7.3.5 Details

With all the excitement about Battle for Azeroth, the fact is that we're probably roughly a year away (hopefully shorter, but that's how it tends to go,) and while the final major patch of Legion has come out, the final raid has not opened (it's opening on the 28th of this month.) Likewise, a new in-between patch is going to be deployedL 7.3.5.

I'm actually a bit surprised that we're just getting details on this now with the raid coming out so soon - typically the x.5 patches this expansion have come with the release of a new raid (I think 7.1.5 came with Nighthold's opening.) Maybe that's still the case, and we'll see 7.3.5 this month, but there are some big things happening:

Level Scaling in Old Content:

Probably the biggest thing (unless you don't play alts) is that they're going to adapt the scaling tech from Legion to all levels of the game. Now, that doesn't mean you can hit 110 in Elwynn Forest: they're wisely putting level ranges on various zones, so you'll still need to move on to newer content eventually.

Starting zones (like Elwynn, Durotar, Tirisfal, or Teldrassil) will now scale from level 1-10, which is more or less how those zones are designed anyway (though things will keep up with you.) From there on, all the original Old World zones besides those will scale from 10-60, meaning that yes, you can hit level 60 doing quests in Westfall. Honestly, I think this is the area where this is going to make things feel best: even right after the revamp in Cataclysm, I remember taking my then-new Draenei Mage through Ashenvale and having all my quests turn green or grey before I was done with the story there.

The other huge impact this will have is that Outland and Northrend will both scale from 60-80. Cataclysm already screwed up the timeline, so doing Wrath content before Burning Crusade isn't really any worse. And while even Northrend is getting a little long in the tooth, I think that being able to skip Outland and head there instead is probably for the best, as the quality of quests really stepped up between those expansions. One thing I have to wonder about is when you can get the appropriate flying skill - hopefully Cold Weather Flying will be available before you get to Storm Peaks or Icecrown, given that those zones kind of require it.

Similarly, Cataclysm zones and Pandaria will scale from 80-90, allowing you to choose between (or perhaps the order in which you do) these areas. As far as I know, Draenor is still 90-100 and Broken Isles are still 100-110, but the former is getting the scaling of the latter.

This is actually going to be somewhat complex, as prior to level scaling one's level was a good gating system for which zones you could start. Is your garrison going to erupt in quests as soon as you step into Draenor?

Dungeons will also scale in the same brackets as their zones.

Ulduar Timewalking:

Much like the Black Temple's timewalking feature, with Wrath timewalking (which started this week, but, you know, the patch isn't out yet) you'll be able to do Ulduar as a timewalking raid. No word yet on cosmetic rewards like the Warglaives of Azzinoth appearances, but I would not be shocked to see Val'anyr (this might be just the way that they allow legendary transmog from now on.)

Seething Shore Battleground:

Actually, this is also a pretty big deal: the Seething Shore, which is a new battleground tied to the story that leads between Legion and Battle for Azeroth, is going to open up.

Set on the shore of Silithus, this is going to work similarly to Arathi Basin, with several locations to take control of, but over the course of the battle, new ones will pop up and old ones will deplete, so neither side can just secure their defensive points and wait for their resources to build up.

There's no ETA on 7.3.5, but I'd expect to see it on the PTR pretty soon.