Blizzard will remove attunement requirements for earlier raids when The Burning Crusade Anniversary Phase 3 goes live, according to studio posts relayed by Wowhead. Phase 3 opens on Thursday, August 27 at 3:00 p.m. PDT (6:00 p.m. EDT).
Asked directly whether the Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep attunements were being removed, Blizzard answered that they were, and that “the skips for previous raids will turn on at the same time the new raids open.” Players entering the phase will therefore be able to walk into the earlier tiers without first clearing their prerequisite chains, and without waiting for a separate unlock after the new raids go up.
A separate post published earlier the same day covered loot. Blizzard said one additional tier token will drop from raid bosses once the new raids open, describing it as a repeat of an increase the team has applied before and noting that the change was not present on the public test realm. Epic Gems will also begin dropping from Heroic dungeon bosses in Phase 3.
Blizzard opened that post by thanking the players who took part in raid testing on the public test realm, and credited those tests with surfacing several issues that have since been fixed:
- The first wave of attackers for the Horde base sometimes de-spawning
- The wave counter UI at the top of the screen disappearing
- Some boss abilities incorrectly targeting the tank
The studio also cleared up an earlier line about planning to “make other Phase 3 loot changes to heroic dungeon bosses in Phase 3,” saying players who read it as a reference to the Epic Gems they already expected had read it correctly.
We do not have any surprise additional loot changes in the works.
Blizzard closed the post with a reminder that Arena Season 3 begins with the weekly reset the following week, on the morning of September 1 in the Americas region.