The World of Warcraft Patch 7.3 has been around for over a week now, and some of you who have played it through have noticed the quests stop abruptly at the quest: Dawn of Justice. There are, of course, two quests that some people might easily miss as they start from loot.
One of the quests can be seen in the map as a yellow exclamation mark after you finish “Dawn of Justice.” The side quest is titled “An Argus Report.” It is on the Petrified Forest.
The initial quest have you bring back some talbuk-like mounts, then you have to kill some panther-like beasts, and then a few Burning Legion eredar in the vicinity.
The second side quest is a corpse on the ground with a yellow exclamation mark — which I would have missed if I hadn’t been looking at the mini-map. It is located at 40.73, 69.97 in the Shattered Fields. The Lightforged Courier corpse starts the quest “The Mysterious Missive.”
This side quest have you search for the Legion’s Orders and the Army of the Light’s Code Book to decipher the orders. The follow up quest reveals the orders were to free a prisoner from Arcatraz in Tempest Keep: High Inquisitor Raalgar. It is a short scenario inside the Arcatraz dungeon. However, you are late, and witness the High Inquisitor escape through a portal.
The jailbreak doesn’t last long as you are asked to infiltrate the Legion’s outpost where the High Inquisitor is being protected. The gimmick is that he is immortal, and we are tasked to learn the source of his immortality to learn how to break it. However, at the end of the questline the Vindicaar ship gives you the option to learn a new spell which resurrects you upon death when in Argus.
Outside the quests up to “Dawn of Justice” and these two side quests, the only content afterwards is the Daily Quests which are unlocked as you complete the quest on each area of the zone. Then, there is nothing else to do. Don’t fret. That is only one third of the content in Argus.
Blizzard Entertainment plans to unlock the second zone likely this week. The content we will explore in Argus consists of three zones. We have only tested one of those three zones. The maps have not been added yet other than the current zone we have been testing, but the teleporter console shows the flightpaths, and reveals the other two zones. One of them seems complete, the third is still showing an aerial view.
Other stuff missing are the cutscenes and cinematics. So far I have experienced about 3-4 quests that trigger the Original Legion Cinematic as a placeholder, or a black screen placeholder for cutscenes.
One of them is during King Magni’s quest in Argus (available to Horde too) where he communes with a rock which serves as a link between Magni and the soul of Argus. The Dawn of Justice quest itself has a missing cutscene, triggered when you walk outside the Nath’raxas Spire, but the dialogue after the placeholder indicates you see Aggramar.
After the cutscene placeholder, you are auto-teleported back to the Vindicaar. Turalyon says: “So what Magni saw was true. Aggramar lives once more… in the service of Sargeras.”
Illidan says: “The titan soul of Argus is the key to breaking the Legion. Our defenses must hold long enough to destroy it… or Sargeras wins.
Then the questline ends there, until the second zone is unlocked by Blizzard for testing. The map above shows the second zone with a massive temple that looks a lot like the Temple of Karabor (also known as the Black Temple).
The third zone which hasn’t been properly mapped, shows three Legion ships, and two naaru-like ships. The enigmatic one is the giant green bubble in the west side, which reminds me of the Eco-Dome Midrealm in Netherstorm. I’m looking forward to investigate that area when Blizzard opens that third zone — and it looks like the testing will be around for at least 3-4 weeks.
As of today, the second zone is still closed to beta testers. There are no apparent bridges or tunnels that connect the current zone to the next one which looks like a floating chunk of land like Netherstorm — minus the bridge.
On Friday, July 7: Lore said the second zone of Argus will be available to PTR Testing tomorrow Tuesday, July 11.
Lore: This week’s PTR update fleshes out the first Argus zone a little more, with an additional story chapter, a few side quests, and the first batch of world quests. Most of the first zone’s core content should be accessible at this point.
You’ll also probably see some initial work for Tier 21 set bonuses in this build. These are still very much a work-in-progress, and the numbers in particular won’t make much sense, but you should be able to at least get an idea of what we’re considering for these bonuses. Just please keep in mind, as you saw with Tier 20 bonuses, that there are likely to be many changes down the line as development continues.
Next week, we’re planning to open up Argus’ second zone, as well as the Seat of the Triumvirate dungeon, for testing.
This is what Community Manager Lore said on June 29th about the Argus content, in case you missed it.
Lore: “Sometimes the hand of fate must be forced…”
Welcome to the Patch 7.3 Public Test Realm! After the events on the Broken Shore and inside the Tomb of Sargeras raid (no spoilers!), it’s time to take the fight directly to the Legion’s home world of Argus. We’re really excited about this update, and are looking forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback as we head into public testing.
Most (but not all) of the new stuff in 7.3 takes place on Argus—and as you might expect, this is hostile territory. Demons patrol every crag of Argus’s shattered surface, and sometimes it seems as if the planet itself is out to get you. This will be a very story-driven update, but we’re also designing areas with sandbox elements intended to be enjoyed even after you complete the main quest, with gameplay and challenges on the planet’s surface reminiscent of past endgame areas such as the Molten Front, the Isle of Thunder, and the Timeless Isle.
One of the first things you’ll encounter to help you navigate the Legion’s home turf is the Vindicaar: a vessel that will serve as your mobile base of operations—and one of your few safe havens—on Argus. Aside from giving you direct access to a number of 7.3’s new features, the Vindicaar will also be your primary method of transport behind enemy lines. Argus is a no-fly zone, similar to the Isle of Thunder, so to help make sure it’s still easy to get around, the Vindicaar will give you access to an extensive network of teleportation hubs (similar to flight paths, but without the travel time).
There are three main areas to explore on the planet, the first of which is available for testing on the PTR today!
Also in this first build are the first couple of chapters of the 7.3 storyline, and some new and improved casting animations for Restoration Druids, Elemental and Restoration Shaman, Discipline and Holy Priests, and all three Mage specializations (and yes, that includes Arcane Missiles). As with previous patches, player feedback is very important to us as we work to update these animations, so we’re really looking forward to hearing what you think.
(Note: Shadow Priest animation updates are also on the way for 7.3, but aren’t working yet in this build. In fact, some spells are likely to have no animations at all right now. That’s only temporary while we finish getting the new animations ready for PTR testing.)
Other major content that’s contained in Patch 7.3 but not yet complete in this build includes:
- Further chapters of the Argus storyline, including many cinematic story moments
- New World Quests
- Professions updates, including epic gems
- The Netherlight Crucible, which allows you to upgrade your Artifact to unlock a new way to customize your Relics
- New dungeon: Seat of the Triumvirate
- New raid: Antorus, the Burning Throne (though as with other Legion raids, it won’t be released immediately with 7.3)
- Invasion Points, a new type of replayable content that let you fight the Legion on multiple different worlds
- Several other improvements and updates to existing features
As the PTR process continues, we’ll provide updates with each build on what’s new. Thanks, and happy testing!
