With World of Warcraft's next expansion on the way, players can expect a bunch of new content and changes to systems that will shake up the gameplay. One of the more recent and most notable changes is to Mythic+, the endgame dungeon system, which will be getting several new affixes and changes in The War Within.
To help players get an idea of what they can expect with these changes, we've put together this guide with details on the new affixes coming in The War Within.
These details may change leading up to the full launch of The War Within.
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Why this is the best time to get into World of Warcraft for the first time.
What Are Affixes In WoW?
Affixes are modifiers players will encounter during Mythic+ dungeons and are aimed at providing additional challenges to instanced content. These modifiers will affect enemies' health and damage and add some extra obstacles, such as spawning ghost-like enemies that weaken the party or cause slow effects and interrupt spellcasting.
These rotate weekly, with three affixes coming online at various levels of Mythic+ dungeons. For The War Within, the current plan is for them to activate at 2+, 4+, and 7+.
New Affixes Coming In The War Within
Several new affixes will be added to the game for The War Within, while a few others will be retired and no longer in the rotation. Blizzard outlines the reason for these changes in a forum post, saying the aim of these changes and the new affixes is to emphasize the dungeon as the challenge, with less visual clutter and more varied gameplay decisions for players.
The new affixes are as follows:
- Reckless - Non-boss enemies without mana ignore 20% armor with their attacks, but their armor is reduced by 30%, and they take 10% increased Arcane damage.
- Thorned - Non-boss enemies without mana inflict Physical damage to their attackers when attacked but take 10% increased Holy and Shadow damage.
- Attuned - Non-boss enemies with mana inflict 20% increased magic damage but take 10% increased Nature damage, and 30% increased damage from Bleed effects.
- Focused - Non-boss enemies with mana have 30% increased Haste but take 10% increased Frost and Fire damage.
With each of these, the aim is for their effects to be more passive challenges rather than the current model, which is often criticized for the added visual noise that can make dungeons more tedious than challenging. In addition, they are intended to provide both an advantage and a disadvantage thanks to their damage increases from various damage types and encourage different builds or gearing options players can use.
So far, reactions to these new affixes have been somewhat mixed. Some agree with Blizzard's sentiment and focus on more dungeon-centric challenges but feel this is a rather hamfisted approach. There are also concerns that it may further divide players and groups based on damage types and specs, which has already been a concern for Mythic+ players.
World of Warcraft
- Released
- November 23, 2004
