Feedback: Island Expeditions

A new Battle for Azeroth feature, Island Expeditions, is now available for testing for characters that complete a the "Island Expedition" tutorial quest at level 116.

Once unlocked, Normal Island Expeditions can be completed by characters of level 110-120. This unlock is account-wide.

Heroic, Mythic, and PvP Island Expeditions become available at level 120.

Alliance players can queue from the Expedition table in Boralus Harbor, near the Tradewinds Market. Look for the green ship occupying the second slip.

Horde players can queue from the Expedition table in Zuldazar Harbor, at the Port of Zandalar, on the west side. Look for the red ship.

What is the goal of an Island Expedition?
The goal of an Island Expedition is to collect Azerite. The first team to 6000 Azerite wins.
A group of NPCs from the opposing faction (or players, if PvP) will also be present, competing with you for the Azerite.
Many things on the Island reward Azerite: chests, Azerite crystals, powerful creatures, friendly NPCs in need of aid, killing enemy NPCs, and more.
You’ll find things you can interact with, scattered all across the Island to help you.

Thank you for testing, and we’re looking forward to your feedback!

Update Post!

I will update this post as things progress. Thank you for your feedback!

4/27 - In the next major build, three different Islands will be available per week on a rotation, drawing from the following pool:

- Un'gol Ruins
- Molten Cay
- Verdant Wilds
- Dread Chain
- Whispering Reef
- Skittering Hollow
- Rotting Mire

4/19 - These changes will be in the next build:

- A tutorial quest and island are now available at level 115. Players must complete the tutorial quest to unlock Expeditions. This unlock is account-wide.
- Normal mode requires level 110+
- Heroic, Mythic, and PvP require level 120
- At the start of the Island, 3 high-value targets will appear in the fog on your map as red X's, giving your party some initial direction.
- Two new islands are available: Molten Cay and Dread Chain.
- Around 800 new creatures have been added (some will lack abilities)
- New end of island invasions: Naga, Black Dragons, Twilight Dragons, Saurok, Trolls
- End of island invasions now have a pre-spawn visual (so they don't spawn on top of you)
- New chest type: puzzle. Find levers, pressure plates, etc. needed to open an ancient chest.
- Questgiver required objects (e.g. Torch, Shovel) spawn closer to their questgivers
- Visual updates to skyboxes, times of day, and weather effects.

4/03 - We have turned on Island mode: PvP. Please let us know how PvP Islands feel! Of note, you do not currently have PvP talents active. Please let us know how much you miss them!

In addition, we've added a fog of war to Islands. You will see a bubble around yourself and your allies that shows nearby Azerite sources. When you leave the area, the icon will persist, but grey out. The enemy might take it, you won't know until you re-enter the area!

3/29 - We have activated heroic and mythic difficulties, queue up from the Expedition Map!

3/20 - These changes will be in the next build:

- Creatures no longer increase in Azerite over time, but are worth more in general.
- Players and Advanced NPCs gain Azerite Residue slower
- Updated abilities for Azerite-based elementals
- New abilities for several humanoid groups
- Normal difficulty tuning (generally, things will be easier, and the AI is less aggressive)
- AI NPCs should jump around less
- Updated Azerite visuals all around
- Azerite Energy no longer stacks
- Consumables available at your docks now cost Seafarer's Dubloons
- Seafarer's Dubloons can now show up on Expeditions
- Each faction's ship captain will now order a cannon barrage on enemies that come too near.
- New weather effects have been added to elemental invasions.

We believe the issue causing disconnects has been resolved; please let us know if you're still experiencing issues!

Thanks for all of the feedback! I've updated the second post with some of the changes coming down the pipe.

Of note, we think the current tuning (on alpha) is in a good spot for Heroic difficulty, so on Normal you'll see creatures get a bit easier, the AI will be less aggressive towards you, and generally things will slow down, giving you some more time to explore.

We'll get that ground visual issue looked at.

Keep it coming!

We do indeed plan to have a mythic difficulty, as well as a PvP one!

Updated update post: heroic and mythic have been activated!

Good luck!

Update post updated. Today's alpha build features PvP Island Expeditions and a new Fog of War!

Thanks for all of your feedback! I've updated the update post with some major changes coming in the next build.

Of note, we now put three red "X marks the spot" markers on your map at the start of the island. These are always some of the most high value targets on the island, and should give your party some initial direction about where to go. Also it feels very pirate-y. :)

The red markers will also show up when an Azerite growth event occurs, at the site of the growth, and when end of island invasions occur, at those sites.

We've got a bunch more invasions and a ton more creatures in this build as well!

In addition, you'll now be queueing for a random island, and three islands are unlocked: Un'gol Ruins, Molten Cay, and Dread Chain.

Feedback Request: The current plan is to have three islands available every week on a rotation. Since we now have three available, we'd like to hear from you about how many times you'd like to engage in this content during the week. Hop in, run a few during the next week, and let us know what you're feeling!

Thanks for the reports, we'll look into a way to get unlocked even if you've previously completed the quest. For now, you can create a new character and do the tutorial with them (at 115), that should unlock your account.

Found a solution to the AI scaling issue, doing some testing, and we'll probably push a fix early next week. Thanks for the report!

Fixed an issue where you probably weren't seeing the two new Islands, please try again!

Thanks for the report! The quest progress spam should be fixed now.