At the end of each month, we summarize the most important news and events for MMO fans in our regular video format. March 2022 was very WoW-heavy thanks to World First Race, Zul’Aman patch and a survey on WotLK Classic. But there was also new endgame content for Lost Ark, a surprise announcement for Lord of the Rings Online, and an impressive status update for NSCoft’s Project TL.
Welcome to the third video recap of the last month’s top buffed topics! March 2022 was very WoW-heavy thanks to World First Race, Zul’Aman patch and a survey on WotLK Classic. But there was also new endgame content for Lost Ark, a surprise announcement for Lord of the Rings Online, and an impressive status update for NSCoft’s Project TL. Make yourself comfortable, we summarize everything for you.
Everything important from March 2022 for MMO fans
MMO fans who want to get up to speed in just a few minutes can do so in our March 2022 highlight video below. There were no exciting releases of new online role-playing games this time, but there was still a lot going on in Azeroth, Arkesia and Middle-earth!
The most important news for bookworms
If you prefer to browse through texts instead of watching a video (there should be one here and there), you will also find the most important MMO topics from March 2022 in the following.
World First Race at the Mausoleum of the First
March in World of Warcraft was all about the last Shadowland raid Mausoleum of the First. On the 2nd, the preliminary skirmish began in normal and heroic mode. Then, starting March 9th, the top WoW guilds battled it out for the prestigious World First Kills on Mythic difficulty (click here for the full World First Race recap ).
In the end, it was to take a remarkable 17 days before the final boss of the shadow lands, the jailer, died for the first time. For comparison: In the two previous raid instances, the drops were already sucked after seven or eight days. In fact, Blizzard had to throw several hotfix packages onto the live servers during the race to noticeably weaken mythical bosses like Halondrus or Anduin.
The long wipe-fest was particularly problematic for the favored US guild Liquid, which was able to defeat seven of the first eight bosses in the mausoleum first. The team around raid leader Max organized a location, hotel rooms, moderators and a production team for the event. However, they did not expect such a long World First Race. In the third week, changing hotels and going home were on the agenda instead of the jailers. The European guild Echo took advantage of the situation and secured the last three World First Kills. For the jailer alone, they needed 277 tries. What a tough one. We congratulate!
Shadowlands is getting a fourth – Season
Even though the end boss of Shadowlands has been defeated with the jailer and there will be no major content patch for the current expansion, Blizzard surprisingly announced the intermediate patch 9.2.5 and a fourth – Season in March .
The developers clearly want to shorten the waiting time until the next expansion. By the way, this should be announced on April 19th. However, we do not expect a launch until the beginning of 2023 or even later.
And what awaits us with patch 9.2.5? Well, the aforementioned fourth – Season , with fresh rewards for PvP and six “retro” dungeons revamped for the Mythic Plus – Season . Part of this instance pack are the mega-dungeons Karazhan and Mechagon, as well as two previously unannounced instances from the Warlords of Draenor era.
In addition, the developers want to extend the affix system from the Mythic Plus area to the already known Shadowlands raids for the first time – including new loot. It all sounds like a lot of recycling, don’t you think?!
Gods of Zul’Aman and WotLK Poll
In Burning Crusade Classic, meanwhile, the fourth content phase was on the program in March. It’s called Gods of Zul’Aman and – surprise – revolves around the troll raid of the same name in the ghost lands. Otherwise, the update brought a lot of comfort to Outland.
For example, for the Black Temple and the Battle of Mount Hyjal, you no longer have to complete any pre-quest lines. There is now a portal to the Caverns of Time in Shattrath City. Heroic Dungeons now only require Honored Reputation, and there are finally more sources for Badges of Justice, and more cool stuff you can buy with the Badges.
As we slowly but surely approach the finale of TBC Classic, the thought of a remake of Wrath of the Lich King comes to mind. In fact, Blizzard recently sent a poll to selected players to get an idea of the mood: Who’s up for Northrend, Death Knights, and Arthas? WotLK Classic has not yet been officially announced.
New endgame content for Lost Ark
In March there was not only new content for WoW, but also for Lost Ark. Specifically, the March update brought the Kadan quest line and the crisp abyss raid Argos to Arkesia.
Also launched this month is the Arkesian Grand Prix in-game event, which is reminiscent of Mario Kart, except that two teams of seven players compete against each other. There’s also a new Guardian Raid event where we’ll face three bosses at once, and the start of the first PvP Trial Arena – Season .
Throne and Liberty
We have already reported a few times on buffed about Project TL from NCSoft. The action MMO with Lost Ark vibes was first announced in 2011, at that time still under the name Lineage Eternal. But the feedback after the tests in 2016 was so devastating that NCSoft gave the project a complete overhaul in the following years. We now know that not only features had to believe in it, but also the iso perspective and the name. The new NCSoft MMO is now called Throne and Liberty and relies on third-person action .
The trailer, released in parallel with the announcement, shows chic staged story sequences, huge world bosses, whimsical PvP siege battles for castles and animal forms for travel on land, in water and in the air. In addition, the weather and times of day are said to have a strong impact on activities and battles in the world. The release on PC and consoles is planned for the second half of the year.
Lord of the Rings Online is finally going truly Free2Play
It’s been quite a while since Lord of the Rings Online switched to Free2Play. In November 2010, the developers responsible at the time made the difficult switch away from the premium MMO with a subscription model. Then as now, the free version of LOTRO looks more like an expanded demo version that you have to gradually expand – via a points system, the optional VIP subscription and the purchase of the extensions. But exactly this model is to be broken up in April !
Already with the “Rangers and Ruins” update, the premium collection bag, the gold currency cap and virtue, race and class trait fields were made available to all players free of charge.
With the upcoming update 33 it’s going to be full, because then you will have access to the main game and the first five expansions via the Free2Play version: Mines of Moria, Siege of Mirkwood, Rise of Isengard, Rohan Horsemen and Helm’s Deep.
We will also be able to play the High Elven people and the Rune-keeper, Guardian and Beorninger classes for free. The buffed editorial team is already planning a return to Middle-earth in April to get a feel for this new Free2Play version for you.
What is WoW Classic?
World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.
Getting Started
All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.
- Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
- Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
- Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
- Click the Play button when the installation is complete.
You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!
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