Blizzard Entertainment deployed the first build update since Shadowlands Alpha started. Build 34081 was over 1.2GB in file size. These are some of the updates found so far.

ASPIRANT SOULS

Aspirant Souls now have more variety than the Kyrian only and simple anima. Now you can find Goblins, Forsaken, Tauren, Orcs, Humans, Dwarves, Night Elves, Blood Elves, Pandaren, and other races. I haven’t found Allied Races yet.

ANIMA CONDUCTOR

A new interactive system has been added in this build, but it is not yet completed. The Anima Conductor is found at the southmost-center edge of Elysian Hold.

CHARACTER CREATION

Unsure if the changes are complete or work-in-progress, but this is how character creation has been completely revamped so far. The Allied Races no longer have their own separate tab. All Allied Races are mixed up along with the default races.

TORGHAST, TOWER OF THE DAMNED

Torghast is a solo or group scenario of sorts where you navigate through multiple floors. I reached Floor 11 before the server crashed. Took me two hours to get there.

Torghast is Diablo III Greater Rifts. Each time you enter Torghast, you will be presented a different Floor 1; and each floor sequence is random as well.

The scenario starts after selecting an option from the Wayfinder:

  • Quest: Skoldus Hall
  • Quest: Fracture Chambers
  • Twisting Corridors (Random, Easy)
  • Twisting Corridors (Random, Normal)
  • Twisting Corridors (Random, Heroic)

Things you can loot:

  • (PH) Legendary Component: Without description, this dropped from a translucent Algalon-looking chest.
  • Freed Soul: This is a currency that you earn for freeing Bound Souls from their shackles or from cages.
  • Phantasma: All mobs drop Phantasma in varied quantities between 2-15. This extinguished strand of anima can be used to gain power within Thorghast. Leaving Torghast will destroy all Phantasma.
  • Plundered Anima: These are blood orbs that float above the ground. When you loot them, you get an options UI that lets you choose a new Anima Power.

When you loot Anima Cell, an Anima Power UI pops onscreen to choose one out of 2 or 3 powers.

Mobs aren’t the only ones that drop Anima Cell. You can find hidden Urns around corners or small rooms that you would usually ignore walking into.

Mobs with the Jailor’s buff grant three Anima Powers to choose from.

Anima Powers collected so far can be viewed by clicking the Anima Powers bar below the Mini Map.

YOUTUBE VIDEO

Killing any mobs in Torghast allows you to loot Phantasma in random amounts between 2-15 per mob). If it has a limit, I haven’t reached one. I was able to stack over 2000 Phantasma when I reached Floor 11.

Rescuing Bound Souls from their shackles or from cages grant you a currency named Freed Soul. Pretty sure you can use this at the Anima Conductor UI in Elysian Hold (Bastion zone). Possibly the new Artifact Power version of Shadowlands.

A chest that has the appearance of Algalon the Watcher dropped a Legendary Component. Unsure what for at the moment, but sounds good. Whatever legendary item this is used as material, it gives you an incentive to continue to farm Torghast.

SCOUTING MAP

I found a Scouting Map placeholder similar to what we found in Legion and in Dazar’alor/Tiragarde. This Scouting Map is going to allow players to choose which Zone to play in next by picking a quest per zone.

At the moment, the placeholder is showing the Broken Isles map and zone quests. You can find the Scouting Map west of the flying master at Elysian Hold.

PARAGONS

In the first Alpha build, the Archon’s Rise in Elysian Hold (Bastion zone) had all the 5 paragons standing on each side of the aisle near Kyrestia the Firstborne (aka the Archon — the first Kyrian).

  • BEFORE
  • NOW

The second build removed the paragon NPCs. This leads me to think that players might have to find them throughout each zone, and each paragon will spawn where they were standing at in the first build. Kind of the collecting of the Pillars of Creation, but NPCs instead?

  • LEGION – PILLARS OF CREATION
  • CHAMBER OF THE GUARDIAN

Something to note: As you completed quests in Bastion, you were shown Wards that keep each zone of the Shadowlands protected from foreign forces such as the Void.

Curiously, each ward matches the name of each paragon. Currently, the only interactive one is the Ward of Courage.

In my 3-hour video completing all quests of Bastion, you might have watched Uther disabling one or two of these wards.

  • UTHER

Unsure what role the player serves with these wards, but if these wards are disabled, the Void will take Shadowlands. Foreshadowing…

BASTION PORTAL

The portal to enter Bastion, in the Shadowlands, from Orgrimmar is located at the basement of the Orgrimmar Portal Room. It is operated by the Broker Realmwalkers. They have ethereal technology.

The Stormwind Portal Room grew two extra slots to add the Bastion portal.

Here you can see the BFA and Shadowlands versions.

  • BFA
  • Shadowlands

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