling
and being a captain or whatever.
Although that stuff is important,
I really think it comes down to the weeks
that we've had prior to this.
It's true.
So much work goes into refining these runs
for the teams, right?
They have to plan everything out,
every single moment of these dungeons.
If they're going to try to come up with a new strategy mid-season or a bit later,
that's a big risk and something they have to put the time in to be able to back.
Now, it was alluded to as we've been talking about it,
but with these runs,
Tuttleview highlighted consistency being something that's really important.
Makes, we've talked about between mandatory and liquid that there may be
a little bit of difference in what we expect from consistency between these teams.
Do you think that maybe mandatory has found a bit more of that consistency,
or do you think that really there was just something else
happening for them earlier on in season one?
I mean, it's hard to say, right?
First of all, that's a long time ago.
A lot has happened since.
We don't know what the practice schedules look like
for those teams.
We don't know how they approach practice as well,
coming back to kind of that team captain decisiveness
where you have to decide when your team goes on break,
when your team practices this dungeon,
when your team practices the next dungeon.
What are we practicing actually?
Are we practicing the crazy strut
are we trying to really hone in on the strat that we think is good, but maybe not as fast?
So there's a lot of kind of deciding that needs to happen there, and I'm not sure where
both team Liquid and mandatory are going to be falling today, because it's basically
half a year later since we saw them last in the MDI, and I expect both of these teams
really to step up to the mark that they set themselves, I think.
It's so true.
And even though the season one is what led us here, right, it brought us to
these top four teams that gave us these grand finalists. There has been a whole year in the
making, just like you pointed out, to really allow them to continue to evolve their own
identities if they're in new configurations, or to continue to expand on what they did well,
or to even lose some of the skills or the consistency or the runs in this new season
that we have that's brought some new dungeons to the pool. But it does sound like on our
main stage here, there's going to be a little bit more setup that needs to be done. So in
In the meantime, we will leave you all for a short break, but we'll be back very soon,
Liquid vs. Mandatory, a huge series and one you will not want to miss.
What is Khanis brought to you by?
Fanta, lip-smacking deliciousness.
Want a Fanta?
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I
First and foremost,
O God,
O God,
O God,
O God,
O God,
O God,
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Welcome back, everyone.
Now we have an update for you that we regret to say that due to technical issues, the series
Liquid vs Mandatory is going to be pushed for now and we will have an update with you
and for you later.
We would love to play it, but until we can get that sorted, we're going to be moving
on to the next portion of our schedule, which I know many people are looking forward
to us included, which is going to be the Wow Forever showcase where you'll be
able to catch makes and Ziko, interviewing some of the devs, working on this new
new iteration here in World of Warcraft as creators run and showcase the new dungeons
coming, including one that has never been before seen or demoed here at BlizzCon.
So it's going to be an amazing panel still and don't worry, we'll keep you updated
with all of the news with the Mythic Dungeon International and we'll be back later today,
hopefully for our grand finals if we are able.
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Our home...
Ezra...
Our home.
Azeroth.
Her untold stories call to our hearts, revealing lands unexplored, forgotten secrets.
Her untold stories call to our hearts, revealing lands unexplored, forgotten secrets, and new horizons.
As you are, beckons us back to home, to adventure, forever.
Between the well-worn pages of the history we know, lie the stories we haven't heard.
adventures untold. From the time when it all began, through the hidden paths in ancient
forests, above and beyond familiar peace, your journey awaits. Let the drums of the war thunder
forever
Hello and welcome back here to BlizzCon 2026.
We're so excited to introduce to you guys our panel.
My name is Makes and I'm joined by two of our awesome developers for World War Prep
Forever, Jay and Rowan.
And over there we also have Ziko, who's here as a certified geek.
That's his role for this broadcast.
So Jay, can you maybe tell us a little bit about what exactly you do?
I would love to.
Hello BlizzCon.
I'm one of the senior encounter designers for the classic team.
Any season of Discovery fans out there,
we are part of the crew who helped make
Karazhan Crips and Scarlet Enclave.
We are thrilled to be here and show off some more things
we're making for you.
Yeah, Jerry's largely stolen my thunder.
Absolutely, it's one year forward.
My name is Rowan Ryder, I'm also a senior encounter
designer, worked primarily Karazhan Crips, Scarlet Enclave,
and now all of Warcraft Forever.
So excited to be here.
absolutely so. Yeah, we're all really excited to have you guys here in case you
couldn't tell in case we can give them back there. We can feel the excitement.
We have a lot of people queuing up back there to get their hands on the demo
already of course and we're gonna show you part of what is in the demo but
we're also going to be showing you something that is exclusive you cannot
even play here except the players that are going to be on stage they will
be playing it and we're going to get a first glimpse onto something that is absolutely exclusive,
unshown, unveiled, and that is Dalaran St. J.
Yes. I don't know about anybody else in here, but that cinematic got me really hyped to see more
Dalaran. That bubble coming down was fantastic. And luckily, you get to sneak peek today to
see that. It's a place shrouded in mystery. It's a city of mages and secrets. It's a proud
people and as you're seeing here you've got to sneak in a little bit you can't just go through the
front door because there is some mayhem going on in Dalaran and where there is mayhem there is
adventure and we'll see how well they handle this up there they're going to have to battle some necromancers
some skeletons some people who have defected from the Kirin Tor out there they how would they do
that you get to fight your way back through some familiar streets fun fact the artist who helped
make this originally in rack is back to make this one and he's hit some new goodies here
for people to go find so while you're doing the dungeon you'll get to see some new cool
things around it's under construction so some of the places will be gone some will be boarded
up they'll be guards moving around it's exciting and it's full of mayhem it's a it's been
a long adventure to finally get here and see this I cannot wait to see what sort
of chaos they cause in this city of mages look how beautiful these streets are this
fantastic for any of the fans of the rendering update this city shows it off
very prime it is fantastic crisis is landing people who like to hang out there
and wrap to the Lich King you get to see some unfamiliar sites up here because
like you've seen this is back on the ground finally and classic in the
vanilla world you get to see the mountains of Dune morrow in the
distance you get to see all this it's so hard to just not get wrapped up
and how fantastic this looks right.
Yeah, it's super exciting.
This place just looks so nostalgic to me.
I love what I'm seeing here,
and just venturing through the entire city here,
I do have a question.
Is this a way to kind of unlock access to this place?
Very good question, and you are absolutely correct.
For our Alliance fans out there,
you are the only faction allowed in this city.
Oh!
you get to unlock this city once you complete this dungeon.
So a couple of firsts going on with this place.
Sorry, Horde.
We've got some good stuff for you guys in the future.
Don't worry, but this is Alliance only.
There is some special stuff for mages in here.
This place is fantastic.
So what are some of the things that players
might expect to see in there?
Is there something we should be looking out for?
Well, we should be looking out for them,
potentially wiping up there.
Okay.
This place has some hands.
All right.
not holding back. You can see some elementals that are hanging around. You can see necromancers
and skeletons. A famous wizard used to be here, Antonitis. I'm sure you're all familiar
with that fellow. Maybe he's got a remnant hanging around the city. Maybe this disruption,
this chaos that is happening is unearthed something from the past. And where there
is a powerful wizard, there is probably somebody who is going to put you back on the ground.
somebody seeking their power and I mean I just love it it's it's so exciting today
has just been I mean I've seen it here as well it's just so exciting to me as a
classic fan I'm a huge classic fan so just to see I'm just like glued on the
screen yeah I could feel it from over here it's just crazy to me just how
awesome it looks you know you mentioned in the cinematic as well when
that when the purple kind of bubble goes down and you can finally see it, I want to ask you,
is this, and would you say this is a difficult dungeon when you're venturing in their mid-levels?
I think for the first time you go in here it's absolutely going to be a little difficult.
So some of the mechanics that we have that the modern version doesn't, and we even kind
of tame down a little bit for Season Discovery are things like resistances, immunities,
crowd control is a huge thing here, and I think they're missing a lot of that
in here. So they're going to have some trouble. We're going to run into things that are immune
to arcane and counterspell does not work when something is immune to arcane. So goodbye
interrupts and I don't think they have a lot of them. So their hands are going to
be full down here.
That is incredibly exciting. I love this entrance through the Suriyara. You mentioned that
that's a way to unlock the city. Can you talk a little bit more about what it means
to the team and you to bring Dalaran, a city with so much history in World of Warcraft to
life in this very special way.
Yeah, it's quite remarkable. I think everything involved with River is remarkable. This is
one of those things that it's kind of a familiar but sort of unfamiliar place. You've seen
it in the distance, you haven't been able to go inside, but now you get to actually
go inside. So we're fulfilling some of those promises that you had back in the
original game and you're seeing it in a way you've never seen before. It's
beautiful so it's very dear to our hearts. It's easily one of my most favorite places
in all of Vanilla and it's an absolute pleasure to be up here in front of everybody showing
this off for the first time. Yeah I think we're all super super excited as well and just a little
bit we're gonna get a couple of our content creators on the stage to get a first glimpse
into this dungeon. I believe the tech side of things is still preparing, so it shouldn't
be much longer. And then we'll maybe see some new things. In those trailers, we already
got a glimpse of maybe some new class race combinations that you can play in in Well
Cost of Well Forever.
Yes, you did. You got to see the Forsaken Paladins being shown up for the first time.
I believe we'll have that up behind us, and we'll have somebody playing that. So
you get to see that. That is going to be rad. Paladins, notoriously good at
dealing with the undead. So this first part is going to be quite a breeze for the Paladin,
but once you exit those sewers and you go back to just elementals, it's going to be a little
bit more difficult, but we'll get an opportunity to show off the new Paladin stuff.
Cool. So there's new class combos with races, but there's also a new race, the Skyborne.
What is going on with them?
So, very fun fact about this place.
When you finally get to unlock it and you go out there,
there is a brand new area that Dalaran has never seen before.
When you go into the Vile Citadel now,
all of those doors are now opened up.
And that area that overlooks Lordermere Lake
is a sky-born exclusive area.
So when you come down from Zephyrus,
you get that beautiful sky ship that flies in
and gets to land right there, gorgeous Vista.
And it's their own little exclusive home in Azeroth.
It's a way to help tie them back to Azeroth a little bit.
It's rad.
It is rad.
I'm thinking, because I don't think
you can be a Skyborne mage.
And I play mage, so I'm thinking,
is it worth just abandon my mage?
I've been playing it for 20 years.
It's never worth it to abandon your mage.
I might have to.
It sounds like I'm going to miss out otherwise, you know,
hanging out with the Skyborne.
I mean, there's so much time to play.
You're here to play World of Warcraft forever.
You had so much time to play Skyborn and your mages.
That's right.
That's kind of a little help to that.
Rowan, what's your favorite class race combo that's kind of out now?
I am a huge fan of the Undead Paladin.
I mean, it's a classic, it's cinematic for a reason.
I'm really bad at Paladins, so I don't know what should
be my favorite.
And the Dwarf Shaman is the other thing.
The Dwarf Shaman is a easy winner.
Yeah, I feel the same way.
also bad at Charming, big war fan.
And I think we're going to see
Orp Mage in here as well, which I believe is new.
Oh, I'm a spoiler one.
Spoiler? Yeah, sorry.
All right.
Who could possibly be playing the major fan?
I believe we are ready on the stage.
So let's hear it from Aya over there
and see who we got in store for y'all.
Ah!
Ah!
Amazing, I'm glad you guys are just as excited
I don't know about y'all, but I grew up with this game and watching that trailer this morning was making me emotional
I had to have our makeup artist fix my makeup because there's tears running down my face
But I'm excited to bring a special guest on with me please welcome Aiden Zireen moon senior world of Warcraft game designer
Most recently on Wow Forever
I'm going to say hello to you
forever.
Hello, BlizzCon.
Yes.
Hello, BlizzCon.
All right. Well, my first question is for you.
What does it mean for you to be a part of Wow
forever?
Honestly, it's surreal.
Back in 2004, I played Wow for the first time.
I fell in love with the world.
I fell in love with the players.
And being able, 20 years later,
to be able to actually
that I fell in love with, with a lot of the same people
that helped me fall in love with the game,
it's the honor of a lifetime.
Turn to a green morning.
I'm so honored also to be on here on this stage
with you guys sharing this moment with everyone.
So follow up question, with our players,
what are you most looking forward to seeing with them?
So as a game designer, you'll play your game
for hundreds of hours, you'll play it internally,
you'll do different talent builds,
you'll think about what could possibly be done
with what you've made.
What I love and what I'm looking forward to today
is I want to see how they break these things.
When you get the game into the hands of the players,
everything completely changes.
You have emergent gameplay.
You have fun new things come out of it,
and I'm looking forward to being able to see that,
nurture that, and I'm also looking forward
to getting our players out here on the stage.
Yes, I am as well.
So, a lot of people, you may not know me.
I used to do some stage stuff back in the day as Irene.
So, I'm gonna take my game designer hat off for a second,
and I'm gonna get our players out here, all right?
All right.
You guys ready for some fun?
That's right!
All right, let's get our first guy out here.
Now, I've watched the VOD.
I've reviewed the log.
He did not deserve to die to bear and get him.
So, we're bringing him back.
It's the talk of talk, the one,
The only Thailand wrong!
Let's go!
Alright, and for our next guest, the man who led a gnome-only hardcore molten core while simultaneously doing a handstand.
Please welcome Zarya!
And our next guest, our very special guest today is a multi-platinum artist, but he will
not be playing the Big Bag Hunter with a bow, it's baby no money!
And for our next guest, my personal go probably mugs everyone with achievement points on
this entire stage.
made it all the way to level 60 in hardcore using a console controller. Please welcome
Annie Fuchsia!
Come on!
Woo!
And our last guest, but definitely not least. He says he's from Denmark, but I don't buy it
From the bottom of Sunken Temple, it's Kuzoo!
Alright, let's hear it one more time for our players here as they get started in...
You wanna introduce it?
World of Warcraft Forever.
All right
Let's play some wow
Oh, yeah, bro, I'm so far from my body
Oh god
Yeah, what do we got to do here one rage yes and that
Let's see what this is
Yeah, yeah, send it releases the rate
Toughness you don't know what you're doing
But how about we how we read the talents and we try to figure out what's actually good to do here
I mean, that has to be decent.
Me?
Oh, wait, what do you have?
Click this little guy right there.
Are you thinking truth?
Yeah, no, it should be keep down, but it's not.
I'm going to put some cards here.
Oh, you're the new race. It's called Skyboard.
Oh, it's called Skywalker.
Okay, okay, cool.
Oh, everybody can hear us now.
How are you?
What's up everybody?
Okay, yeah, so I have no idea what I'm doing right now because new lighting?
Not at all good, I know how.
Uh, sky sight. Attempt to draw power from conversion of elements.
Okay, nice little moving speed boost.
Am I doing... what am I first, Meryl?
I got a... I'm walking!
Yo, am I Meryl first, guys?
I'm not gonna be stupid, by the way.
Here we go, I'm ready to go.
I'm on the last boss, guys.
I've almost cleared everything. I'm not I'm not rushing anything
Reading apologies
How much CC do we think we need here?
All right. Oh God. Oh God. Oh
Yeah, I'm gonna prove charge I'm ready
Yeah, I need like 5 or 10 minutes at least, or 20.
Ah, you're just a funny guy.
Bro, I already took Red Sickness.
I fucked up. I took Red Sickness, man.
I'm pissed.
Red Sickness? Yeah, bro, I died.
I was like 25 seconds away.
Bro, I was like 20 minutes away.
What did I say?
Ah! Is it high-back?
Yeah, I mean, it is.
It's 8 minute Red Sickness.
Are you serious?
Yeah, I died.
I mean, all played blizzard.
Yeah, well, hey man.
I gotta be.
Wait, I have a microphone.
Hell yeah.
I can hear you now.
Awesome.
OK, my mic is working.
Cool.
Two, two.
So apparently there's this thing on the cord, guys,
that can mute your mic.
It's pretty crazy.
Oh.
I'm sure you're in a part of that.
Can you guys say, it might be who's the party leader?
Party leader.
Tyler, invite us.
OK, how do I invite him?
Got you.
Oh, got it.
So how long has he been invited?
Now you guys can hear me.
Is all except, please?
Tyler's our tank.
Who's who?
You're at it?
Whoa.
He's dead.
And who am I missing?
I got, I got talking talking here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're good.
Come on, miss it.
Are you missing me?
Do you know how to spell it?
Wait.
Just come here.
We're bad.
Right over here.
Come here.
This way.
Why is that my sprint button working?
What do you mean sprint button?
Yeah.
I think talking is fighting everyone right now.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Invite you.
Invite you.
Invite you.
Invite you.
Yeah, I invite Annie and then...
I know, why?
What's your name?
Uh, BB No, Space, M-U-L-A
And BB No, Mula
He's dead, right?
Yeah, I'm dead
Oh, yeah, true. I think you can still invite him though
Uh, no, no, I'm alive, I'm alive
Can you come here, please?
Participate with the group, please, bro
Where's Mr. Mula?
We're begging you to play this game right there
It's like that
Okay
It's the journey, you know, that's true after this I'm so far away bro
I'm just so hard. We're dying before we get there
No, I gotta
I'm gonna block
Might be a skill thing. I don't know. Oh
You need it. What do you normally have on the E bro? You got to get keybinds there on E
Come here, come here, come here, practice, practice.
Okay.
Oh my god.
Where's my DPS meter at?
We should probably hide the DPS meter for pilot's sake.
What are you talking about?
I would not show the DPS meter.
It's looking bad.
We're all pumped more than you.
Are you trolling?
Yeah, I don't think so, buddy.
as we were for a second as to how Mr. Bibinos landed up there in Silver Pine because that's not where he should have been.
However, we have a theory.
We do have a theory. Perhaps he died to nearby Murlocs and he released. Perhaps something happened before he got on stage.
I don't think someone sabotaged him. Maybe he sabotaged the group, but now we're getting a nice emergent situation in a realistic class area
where they have to go rescue their friend and get them over to the Instance Portal.
much more realistic showcase this way I think so thank you baby no money yeah it's
given go ahead even with teleporters even when it's all set up to everyone for
everyone to be at the dungeon there's always one party member who finds a
way to lag behind and then everyone's got to go get him but he has a red
sickness so something something something happened it might not be his
his fault is what we're saying.
No, yeah, 100%, 100%.
But the party will blame him still.
I think he fell somewhere.
Who blamed him as well?
I think he fell off like a cliff or something
and took red signals.
That's my theory.
It would be impressive to find a cliff nearby here,
but if someone can, he can find it.
He needs to be a bit careful, because he
is running through areas where there are mods.
He might die again.
He's doing some of his settings at the same time,
so I started to get a little worried here.
But hopefully the team is onto it.
You know, I saw the move towards him for a little bit,
but I think that might have just been testing of spells.
Yeah.
You're not actually coming to rescue him.
Oh, he's going to make it.
He should be fine.
It's not too far.
He gave us a fantastic opportunity
to see some more of the rendering changes.
Silverpine looks fantastic with these shadows.
This zone is alive now.
This is great to run around in.
Yeah, the water I notice as well is very glittery.
Very rich.
Yeah, the reflection in the water looks way different.
Wait till you see the waves in the water.
Ooh, I'm excited.
We share some of the stuff.
All the time.
The places look so beautiful now.
Every zone.
And there is a deep dive tomorrow
to go into this in more detail.
So if you're a fan of all these rendering changes,
come by tomorrow and see some of that.
Okay, I'll sign me up for that for sure.
I mean, it's so nice also to see their reactions
to, you know, like Zario's face
when he's looking at the talents,
maybe no money's face when he was reading the Druid talents in general.
He made it, but he's leaving.
He doesn't want to be the dungeon anymore, he just wants to go explore.
Where's the rest of the team? Somebody help this man.
Maybe he's just timing out the rest sickness, you know,
just wants to explore for 50 or so more seconds.
I think he's looking for the entrance, but we're getting there, we're getting there.
He's getting a little bit of an assist there.
and then hopefully you can find that entrance.
They're also not bounded in any way to this place.
If you wanted to, he could just run across as or off and leave.
That would be great.
Alright, he is making his way into this dungeon right now,
so let's see what our creators have to say as we go back to them.
Alright, game.
Okay, gamers let's fucking play
Do some CC or
Anywhere are you?
Where are y'all?
Hey, you have no thread here, no thread.
Tunner, tunner, tunner.
Yes, I did, I have no thread.
Okay, okay, okay.
Press anything, anything.
Wait, my eyes are on me.
Where's your eye-crow?
What are you doing?
I'm playing a lot.
What are we doing?
Y'all an excuse.
Where are our cards?
Gonna pick up the thread, dude.
I have it right now.
Wait, that's right here.
Right here.
What are you looking for?
where we are
we're first to death
we're first to death
let's get it
where is he?
he's in a different instance
Tyler, did you reset the dungeon?
I didn't reset anything
why are we timing me?
I think we need to get out
everybody get out
everyone get out
that's fine
never well though
Yeah, that was good, that was good.
Oh wait, I thought we'd charge to get range.
And then I swap, right?
You're charging, yeah.
Always charging, that's the best idea.
Are you guys energy leaf?
Oh, we're going out.
I zoned out, zoned out.
Yeah, I see you guys now.
Oh my gosh, the water.
Water looks gorgeous.
Yeah, it's so pretty, wow.
Wait.
Yeah, I'm in it now.
Okay, so should we reach right?
Oh my god, it is actually so pretty.
Yeah, we should be able to.
What are these things? What are these thingies called, sir?
Do we all get them pantses?
I see BB.
Yeah, you see me kick right now.
Are you trying to T-vine them?
Huh?
I think they're all...
You trying to T-vine them?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, we're good, we're good, we're good.
Okay, now we can start.
All right, amazing. Let's play this game.
Okay, let's go.
Stay behind the door, please. Be patient. Stop rushing us.
Is there any point waiting? If you weren't tanking, anyway.
I was tanking, you clown!
I'm just going to full brute force it, alright, I got a lock.
Thank you though, thank you so much.
Alright, let's ride.
Wait up please.
I'll go take a sneak peek down here.
No, stop spoiling.
We can't see it yet.
Hey, I'm a rogue, that's what I do.
Alright.
Ooh.
I'll go take a sneak peek down here.
No, shot's coiling. We can't see it yet.
Hey, I'm a rogue. That's what I do.
Alright.
Ooh.
I mean, we're really gonna add a sprint.
Should we go around, I think?
Probably not.
I guess we're...
I think you shot called.
We're pulling something, we're pulling something.
Yeah.
Come on, that's a good one.
Take.
Yo, can you...
Okay.
Focus the big guy, the big guy.
I'm gonna mark a skull guys we take the skull good good good guys three people have a girl
taking the skull normally the tank is supposed to take the hits is that I have a girl I keep
They're being interrupted.
Hang on, let me check my binds.
Wait, I'm in undead pallidons. That's just so cool.
You need to bind it, was I? Thank you.
I was just checking to see if there's anything good. And there wasn't, so it's all good.
okay let's get which way there's like a big
your pocket I think we should hold it hold it hold
I will pull it to you
watch your play bro, watch your play dude
They gave me add-ons!
Nice!
Need! Need! Need! Need! Need! Need! Need! Need! Need! Need!
I need I need!
I guess that's my best.
You know, I'll pass because I don't care about loot. That's fine.
Stop on the left, guys. Be careful.
What do you mean?
I'll pass. I'll take the next one.
Can we get it?
Nice! Nice! Nice! Nice! Nice! Nice! Nice! Nice! Nice!
Watch out! Pull it back! Pull it back! Pull it back!
Can you enter up?
I'm dick-attacking.
Don't hold it, please.
Are they hitting me, man?
Because you just pulled it by yourself!
Good son, would you need that back?
Do you want it?
that cookie one yeah that's crazy that is crazy
okay I think that's a boss
I got him, I got him.
Someone pulled, yeah, someone pulled.
Guys, it's only two mobs, like, relax.
Get the one behind me.
I'll see you one more.
Did I throw more?
I think that's the boss.
I felt something like a boss, you see?
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
In the center.
Yup.
I will distract guys, like, what about it?
Big damage! Move it to meters! Move it to meters!
Wait, do we have meters?
Wait!
I have meters up, but...
Ok, if you don't need to look at him, if you don't need to look at him, you're on the meter somewhere.
I'll pull this one! We gotta walk in!
Cancel the mage!
What is this, um...
I don't understand why I don't have...
I'm so good at tanking.
You're doing great, man.
Wait a minute, is this a gauntlet? Are they spawning more?
more he's saying moves we need more well it could be yes the necromancer that
is right so maybe we're gonna hit this guy first oh I fucking have a fucking
sharkin I'll talk in maybe pull him back like you should bone pull him back
okay give me a second look at pulling
Yep
Okay
Lock in lock in lock in
I'm taking the possible, we only have one take here.
Oh good job.
I heard you got a little lost, what happened?
I died pretty early on when we had to AFK to go do our dope walkouts. Oh
Don't need it, but I'm needing it
I
Yeah, I died or pretty early on and had to walk back like nice beautiful classic vanilla wow experience and
Now I'm at the bottom of the DPS charts because all of these guys
Don't fucking bleed. So it's just the way it goes. I guess
Can I offer any advice or I don't know, but I'm getting interviewed here in here, but my guy my guy looks like a bird
He looks sick. He's fucking beautiful. Yes. All right. I'll let you get to it. Good luck
You're good.
I'm gonna be sorry to take over 12-1 for the OE.
No, I was under-knot and we didn't get our pick doing anything.
What do you believe in, dude?
You're the only one who can do everything.
I don't know.
Thunder clap?
Thunder armor?
Auto attacks?
Heroic strike?
Taunt?
AOE taunt?
Anything.
Anything.
Fine.
Oh, I have more stuff.
Good call.
I'm playing hardcore.
Huh?
It's like we're playing hardcore.
Huh?
Yes, but I buy it's a little bit weird. Oh, I'm doing fine
We want to go up here, or do we want to go let's go up here. Yeah, I mean
Where's that? We're supposed to go. We don't know I have no idea someone pulled someone pulled someone pulled
Does it do a big pole?
uh...
and try it
i don't have any
yeah nothing either i'm just like somethings
i mean i could probably handle everything if you want to be pulled on
down
let me out
i'd be down if you want to try
i can't i can't
no no no no no no no no no no man i'm in
i need a second
you really just pulled three and sorry he was taking two of them
I'm sorry, we're only AoE, so...
Oh, I need that, guys.
Oh, this is great.
I'll give, I'll give.
Yeah, I need that.
Let me think.
I think the respawning, we should go up here.
Okay.
I'll pass that.
You have mana on, sorry?
Did you say the respawning?
I'm like half mana right now.
Oh, the sketties, yeah.
I think through this corridor should be a boss, maybe.
All right, we saw that first boss.
We're seeing this sewer area, Jade.
Tell us a little bit more about that.
First, I want to highlight how slow they're taking this.
They're properly respecting the dungeon. They're being nice and cautious.
I hope they don't get a little arrogant and start getting a little bit faster upstairs, or we might see some danger, but to your point,
it is full of necromancers, full of people doing things that you're not supposed to be doing in Dalaran, which is obviously why they're in the underbelly, but
we saw one boss summoning some skeletons, had Thrash, which people are always a fan of Thrash, unholy frenzy, cool little crap 3 spell that made its way back.
Now they're navigating up down to the streets and there is a little bit of secret stuff down here
which they won't get to see but for the Horde fans there's something unique to them in another dungeon that is nearby.
There's usually only a couple of dungeons nearby so people can probably figure out what dungeon I'm talking about.
It also has undead. It's in a big castle. It's got some cool stuff.
Is it behind a portal?
Oh, they're all behind portals.
Okay, sure enough, yeah, no. Yeah, that was a great question actually.
I think so far they are kicking it cautious, they are kicking it nice and slow, but I feel like right now they're building up confidence.
And I think knowing some of these players, I'm not going to mention any names, Tyler, they can get a bit confident.
any great achievements in any and all of a sudden we might see them decided to do
like we're starting to see already you know like it's looking a little bit sketchy there
yeah we're seeing some health bars move yeah we're seeing the health bars move already I
think they're gonna go for a little bit bigger bolts and and I think actually the group that we
have here it's actually a really nice mix because you have some offensive players in this group
I was really excited to see Davey and her money immediately flock the bleeds because we, in well forever, we're taking immunities very seriously.
Mechanical creatures don't bleed, elementals don't bleed.
You'll see soon that arcane enemies are immune to arcane damage, fire elementals are immune to fire damage, etc.
And because maybe nobody's a feral druid, it's probably a dinosaur.
Which is funny for us, but maybe not for him.
He will have his time to shine. It's not right here, but it'll happen soon.
They're exploring a little bit of the sewers.
People who've seen this in RAC, there's something special to this room that is only here right now.
They've probably recognized it on the ground.
There's something else in here. I think most people generally look at the Incense portal in the water.
That's usually a big highlight, but...
Uh-oh.
Oh no.
Uh-oh!
More first down!
And down goes Zarya! No eyes!
That's crazy.
What?
Oh, that's a full vibe.
The victor is me.
What happened here? What did they just walk into here?
I think, exactly like you said, I think they got confident.
They walked into a room that clearly they weren't prepared for, and it got the better of them.
It is a pretty sketchy room. It's a little dicey. There's a couple of pools nearby.
Fantastic.
How long he could have done that in something temple?
Oh, actually I love that boss that you guys did afterwards in something temple with entire
mechanics trying to knock you into the level hole.
That was actually the first class I ever worked in.
Really?
I love that.
Thank you.
That was a great boss.
and I love that we can die, there's that little orc that looks like who's the sport.
The two were there, yeah.
Like a little like homage.
Alright, do you feel like you're leading your team to victory right now, Tyler?
Well, number one, I'm getting griefed by Zaro and Goose here.
You said, you said, let him talk!
I'm the one grieving.
I'm taking half the group and our tank is sitting there just roaching out.
That's because he's played major, he's AOE, Agri, everything.
What is he going to do?
The place is here for a living, by the way.
He makes his money from this game
Todd's
I'm pressing my buttons
All right, all right, you guys are doing great. I'm gonna leave you to it. All right. I feel like I just made things worse
Oh my gosh!
Guys, we need to stop the deploy.
Dude, do you want me to tank?
No, I don't want you to tank!
Yeah, yeah, I'll tank!
I'll tank! I'll tank!
This is better already!
Yeah, toss it, toss it!
Better?
Dude, no problem!
Good job, guys.
I'm slow, I'm slow.
Okay, so maybe we have Tyler pull one pack back at a time?
I feel like I'll probably do about the same damage.
You about the same damage, anyway.
Yes, I just mean...
Yo. Bro, can you battle shout?
Yeah, yes, you must have battle shout.
Yeah, I need some bots too.
Yeah, battle shout.
Andy, definitely hit me with the salve, cause we might die.
I'll get Kings too.
Yeah, I'm gonna just side tank.
We have potions as well in your bag, so I'll sit down and check.
What?
the ocean for the whole time.
That's fucking crazy.
All right, easy.
How about we use Safestar?
I will sheep moon.
Are they chained?
Are they all chained?
And then, yeah, yeah, yeah, they are, they are.
All right, I'll Safestar them.
OK, I'll sheep moon, and then we kill Skull and X.
Can you handle that, Tyler?
You get Skull and X on you.
I don't have a bloodstaff.
Here we go.
That doesn't break still.
OK, I'll sheep, I'll sheep.
All right, go, go, go, go, Skull and X, Skull and X.
I'm on Skull.
Yeah, yeah, I got I'll take X
on the next
There now we're working together
There we go, all right easy class we're gonna get a charge off
And it miss
Fucking amazing
He's been Tyler's thinking
I think we just nuked down the necromancers because the skeletons keep spawning.
Oh this two tank thing is a lot better.
I'm doing the same amount of damage.
Yeah, just stay there, it's fine.
Thank you, country, by the way.
Is that a fall?
Damn, the microphone, please.
Screw you.
Oh, there's not so much in there. Take that.
Are you- Please God, make some noise!
Okay, I don't think there's any bosses here, but there's like this little ritual. I'm not sure what it is.
We gotta do something with this later.
Yeah, do it.
I don't think we can activate anything in here, so maybe we just keep going.
Tyler needs to repent.
What is this portal below in the water?
What?
It was a portal?
Yeah, there was like a weird-
I know you're all totally enjoying this particular room, but you just shared something with us
We want to share with the BlizzCon crowd as well and that is it is a secret
There's something special about this room, but they did not figure it out and that's okay
We had some laughs at their expense, but
You don't play stuff in a place for no reason
So there's something about that room that they didn't get to figure out
But you get to play well wherever you get the chance to go figure it out yourself
So they're just wasting their time. Oh, yeah
I kind of love a way to do that.
That's amazing.
Oh my God guys, Tyler is making too much.
I suppose it's been a great feeling to just know that as well.
Nice.
We're all sitting here like, you know, seeing this for the first time.
So we don't know, you know, what is the point of being in there, but you just know.
I had an idea.
They were going to go down that way, and I was like, well, it's kind of a dark tunnel.
And I assumed after they had wifed, they would, you know, you know what, we've had our fill.
still let's go somewhere else but they are persistent
the comms are a little intense as well I think they're feeling the difficulty right now
yeah they're playing a little loose as always too there's a lot of patrols coming around here
they're not careful between the same situation they just were in
pitchers are already a little high
I mean, obviously there's a lot of mobs ahead, but what else is maybe ahead?
Potentially more death for them.
They will fortunately get away from the undead, finally.
So look at the sea, Dalaran in a proper, beautiful form.
I think people who know the streets will see some unfamiliar things,
which would be exciting for everybody in the crowd.
I want to ask you something, actually, in the Ratt background,
there's a giant profile that's swimming around there.
Yeah?
Is that, Marin, is that piece of the grass?
You think I would forget that?
No way, actually.
The Cope is there.
There's a couple of little goodies that are from Ratt
that we brought back.
We curated them a little bit to make them fit
in the world and everything.
But there are some special things hidden all around here.
Not just in the dungeon, but in the city itself.
This place is a treat.
The amount of jump scares that thing has given me, I'm excited, I'm excited to see that, I hope they run into it.
Oh, we get our first shot of them coming out of the sewers.
Round of applause, baby.
And now they get to a tour.
This is a good opportunity to show like how open this dungeon is.
It's not a linear experience, you kind of get to go wherever you want.
Curate your own experience. If you want to go from the beginning straight to the end, you can.
You can do that. If you want this to be a fast 20-minute experience, we've got you.
If you want to kill a ton of bosses and really take your time, we've got you covered.
Well, I think let's hear back to what the air plan actually is
and see where they're going to be headed.
Guide up, taking on the enemy.
Oh, that boss looks sick.
Yeah, alright.
Okay, I'm ready guys.
I charge in.
Yeah, whenever our main tank is ready, I'm there.
Benefice!
Goodbye, and Rage Star!
Come on!
Oh, I'm not looking for it today.
Bumble, Bumble!
This is fine, but can we pull more?
Alright. Should we pull the boss?
No!
I'm pretty low on mana here, I don't know.
Let's go!
I will say this feels a lot easier than uh...
Wait, guys, am I...
Oh!
Oh!
Grad!
Oh!
Level 30!
I mean...
10 hours.
Let's go.
Guys, am I saying...
Can you see like mountains in the way distance right there?
Oh yeah, that looks so good!
Somebody actually leveled this character up like 10 hours a day.
Oh!
That is...
That's fucking awesome.
awesome those mountains are really cool oh my god
that's so sick oh the texture of upgrades really nice pretty we could
probably take them outside of that barrier
that
reflection shield back for Pat oh pull out of that feather
What not like go out of the bubble there we go there we go yeah
And got the charge off to you up
And the upset
Oh, okay, right upset
Patrol backs, and they do want to wait or I do they gotta do okay. Oh, there we are
Okay, you want to some we're hitting school or the ops
I'll bugger school probably get the trash first. Yeah
Come on bold sorry, it's fine
Oh, there's a caster. Can we interrupt it?
I got it, I got it. Oh, they're immune. Someone else needs to.
Wait, hold on. Maybe I can kill them. I'll try. Arcade immune. You're Arcade immune.
Oh, sure.
I'm just gonna stay here on it.
I'll kick it. There you go.
Oh, gosh.
I heard that, too.
Get in the big guy, right?
Got a head in everything.
On him.
Yes.
You're not ready?
That great deal, you're doing a great job, keep it up.
Wow, this is impressive.
I'm serious.
The B end is crazy.
Great tanking, Tyler.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I wonder what happened to the doll that we are...
I guess...
Okay, nice.
Nice.
Okay, let me start with the shark game.
We don't know what it does, right?
I think if there's any big bubbles, just move out of it.
Yo, everyone slash dance?
Oh, dance?
Dance?
Dance?
Oh.
Dance?
Yup.
Oh, hey, hey, hey!
Nice, nice.
There's one.
Let's get out of here.
Come on.
Whoa.
I'm here, I'm here, I'm here.
Boom!
Ooh, immediately pulled threat.
Watch him here, dude.
Watch him, watch him.
Watch him, watch him.
Oh, who's that?
He's doing something.
Ooh, watch him!
Oh, oh, oh.
Okay, don't get hit by that.
Did we see how much damage it does?
Actually, yes.
We can put it on the wireless.
We can do it.
Hahaha.
Hahaha.
It's going great guys.
Keep it up.
We're popping.
Nice.
It's over there.
Alright, here it comes.
Here it comes.
Here it comes.
Alright, you get it here.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
My god, we're science rookie mistake. You see unbelievable
Loot-mage loot. Oh
This is not
Pre-extra damage Annie, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know that doesn't count guys. I'm passing on this one
I'll pass too.
All right, hello.
I'm speaking it again.
Hi, Annie.
How are we doing?
Sorry, I didn't hear you.
How are we doing?
Doing good.
How are you feeling?
A little bit nervous, but excited.
Nervous.
This game is making you nervous?
No, but I like to know everything,
and there's so many things.
That's very Annie-coded, yes.
Say that again.
It's very Annie-coded to want to know everything.
Yes, it is.
I like knowing everything.
So it's going to take a bit of time,
But we're getting there.
You think you're going to approach this game like in a
completionist as well?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I looked at the interface.
There's achievements.
So 100% achievements coming again.
What's your class called?
My class?
Yeah, what are you playing right now?
I'm playing Paladin.
Paladin, Paladin.
OK, I didn't know it was like a special current in Paladin.
I'm learning this alongside you guys.
How do you feel about it so far in Waff Forever?
Well, I want to go with Westie.
OK, my heels are feeling good as long as Tyler is
not the one tanking.
Fair.
OK.
All right.
Thank you.
All right.
Good luck.
Thank you.
I see you here.
So I would assume like I go towards like the big areas in Dalaran.
So maybe like the bang or like the, I guess like the big pillar, like where the big,
you know like the mages are.
How?
I have no idea where the bosses are, but I would assume they're at the big areas
in the zone.
Or like in the dungeon.
Wait, should I like shield bash or something to cancel?
Uh, yeah.
Jill slam
You guys have
I could scout if you guys want me to
Okay, okay
Oh, okay, there's a big boss in the middle, but I think we're gonna take down a barrier
There's probably like a couple mini bosses in the last. Oh
Oh, there's some wall lamps that we can click.
Wall lamps?
Yeah, right over next to me, next to these green things.
I see one too.
Yeah.
I think we're going to activate those lamps.
Yeah, yeah.
Nice.
That's sick.
Quickie, reach the lamp.
Someone pulled, guys.
Oh my god.
Yeah, we gotta focus on all the green guys.
I'm gonna take for a sec.
I have a...
Listen to this!
I'm drinking.
I'll be ready in a minute here.
You're drinking.
I'm drinking.
I think I'm ready now.
You're gonna burn?
I'll go with Flamestrike combo.
I'm just going fuck it.
Hey it went very well, look at this guys.
I'm got the crazy aggro here.
Teamwork makes the dream work guys.
Yeah we're doing a pretty good job.
I think I don't do enough damage at this low level.
Yeah.
Keep the meters, I'm going to say keep the meters.
You're at the bottom.
No I'm not, keep the meters.
I'm looking at him right now, you actually don't have meters on your screen at all.
Yeah, so what?
I'm looking at him.
You're actually doing work. You're more than our healer
What do these guys do these mages bring the barrier down
This we can ask them to take down the barrier
See now we probably got to just walk around
Okay, I'll go right side
Watch out for this thing though
I'm charging.
Our team has been nicknized.
Is that a bomb?
Alright.
Listen to that, Sam.
We're gonna start pumping here.
I'm sure the ability to dodge is something.
Okay.
We're not coming.
No.
There's a bomb, see? What, okay.
Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry.
Oh, I can't see the HP.
Sorry.
There's a lot of bombs in this building.
It's like too many
I got the loot over there.
What are you looting for?
What?
I was tracking it seems like there's anything good.
There's nothing good.
Now, taking it once again.
That meter is the hardest part.
Check the meters.
So above.
Oh, you're not.
Oh!
5 stamina.
That's absolutely a tank item.
That's actually pretty good!
Alright, I'll get you if you need it.
What is going on with those lutes, man? We need to mage-lute in here.
Alright, let's kill this guy over here on the right.
Yep.
Going in?
Yep.
You're crazy.
Guys in here?
Yep.
I'll be right there.
I'll be in silence.
Whoa.
That's a 10 second silence. That's crazy.
And I'm more I'm a pig
Yeah, that would be a heavy ideal at least one of our things
All of them would be great
I'm level 30.
Look at the ill-wisthy, maybe.
Yeah, okay.
Roger.
Oh, big damage!
We're in the community.
Wow.
That's nice. That's real nice.
Oh, they're spawning more little dudes.
How about we kill the big one first?
No, I just thought of that right now.
I'll see you on the big one first.
Oh, I'm silenced again.
You like that?
Care care I'm silent this guy's like it's tough
What spirit and attack power
that's a crazy decision on that but seems like it's a good decision
I got some brunts up right now
listen to me, I'll pass
two tables in this dungeon, I'm not seeing any cast or loot at all
no
bams
oh
I'm gonna say it, I haven't seen a single item
alright, we're going straight
there's a roaming mob, we're just gonna get it all
yeah, pull him out
yeah
oh fuck
oh, uh, there's ants coming
I think we have to like do all the zones and yeah
and the final thing on video this is like a really good power level there's a lot of
mobs in this place.
Oh, we can talk to her.
Oh, I think we're going to talk to all four and then they bring the barrier down.
Please dispel the barrier.
Okay, I did it.
What, us to dispel it?
Well, I just talked to the guy. He just did.
Oh, there we go.
There's a barrier sound.
Whoa, big hole, big hole, big hole.
Oh, oh, oh.
Okay, coming, coming in.
Getting the hands on it now, guys.
Now I'm cooking.
He's back.
Let it ride, let it ride.
Will he fine?
How can I die?
No, this is fine.
Let him stun one as well.
Wanna got loose?
Oh no.
I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't.
We're good, we're good, Eddie.
Yeah, we're chilling.
Yeah, yeah.
Maybe we want to kill all the losses on the side, maybe they can power the gun in the middle.
Maybe.
I mean he's just kind of standing there right now if you want to.
Okay, one on our right.
Whoa!
That's a lot of healing.
What?
Oh my goodness!
You need it?
Wait, it's a dagger.
I can't use it.
Oh, that's a lot of snow power.
I need that.
I need that.
Got it, got it, got it.
Okay.
Thank you, Blizzard.
Oh
What are you replacing you're fighting like some little month, I got some stuff
Classic
Nice you want to go this way. There's another big guy over here. Oh, it's a weird-looking thing. It's gold. I'm statement sense. Oh, yeah, sure
Yeah, it's fine. Are you
I'm waiting for some a we threat here. I'm not hitting the little guys have the little drood guys whatever whatever
I'm on the boss bro function
I'm potting I'm potting
I'm plotting to build the books first books first books first
Oh god.
Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.
Yeah, it got slows everywhere, Annie.
Hey, are we starting?
Yup, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Oh my god.
Still blasted him.
It's shooting, it's shooting, it's shooting something.
That's like an AOC.
Yeah, that's the AOA.
Oh, it hurts.
25 yard range, you gotta run out.
Kind of like Barrett's dead and we're
going to run instead of standing immediately
in the center of the boundary.
Oh, we're gonna take a lot of damage guys we're gonna take a lot of damage
Oh
Can you like oh, it's a range thing
I can't believe this
Fuck I'm hitting with those stick. So do we want to stay in next one or run out? We're running out
Let me know what he's casting
Oh
Oh my god, I'm so low.
Oh my god.
Oh!
Warrior! Warrior! Warrior!
What? Look at that.
What the fuck is that?
That's so insane.
Wait, maybe.
Yeah, honestly, Tyler, just throw that on.
Tank.
Are we going this way then?
No, this way around here.
I think we go this way now.
Start drinking again.
I'm a mage.
I'm a mage.
What do you want from me?
I'm after drinks.
I'm drinking, too.
I guess, drink up?
Yeah, W is in chat.
Yeah, I'm fine.
I'm sneaking down here.
Hi.
OK, how's it going so far from your perspective?
I think we're doing great.
We're exploring the dungeon, trying to figure out
where all the bosses are.
And I think there's a boss in the middle
that we have to deactivate all the empowerment first.
Okay, so it's gonna go.
How do you feel about your class so far?
Rogue seems fun, I'm enjoying it a lot.
There's a lot of different things with venom
and mutilate and a lot of poison stuff for assassination,
which I think is quite interesting.
So far it feels good, I'm enjoying it.
Well, you put a lot of points in assassination,
any particular reason?
I just wanted to try out the back step stuff.
Usually I would go sword or combat for PvE,
but I just wanted to test out this build here a little bit.
OK.
And then thoughts on how the rest of your team is performing?
Honestly, I think we're doing really good.
No one is panicking.
We're all just keeping it calm, cool, and collected.
And I think we're a great team.
Awesome.
So positive.
All right, love that.
I'll let you get back to it.
All right.
Sleep tight.
They did something already.
Maybe do a go around.
Overpower.
Are you telling the truth?
Did you do that?
I was being very positive.
I think we're doing great.
Yeah, we're actually doing pretty solid.
Wait, should we walk around here or what?
We...
Why didn't you guys talk to this archmage?
No, it's as if you were supposed to be leading us, or...
Oh my bad!
Uh...
It says we're here to clean up your mess, grant us access to the...
Okay!
I clicked it.
Oh!
Is this kinda lit?
Oh yeah, we've probably gotta walk around and...
Move up.
Are we gonna kill these guys down here?
Uh...
I don't know.
I think we're going up, we're going up.
Oh yeah, we're going up, let's go up then.
Yeah.
Oh, I have to...
You're there for him?
Actually, it's so good, by the way.
I know it's really pretty. It's so cool. I kind of look like a
It's like guy like a
Hunter's that little bear guy doors locked doors locked. I knew it would be oh, oh, no
It's coming. She's coming here. She's right here. Oh, yeah, oh hurry it up, lady
That's on top you don't got all day
It's gonna be on the other side a new car a Lambo. Oh
What about that green guy? Where are we going now?
Whoa!
Can you jump off?
Oh, you definitely can. You definitely can. You for sure can.
I'm down here, I need some help down here, it's sad.
or you could just take the portal either way man
I'm coming down
I'm down with you
I'm down with you
I'll come back
I'll come back
Wait, no I have a girl
Real tank, real tank here
I'll come back
I'll come back
I'll come back
The real tank is taking me in there
Guys, I'm in the sewers right now
I'll go up one way
Oh my God
Here
Here to safety
You got me? You got me?
Oh my lord
Oh, Andy, you're moving.
OK, I got a map.
Got a map.
OK, nice.
Just let me know.
Give me, like, these guys, I'll be there.
Oh, great.
Can you do it?
Oh, my god.
Not sure if this will work or not.
Hey, we got this.
Yeah.
Oh, we have no fucking damage, bro.
Oh, guys, you punk.
I'm, um, I'm moving.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm sorry.
Oh shoot.
Come on guys, I'll be here, I'll save the day.
I do no damage guys, I'm gonna fuck.
Oh, we can just take the portal on.
Wait, can we jump into the air?
We're gonna take the portal on.
Oh, they've got a burn.
Oh my god, I healed you.
Why am I getting cut?
I'll help you.
Hanny, were you coming, Hanny?
I need to heal the others too.
Why are you running?
They're fine.
Oh my God, they're switching.
Wait, I'm going to be fucking running.
Sack, I am safe.
I'm dead.
Just run, run, run, run, run, run.
I'll take the help.
Jump into this one here.
Jump into this one.
Get out of there.
Come here.
Oh!
Get out of there.
There's a line going through.
Oh, wow.
Look at that.
Pro play, holy shit.
Kill, kill, kill.
OK.
They're coming this way.
What do we do?
I'll be there in a minute, guys.
Yeah.
I'm getting hit
Bro look at the city from the top. She was actually sick up there, bro. I was looking at everything
It was chill
He died who's your dad all because you jumped off the side of the building
Well played bro. No, I never died our rogue jumped off. He died and then you pulled everything. What do you mean?
Yes, I'll vanish
What are we doing? Whoa? Whoa? Whoa? Whoa? Whoa?
Come on guys lock in
Okay, so how many mobs are you guys fighting you guys good over there? Yes, it's three or okay
Guys we need to get like a full reset. We need to just follow the objective of the team. That's what we need to do
you see where where are you from I I'm running on my way back yeah it's a long
dungeon man I'm burning me oh my god they manner burn me midcast I'm here
I'm here okay you're incoming
Boy that's been a breeze
That's crazy
BB died because I stayed with you.
I'm pumping.
That's good.
Okay, so are we staying downstairs then?
No, we're going up.
Everything.
The continuation is upstairs.
Yeah, it was cool.
Can I ask my poisons one second?
Poisons?
There's something in there.
Yo, Andy, do you want to go check that out?
Wait, we have a walk in here?
It looks hectic
I don't know
Oh!
What?
Oh shit
Guys look like a boss!
The boss!
The boss!
Oh, shade is the art mage
Oh, there you are
Okay, here we go
Start pumping
I'm going crazy right now
You need kicks
I'm trying to kick
I'm about to die
I'll pot, I'll pot
I had a pot
One pot and he gone.
We can stay on our killer, we can light his light and cast if we want.
Or we can just take, we can beat all of them too, that's fine.
I don't have any, I decided not to kill him.
I think, what is this Bowling then? What does that do?
I don't know, I put something on the ground.
No cancel?
You're oob already.
Mass Bowling?
Bowling! Bowling!
Wait, I'm Bowling!
It's fine, I have a bubble, I have a bubble, it's fine.
I can't play oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Where'd he go?
Wow really new mistake guys. We have to all be inside or the boss resets
Ran away like a coward no no no no no no everybody inside come on
I'm running out of stuff like that just to remind you.
Yeah.
Sounds like a good idea.
Oh, I'm getting part of here.
Hello.
Dude.
Where are you?
Where are you?
Why?
No, he knew in a second.
I'm trying to save.
Dude, I wish I could just find a way to get points.
What do you think?
I don't think that...
oh it really hurts okay it's it's like a he sends out like a cone
oh
they and then but we don't want to stand in a line because he sends like a
thing towards a one person founding manna yeah that hurts that hurts okay
I'm trying my best I mean yeah I literally don't have
I can't cast anything. The only thing that really hurts in the sky is the poly.
I think he's getting full mana so he can keep scouting stuff.
I don't think it hurts.
Oh my god.
Don't be any.
Oh, great flute.
Not really.
I mean it's...
I have a cure in connection.
I'm using a cure so you can take that.
Well, congratulations. That is a Dalaran City done for them. Some may say it has also them,
but we'll see as they jump one more time. Mr. Infant No Funds, unfortunately not going
to be making it out of here, but we are going to be making it out of here because we
have other places to go to. Any final thoughts about Dalaran City from your side, Jay?
I love how they approached it. I love that there was some danger involved.
There's curiosity. They wandered around. A lot of dicey poles.
A lot of fleeing a little bit. Maybe leaving their friends behind.
But they recovered. It was exciting to see. I love that they jumped off the purple parlor.
That was fantastic. Exactly what we expected players to do.
So I'm glad they finally did it. It was an absolute treat to watch them go through this.
Yeah, you just know Goozoo is, it has to be Goozoo who tests that, he's like, yeah,
I wonder if there's a wall here or if I can jump.
Always finding himself in situations where fall damage is lethal.
But I thought it was, they played well to be honest, they played really well.
I think in general they stuck together pretty nicely and yeah, they got the last boss down.
Who was the MVP, though?
What do you guys think?
Maybe Guzu, for me, because he did some fun stuff.
It's all about having fun, you know?
You don't have to be the best performer,
but he was stealthing around trying to find things.
He was super excited about the wall lamps.
That was fun.
He was doing exactly what I expected
a rogue to actually do inside of a dungeon.
So that was, for me, he is my MVP,
Jumping off and dying was fantastic.
I think for me it's got to be Zario slow falling after he jumped off.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good save.
Pulling half the incidents and then almost they didn't like it, they did not quite, but
I mean, Baby to Money was tanking half of the dungeons so like he kind of carried
a lot of the weight he was doing a lot.
Yeah, he was my MVP.
Like he was looking sketchy when it was just Tonka tanking there.
There was a lot of mobs hitting Annie.
but baby no money.
He was picking up the slack,
picking up the loose mobs and helping with the healing too.
So for me, I was impressed.
I feel like Annie was the MVP.
Because she was like everyone alive,
even though she was basically constantly monoburned.
That was very impressive.
There were a lot of pulls of her just being constantly burned,
and I was surprised that they had no deaths in a lot of those.
Well, that's it from Dalaran City here,
Rowan, there's another dungeon that we want to showcase to people.
That is the dungeon that people can also play over there in the demo.
Tell us a little bit more about the Drown City.
Well, I'd love to.
The Drown City is different from Dalaran, and we've talked about the ruins of Lordarong.
These are dungeons where players are familiar with the locations,
and we'll put a spin on them, and players can come in from a new angle.
We tell new stories in a familiar location.
The Drown City is just brand new, brand new location,
completely new World of Warcraft forever.
It is a leveling dungeon, 35 to 40.
At the demo, I think players are 38,
but I think they're a little bit higher today,
the screens, I mean.
We're going to basically, players venture in,
very troll focused city that's been risen
from the ocean floor.
Yeah, it's a bit unusual.
It's off the Western Coast with Strangle Thorn.
And one of my favorite things about this entire project,
or everything we've done in Well Forever,
is that when we're thinking up a new dungeon,
we're thinking up a lore, thinking up a story,
we want to tell, we have to look at the original game
and we get to kind of pull on these threads
and find things that stories that are unfinished
or just things that are hinted at.
And if anyone remembers the,
I don't actually remember the name of it,
but the quest in Strangle form
where you have to find these tablets,
you read them, you learn these old troll legends.
There's one that talks about this place.
It's a city called Bilalai, which I'm almost certain
of mispronouncing.
There's a troll witch doctor who runs it called M'unlua.
He was at war with the whole plane of water,
the elemental plane of water, which obviously he lost.
The city sunk, and it plays familiar with the original game,
No The Vile Reef is this little kind of small
Merlach field place.
But this is an extension of that idea.
We still looked at that and we said,
It's a cool story, but it's unfinished.
What happens next?
And we've taken that, we've run with it.
So yes, this is the bio reef where the elite murlocs are
up in the water in Stranglerhorn Bay.
I mean, I love this.
I think it's always been like a little bit mysterious place,
because you can see, even in old WoW,
that you've got these kind of stones there.
So I'm sorry to interrupt you, but we're going to be heading over to the stage and we're going to see a little bit more of the talent setups.
And here the players have to say is they're now setting up level 40 characters, I believe, for that dungeon.
All right, Guzoo.
You're in a duel right now.
Yes, yeah, you beat me you went in
I want to talk to you a little bit about the rogue here. I'm gonna give baby no money a little bit of an advantage
Oh, you like that you like you can move with ravager. I like that. I'm spinning. I can't move that fast though
I got a cancel it to catch up. Oh
Oh, you
You look at the spin though
That's so funny.
Wait, hold on.
I got bloodlust.
Where's the... there.
Oh.
Yeah, we put a personal bloodlust in.
We didn't want to give it to your entire party.
It felt like it would be a little too strong.
It would make Shaman a little bit too required.
So we still felt it was a great thing to have that roar, that whole, like, you get
larger thing.
So how do you feel about that as a 31st talent for Shaman?
I think it's crazy.
I mean, I think it's good that it's not a whole raid wide because I feel like
relying on the bloodlust for everybody is too much, especially in vanilla.
But I mean, it can definitely make enhancement shaman a lot more viable,
which I think they definitely will be looking at these talents.
I think enhancement will do very well. Good. Now.
And I want a little bit of your feedback on Rogue, because you just played that last time.
What did you think about that Rogue experience?
Like you have the ear of a designer right now.
What is your feedback for that Rogue?
Well, can I be honest? Absolutely. Absolutely.
absolutely. I don't like that there's no ticks. I like the ticks personally. I know that there's no
ticks on mana as well, but I think the rogue feels fun. I think the poison stuff will be really
interesting to play at 60 as well. It looks like there's going to be a lot of different rogue
specs. They're going to be working now both in PDE and PDP, but I definitely do miss the ticks.
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Guzhu. All right, Annie, I'll talk to you a little bit
about the Paladin you played last time, what were you feeling with that Paladin?
What's your feedback on it? It felt pretty good to heal. I'm not normally a
main healer, so I may not be the best person to give the best feedback, but
it was good. It was fun to play and yeah, I'm excited to play more Paladin as
well because as you know, if you want to main ADPS, there's always a time
when your friends need a healer, right? And that's normally when I play
Paladin, so yeah, that was really fun. Okay, and now you're hopping on to the warlock here
What's jumped out at you you looked at those talents just a second ago. Oh
Destruction, okay. Okay. What's jumping out to you here? I
Want more talents I want more points
Well, I mean, I think you can go to one of those guys and respect so you can get incinerate if you wanted
Thank the the big guys in this area. They'll also be what teleports you to the dungeon. Yes
You talk to them and I think there's a respect available bottom one. Oh, don't do that. That's why they made it a double click. There you go
I wish to unlearn there you go. And now now you can get incinerated perfect. All right
Also, when you guys are ready, you'll get in the group
You'll talk to one of these staging area guys and then they'll teleport you into drowned city
So once you all get in the group, we'll be good to go
all right
Yeah.
Wait, what?
Hello, old baby, no money?
How did you feel about Druid that time?
I saw you tanking a lot.
Yeah, I mean, Tyler's a terrible tank, so I just, you know, have to pick up the slack.
How do you think he's going to do this time with you healing instead?
I might let him die a couple of times, just from the slack he was pulling.
But no, it was fun.
I mean, unfortunately, everyone doesn't bleed, so all of my damage was basically
I don't have a car to go to
the other side of the road.
But I don't get to be negated
because I don't have for us just
by yet. But. It's fun. I actually
love the druid and I think this
chicken is really cute. It's a
nice little travel form. I
wonder I wonder how it's always
me. Yeah I'm kind of confused
why it's a chicken, but uh, it's
really cool. What if I told
you it was a road runner? That
makes sense. Thank you so
much, baby. Nobody All right.
Sorry you sorry my man. All
you last played. Okay, so last dungeon I played Frost. Frost felt really good. It feels very similar
to TBC Frost. You have Ice Lands. Oh, thank you. Yeah, we have Ice Lands, which is nice. The damage
felt good. Control felt good. It's all about what you would expect. This dungeon, I'm actually trying
Fire. And I didn't actually realize, but mages have Frost Firebolt. So you can double dip the
Fire Talentary with the Frost Talentary, similar how you would do in like Wrath or Kata,
which is really, really, really, really fun if anyone's done that.
In other words, you can like try to get all of the fire bonus damage from the fire tree and ice shards and stuff from the frost tree.
So I'm really excited to try this dungeon to check that out. And yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
So yeah, totally. When you can double dip on the ignite and the ice shards there and get yourself a piece of ice,
you get yourself really big crits, really big ignites. What do you feel about the new hot streak?
So for people that haven't seen the new hot streak, instead of just two crits in a row, it's a stacking buff that reduces the cast time of Pyro three times in a row.
So it's kind of like bad luck protection in the sense that if you get two, if you get one crit and then you don't get a crit and then you get another crit, then you don't get a crit.
You'll eventually get that instant Pyro, which hopefully will like smooth out the feeling of the RNG of hot streak.
So it's pretty nice. I actually haven't played with it yet. So I don't know fully what I feel, but it seems kind of cool
It seems like it won't feel as bad to knock it a crit
Yeah, you definitely need a lot more crit classic doesn't have that much crit in it
So it felt unnatural for us to require two in a row Rathalich King definitely feels like you get a little higher in the crit area
There so we adapted hot streak for classic a little bit. So yeah
Now that makes a lot of sense like later in WoW's history
You literally just have infinite credits so hot streak makes sense, but like early on I think this is
Probably a better design. I'll check back with you on how it feels later. All right
All right, Tyler
Tyler, how you doing man? I'm gonna keep it a bucket. Don't expect anything for me like that. I don't know what I was in a different world
I'm doing good. We're having full blast here
teammates picked up a lot better near the end of that dungeon way too many deaths. They're playing for fun. Oh
Oh, do you like playing for fun? I play to win, but absolutely. All right, so I saw you not be able to tank much that last time
Well, I just call it how I see it
Okay, well he was in bare form a lot. How do you think about that? You're rage baiting. I
DPS gap them like crazy. He they're ripping out her before I had any threat on anything
That was not on me. He should have waited for five sunders
anything. They didn't do anything. So what are you going to do this time to make it better?
Use my buttons, press on my stuff. I recommend defensive stance. Stop backstitting.
All right. Thank you very much.
GPS 32, GPS, not time for the church right now.
Alright guys, we're going to be entering that drowned city very soon.
Tell me a little bit more around about the lore of this place because I know I was cutting you off so go.
Let me pick back up and get into that question.
Sure.
The lore is one of these cool things where, like I was saying,
you get to pull on these threads from the original game.
And so when we set out to make this dungeon,
we looked at the legends from the troll quest,
and we said, OK, we've got these characters.
We have this setting.
How do we tell the story that comes next?
And so since the city had been flooded,
and these characters kind of went missing,
and they were really interesting characters,
we sort of said, what happens if they just come back up?
the city has been dredged from the ocean's depths to become an island off of the coast of Stranglophone.
And there's, I'm not going to spoil all of it, you know, there's magic shenanigans afoot,
players have to go in here and put a stop to it and investigate, figure out what's going on.
So there's one thing that I caught in the preview of the dungeon that caught my eye.
Is it the Big Shark?
It was the Big Shark.
So I put a lot of hardcore and that shark is responsible for some unfortunate situations that I've had to suffer from.
What is that demon shark doing in that trailer?
Is that actually something that we're going to see here in the dungeon?
Oh, I'm sure they're going to try it.
I would want them to try it.
If they're brave enough.
If they're brave enough. They'll be brave enough.
So that's an actual boss.
Sorry?
That's an actual boss.
Not necessarily a boss. It's a very powerful creature in the dungeon.
But one of the interesting things about this place is that it's been dredged up recently.
This isn't like it's been dredged up weeks ago or whatever.
So creatures that you find at the bottom of the ocean are still here in the soul alive.
And this shark is caught in a bowl in the middle of a cup or something.
Of course, Shark.
I do have an update for you guys watching and waiting for news on
what is going to be happening with that MBI semi-final between mandatory and team liquid
that we had to push back earlier. We do have a conclusion for that. It's going to be happening
right after this at 6 p.m. So make sure you are ready for that. And we're very excited to see
those teams go up against each other. But we are going to be hearing from our players right
now and see what they think about their first impressions in the Drown City.
I am doing nothing I made up a build it's not working so I'm like half fire half
for us now I'm having a blast here of a force I need a two-hand weapon guys
everybody drink drink your shit yeah drink drink drink more XP and healing
powers jar stop asking a respec bro you're not getting favored it's okay
this is crazy play with your bad spec you made by yourself but okay like no
damage then this is this is brutal
truck menopause and stuff we're chilling
let's go let's go
oh give me that ravager bro come on
I cannot move
that lets target
oh final virtual damage is on your magma
okay
Oh, we're spending we're spending we're spending
I have a what is it called?
Ravager
I don't know. I don't think so. It's like shaman exclusive
Yeah
Yeah, I'm gonna start life-tapping but don't panic
Oh
What is going on if he's fireballs
There's so much damage, but no aggro
I'm getting aggro. I have the only thing I can aggro.
Is that Tyler? Hold him. Good, man.
I've only parsed here.
That's Tyler's looking off.
Fuck off.
The only thing is I'm going oom a lot, though.
That makes sense.
I will say that I feel like
Shaman's breakpoint
is like right around level 40.
We're getting insane.
That's what they get really strong at.
Alright, big juicy hills.
Hey, don't look in here.
Why is there... oh my god.
I'm gonna ask him right now if he's a meter man.
Dude, that's a normal meter.
You flanked the game right now by the way?
Me.
Yeah.
Um...
Is this a boss or...?
Yeah, it's a boss, right?
I'm healing.
Yeah, it's a boss, yep.
Hell yeah.
Fine.
I will destroy you guys on the meter by the way, just a minute.
Uh, is there any more buffs?
Can I have Arcane into what?
Okay, let's pull.
Dude, we're in there.
And then I like Swiftfire.
Got no countdown or anything.
I'm pretty bad here.
I'm spinning, I'm spinning.
Actually, I don't think I want to spin on this guy.
You're doing a hundred and eighty.
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
That's so strong.
Okay, I got a aggro.
Damn!
Woo!
Wow!
That's not a hand.
Oh!
Read on that.
That obviously.
I like it.
I like it.
It's really nice.
So much damage, bro.
No, the visuals.
I mean, I also like it on the top, but like, you know.
That's a nice view.
It does have a nice UI.
It looks good.
Oh dude this looks really cool
whoa dude look at the shark I see it
it's level 45 okay okay okay follow
Full tunnel, full tunnel.
All right, you can do that man.
No way, Jose.
All right, good luck guys, good luck, good luck.
Okay.
Oh yeah, I'm damaging guys.
You're good, I got you.
Okay.
Maybe not.
I got you, I got you, I got you.
You're good, you're good, you're good.
Oh my bad, my bad.
Thank you.
I can't take him.
I can't take him.
Oh, oh!
Oh, you're taking so much fucking damage.
Guys are tank taking literally no damage!
I'm sitting!
Oh my gosh!
Dude.
Okay, we're gonna have to wait until you get a little bit more aggro, bro.
I got an idea!
Zarya, could I have RK?
Yeah, I'll get you in a minute, man.
I'll get you.
Yeah, I'll get around to it.
Hold on, hold on, hold on, I got a direct road.
Actually, now you're good.
I need to pull with everybody.
I'm spinning.
I'm shit.
I'm spinning on it.
I got aggro.
I got everyone bumped up here.
Thank you.
I didn't buff you actually.
Everyone else is buffed.
Why are we so tall people?
You're a warrior, you don't need arcane intellect man.
I was just saving my mana.
I don't know if we should kill this shark.
Oh, maybe it can make a...
Oh, shoot, I can just do this.
Nice!
Yeah?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah?
Are we here?
Oh, he chomps, he chomps.
Yeah, yeah, we're here, we're here.
Oh, shit!
Oh!
That was not good, I'm gonna...
That was just rare!
Fuck!
Oh, who?
Oh, that was...
I accidentally used the wrong thing!
Oh, why?
Oh my god!
I'm just waiting for an uproof.
Just gonna be up spinning, up spinning.
Okay, okay.
If you look right...
I'll block it in.
And you guys look good down there.
You guys look good.
I'll be up here.
Oh
Thank you. Oh my oh we're cooking
It's like walking on air.
Oh, sick.
Is that like a cast?
We have another mob up here.
Oh yeah, okay.
It's a rare mob.
It's a rare mob.
Yeah, it's a super rare.
No one's ever killed this mob.
It's a meager rare.
Okay.
Holy.
That's awesome.
That is.
You know, I'm really enjoying Huntsman's Shaman.
No loot? No loot? What the fuck is this?
Lizard!
I don't know.
Where did we go? Left or right?
Uh, let's just keep following the route.
Like that way where you're going on.
Alright.
We have 10 minutes?
We have 10 minutes. Let's start a fucking pit.
You wanna kill the shark?
Yeah, let's go for a shark right here.
Let's hit one more back and jump in.
Alright, we're going shark. We're going shark.
Let's go shark.
How about a shark?
I'm kicking the guy in the back in a sec.
Dude, drood healing is so much more fun than barrel over the level. Oh my lord.
Dude, you think we're gonna fall down?
I'm surprised I kept this alive last time.
I think we're doing very well this last time.
I was in my 5-hp and I'm still playing right now.
A long time ago, I left the whole time here.
Dude, it's insane how much damage you're doing with the zoom.
Yeah, it's like, ridiculous.
The Huntsman Shaman seems very strong.
Yeah, it's not very good to say.
Okay.
Yeah, I heard a bit of mana before we go.
I have like no mana.
Wait, wait, just a little over here?
I wonder if all of the fish are gonna aggro.
Uh...
Freaking up here.
Well, if we do a...
Sorry, can you say we eat them, right?
Because they're still epic.
Well, that's true.
They're elite, too.
I think we could jump in, kill a fish or two, and then...
Yeah, just stand in the corner, yeah.
just wait here wait you want to kill these bottom fish yeah I'm in I'm in I'm
in wait wait till fast okay we're good all the shark all let's kill these little
little ones here
I hate, I hate swimming in the sand.
Why?
I don't know, just curious to see.
Okay, these are dead.
Make it look here, then a little sicker sip.
Yep, have a drink?
Oh yeah.
Nice.
Time is literally ticking by the way.
We don't have time for this.
Wait, I can just help you guys.
How do you, I don't have time for that.
I don't have time for that.
I don't have time for that.
I don't have time for that.
I don't have time for that.
I don't have time for that.
I don't have time for that.
How do you have back to there and we are in combat? Okay, the shark is gonna come up. We're gonna pull them
Actually, yes, bro
Here's we got this. Okay?
The best tank in the world, okay?
Oh god, missing spells?
Honest!
Honest!
Oh my god!
I got one shot!
I got one shot!
Our tank is troll-
Oh my god, it's a big shark!
Goosey do something!
What do you mean Goosey do something?
Wait, um...
Hold on, I need your good.
I'm good.
I'm not in combat anymore.
died
oh it's good
it's good
it's good
uh uh uh uh uh
oh my god
ah
oh shit
oh shit
ah
hold it up
oh
oh my god
I'm going in with the sauce
I'm going in with the sauce
I'm going in with the sauce
wait
why did you die
How did you die?
I got one shot, I don't know.
I missed, I turned around and the skill smacked me.
Oh good.
I'll drop it up.
That was a horrible pull, I think.
We need more gear, more skill, more keybinds, kind of more everything.
Let me just pre-dot you and then do we have a...
Now we got a priest.
Are we releasing a coming back?
I'm rushing, I'm rushing, I'm rushing.
Wait, where are you?
I got red.
Where are you?
I'm a little out here.
Oh.
Yeah, I was actually doing stuff, grinding the boss and doing the mechanics properly.
Oh shit. Shield wall. Shield wall. Shield wall.
It was down. It was down. I'm sure it was.
Oh you got him. Wait, wait, wait. Don't rise, don't rise, don't rise.
Wait a bit, wait a bit. Help me win, help me win, help me win.
You can do it now. You can.
Anyone want the health down?
Oh, yeah, give it to...
Yeah, game went to Tyler.
Anyone else wants one, just trade me.
Alright, I'm gonna pull it and instantly shoot one.
Don't do anything yet. We gotta buff up for sure.
Alright, kill us over. Let's go, guys.
No.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I'm not a man, I'm not a man.
You have no man?
You actually pulled?
No, no.
Oh, but it's coming back and when it comes back, I'm gonna pull that time. There, go.
Alright, you're gonna need to pull this time?
I'm gonna fight myself.
We're gonna charge at it. I'm gonna charge at it.
Hey, look, listen, play some shaman, because this class is eating good.
Hey, I thought to pull it.
Are we ready?
Uh, yeah, I think so.
I don't know, my health is kinda low.
I'm charging an instant sugar.
Wait, wait, I need to also...
Oh my god, I don't even have a pet.
Pull it, fuck it.
I can't reach it!
Wait, wait, wait!
We didn't even fall.
I can't reach it!
I can't reach it!
I'm sorry!
I'll buff up everyone too.
How did you get up there, bro?
Here can somebody else just pull I can talk and I might guess so I
Can send the ball if you need me to man just say please
How are you?
I can pull up or you're gonna work out all the shark
Should wall a if that fails on a we thought if that fails we run. Okay. All right
Wait, yo yo yo yo guys we should just pull it near the stairs sharks can't
Go go on land. So we should fight it right here by the stairs wait guys
Nice.
Walk on water my friends.
Hey I forgot, I forgot, I forgot. Okay, my bad.
Wow.
Alright.
It won't work in combat though.
We're going.
Lock in.
Shieldball, shieldball bro.
Okay.
Shieldball stop.
Yeah I'm lost guys.
I caught that, I caught that.
Okay.
Oh
Wow
Dude why is that guy so hard what the hell
Well, yeah, he is.
He's out.
That was bad.
Wait, how did you guys die?
I'm going to hack.
He's healed up.
I'm going to hack.
Yeah, welcome back to the living, man.
Yo, you just aggro the mob.
You're going to get us killed.
Are you kidding me?
I'm getting out of here.
I'm getting out of here.
Oh, no.
Oh, my gosh.
I'm getting out.
Are you?
Are we trying to bite this?
I can heal you, I can heal you, I can heal you.
Just come up, come up, come up, come up.
I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you.
I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Fight it, fight it, fight it, fight it.
Oh, I'm getting owned.
Cover her!
Why did I trust you guys?
I'm still running!
Listen, how's this?
Oh, so...
Oh no, how terrible!
You're dead!
What, this is literally...
Where are you guys?
Oh, you're dead.
I don't know, I don't know.
Dollar cook for sure.
Is there a...
Why don't we have a herdstone?
I don't even know where the Hearthstone is.
Just wondering.
Guys, we just keep pulling.
Oh!
Okay, we're good.
Go right now, it's a little hot.
Okay, we're chill, we're chill, we're chill, we're chill.
Okay, we did a plan here.
Are we gonna kill this shark or are we gonna miss the rules?
I don't think we're gonna be able to kill this shark, man.
Alright, you guys look a little stuck.
Do we want to just call it here?
What's up?
Wanna go?
You guys look a little stuck.
Yeah, I think we, I think it's good.
Yeah, let's go, let's go recap over here.
Give it up for our players.
All right, watch the step, watch the step.
All right, yeah, I got you here.
All right, well, how did you, did you have a good time?
I had a fun time playing wow, not playing with him,
but playing wow, yeah.
Who did you just point at, are you?
I put all four of them.
My healer couldn't heal.
Okay, okay.
So, like this entire group,
you don't think you'd queue up with them again?
Nope.
All right, what do you have to say about that?
We had some strengths, some weaknesses on our-
Why are you looking at me?
Why are you looking at me?
Why are you looking at me?
I'm just saying we had some weaknesses
and some over-performers and some under-performers.
You bought them DPS in that last dungeon.
Yeah, my spec was messed up.
Yeah, your spec was messed up.
It was messed up.
I was theory-crafting and it didn't work.
Okay, okay, okay.
All right, let's work it out.
All right, what do you have to say about that?
Your players, these guys seem a little bit hog-bothered.
What about you?
I feel like I'm gonna be playing
Enhancement Shaman on when this drops.
So, I mean, Guzu was like,
doing so much more damage than everybody else.
So, I'm excited to play.
It's gonna be a good time.
Okay, love that, love that.
All right, you just got to compliment.
Your damage was really good.
Anything in your response?
I mean, listen, it's not easy being the best,
but someone has to do it.
And I'm fine with doing that.
That's okay.
Yeah.
Ah!
All right.
Hold on, we're crossing here last,
but not at least Annie.
All right, you were healing,
and you're not a main healer.
How was that experience for you in Welfare ever?
I mean, I enjoy healing, so I had a good time.
And I felt like holy light felt really good to use
because it was very strong, lots of heals.
Sometimes the tank was a bit greedy,
But, you know, it worked out.
Amazing, amazing.
Well, I'm glad you guys had fun.
Hopefully you did all as well.
One more time for our players here, and with that.
Amazing, amazing.
We can send it back to Makes.
Thank you so much, Aya.
And thank you so much to our creators
and taking us into this dungeon there.
Of course, if you wanna see more of the Drowned City,
you can for everybody that's in attendance here
at BlizzCon because our demo stations are over there
and you get a chance to get in there and, you know,
Ron maybe even slay the shark.
As I'm so glad the shark pulled through for me.
I talked a really big game and he pulled through.
They're low, but we recommend everybody try it.
Everyone should try it at least once, yes.
Yeah, I think so too.
And of course, if you want to get your hands
on WoW Forever, you can now pre-purchase it
over at blizz.li slash wow forever.
And then you can play very, very soon with beta access.
So that's gonna be super exciting
to see everybody venture in there.
I know Ziko, you probably already have done it, right?
Like this morning, opening ceremony.
All I have to say is I'm off for the rest of the day.
Like I got 8 of your C tomorrow, but that's it.
I am, can you guys just kick me off?
I can just go on.
I don't wanna play, okay?
I just wanna go play.
I wanna go check the talents out.
I wanna just go play the game.
I'm super stoked, the dungeons are looking good,
the specs are looking good, just the vibe is looking good.
So I just wanna play.
Yeah, I mean, any last thoughts from our deaths
about, well, forever, about what you've seen,
what you want people to know before we sign off?
I mean, it was a genuine pleasure to be up here
representing our team and showing everybody all of this.
It was a fantastic experience.
It was so exciting.
And I think it's funny to the feel a bit selfish or spoiled
because I just wanna talk about more of the game
and let you see more of it and show more dungeons.
But it just had a great time.
So fun to watch these people play through.
And I'm keen for everyone.
Thank you guys for joining us.
I think the pleasure is ours absolutely.
Just following along with you and learning about all the things you've
hooked up in secret for so long that we're now getting our hands on.
But stay tuned because just in a couple of minutes
we're going to be continuing with our MDI semifinals.
Team mandatory against Team Liquid at 6pm.
6pm we have to push that match but we are back I saw the players walk in there as well so they
are ready to go for it and we are as well so thank you so much stay tuned and keep playing wow you guys
BlizzCon is brought to you by Fanta, lip smacking deliciousness.
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MSI.
The BlizzCon Mythic Dungeon International Grand Finals
are back after building the suspense
very soon liquid and mandatory will at last go head to head. I'm your desk host
Rook, joined by Gretna's Tuddles and Zyro, but this is honestly been such a huge
day. We have the panel that we just got to see some of that gameplay and
footage being shown off with Wow Forever and the Dungeons. I mean, Gretna's
wasn't a fun watching everybody run through that and hearing from the devs
about what they're working on. Yeah, looks like it'll be pretty intimidating
to play that on hardcore. Yeah, I mean, I think it'll be fun though. Are
you up for the challenge? I don't know. I don't know. Tuddles, I've
seen some of your hardcore experiments.
How's that? How's that gone for you?
Are you excited for some forever hardcore at some point?
I feel like it'll be easy for a guy like me.
Oh, OK.
Talk to your pro player titles.
No, I probably will.
I'll look out for your guides and see
if you can help guide any of us that maybe just
aren't quite as good.
I'll be showing everybody what not to do, perhaps.
Oh, OK, great.
All right, that also helps.
That's also good data, so we'll work with that.
But honestly, I can't wait.
I think, wow, forever, there's so much
to just kind of dive into revisiting that nostalgia,
the world in a new way,
continuing these adventures,
just absolutely amazing to see.
And as we got to see with our
creators earlier, it was so much
fun watching everybody come in
and get a chance to run these
dungeons.
As we hear the audience cheering
for Andy Fischer right now.
I mean, amazing to see and a lot
of fun up on the stage, but it
seemed like some things went a
little bit wrong.
Maybe all on the titles back
then.
The shark seemed pretty
unfairly placed there.
I don't know.
I don't know what's going
on with that dungeon.
I don't know that's a that seems like the over level a little bit come back. Have an easier time
Like in the strap it might be you know
We'll just figure out what the speedrun straps will be for those dungeons at some point
But of course our team's been figuring out the season two mythic dungeon international speedrunning straps as well
But i'm curious to see what role these dungeons will play or even the raids in wow forever down the road
I mean some good challenge there. Do you think tunnels? I think that 10 20 player raids in classic
very exciting that's an enticing offering that Blizzard has offered up
here yes you would be very willing to to partake yourself
definitely not not the biggest classic head here at the same time I think the
classic forever stuff really is super exciting it's I think it's what most
players whenever they came to this blizzcon we're hoping to see absolutely
and I mean that's the great thing about World of Warcraft it's not just
one way to enjoy the game there are so many different ways to play wow
Remember wow or even experience new things and why whether you play retail whether you're coming in for classic or now
Wow forever, which I think we are all really looking forward to continuing to hear more about but this panel was so much fun
I mean Zyra. It was great soon. Everybody come in and run this in this new dungeon that we just got a preview of two
You know go through the shark
The Sera Jammer is actually a boss in the dungeon,
or were they just trying to fight some rare mob?
I'm not quite sure, but I saw a lot of funny deaths.
Like, you know, one of these.
Oops, just falling out the top of Dalaran Tower.
It's all good.
I just think they just laugh immediately afterwards,
like, yeah, well, that did just happen.
You know, if you haven't just died in a silly way
at some point in the game, I don't really know
if you've played World of Warcraft,
and I think everybody had a lot of fun on the stage.
And no doubt, we are also going
to be having a ton of fun here
as we come in for these semi-finals.
No, we were talking about it before we jumped over to the panel,
but this is going to be a pretty legendary matchup.
We've got Liquid versus mandatory and both of these teams have a lot of history
in the MDI itself or even just as players on the scene.
So maybe you can take us through mandatory.
I mean, they're not the mandatory we've seen in past seasons.
Perhaps they're a little different, but also familiar.
Yeah, I think that that Genji guy that you can see all the way on
the left-hand side for Mandatory is probably one of, if not the most accomplished World
of Warcraft player of all time. Mandatory has a bunch of accolades, a bunch of titles
littered throughout the entire team. And I think for them coming into a season with
minimal to no prep and having to rely on your own personal meta reads, does that give
them an advantage against the rest of the competition? It's kind of an interesting
proposition because historically this is the team that set the tone for what the
MDI is.
I mean, you're absolutely right. I think between like Genji and Mirrors, they
something around like 11 championship wins, which is just an incredible amount of history
for those players. I mean, unbelievable. Yet, when we saw them in season one, this team was
looking a little bit shakier than we might have expected, Dranos.
Yeah, there were certainly some signs of vulnerability from a roster that is, of course, star-studded,
as you guys were mentioning. Mira's there in the tanking role as well, one of the
most accomplished WoW players between both Dungeons and Raid as well, has carried
so many of these previous MBI and race to world first wins for
Echo as well.
Yeah, I mean, funnily enough, though, for all that really we
have seen him play tanked a great accomplishment this past
season, if I'm remembering right, Sarah was the first time he
debuted tank in MDI, I think.
Yeah, he's going to take player and rates for a long time
now. But I think that was the first time we actually saw him
tanking in the MBI. He was a DPS player in years past.
He was also a coach, a six man for the team for a long
time but yeah I mean he looks like a rock on this team I mean really what it
came down to for them is their strategies while they've been consistent
which is kind of echoes trend when they were echoed mandatory of course the
trend throughout the year has been very consistent very minimal deaths but in
season one that just wasn't the case so maybe there were some growing pains
with the new squad I didn't think the meta really suited them that well I
sure admittedly like I don't think that they have a bunch of people that
can play but like devour Dean Hunter Hanna Voker it feels like that kind of
is like a weird conflict and we always kind of were looking at some of the
meta fits and then trying to figure out how was mandatory going to navigate those.
I mean, it was definitely a challenge for them.
Do you have any further thoughts?
I feel like mandatory, they've been great as well.
But the rest of the field has really started to catch up to where
these players have often been for years, for years, they were so far ahead
of the rest of the pack.
And now we have so many other great teams.
Tick and toss.
We've already paid farewell to, but big lucky as well and liquid now
challenging mandatory in this series.
I think it's going to be a very hotly contested series.
couldn't agree more. And you know, since you mentioned liquid, we have to talk about them
as well, because liquid will be going up against them here in the semifinals. And liquid, while
they have a long running history, particularly in things like the race to world first, where
oh, you know, something like back to back to back to back wins. I mean, back wins for
them. That doesn't always translate to MDI or Zara. Do you think it's going to
give them some extra advantage now that they're in the MDI scene? I think there's
a lot of things that are going in their favor with this team. This is the first
time in a long time that this build is actually put a team together.
They played in the past as limit or when they were with complexity as well.
This is the first time they've been a team with team liquid and the five
players they have are some of the best players, not only on the on the
right team, but also just in the mythic dungeon international that we've had
throughout the years. Of course, Yip's tanking, just one of the best tanks
in the game right now. They've got to set me healing this guy's an
absolute multi-class God in the DPS lineup.
They're also insane as well.
Yeah. Whenever I caught up with Yip's earlier, he only had one thing
to say about this tournament, green split, green split, green split.
Let's go.
Promising that they were going to go as fast as humanly possible and win this tournament.
I can't wait to see it.
I mean, over season one, we saw Liquid be a team that had great precision.
And then when they started adding in that speed, they became such a formidable contender.
And this is going to be a bit of a battle between NA and EU as we see these two clashes.
Well, which is an exciting part of the Grand Finals when all of these teams get
to come together here at BlizzCon live to compete.
I mean, do you think crossing those regions
and seeing each other in person,
Dratnis is something that gives them that added
kind of competition?
Absolutely.
I think the region pride, you know,
that rests now on both these team shoulders.
These are our last remaining NA and EU representatives
going up to face China in the finals here.
So a lot of pride is on the line here.
But I think Liquid,
this is going to be a really exciting season for them.
The meta game suits a lot of these players,
a lot of their long time mains, you know, you've got things like Blood Death Knight or maybe
Vengeance, Demon Hunter, both things that Yipz has played a lot of.
We've got Rogues and Mages showing up, which KSP, he's played a ton of those as well over
the years.
So lots of different options that they can play here.
I mean, absolutely.
And the teams aren't going to be having to face off as we look at these dungeons,
but was there anything else you wanted to add about Liquid Zyro?
I mean, we touched on this a little bit earlier before we had the tech issues,
but Boomi coming back to the team is a huge boon for the Liquid team.
He was unable to play back in the season one finals.
He was dealing with some sickness.
Cynic filled in for him, did a great job.
They got second place.
But Boomi coming back is awesome.
They should be even stronger now.
And we got Ellie Shaman for a shine as well, potentially
as well.
That is a longtime power pick here
that Liquid might be able to deploy.
It is.
And having that cornerstone that captain on the team,
whether it's shot calling or just anchoring everyone,
I think that's going to be really big for them
as we go into these dungeons.
Now, as we talked about, season two dungeons
are on the table because a new season has started,
Which means the meta and the dungeons themselves are somewhat still in flux for the teams.
But we have both of our bands coming in here for liquid and mandatory titles.
How does this leave both of the teams?
I think that Void Scar Arena is a fairly low-tech dungeon.
I think it's really going to kind of come down to which team has the best read on the
meta and can do the most damage possible inside that Void Scar Arena.
The in-sequence of that Void Scar Arena can get a little bit tricky with how large
you're going to be pulling, how many of those, I think they're brutalizers at
the end of dungeons or devourers, I think is actually what they're called.
And then at the Den of Nalorak.
We saw it in a malarack with Big Lucky versus Dignitas earlier, and we know just how dangerous
the end of that dungeon can be as well.
Absolutely.
I mean, it's very, very tricky.
Some of these dungeons, I think some of these moments that can be so volatile and especially
this early in the season, you don't know if deaths are going to hit you.
And we saw some hit Dignitas earlier, which really did cost some of those maps
to be lost.
But will both of these teams be able to kind of pull it together, have cleaner
runs and faster runs, even if some of those dangerous stretches, I mean, we'll find
But looking at the bands do you think this is what you would kind of expect to see them ban out Zyra?
I think the King's Rest is a pretty obvious choice highest level key
It's probably the hardest one for them to practice
It's probably a lot of deaths when you go for the bigger pulls in that dungeon even though it is pretty linear
There's not too much variation you can do in the pull strategy
I feel like it makes sense for that to be a ban for whichever team would ban it out
It's mandatory in this case simple set those some little surprised by I feel like that's one of the more open ones
Because there's a you have a lot more choice in which count you can pull there's a lot
You can do at the start but to see it banned out. Maybe there's maybe that's some other teams that
I think you're banning the dungeon that you think is the worst at.
You kind of have to have just like a five check, is like,
is this dungeon bad for us?
Do we think that other teams are going to be able to go faster than us?
Typically, you would like to target ban against like your opponent's best map.
But without like an entire season worth of data as to like what's good for your opponent,
you're just banning what you think you're bad at.
Yeah. I mean, there's all that kind of head game that goes into it.
Sometimes we're just, oh, you know what?
I don't want to do this one.
We don't have the strategy we really like.
We want to make sure we keep this in our vantage.
But there's also those other times where you're trying to play that mental game against your opponents or fan something out that
Actually leaves you in a pretty good spot all things considered or backs to their teams sort of into that corner as well
But I mean again the teams coming in we talked about meta and sort of what's structuring or forming with the picks
But Dranis do you have any guesses on what we might see these two teams bring in?
I feel like Voidscar arena is going to be a great rogue dungeon
I feel like a lot of the dungeons are great rogue dungeons, but Voidscar especially
There are so many poles that are defined by like one scary mob that you need to kill off before you can advance through the dungeon and
There's nothing better than assassination road at making that happen in these poles. Would you ever see an arms warrior?
I think you could yeah
I think this could be a dungeon for you play like arms warrior
Rogue maybe the Ellie shaman frosty kid you could play the frosty K as well, but that's for DPS
Which has that's too many with the restoration shop with the rest of shaman
I'm sure about the arms warrior though because I remember there was there was this couple of content creators that were making videos at
at the end of the race to world first every day.
And they thought that there were gonna be
four arms warriors in the world first comp.
What happened to that?
There was only one.
Guys, I gotta go.
Oh!
I don't know, where are those people?
Who did this be?
Couldn't be me.
Could be anybody's guess.
Certainly they're not here on this desk with us.
But, you know, you take your guesses,
you try and theorize.
We don't always know how it shakes out.
Sometimes the teams have to test it themselves.
Yeah, Tettles?
I caught up with Rice in a little bit last night.
He let me know a bit of a fact here.
He said that if you see anything
other than Resto Druid,
just know the other team is trolling
because he believes that Rester drew with call of the elder drew that JV talent.
It just allows the rest of drew to do so much additional damage from the star fire cast.
The lucky one with the holy paladin.
Hey, they won. You know, scoreboard, so scoreboard.
Scoreboard indeed. Well, it seems like we are getting ready for this to finally go down.
Now, of course, both of these teams have a lot to prove here.
Can the liquid prove that for a younger team with a lot of talented players in the MDI space,
can they come together and make a name for themselves here,
just as they have in other global sort of stages
like the Race to World First or a commandatory
with some of the most accomplished players in MDI history,
but now running under this new banner,
this new name, can they come together,
overcome some of those mistakes from season one
and play to the caliber we know that they can?
It's gonna be a big question
and I know they are both out to answer it,
but only one of them can move ahead
to our grand finals.
So as we look to this, I mean, titles,
this is going to be an intense matchup,
I think these two in particular that rivalry between them is so so intense. I feel like whatever we saw kind of like a
Pre-game interview with Jinji earlier and he said that the only way that liquid can beat them is with a head start
Is he gonna be able to put his money where his mouth is right?
Like that is the question is Jinji gonna show up whenever it's game time and be able to beat liquid that is
I think that this is a storied rivalry right before the series even
We were going to the series earlier.
You were talking about how they were basically
one of the biggest rivals over the better part of a decade.
Absolutely. I mean, this is probably the most defining
World of Warcraft rivalry that exists in the PvE space.
These are players that have been doing battle
for the past decade. One of their best days is almost always
the other team's worst days. It's crazy.
Well, you know, the players themselves had a little bit to say about this
and some of the interviews that they did and the video bit that we have.
So let's hear from them what they think about this rivalry.
I feel hyped going into my final. Of course, I love playing on stage, having mandatory back
us up. You can just focus on gaming, right? That's the thing. Everything is under control.
I feel like we come together a lot better as a team going into BlizzCon.
I think the support of a big team like Liquid is insane for me because I grew up loving
watching eSports and seeing like liquid based in my entire life playing for them
is a huge honor. And liquid only continue to get faster moving them up the
ranks from possible contenders to some of the biggest threats in our
competition. We will only lose to liquid if we make mistakes. We're definitely
gonna win against mandatory. Liquid cannot win against us unless they get a
head start. And a head start is literally the only reason why they
won the races as well. And liquid did it! Oh my god! They have further
solidified their dynasty.
The vibes that we have as a team, since we've been playing together for so long, are very nice.
It's just nice to be back.
Boomi being back for liquids doesn't really change much for us.
We just lock in and do our thing.
Everything is good for mandatory as they claim that second map as an equalizer between them and Liquid.
To be mandatory, it's not going to be that hard.
They have no chance of beating us.
Good luck, but I don't think anything can save you.
I'm sorry you guys spent all this time practicing to lose in the first round.
It's just unfortunate that you landed in our bracket.
I just love how much they decided to just come directly from another at the end there.
Just absolutely bringing that rivalry to a head between them.
But I mean, you can tell that both of the teams,
they're ready for this chance to play against each other.
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of undercurrents of respect behind the trash talk there.
So I'm I'm excited to see how these teams match up against each other in the dungeons
I think this is gonna really be a big opportunity because blizzcon
Only comes around once every so often and it's a huge moment for teams to stamp their names on that trophy
You're absolutely right the pressure of blizzcon
But also the glory of blizzcon being here surrounded by everyone that loves this game plays this game
Maybe they watch the MDI or maybe it's their first time ever seeing it
and they suddenly realize, hey, head-to-head speedrunning
is actually pretty amazing to see especially played
at this level.
And you know, we highlighted a bit about these players
and what this means to them.
But I know, at least over on Liquid's side, a shine, right?
This was a player with a long-running history,
going back to 2018, right?
I think with an MDI, or BlizzCon win, right?
Who then?
Not BlizzCon, but it was the very first ever global finals
that we had for MDI, one with Shell's Angels
way back in the day.
If we're talking about BlizzCon champions, there's only one BlizzCon champion on stage.
That's Genji over on the side of Mandatory, so he's got a little bit of experience there.
I do think a couple of the liquid players have actually played on the BlizzCon stage before.
I think Wolfs is still played with 40k back in 2019.
That's a throwback.
That is a throwback. It was a really long time ago that that happened.
I think, you know, seven years ago at this point.
I mean, a long history and definitely great memories, but I'm sure, you know,
whether it's a shine with that victory 2018, but not on BlizzCon stage,
this con stage. You want to come in and get one on the stage for yourself and
Genji probably wanting to get another especially since earlier we saw his
parents in the crowd and as it was sort of pointed out the louder you cheer
the stronger Genji becomes. So if you're rooting over here for mandatory
everybody we're gonna need to hear you raise your voices. Who here is cheering
for mandatory?
Oh my gosh they're raising the hand. Okay the Genji level is rising. I think it can go higher though absolutely.
But let's hear over on liquid. Do we have any NA fans for liquid?
Oh my god, that's so terrifying, it's so epic.
Okay, well you know the power level rising a bit more, maybe on liquid side, but that
just means mandatory has a challenge ahead of them.
And whoever comes out of this one of course will be facing off with Big Lucky, which
was an upset that we had earlier in the days I wrote.
Yeah, that was actually a crazy close match.
I mean, Dignitas looked so strong in the first map of the series, but they just
made mistakes in the next two maps which opened up the door for Big Lucky.
They were able to close out the murder row and then the didn't Valorant was a four-second win for big lucky
It's just incredibly close. I mean two games that were both decided by a differential from those depth timers
So I if all of our maps this weekend are that close
I think we are gonna be in for a great time here
We really will and you know what if yips has one fan we found them in the audience
So you know that extra energy coming to yips as well
But there are so many players here on the stage that are ready to just absolutely
Bring it there all and of course they have been waiting for this chance
Not only all this year as they built up their momentum as they came through season one and then finally made it here to BlizzCon
But also with this long running rivalry between both of these teams and the players on them now as we look ahead
Given what we saw from them in season one that titles
What do you think that we would need to see from both of these teams coming in to either?
either overtake or really compete at the same level from them.
First and foremost, I saw Kush there taking a video of the crowd
before they started.
That's actually so funny that he's just like getting prepared,
kind of living in the moment.
I think it's really going to come down to consistency.
MDI tends to be more of a question of like practicing
the hardest strategies and how consistent can you make them.
For an MDI that's happening this early in the season,
we are just a few weeks out from the launch of the season.
The meta is still developing.
The teams don't really have a good read against one another.
Nobody's really seen what other teams have put up in terms of timers during practice.
That is a huge deal.
And I think that just coming in with a clean and consistent strategy that you can minimize
your deaths on, it's massive.
I mean, we saw the two losses that Dignitas had, they're going to be kicking themselves
because those were due to deaths.
Yeah, you never want the death timer to be the thing that ultimately makes your
run fail.
Now, of course, if you tried to pull off something really impressive, deaths happened
and you're going, okay, we took a chance on that.
There's still some really strong gameplay you tried to back with it.
when it comes down to just that alone, I think it's so heartbreaking and hopefully for these two teams even though
These are some relatively new dungeons. They will have a way through they feel secure in but like we mentioned earlier
Zyro today is the only day these are the grand finals if they don't put it out and land on the line right now
Then they will walk home and leave the blizzcon stage without
$300,000 and without the glory of being blizzcon champion. So do you play it safe or do you risk it?
I mean you got a right. I feel like you have to risk it
We can see big lucky play a little bit slower instead here and that it earned them the win
But I don't think that I think that was gonna happen
Maybe like one every five times against Ignitas that's you that truly was an upset of a series
But we keep talking about like teams going for riskier and riskier strategies throughout the years
That's because of some of these players on mandatory
I remember one of JB's famous quotes about the MDI in particulars when they were coming up with their strategies for Dungeons
They always had to think to themselves is this good enough to beat that team?
Yeah, and that was just the whole basis of what they may base your strategy on
You know and it's interesting though because well we've had that standard right
I think earlier tunnels pop a really great point
Which is that the overall skill level of all of the teams in the MDI just continues to rise and with that it becomes
Harder and harder to predict every season
I think just what new talent might be emerging or what talent has been working away suddenly every season to suddenly jump up as
Champions like dignitas and of course since we have to kind of think about it ourselves
We have to make some predictions right now about these two teams in front of us.
So Liquid versus Mandatory, titles in this matchup, who do you think is going to take it?
Oh, goodness gracious.
We can come back to you.
You get to go first, buddy.
We're waiting on you.
I'm going to go with 2-1 Mandatory.
Oh, okay.
All right.
Stop doing me.
Okay.
We're going to make that a new race to all of First Scout.
I didn't care for that, Teddles.
Dratnos, can you maybe give us a better prediction than Teddles did?
I'm going to go 2-1, liquid.
Everybody loves that, Dratnos.
I was going to do the opposite of whatever he did.
All right, Zyra, what are you thinking for your predictions?
I'm going to go 2-0 for liquid.
Ooh!
Okay, even more proof.
You're going to go against the crowd?
Yeah, let's see how peer-pressurable you are here.
You know, I've got to stick by my guns.
I've got to because the crowd, their energy is there,
but I have to say, I was talking to somebody on the show floor
even before this and I went,
I think Liquid is gonna take it.
So I'm gonna say two one, Liquid,
and I'm gonna get in there, not just for crowd approval.
But it's a nice plus.
But that's also great, I do feel great about that.
No, I mean, honestly, I think we've just seen
that Liquid especially this season,
every time I thought,
oh, I kind of get where their skill level is right now.
I feel like they're really solid team,
but maybe they won't quite make it to the top.
Then we would just see them
bring something else to the table
that just made them that much more competitive,
that much fiercer.
And by the end of it, we were looking at them
as real, real contenders for champions
and they came so close to becoming them.
So I think right here is where they really probably
wanna lay it on the line and make that happen at BlizzCon.
So that's where I'm going, but everybody,
if you are watching at home,
make sure to get your predictions in the chat as well.
And the audience here, we can see you all.
It is so great to have you here tonight.
Are you all Mythic Plus fans?
Yeah, there we go.
Do we have any newcomers who have never seen the MDI before?
Okay, there's a few.
Okay, there's a few.
Okay, look, we've got to get more people into Mythic Plus.
It's always important.
We've got to keep growing the scene
so we can get the next Dignitas down the road, you know?
But honestly, with Liquid and Mandatory,
it will be a really contentious matchup between these two.
Now, we've talked about the dungeons a bit,
a bit, but Syro, are there any of these dungeons that you think we might see more surprises in
than others?
I feel like we've seen most of the Tekken's in of Malarok in that previous series.
I'd be surprised if we see something different.
I've actually heard of some gateway tech in there, so if we do see a Warlock, maybe there's
some skips you could get out of that.
We'll have to see when we get there.
There is Voidscar, we're going to first.
I think, Teddles, you already covered this a little bit.
We think that dungeon's kind of a little more linear than the rest.
Yeah, I think that the first couple of pulls, I expect to be pretty consistent.
You're going to run all the way up the right-hand side.
You're going to pull all the trash on top of that first mini-box.
You're going to try to get that filled off as quickly as possible.
Dreadnest pointed out that priority damage and funnel damage is going to be the key take
away into that void scar arena.
And I mean, look at this.
We're already getting this cinematic.
I feel like it's about time.
Oh, I can feel it on the horizon.
We are about to finally get this matchup between the liquid and mandatory as they
face down the dungeon and are ready to speed run to the end.
Who will make it to the end first that will determine everything as they come
into this best of three series?
Here we go.
Liquid versus Mandatory Dragon, take it away!
Alright, right off the bat, we do have that Warlock, Xyro, Warwolf, Disco.
Yip's also playing the Vengeance Demon Hunter here, so quite a difference in compositions.
Alright, a little bit of demonic gateway tech there on the side of Liquid to get down that hallway as quickly as possible.
And there's that mageite that Tettles is talking about.
They need to focus this down in order to uplock that doorway and get into the first boss arena.
Auto damage is going to be incredibly important.
Honestly, I think Mandatory's comp is a little bit better, though.
Yeah, mandatory does have access. I mean both teams, of course, are playing the rogue at the star of that show, but quite a lot of differences.
Otherwise there, the Blood Death Knight also putting out quite a lot of damage in the hands of Mira as their Frost DK also being played by mandatory.
So two death knights for mandatory, zero for Liquid, particularly in this next room.
It might be nice to be able to deathgrip in some of those far packs, gather things a little bit more quickly.
As a warlock player myself draft knows and I've listened I know warlock is a little bit broken right now people in the audience
I'm sure you know that class is so strong
You might be thinking it's a quality meters right now
But everyone knows the first pull of the dungeon is always the worst because they haven't actually built up any hips right?
It's gonna start just
Moving off to the rest of them to have all of that energy to move on to the next pull the next demonic tires
We do that much stronger so by the time they get into this next room the warlocks overall damage should be much higher
You can already see here liquid already through that first mini boss going to be getting the first boss or so much more quickly than mandatory
Yeah, this is incredible. They are zooming it through the start of the dungeon here
However, they did use their bloodlust while mandatory are still holding on to that resource
So that explains a lot of the time difference so far the big question for me is what will mandatory bloodlust?
Will it be something that makes up for this time loss on the first bowl?
Yeah, you know you have to question what they would use it on of course there's the couple mini boxes that spawn in this section of the tunnel as well
There's also that really annoying turtle that everyone hates that makes everything take less damage
They might try to burn that down with the bloodless when it
Trips itself and starts taking double damage
We'll have to see what the plan is for that for the meantime men for still holding on to that liquid
Go have already spawned the first of those groups probably gonna start using it to knock down doors and get some extra trash in here
Yeah, a lot of this trash now being gathered by Team Liquid
They have the ogre on there over in the wall keeping it contained every time it takes a step
It is going to pulse for damage on the entire group
So they've got to make sure that they minimize the movements here and keep everything packs together
Near the wall you can see the damage as well that is being put out by boomy atop the overall meters
But also atop the single target meters by even more than that
So really impressive showing meanwhile mandatory just getting in combat with Brutic there right now
We'll have to see if they're able to make up that ground when they do pop the bloodlust and there it is
There's the bloodlust for them
I was well-explored because this you know this dungeon you've seen them
They're about the 13 14 minute mark from what we've seen from our teams already here and that second bloodlust
You want to make sure you get all of it at the end of the dungeon?
They do get it off in the first two minutes or so
Wow, we'll be able to get the second bloodlust close to the end of the dungeon. Is it actually
Catching them up. Yes, it is the bird goes down about the same times as liquid
But look it's trash is completely dead already. Yeah, mandatory with a great move there
So they've waited for the turtle to stun itself and then death-gripped it under the rest of the pack and just took care of it
With that last we saw Mastien using both charges of that Cyndagosa Dragon as well to just take that enemy out
But that bloodlust I'm not sure it was as effective as liquid at the start of the dungeon
And like you mentioned liquids will be up sooner
So depending on how long this dungeon lasts liquid might be able to get a more powerful
powerful second lust in here. Both teams though in combat with the first boss and we can see
quantified at the bottom of the screen the difference between the two of them. 9% of
the boss is the lead four team Liquid. A lot of trash being brought in by both teams as
well. It's going to tie off for Liquid a little bit first which actually means that
their boss damage will slow down a little bit before mandatory.
One of the problems with this Warlock is it kind of just does pass a daily damage
all the time. It can't turn that off. All of your spells leave you a lot of
but daily damage. That means that funnel is going to be turned off more quickly.
So who needs, unfortunately, losing out on that extra energy, losing out on that
single target damage, whereas for mandatory, they can start to pull ahead just a
little bit off that. If you keep those alive a little bit longer, unfortunately,
it doesn't really seem like that's the case for them. They're kind of just
sticking at that 9% lead right now. Yeah, we have some cooldowns available
soon here for mandatory that they might be able to use. And to get back into
it there, you can see that Frostworm's Fury flying across the
screen for them, but is it going to be enough for them to overtake on this
bot because Liquid in that second ascendance now as well and Deathmark
coming up momentarily for Fumi, pressing it basically on cooldown there, we'll
just go of course there on the demonology warlock right now on top of
the meters and what's the cooldown profile for that spec look like this
season's out? This is why I think warlock is
unbelievably broken. In the past there's always been these super
strong classes that are turned on for every two minutes right they do
unbelievable amounts of damage every two minutes and then they're just useless for the next minute and a half.
Warlock is a minute cooldown, Demonic Tyrant, one minute cooldown, and it lasts for 25 seconds.
So you pretty much just always have damage.
Alright, first boss goes down, 14 liquid. The gap actually opened, oh and a gateway!
A little maneuver there, allowing them to skip past that pack at the top of these stairs,
grabbing this watchful harrow. Now, this is a little bit of a dangerous enemy,
but it is a lot of count. Very important to grab one of these if you can for the count.
It looks like grabbing one of them is not the plan for Team Liquid.
It is grabbing two of them, so they are going to focus down both of these with their priority damage,
but also just their cleave as there are two of them in combat.
Meanwhile, mandatory, going the other side of the dungeon.
They, instead of having a gateway there, use Shroud of Concealment to skip past a little bit of this,
and they're now jumping up the side with their spacebar instead of the gateway past that double void site pole.
Okay, looks like they did manage to get past it. I was worried for a little bit that one of them body pulled,
but they didn't get past it. Start pulling a bunch of trash together.
This is actually a massive pull from mandatory.
Who, by the way, are already ahead in trash council.
Liquid is going to have to make up some serious count in that final section of the dungeon after the second boss,
for the time being, though, still dealing with this double-hero or pull,
and using some Shadow Melgers to banish us on the road that'll reset some of these AoE CCs on them,
and knock them all up if they have to soak, but they are getting through that pack a little bit more quickly.
I don't think this is going to be anywhere near the amount of count that men are going to put it together with them.
I mean, these Watchful Harriers are a lot of count each, but yeah, I do think the advantage
is gonna be a little bit in favor of Mandatory when these go down.
We'll have to see, yeah, Liquid, look at that infusion of count they just got.
Up to 58.9%. Meanwhile, Mandatory killing off a lot more enemies, but these ones aren't worth as much.
It's actually only gonna be 54% for them, so a slight count advantage for Team Liquid.
They're gonna be pulling the second boss first, as Mandatory fly up there as well.
Only a couple of seconds behind, a few seconds, and a few percent enemy forces separating these teams with Zyro.
That lust starting to look a little bit ominous if you are a mandatory fan here.
Liquid might get access to a much better use of it here.
Yeah, I mean, really all you have to do in this extra area is pull enough of the mini-bosses to lob the boss,
get past that wall, and then you can pretty much pull whatever you want into the boss room that,
hopefully with that lust, and the person to have that two minutes later,
so they're probably not going to have the lust available for that mass pull,
And yeah, that's definitely something to look out for that being said in our previous series of Dignitas versus Dignlucky
The same thing happened. They were ahead the entire dungeon making off to the last hole first
Ended up making mistakes two dungeons in a row and that cost him
So while liquid is ahead he certainly aren't out of the woods just yet. Yeah, yep
Carefully kiting at this creeper here. You gotta be really careful as a tank if that successfully autos you you are taking 50%
increased nature damage
Her successful auto for the rest of the fight. It is very nasty. Yip's masterfully dodging it while keeping it under the boss
So that it gets cleaved down without a loss of damage for team liquid. Mandatory though accelerating on the DPS here
Now only 2% behind on the boss when compared to team liquid. Nira is actually putting out a nice amount of damage
But Yip's also doing over a hundred thousand DPS here on that tank
And this is one of those bosses that you the damage meters are a lot more accurate because you can't just pull a bunch of trash onto it
Right, so we're really seeing what the actual single target is out of all these players
The other thing to keep an eye on as well as the cooldown usage for the two teams as well
Liquid has all of their cooldowns coming up about 30 seconds or so that means the second this boss goes down
They're gonna have everything available to them. Jinji only just now pressed the Ascendant
So if they go for a big pull right after this
They're not gonna have that engine do a lot of their AoE damage and they're gonna be a lot more in danger because of it
Liquid's just looking like they're set to run away with it.
The mandatory has cut up on the single target damage
and might actually end up killing the boss off first but I'm a little worried for what the next pull might look like.
Boss goes down within a second for both teams
and they are charging up these stairs to the final area of the dungeon.
So, we have three of these Dominar Lieutenants that need to be taken down.
These devouring Brutalizers here.
We've got Yps pulling one of them over to the left side
and the other one patrolling in here.
You have to be very careful of these pulls. There are so many nasty enemies scattered throughout these packs.
Selecting the right combination of them so that you can get a lot of count while not getting killed by all their abilities is a very, very tricky thing to do.
I mean, this is where the Blood Decay is really coming in clutch on the side of mandatory. You can see there's a ton of damage.
We do have a death for Mace. Dean takes that brutalizer and the brutalizer. That's 15 seconds of death time.
That's why they call it the brutalizer.
They don't end up using the battle res. He releases. He's running back.
So they're saving that battle as in the back pocket.
They're gonna have a second one available in about 30 seconds as well, but that 15 seconds.
We already saw that.
Off to Team Magic earlier today.
That could be wrong if you look at the debuffs for mandatory as well.
Miraz has popped that purgatory.
So if he is going to die in the next few minutes, there's no longer a cheat death available to save him.
Gips, on the other hand, probably still has that last resort that is usually talented by those vengeance demon hunters.
So, a little extra layer of security.
4 Team Liquid to semi-dropping super low
on the pull of this next big trash section.
Mandatory trying to recover here,
but when you lose a DPS player on a big pull like that,
it can be a double disaster
because not only are you losing those 15 seconds
and however long it takes them to run back,
oftentimes that pull is gonna live quite a bit longer
because you've lost access to that runic power
to whatever cooldowns you have rolling as well.
So, it might have really thrown a wrench
into Mandatory's bulls here.
Mira is dropping super low.
Rycen gonna go down now to a corrosive essence
and Mira as well.
This is gonna be a disaster for Mandatory.
A full wipe soon to follow for them.
Oh my God.
And the trash is resetting as well, Dratno.
So in addition to the minute and a half
of death timers they have,
they're gonna have to gather all of this back up
and chew through those health bars again.
This is absolute disaster on the stage for Mandatory.
Meanwhile, Liquid, just loving life on their side.
no issues for them whatsoever.
That second lust is active and ready
for whenever they choose to use it.
It's probably going to be trashed on top of the last boss.
Are we gathering up that pull now?
Yipz is charging ahead, gathering a bunch of trash.
The Jellies are coming in.
This usually means a boss pull, Dreadnose.
Yeah, there is a shaman that is hexed off to the side,
so that will come in later.
But for now, it is just going
to be a lot of these critters that don't do too much.
There is a screamer that will
need to be interrupted, actually several of them.
But they are into combat with the last boss.
Bloodlust is rolling, and the boss is melting just on pole here.
Boomi over a million DPS.
Wolf just go over a million.
A shine as well.
Liquid are doing so much damage.
Absolutely.
Running away with it here.
But like you said, they need to keep an eye on these screamers.
One of those cast goes off and fears everyone in the group.
Maybe a shine is a termatode.
I'm just in case to counteract that.
But they need to make sure nothing goes wrong in this pole.
It's so easy for a tank to go down.
But it looks like they've gotten through the majority
of the trash pack and the boss is already below 50%.
That is just the grinder, the meat grinder created by Wolf Disco's pets there, all those
demonology extra AoE damage happening under the boss, and Boomi melting the boss as well.
It's already only got 33% health and Mandatory's still not even in combat with the boss, trying
to recover their situation.
What's going on with this Vengeance Demon Hunter?
Why is it almost doing a million DPS?
That's the annihilator build.
If you get some good procs and meta at the right time, you can get those Boydfall
all meteors do so much damage as well.
They've got their count, only quick percent left.
The remaining count on top of the boss should be more than enough for Liquid to finish off the count in this dungeon.
Ronas now dropping below 15% HP.
All of the Personals popped across the board just to lift this final set of orb casts.
And it looks like Liquid Trap knows he'll be walking away with game one here.
Yeah, mandatory pulling onto the boss with lust, but it is going to be far too little, far too late.
late liquid taking down the last boss and they will need to finish off that
shaman as well to finish their count and once they've done that they will stop
the clock and take game one.
And the audience goes wild. The first point here goes to liquid in liquid
versus mandatory but it is far from over yet however in this first map those
deaths definitely swung us in a decisive victory towards liquid
direction though they were already blasting full speed ahead now we mentioned
this with mandatory before but in season one some of these mistakes cost them a
crucial moment. Draknos do you think this is just because of the newness of these
season two dungeons or is this some of that still following them here even in
the grand finals? It's hard to say when it's just one dungeon like this but
that pull is a very very deadly pull there's a lot that can go wrong and
once you have that first death it is very easy to get desynched from your
plan, which might make the next pull into the one that actually wipes you, which is exactly what we saw happen for Mandatory brutal to see and so
unfortunate there with that snowball effect. But I mean, titles, you were watching on both sides for the teams. What were some of your
observations? Yeah, so we have a little bit of replay here. And I think that this dungeon actually started out to be pretty
interesting where liquid, they went really large on the right hand side, pulling all the way up to the mini boss and completing that
pull about 15 seconds ahead of mandatory mandatory ended up pulling additional trash at the beginning, which there was a little bit of
question as to whether or not that was going to yield additional results I mean
and you can see it right here liquid this first poll it just gets dispatched so
much faster and mandatory I was kind of curious as to whether or not the
trash differential was going to allow them to make up for that 15 seconds of
basically just being able to kill the trash back off 15 seconds faster at the
end of the day it seemed like it was very similar strategy then we made it
into the first boss room and liquid got Chidagov killed off I don't even
know 20 30 seconds maybe I had a mandatory even though I feel like
mandatory's composition with that frost at night should have given them a bit more priority damage
we came into the series talking about the priority damage being a crucial factor the wolf disco on this
demonology warlock is doing absolutely disgusting damage even whenever we saw the damage meter
conclude earlier yips was about 40 or 50 000 dps ahead of mara's on that blood decay but mandatory
they were keeping it close they ended up killing tazra the first boss off you know pretty close to
where liquid work but liquid had a really cool gate skip that the entire audience said oh even though
they only skip one track a track.
Which is a little bit funny.
I mean, it's still exciting.
What's a big deal?
I like it.
Zair, you were talking to Gips earlier.
What did you guys think about the Vengeance Demon Hunter?
Because he had a lot to say about that spec.
Yeah, we were all really interested.
Because we saw them practicing on it
on the tournament realm for a while.
And his basic idea, he was kind of talking trash
about the other teams a little bit.
He's like, I don't really know why these guys
are playing the Blood Decay.
Demon Hunter looks like it's absolutely insane.
I do more damage in the Blood Decays.
I'm tankier than the Blood Decays.
I bring a raid buff.
He was thinking it's awesome.
Try this as a tank, man.
And what do you think about it?
Yeah, I mean, the Chaos Brand is a big part of it because, Tettles, you were talking about
the damage, just the raw damage being higher from Yps as compared to Mirras, but you have
to factor in Chaos Brand is amplifying all of everybody else's damage on Liquid as well.
And when you have three DPS players cresting a million DPS on your lust pull at the
end of the dungeon, that Chaos Brand is contributing a huge chunk of extra damage
from your tank.
So, after this section that you're seeing on screen right here, Mandatory was
a little bit behind.
They end up pulling the second boss a little bit behind Liquid.
They have a little bit less count.
But somehow they were able to actually kill the boss off
just a few seconds ahead, which means
that whenever you're looking at 4% enemy forces,
that's about the exact same ending sequence.
And you can see both of these teams
basically killing the boss at the exact same time.
So then it's like, who is going to be
able to play this ending section clean?
Unfortunately for mandatory fans,
it looked like the agitated Void Scythe,
it puts a poison onto players.
In conjunction with the Brutalizer,
the bellow AoE that ended up taking out players.
Mastin ended up dying earlier,
so he ended up getting hit by the tank combo
from the devouring brutalizer,
that brutalized tank ability.
And then, this is that wipe
that I was kind of citing earlier,
Bryson ends up dying to that dot,
those two dots together,
then basically the remainder of the team
follows suit shortly.
And once you have a full wipe,
that pretty much seals the deal
inside of any MDI dungeon
as we've seen season in and season out.
Yup, I mean it does make that difference.
And of course, as we kind of look in here,
We can take a look closer at the play here with the Yps.
So, Dranos, what do you see here with some of the build?
Yeah, so this is that annihilator build
you can see in the top right, that hero talent icon.
Basically, every time you enter meta,
you get to summon a huge wave of these meteors,
and they do so much damage with those Voidfall meteors.
So, if you can get good prox of meta,
but also just when you press it,
you are gonna deal a huge burst of damage.
The downside is that meta is also
your big defensive button.
So if you wanna use your defensive cooldowns
a different time than your offensive cooldowns, then Vengeance even after might not be the
tank for you.
I see.
Interesting.
I mean, we saw this play out as you were all just, I think, really wonderfully illustrating
how this comp kind of came together or some of these picks kind of affected things for
the teams.
But as we look ahead to our next Dungeons, Zyra, do you think there will be any changes
seeing how these performed?
Or do you think these teams are going to rock these comps moving forward?
I feel like we're going to find out pretty soon here, but I would be very surprised
if there were multiple comps prepared because these teams have had very little time
to prep for this dungeon.
Most of all of these players were participating
in the race to world first, which ended just a week ago.
So yeah, there it is.
Exact same comps.
This is what they prep.
This is what they're going to stick with.
We're already into this den of the Ballerac.
Let's get it over, Greta.
Let's go.
All right, here we go at the start, of course.
Got to interact with that campfire
and enter this main portion of the dungeon.
So here the objective is to get six
of these different offerings scattered around the area.
A lot of different options for how
you can navigate through here.
Plus, there's this warding incense.
You can see this heavy trying actually getting interrupted by one of those puddles
So not able to grab that but it is a 5% versatility buff if you can get your hands on it
You need alchemy or a druid to make that one happen liquid though gathering everything and the lust is already rolling
You can see several of these effigies being created near them
It looks like they're just going to ignore them and say you know what these will go away
When the avatars when the spirits of hunger go down they need to burn those quickly and that's why both teams have obviously committed their blood lust
They need to kill those avatars of hunger off way before those effigies start to reduce their max HP here.
HP bar is dropping incredibly low, but that's because their actual HP value is so high.
Yeah, their max HP is getting nerfed by every single cast of that totem.
It looks like Liquid though have made it through this first pull.
They actually are gonna finish off that last effigy as well.
And they're once again going to split up and all go handle a few of these offerings.
Mandatory as well with a massive bloodlust pull here.
They've got almost all of those enemies taken care of as well.
One Spirit of Hunger with about 10% HP.
Gonna be the last thing to go down here.
It does spawn an extra Starvation Effigy,
but that does go away after it dies.
Meanwhile, Ryzen tanked two of those offerings
from the apples over here on the right-hand side.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team moving towards that boss.
The important thing about this area, Zyro,
is not only do you want to get those six offerings,
you want to come up with a good set of enemies
to pull on top of this boss as well.
It looks like both teams are doing just that as they run ahead to
the Hordemonger up top there. They've got the trash gathered up.
They've got all those supplies that they need.
And they're getting ready to funnel all that on top of the boss
who is just now spawning for both of the teams.
We did also see Sevi go back and grab that incense stick
giving them that 5% versatility about both teams engaging the boss
at exactly the same time.
Yeah, Yip's dropping a little bit low there as the Sevi was on the way,
but stabilized. Oh no, the Sevi gets autoed by one of those matriarchs.
That's going to be the battle res for Team Liquid.
The pull is survived for now, but that is 15 seconds that they are going to lose here.
And there are not a lot of dungeons where you can give mandatory 15 seconds and feel
good about it.
That's also just no battle res for the next 8 and a half minutes.
There is no bailout for them.
If a death happens during a boss, they're just down a player for that entire boss.
There's nothing that they can do about it.
They have to play as perfectly as they possibly can to give themselves a chance.
That being said, even with the death on the healer, the boss damage just seemed
so much higher for Team Liquid.
Yeah, getting that Warlock, putting up some incredible overall DPS numbers here.
Meanwhile on Mandatory, the Rogue really the star of the show.
When you don't have something like a Warlock cannibalizing all of your funnel, your Rogue
is really just able to ascend and we are seeing that for Mandatory on our right-hand screen.
The Hordemonger at about the same HP now for both teams and of course 15 seconds
now of advantage for Mandatory from the deaths.
A lot of Dungeons still ahead of us though.
Looks like both teams as well,
gathering even more Crash on top of the back.
Plus, once that first set of Crash died,
and yeah, you'll look at the damage meters
and think, hmm, Hellishama doesn't look that good right now.
But they're not doing an AOE at all.
They're literally just full single target on the boss.
Only elemental blasts, no earthquakes.
They're letting their rogue get as much funnel
as they possibly can.
And you can see mandatory,
but less of that AOE damage in the comp
is actually starting to close the gap just a little bit.
Yeah, I think mandatory
are gonna get out of this first section
with a decent advantage
in terms of enemy forces as well.
You can see Team Liquid killing off their last enemy,
going up to 25% count.
Mandatory still in combat with one more matriarch,
so they're gonna end here north of 29%,
you have 29.2 when it goes down,
and the boss at about the same health
for both teams as well.
So I think Mandatory definitely got the better
of the start of this dungeon.
Not only that death, they've also got a bit more count,
and they're barely gonna kill this boss last,
They might even get this same time between both teams.
We are neck and neck as the horde mugger goes down for both of our teams.
When we move ahead to the second section of the dungeon,
what is the play here for our teams?
Do we have Sandy going back on the side of Liquid to grab it?
Yet another stick.
They're going to have that first buff for the rest of the dungeon.
Did we see Rycen go off and grab it for mandatory?
Yeah, we'll have to do a little detective work.
See if we see Rycen running in late.
I think he did.
Yeah, you can see he is coming back from the start of the dungeon.
So both Liquid and mandatory now have 10 minutes of an extra 5%
Versatility buff for the remainder or most of the remainder of this dungeon given how fast they run it both teams also setting up a fairly large
Bowl in this area mirrors quite tanky while that dancing green weapon is up in a little bit more danger once it does go down
And one of the things that was talking about was that the blood decay hadn't seen burst a we but
So I'm on the demon hunter topping the meters over on the left side there as well
He's actually still doing about the same. Oh, I think it's all might not be an issue for
Mira's purge there so that's gonna be a scary thing. This area can be very very tenuous as a tank because those bears
They enrage when you kill off their couplings
So it can be very very dangerous Mira's without that purgatory as a safety net here last dungeon
Things that really went wrong for mandatory started with a tank death
So hopefully something they're gonna be able to recover
Meanwhile liquid have dealt with that pull already the gateway is gonna come down for wolf disco
So just let him catch up to his more mobile friends.
Hey, you know what the problem with Warlock is?
Gateway is kind of your way to get around.
He's pretty much social, so I want that so bad in my kit.
Warlock has a bit of a say without it.
For the meantime, though, just sticking together here,
leaving out some of this trash.
You know, one of those avatars of determination in here,
as well, so there's gonna be a lot of routes going up.
They need to make sure they aren't inside this AoE circle
when those routes do go out.
Everyone's moving around perfectly for the time being.
mandatory, even though they killed the boss up at the same time, though, Dratos.
That most recent pull they did.
Even though they might have gotten a couple hundred percent out,
but they're so far behind right now.
Yeah, they have a 6% count advantage,
but they are certainly quite a bit slower
to get to this section of the dungeon.
The question is, will they be able to get
into boss combat more quickly?
Will they be able to cut a pole
that Liquid have to do as a result
of that count discrepancy?
It looks like Manageria are just pulling
the entire dungeon forward with them right now.
Okay, they aren't stopping where Liquid did.
They're pulling literally every single bomb they can
inside this section of the dungeon
and just cleaning ahead here.
Don't stop when I start saying that now, Mires, yeah, okay.
I mean, you've gone almost all the way.
You may as well get the rest of it.
What are we doing here?
That's an exactly all the way on to the Winter Squall here.
This is such a scary moment for Mires,
because he does not have that purgatory.
There are a lot of dangerous enemies in this pool,
and Bryson, a lot of his attention
is gonna need to go to keeping the rest
of the group healthy.
This is very scary when you have
both an avatar of determination
on top of the Winter Squall.
But you need to be inside that freezing field
forward to the wifters' wall, but we also need to make sure you hit by the A.O.E. slam from that upper determination with the cooldowns though, it doesn't seem like that's any issue here for Mandatory.
Mera's drop's super low, ended up using the stone form for the physical damage reduction, I believe. Also got that barge skin from Ryzen, as soon as the Rune Weapon falls on, he cycles into Icebound Fortitude,
gets back to another band, blood his health, yo-yoing around the blood death knight experience there for Miraz
But it looks like mandatory arc drew the worst of it and Miraz already charging forward getting ready to activate the boss
The good not too far behind as the squad goes down for them as well
But there's still all five players on the ramp remainder of this trash
They're not spawning the boss yet
So they're gonna be a little bit further behind gateway does go out to get them to that
that spawning of the boss area a little bit faster.
But actually, Yipz is not satisfied.
He's going to go back and look up
extra bears and wolves to get some more funnel
on top of the boss.
Yeah, this is going to be a large infusion of count
here for Liquid.
Mandatory also taking a bunch of trash
onto the Sentinel of winter.
Both teams now in combat with the second boss.
Again, a few seconds between them.
We have to remember, 15 seconds though,
in favor of Mandatory with that death earlier for Liquid.
And health bars are not yet stable either.
I mean, they're going to continue to be extremely dangerous here
as the trash starts to do more and more damage to the group.
They also don't have to kill with the trash as well.
Boomi does have the cheat in the back pocket.
But like we're saying with Merus's perk,
that tool is no longer gone.
But there for them, the battle is still not off cooldown
from the beginning of the dungeon for Team Liquid.
So on death here, it might seal the deal for them.
Yeah, in boss combat, no way they'd
be able to recover if they did have a death on this boss.
A lot of trash still underneath the boss here.
Yipz looks like he's in danger, he's actually one of the most safe members of the group right now because he does still have that last resort meta available if he needs it, but right now, entering another cycle.
Ooh, okay, this is dangerous. Yipz has to be able to soak this outside of the safe zone here as he's getting pushed back by the boss ability, is able to do that, keeping the rest of the group safe.
A lot of casters here still took in Teddy with it. Looks like Liquid didn't even bother dealing with that second ad until after that winter storm.
Yeah, neither of the teams did they get his CC'd off in the corner because while all of the trash was on top of the boss, there was no way they were going to be able to keep down both of those gold teams able to deal with that cleanly and also get the soaps off here.
There's a little bit of a scary one soaking as the tornadoes come out. Have to make sure you're in that and don't get knocked back by the tornadoes.
Looks like we'll put a mandatory able to pull that off mandatory. Those cycling to the next set of ads here, their trash is already dealt with liquid though, keeping it close even though they pulled the boss about 10 seconds later.
And they're still only within 10%.
Still though, the 15 seconds of death timer,
that's really the thing that's holding them back.
Yeah, remember we were talking earlier as well
about mandatory building up a count advantage.
Liquid has equalized and overtaken on that front,
but I don't think that they are in the lead right now.
I think it is mandatory.
They have got that boss down.
They are gonna be returning it to the start of the dungeon
for the final stretch here.
79% count.
More than enough, they'll just need to get
most of the remainder here.
Liquid will be a little bit in the lead and count,
But I don't know if that's actually going to allow them to skip anything significant here.
Yeah, no, I don't think they'll be able to skip much at all,
unless they keep something perverse you see for the rest of the dungeon.
I'm interested to see what the strategy to skip is going to be for our teams.
Obviously, there's the Shroud that they can use on both of the rogues.
We saw them some mage tech previously.
Some mass enviz tech that we haven't seen for a long time in the MDI, which was very cool.
Looks like it's going to be a rogue pulling this Warbringer off to the side,
going to vanish, skip it for his team to get out of combat with it after Shadow stepped into his teammate.
And there is the Shroud of Concealment to make sure they don't have to deal with any extra trash here.
They don't want to go over a hundred percent count and move on down get past this trash with a nice little sap there
And we should be done for the rest of the dungeon all they have to do is trash up to the miniboss
Liquid with a gateway maneuver. That's gonna save them a little bit of time on skipping that bear
The same strategy now with Shroud running down
Towards the final stretch of the dungeon
But mandatory already in the last boss's area now
This area is a little bit interesting when you're figuring out how to contend with it as an MBI team because what you
have to deal with is a lot of RP. So that's a great time to run back and grab some extra trash.
Yeah, they have to kill this mini boss before Naurant actually spawns and you can deal with that final boss.
So they run up here as quickly as possible with the closest trash.
They're going to cleave that down with the mini boss here. Then once this mini boss and trash goes down,
they'll have to send someone, probably the healer, to go back and collect the rest of that trash and cleave it down with
the boss in that second bloodlust that they both have available now.
Yeah, that bloodlust is going to be used on the last boss for both teams,
but mandatory dropping pretty low able to stabilize as we've now dealt with the mini boss and traveling it down the stairs
It's actually gonna be looks like just the whole team
They're taking these bears for a walk and they are gonna go grab a little bit more trash
Little bit of a problem for liquid here as if they were going to try to kill the totems the warlock actually just like can't get
Yeah, the only thing you do is shadow bolted or demon bolted
That's not gonna be a problem for team liquid though as they just killed the mini boss off before having to deal with any of
The totems same thing on the side of mandatory
but once again just a slight advantage for them about 20 seconds ahead in under progression in addition to the 15 seconds of death timer
Liquid have to make up a bunch of ground. The problem is they're winding out of dungeon to do it in
mandatory already now in combat with the last boss getting pelted by this magma from the totems as they place those
Echoes by the back of the room trying to gather all of these enemies though can be a little bit dangerous as they all now
Also need to stack inside this safety bubble created by Zul'jarah
A little bit of a weird bloodlust for mandatory.
They're popping it for safety here, not for damage.
None of the cooldowns were available when that bloodlust
went off.
Look at the cooldown.
No ascending for Genji.
Nothing for Kush.
No breath for Mace Team.
It was literally just a pure safety lust.
They do not want to die.
But that is leaving the door open for Liquid.
They're saving the bloodlust for the perfect moment.
They want to line it up with their two minutes
so they get the perfect burst of damage.
The question is, Ragnos, will that actually
net them 30 seconds?
So they are already about 7% behind on the boss,
plus 15 seconds of death timer.
Will a more optimal bloodlust be enough to close that gap
is the big question here.
As you can see, they're, do they have count?
Okay, I think they do, off to the side there.
Yeah, there's one more of these timer.
All right, we're all good.
There will be count and there will be a lust
very soon here.
You can see four seconds until the Ascendance
is gonna be enough for them to pop that bloodlust
and they really need to accelerate
because in the meantime, mandatory,
I've just been doing so much boss damage.
Are we going to even this series up or is Mandatory going home?
It looks like they're pulling away with it, even though the bloodlust has been popped for a liquid.
Mandatory starting to pull ahead even more, up to a 20% gap on the box now.
And Dratnos, I don't think there's much looking to do at this point.
They are catching up though, but they still have the 15 seconds of death timer they have to make up.
Yeah, not only do they need to kill the boss first, they need to do it by 15 seconds.
They're accelerating at the end here, but I don't think with the death timers it's going to be enough.
This is going to be another map decided by that death disadvantage, Mandatory equalize the series.
Mandatory have done it, they have come back, they have pushed towards that form we expect from them and we've seen a fantastic run.
Giving them a point here in this series and evening the board, keeping them in the running as we look ahead to our last and deciding map.
But this was a big one for Mandatory and I have to say, some of those polls they were doing, that Winter Squall poll, those aggressive kind of moves,
They were just executing on this map.
I mean, Zyro, do you think that's what really gave him
the edge this time around?
I mean, every single map that we've played today
is, I feel like it's come down to a death.
I feel like if you're in this series,
you just like, it can't happen.
I mean, this last map, we've already seen an altar of things.
We know how volatile this dungeon can be.
You have to find a way to be deathless.
It's true.
I mean, that extra death timer just
means that you have that much less extra wiggle room
for mistakes, for slower strategies,
for any sort of stumble and execution
if your opponent is going that much faster.
And we can take a look here at what we actually saw
come in with some of the numbers this time around.
And Math knows, I believe, perhaps you could take the desk
here for a second and tell us about the numbers we're seeing.
I had a lot of damage.
I don't know what to tell you.
That is a lot of damage.
Push there on that rogue, more than 700k effective DPS,
an absolutely ridiculous amount of damage,
especially when you factor in Denim Nalorak,
Aside from that massive pull onto the second boss,
a lot of pretty small pulls in this dungeon
that you have to do.
It's true.
I love that, that we finally get math in us
in a moment to shine on you.
You're just like numbers, look at them.
It's a big one.
But, Tettles, you were taking a look at the series
as we went through this initial map here,
and what were you highlighting for both of the teams?
It's interesting because I think
that this was a game of inches
where Liquid, they had a slightly faster beginning.
They got the first trash pack killed off
a little bit faster.
They had a nicer way of being able to click those totems
and get those offerings for the first boss,
dealt with just a little bit faster and not allowed them to have a faster beginning.
But like we said, the deaths are crucial.
That 15-second death to Zevi, it wasn't like they lost DPS,
it wasn't like they lost a lot of time.
That was really just like a 15-second throwaway death.
But whenever we saw the end of that dungeon, that was within 15 seconds.
So you're going to feel really, really bad about that.
What happened with Zevi there is it looked like he was getting
meleeed by some of the mobs that were trickling in.
You can see on the left side of the screen right there,
he was tagging packs for Yps to allow more trash to come in.
Now Zebby he needs to run to the opposite side of the foremonger and Yipz needs to actually get threat on those mobs
Zebby is continues the healing but as those mobs come in if they don't get threat
They don't get hit by a sigil they don't get hit by spear bomber whatever else Yipz is throwing at the pack
You're gonna get your healer melee. It's it's an unfortunate reality
And I think that that 15 seconds
It's really easy to focus on that at the exact same time liquid and mandatory were extremely close where
Mandatory had a little bit more count coming out of the first area and I was trying to figure out or where they go into leverage
This is a little bit of additional count. So liquid they end up pulling one of the avatar of determinations
Those bears that do the the area denial AOE and they root you
It was a little bit weird and mandatory on the other hand they make a pit stop
They they stop here
They wait for the wind they wait for the patrol and then they go all the way to that sentimental of winter that that mini boss
That is an insanely large pull that mandatory were doing and I was like
I felt like liquid even with that death were kind of in the lead
But I felt like the moment that mandatory did that massive pull on top of this mini boss
That allowed them to kind of accelerate and play at the same pace that liquid played out and then from then on out
It was basically both teams playing a pretty similar end of dungeon route
And of course whenever you have that death penalty against you if you're liquid mandatory is going to be able to take it
Yeah, at the time we're watching this poll we're watching a little bit before this for mandatory
And we're like, oh, this seems a little slow.
And I think the lesson here is whenever you're thinking
mandatory is doing something slow,
they are setting up for something massive and fast.
It's interesting because I think that Liquid
is actually trying to play around the target cap
with that elemental shaman and that assassination rogue
a little bit more compared to mandatory.
Liquid, they're sitting there,
they're fighting eight, 10 mobs at a time,
where mandatory, whenever they go big,
they pull the entire area.
We saw it in forward scar arena.
They ended up wiping the pole,
but you saw kind of the idea
that they were going for in that end.
And the same thing in this Denim Nalorack.
In that second section, they just went insane.
This is a same gateway skip, I'm just going to say.
That seems a lot of time.
The vanish takes about 10, 15 seconds.
Being able to just gateway up, that definitely caught them back up.
And got us this close finish.
That was awesome.
But again, the death timer really sealed the deal for them there.
Is every series and every map going to be this close?
Because it's felt like it's been so close so far.
I sure hope so.
I know.
I mean, that's what we live for when we get to see the competition be this neck
and neck down to the literal seconds ahead.
And now we're taking a look here.
We've had two maps.
It is tied 1-1 and we're moving on to Alter of Fangs.
And I mean, there's a lot these two teams
have riding on the line.
You're shot at becoming a BlizzCon champion, $300,000,
being on this stage or in Jinju's case,
showing your parents who are here watching you
in the audience that you really are here to win.
But either way, it's amazing just seeing the support
for these teams in the competition.
What do you think, Xyro, about Alter of Fangs
with their performances?
I'm just really impressed so far in this series.
How good mandatory is it playing around the rope pick?
This whole series I'm talking about, oh my God,
Warlock is the overall king.
They're absolutely a rope.
And we're going to see this spec on live servers forever.
But then you look at the overall meters
and she's just doing like 50k more overall DPS.
That guy on screen, this guy, Kush,
he was the person that really kind of opened up
the world's eyes to how good assassination rope can be.
He was playing on the PTR.
And I remember there was a first pull
of an Altar of Fangs and he just soloed out the Harrower.
He was 100 to zeroing that mob,
doing 4x the amount of DPS of anybody else.
Is he going to be able to have that vintage moment
on that assassination road and do insane priority damage again
and carry his team to victory?
I mean, you would love to see it.
And we will be heading into this next map,
Altar of Fangs very soon here,
but I have to ask really quickly,
we talked about the fact that Booby is back with Liquid.
So, Dratos, with that in mind,
have you noticed that him being back
has had an effect or a change on the team?
It's hard to tell, Liquid getting a pulse on their morale
can be very tough, because there are a bunch of jokesters,
bunch of tricksters on Team Liquid.
But I feel like the vibes are very good over there right now.
Absolutely.
And honestly, both of these teams should be immensely proud.
We have seen an incredible competition.
And we are coming in for the final map of our semi-finals,
Liquid versus Banditory.
This is where they decided, Syro.
Once again, no changes in comp.
These teams are sticking to their guns
into this alter thing.
16, we saw this map.
between Dignitas and Big Lucky earlier today,
an incredibly fast map with massive pulls,
and of course, Liquid and Men's,
or no stranger to that here right at the start.
Yeah, do not try this pull at home.
There is a lot that can go wrong with it.
Each of these primal serpents needs to be interrupted.
Those chieftains as well put out
a massive healing absorb on everybody.
And when you add in these chimeras
that are shooting out that laser beam,
it is a recipe for disaster.
Both teams though, have all of these interrupts
carefully planned out.
They know exactly how they want to handle this pull,
and they are doing it with the Bloodlust on both sides.
But once again, Liquid's overall AoE damage is insane.
Wolf just going boomy doing over 2 million DPS on that pull,
but somehow, that doesn't matter to mandatory.
They actually kill the pull off at the same time.
That's the important thing about these pulls, right?
Oftentimes, what you need to kill are those high HP mods,
and there's just a lot of extra filler mods around
that will happily take that damage.
They'll make your warlock look incredible
on the damage meters,
but they don't actually matter for when the pull finishes.
God, that first pull was dangerous.
Well, I got one that's even worse for you too,
Heralders, this time with the Double Chiefs.
And look at those absorb shields going out of the group
as the Chiefs can start to cast their abilities.
They have to make sure they don't take too much frontal damage
from the Heralders.
But if you're liquid there, they can easily
dodge both of these.
Same thing for Atco now.
Oh, there's a going opposite directions.
Hopefully that's a good one.
That's OK, you can run through the middle here.
All right, super easy, super easy.
Nice little maneuver there by Mandatory.
And there comes the Healing Absorb
inside the AMZ for Mandatory.
This is an advantage for their composition.
They have access to not one.
But two AMZs, whereas Liquid, have neither.
They do have a darkness from Yps,
and darkness is a very powerful ability
against some types of damage,
but Anti-Magic's own such a consistent powerhouse.
So both teams getting through the majority of the smash,
just one cheap 10-er life for Liquid
and it seems to be a double hero
or the same thing for Mandatory, but once again,
we'll keep the damage from Kush on the side of Mandatory
there, letting him pop off here.
Wolf just goes eating all the fodder
on the side of Liquid.
Exactly, it's a very parasitic relationship there between Wolf Disco and Bumi, but both teams are basically at the exact same point here as they jump down, get that blessing of protection from Lady Liadrin, help them them out, and they're both in combat at the exact same time with the first boss.
same count as well. Mech and mech, who's gonna have the more single target damage? It's been liquid
most of this series. That Tyrant damage from Wolf Disco has been absolutely incredible for them,
definitely doing more than the Frosty K on the bosses. But really, I mean,
mandatory is able to find the funnel damage, especially later in the dungeon. Again,
I think they have the advantage here. At least on pull, it is liquid that are pulling
way ahead. Now there were cooldowns used here, whereas for mandatory, you can see Kush
still holding on to that death mark waiting until the perfect moment presumably very soon to use it on this boss here
Yeah, almost a 10% health advantage for team liquid is the boss and very important to dodge
That those waves there they'll do a lot of damage, but they'll also reduce your damage done if you got hit by them
Very important to dodge those. I mean, this is the tank tip right here
You get stew in 130 KTBS here is down at 60 K right now. This is why you get supposed thinking that
This even on her pick is the huge thing. This is what everyone should be playing because it just always has damage.
Yeah, very powerful if you can line up that fiery brand with those Voidfall meteors, able to do just a huge amount of DPS mirrors,
climbing up a little bit as that dancing rude weapon cool down window gets him at least ahead of the healer.
It is worth mentioning that the healers are also doing quite a lot of damage for both teams here.
That Elder Druid, Resto Druid build that just makes you starfire for huge amounts of damage.
Single target and AoE. You can see both healers putting up a very respectable contribution here.
They've been holding steady at that 10% lead they gained for themselves at the start of Ravi here.
He doesn't seem to be any issue dodging off the triple shot from Ravi as well.
And of course, both of the healers, no issues dealing with the damage on this fight.
That's really going to come down to what the cadence of pulls is going to be in the next section of Dungeon.
And that's really what let mandatory take that den of Dalarak. They were able to go for one massive pull
Do they dare go for that in all their things?
Yeah, I'm a little bit worried here for mandatory as well because they're not gonna have death mark available on pull on the next pull
Where as you can see for liquid is becoming available right now for boomy the boss goes down first for liquid
The gateway comes out the gateway into stampeding more combo getting them right where they want to be a high evolutionist
Instantly kicked here to let them bring it forward. Are they gonna deal with all of this trash?
Are they going to take it further into the dungeon?
It looks like Yip's is showing no sign of stopping.
This is a ridiculous pull, Zyra.
We already have double Rattler.
We're going to go for the trash pack up here.
Triple Rattler.
Unbelievable amount of AoE damage that Sebi's
going to have to heal them.
But they've got all the Personals available.
They've got their cooldowns available.
Deathmark is available.
The only person who really doesn't have any active
is the Ascendants from a shine.
But the Warlock AoE should be able to help carry them
here.
Citule of Misery on that skull.
Martai Evolutionist over on the side
It does eventually break, and Boomi instantly going to be able to kick it in, bring it in
to the AOE here from everybody.
Very important to stop these evolves as they go out.
Look, Echo has stopped at the second rallyer.
They're not going for the big pull.
If the Liquid can pull this off, they're going to be way in the lead.
Metam casts as well.
Very slow there for Liquid.
When you play with a Warlock, you can hit these things with the curse that slows
down their casting.
Makes it a lot easier to manage these high evolutionists.
That might be part of the reason why Liquid think they can do this pull, and mandatory
stopped halfway along and Liquid had survived without bloodlust. This bolt, you can see his
shine disturbing some bones over on the side as well, but the Riving Coil pulled already
by Team Liquid. Already in combat with the boss in mandatory, only just now engaging that
high evolutionist allows you to kill off the spawn of the boss. Liquid have the opportunity
to open up a massive lead here. Now they do have the talent available. The question
that I think I'm asking, do you use it right now for single target damage? Are
They're going to save it for the split phase where they can get value on five targets.
I feel like you save it for the split phase, right?
It's five targets. They all take boss damage equally, right?
May as well save some cooldowns for that.
And I think that is exactly what Liquid are doing here is they bait that charge into the wall
so that it does not move very far.
Nice little optimization that I expect a lot of our teams are going to be up to.
Meanwhile, Rycin actually went back there.
It looks like they may be tagged a little bit of extra trash.
They're going to bring some further trash into the boss mandatory on the right-hand screen here.
They already have more count as well.
Gateway to instantly snap that chain on the line.
Then Coil here as well.
And we're instantly into an intermission phase here.
Ascendence and Tyrants popped for Liquid.
They are going to absolutely burn these ads down.
Just how low is this boss going to be out of this phase?
A little bit of an unfortunate sigil of Chains there for Liquid.
Only grabbed three of the five.
The other two were just out of range of it.
But they're pretty quickly able to gather up all five
of these uncoiled bosses down to 20% already.
Now, no damage cooldowns available
except for the death mark on Gumi.
I don't think he wants to use it on the boss though.
He probably doesn't want to save that
for the next crash pack.
I think they'll be able to burn the boss down here
without that before we get to the next add fan.
It's gonna cost them a little bit of extra time.
His mandatory is also saving their cooldowns
for this phase.
They got the boss a little lower pre-split phase.
If they can one phase this boss here,
it might catch them right up.
And that death grip into death grip into Gorkbien's grab really shows you how that setup is a little bit more powerful than Sigil of Jane's mandatory able to instantly gather all these enemies and hit them with that crosswind steering right away from Liquid take down the boss while mandatory still working on this split phase.
Let's see how low the boss is going to be for mandatory. It's 15% out of that burn. So they are not far behind. Meanwhile, Liquid gathering up some of these high evolutions actually looks like they're CCing them.
And they're going to activate those totems first before gathering all of them on top of this Ascendant Serpent.
So we have a ton of kicks that need to be dealt with on these high evolutions as well,
but we also have to make sure we're perfectly spread for these snakes to spawn from that Serpent as well.
But they also go up and grab the blades of the altar. I think they did. I see those in the pack as well.
So a lot of damage potentially going on in the group.
If they aren't perfect with their CC, they need to make sure they're perfectly A.
We're interrupting these invidems to not accidentally kill the group.
This is the first attempt going up to make sure those casts are significantly slower on the side of Liquid.
That's something Mandatory does not have available.
Yeah, also look at World Disco's damage. They're 1.3 mil.
They've been in combat here for almost a minute and he is still well over a mil as is Boomi.
Meanwhile, Mandatory gathering up this pull as well.
Very similar idea of activating that Serpent as well.
But Liquid already done with that pull. They're gonna run up these stairs here.
Couple of fresh Blades of the Altar and a couple of ones that are already very low on health.
But they are going to just ignore those and start gathering the next pull.
Do they dare go for the same pull we saw Dignitas in Big Lucky Go4 later?
Earlier today we saw these teams literally every single mob in the hallway into the final boss room.
Unfortunately for the crowd here, I don't think Liquid is going to be going for that strategy.
That means mandatory. If they go for that style of pull, they can potentially close the gap here.
This is a dangerous pull in his own right though.
With these living venoms, when they die, we'll explode for tons of daily damage.
You can see Personals lighting up across the board.
Cloak of Shadows for Boomi.
Unstable Resolve for Wolf Disco.
Astral Shield for Ashine.
Making sure they don't go down to those explosions.
Looks like they're going to be A-OK as those winners start
to die.
Yeah, that is the perfect opportunity
for darkness as well.
You can see Yps's healing there.
Almost 18 million healing now.
Some of that is tank healing, but certainly some of that
is darkness.
Meanwhile, eyes on the right-hand screen here.
Mandatory, are they going to be able to go all the way
to the end here?
They were a little bit behind on that boss split.
They could make it all up here
if they can get all the way to the boss in this pull.
It looks like that's exactly what Mirrors is doing.
But Glidl has dealt with a trash
that they feel they need to to make the pull worth it.
And they're heading up at the exact same time as Mandatory.
Remember, they just need to kill this trash
back in the top room to spawn Zul'jen.
Both teams look like they're going
to be on almost equal pace now.
This is such a scary pull.
We have so much to contend with here.
So much random damage as well from these blades
of the altar here.
There's a serpent in the backfield for Liquid.
It's going to get his cast off.
You can see all this damage coming out onto them there, that debuff as well, reducing their haste, reducing their damage.
Mandatory gathering everything up as well, those Ritual Chiefs and Healing Absorbs coming out onto everybody.
But they've got that Anti-Matic Zone and with the two Death Knights, they're able to gather everything so easily.
ULTEC shows him down for Liquid. The RP will start for them on their side. I believe Mandatory has dealt with theirs as well.
Look at the positioning of the group here. Liquid able to instantly engage Soul Gem the second he spawns.
Why are we fighting him again, Grados? We killed him a week ago.
I don't know, I don't know what's going on with the lore there, but Souljohn about to start that ritual of the Bang
Instantly interrupted by all of the players gathering those beams before they reach the boss
A couple of lanes to the altar still alive here for Liquid, but those are the least dangerous of these enemies
It is that twin bang hero that they need to be really careful of, but they managed to get through its toxic breath cast
So as long as they can handle the other abilities for a little while here, I think it'll die before it does anything too dangerous to them
But just again, just like in the Den of Nalorak mandatory, they use the Bloodlust for safety.
They use it for the A and E pull, whereas once again, Liquid is waiting for the perfect lineup to get the maximum boss damage burst.
I don't think Shyn is going to get the Ascendants, but we can maybe save it for the deathmark.
And Tyra Cobble is going to come up in 40 seconds.
Liquid has already had a boss damage drop, I know, so if they're able to stay deadless with that Bloodlust,
they should be able to shut the door in mandatory space here.
Yeah, very important that everybody is able to clear their poison sacks here.
You can see the Zeppian woke Disco using those defensives as they soap that axe and clear their stacks
Souljohn already nearly at half health and that bloodlust is just waiting for liquid
They are already in the lead by 13% on the boss and this lust might be all they need to slam the door
Leaving for the lust cloak from Boomi to make sure he doesn't take any extra damage letting Zeppi do as much damage as possible
possible here and there is the bloodlust here right before the cooldowns come up.
Deathmark up for Boomi.
It's going to instantly press it away for the perfect timer.
They've got a little bit of a window.
Wolt is going to not sit on that tyrant for long at all, instantly popping it off here.
25 seconds of insane damage from the demo lock here.
The gap now 10% between the two teams, but Jinji does have access to an ascendance
here whereas I'm not sure if Shine is going to get back to it for Liquid.
Will that be enough though?
is opening up in favor of Liquid, now 20% of an advantage on the boss, nearly dead here for
Team Liquid, and Mandatory slowing down at the very end. It is going to be Team Liquid in a 2-1 over Mandatory.
You can hear them here, the Liquid fans, a glorious applause as we get our victors here,
Liquid in this matchup.
Now it was hard won, it was hard fought, and honestly the series was incredibly close,
both the teams played very cleanly.
But, as we looked at this, I mean, Dyrone, what did it come down to in the end?
the end. I mean it was just boss damage. Liquid's comp had more boss damage. Before they actually went
into the split phase on the writhing coil, Yps was doing a DPS worth of damage. They just had
four DPS on that boss. Is this Vengeance 900 pick balanced? I'm looking for somebody who's balancing
this Warlock special. That spec also does not look very balanced. I'm trying to point people
said the other way to stop talking about the Warlock. I mean honestly it was amazing to see how
effectively they use it to a great impact here in the series. Huge congratulations to Liquid, but you
can even see here the energy from the teams, everybody coming to BlizzCon with such a huge
achievement for them. And while you want to win, having some great competition is surely a reward
in and of itself. So while we'll be saying goodbye to mandatory here and now, Liquid will
be moving on to our grand finals tomorrow. I mean incredible play, and Tettles, when you
you were watching it start from the analyst perspective,
what was your overview of this final map?
I mean, the first half of this looked like it was,
maybe even the first 80% of it looked like
it was just the liquid show.
For the first pull, getting the first boss pull,
and I think that it really kind of started to turn,
like Zyrona said, on that second boss,
whenever that boss got engaged,
probably like 30 seconds earlier for mandatory,
then mandatory tried to claw it back,
doing it like that Dignitas massive pull,
taking it all the way into that final boss turn
in that little genre.
it felt like the mandatory were trying to claw back that last at the last second at the
same time liquid able to save their bloodlust play a little bit slower and really pulling
around that target path like I was talking about earlier. I think that that played into
their advantage for sure. It definitely did an impressive play though from both the
teams but we will see liquid being our winners and we need to hear from them ourselves
so I why don't you let us get some insights with our winning team. Hello hello everybody
I am here with the Ips of Team Liquid. Congratulations on that win.
Clearly you've got a lot of fans in the house. How does that feel to have their support?
I mean it's completely amazing because we do the race, we do all this stuff from home,
we never get to see it but having everyone here cheering us on, we can hear you we're on
stage. It's it's incredible so thank you so much for coming.
the game. Awesome. Now we
know you just had raced the
world first and I know that it
was difficult for all of the
players that were competing in
race as well to fit practice
in. So what has been making
that transition like for you?
Yeah, so during the race,
obviously it was very recent.
We had about six days. We
traveled to a different
facility to play. Um and we
were practicing 12 14 hour
days at that facility right
until the Thursday and then
not a lot of practice really at six days one day per dungeon but it went really
well and it was exhausting but we're here and we're happy to make it to the
finals tomorrow. Sounds pretty grueling would you say it's been worth it? What
sorry? Would you say that all of that has been worth it for this moment? Oh no
definitely you know the grind started last spring in the in the qualifiers
and it's been non-stop ever since really to the dementia here so it's
finally paying off on the BlizzCon stage is definitely very cool and yeah
It's awesome.
Amazing.
Well, final question for you.
You're moving on to the Grand Finals now against Big Lucky.
How confident are you for that team?
I mean, they're playing blood DK.
It's a speed run competition.
So it's going to, I mean, this is just a pre-loop for tomorrow.
They're going to get crushed.
Amazing.
Well, congratulations once again to Yip's and Team Liquid.
I will let you go and celebrate or get some more practice in.
In the meantime, that is going to be it for us for today.
And if you guys want to tune in for the Grand Finals tomorrow,
they will be here on the same stage.
They will be at 9 a.m. Pacific for AWC,
and then the Grand Finals for MBI will be at 11.30 a.m.
We've got more World of Warcraft content coming as well.
There's a panel evolving this timeless world at 1.15 p.m.
The AWC semi-finals will be at 2 p.m.,
and we have another panel, though, again,
the past, present, and that's at 4.15 p.m.,
the past, present, and future of hardcore, excuse me,
and the AWC Grand Finals will be at 5 p.m.
So thank you everyone so much for all of your patience
I hope you had a great day one for BlizzCon.
I'll see you all tomorrow.
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