Ahead of its release later today, Blizzard has released the updated Battle for Azeroth patch 8.1 Tides of Vengeance patch notes.

　　The first major content update for the Battle for Azeroth is being rolled out to the game’s live servers starting today, and Blizzard has now released an extensive list of changes and improvements included with the update.

　　As covered earlier, patch 8.1 Tides of Vengeance features a new warfront, new raids, incursions, heritage armor for both Dwarfs and Blood Elves, and multithreaded performance optimizations for clients using DX12.

　　The first part of the official release notes for the Tides of Vengeance patch have been included below. For the extensive list of class changes, we suggest reading the full list of changes on Blizzard’s website:

　　War Campaign

　　

New Questlines

New chapters in the War Campaign are now available. Head to Boralus or Zuldazar to rejoin your faction’s war efforts.

　　

New Missions

Several new Missions are now available at both your War Table, as well as from new drops from various activities, such as Island Expeditions. Look for new Missions to upgrade your faction’s outposts, level up followers so that they gain access to a new equipment slot, send your followers on lucrative new weekly treasure hunts, and unlock a vendor who offers the opposing faction’s pets.

　　

Faction Assaults 

Periodically, the Alliance or the Horde will launch an assault against a hostile position in Kul Tiras or Zandalar. When an Assault is active, a group of new World Quests will be available to both factions in that area. Rally to the location to fight on behalf of your faction and earn new Honorbound or 7th Legion Service Medals that can be exchanged for a variety of rewards.

　　Players who have unlocked World Quests at level 120 on at least one character will have Assault World Quests available to any of their other characters.

　　

Warfront: The Battle for Darkshore

The conflict over the home of the night elves has reached a fever pitch, and new questlines will lead you to the all-new Battle for Darkshore. In this new Warfront, you’ll unlock access to powerful hero transformations that give you temporary abilities themed around your role as a tank, healer, or damage dealer.

　　Contributions for Darkshore as well as the Stromgarde Warfront now operate on a daily cycle. When resources are being mustered, three quartermasters will each put out a request for a different contribution each day. The requested turn-ins have also been adjusted to be more consistent in their value.

　　When your faction controls either Arathi Highlands or Darkshore, world quests will now be available in those zones, in place of the once-per-cycle kill quests that were previously offered for Arathi.

　　

Heritage Armor Questlines

New questlines to find and obtain new Heritage armor are available to two mighty races – the dwarves and the blood elves. Available at level 120 to dwarves who are Exalted with Ironforge and blood elves who are exalted with Silvermoon, look for “ Keep Yer Feet On The Ground” at the Stormwind Embassy, or “ The Pride of the Sin'dorei” at the Orgrimmar Embassy, and get started rediscovering your heritage.

　　

Island Expeditions

Scouts have discovered two new destinations for Island Expeditions – the vrykul land of Jorundall and the Gilnean town of Havenswood. These, as well as the previous Island Expeditions, now feature new enemies, achievements, events, items, and vendors.

　　The logic used to spawn Island Expeditions has been adjusted to favor more organic concentrations of foes, with more clear paths in between, to make it easier to navigate without being forced into combat.

　　The chance for cosmetic rewards are now based on all the enemies and Azerite present on the island, and no longer tied to only the enemy camps your team defeats. Completing an Island Expedition at a higher difficulty increases the chance of receiving these bonus rewards.

　　Battle pets rewarded from the completion of islands that were previously uncageable can now be caged.

　　The weekly quest to recover Azerite now requires 36,000 Azerite (was 40,000).

　　Mythic and PvP Islands now reward 350 Artifact Power (was 300), and PvP Islands now award 50 Conquest on a win (was 8).

　　The weekly Island Expedition quest, and progress towards it, are now visible on the world map.

　　The Island Expedition weekly quest now rewards lucrative new treasure map Missions for your followers.

　　Look for new vendors in Boralus and Dazar’alor who offer exclusive rewards in exchange for your Seafarer’s Dubloons.

　　

Dungeons and Raids

You can now speak to Archmage Timear in Dalaran above the Broken Isles to access Legion Raid Finder solo or with a private group.

　　Siege of Boralus and Kings’ Rest are now available on Heroic difficulty.

　　Mythic Keystones can no longer be deleted.

　　The new Raid: Battle of Dazar’alor, and Season 2 for PvP and Mythic Keystone Dungeons will begin with the weekly reset in each region starting on January 22, 2019.

　　

Achievements

Many new achievements related to the new Assaults, Island Expeditions, and Warfront are now available.

　　Two new Mythic Keystone Feats of Strength are now available ( Battle for Azeroth Keystone Conqueror: Season One, Battle for Azeroth Keystone Master: Season One). To earn them, complete all available Battle for Azeroth Mythic Keystone dungeons before the time limit, at +10 and +15 difficulty, by the end of the season.

　　The Family Battler achievement has arrived. Complete 10 challenging family-only pet battle achievements in Kul Tiras and Zandalar to earn your new Wicker Wraith pet.

　　Progress toward the new 100 Exalted Reputations achievement is account-wide. Complete it to earn the Pureheart Courser mount and the “Esteemed” title.

　　

Items and Rewards

Account-bound maps to unlock many flight points on Kul Tiras and Zandalar can be purchased from the War Campaign emissary to send to your alts ( Honorbound Scouting Map, 7th Legion Scouting Map).

　　The Tortollans have new trinkets they’re willing to share if you’ll help the baby turtles make it to the water.

　　The Meat Wagon mount is now available to players who purchased Warcraft III: Reforged.

　　

Azerite Gear Vendor

You can now target specific kinds of Azerite armor by earning Titan Residuum, which can be used to purchase Azerite armor from everyone’s favorite purveyor of exquisite furnishings: Thaumaturge Vashreen.

　　The item contained in your Mythic Keystone weekly cache can no longer be a piece of Azerite gear. You’ll now receive an amount of Titan Residuum in addition to your weekly item.

　　Higher-level Keystones return greater amounts of Titan Residuum from your weekly cache.

　　Scrapping or disenchanting new epic-quality Azerite gear obtained in Tides of Vengeance (from any source) also provides Titan Residuum.

　　Thaumaturge Vashreen currently offers slot-specific tokens for Azerite gear, equivalent to item levels from Normal, Heroic, and Mythic Uldir.

　　Additionally, specific pieces of Mythic Raid item level Azerite gear may be purchased at a premium price.

　　There is no cap on the amount of Titan Residuum you may collect.

　　When Season 2 begins, Thaumaturge Vashreen will offer new, higher item-level Azerite items at higher Residuum asking prices, while the weekly Mythic Keystone chest reward and the Residuum obtained from destroying higher item-level Azerite pieces increases proportionally.

　　

Heart of Azeroth

New Azerite Traits are available from gear found in the Battle for Darkshore Warfront:

　　Ancients' Bulwark – Standing still grants you Versatility and moving grants you healing.

　　Apothecary's Concoctions – Your damaging and healing abilities have a chance to deal extra plague damage or restore missing health.

　　Endless Hunger – Increases your Versatility and grants you health when you move near an enemy's corpse.

　　Shadow of Elune – Your spells and abilities have a chance to increase your Haste and grant you increased movement speed at night.

　　Each specialization has had one of its Azerite traits replaced with a new one. Details may be found in the Class changes section below.

　　More new Azerite Traits and armor with a new fifth tier of traits will become available in Season 2 and from Battle of Dazar’alor.

　　Reaching Friendly, Honored, or Revered reputation with the Champions of Azeroth faction now unlocks the appropriate quests to upgrade your Heart of Azeroth for all characters on your account.

　　The cost of using the Azerite Reforging services available in your faction capital has been reset to the base 5 gold. This cost now decays by 50% every 24 hours, down from 72 hours.

　　

New Follower Equipment

New basic equipment for Followers is now available from your Honorbound or 7th Legion reputation vendor.

　　Alchemists can now learn and craft a powerful new Follower item that bypasses the troop penalty on Stealth missions: Vial of Obfuscation.

　　

New Heirlooms

Honorbound and 7th Legion quartermasters in the Warfront muster area in each capital offer new Heirlooms in exchange for Medals.

　　Battle Hymnal (A trinket that temporarily increases your and your party's Haste)

　　Bolstering War Horn (A trinket that temporarily increases your and your party's Versatility)

　　Cloak of Hardened Steel (A cloak that increases your experience gains)

　　Dusk Powder (A Trinket that, on use, temporarily reduces the threat you generate)

　　Enchanted Warscroll (A trinket that temporarily increases your and your party's Haste)

　　

Paragon Reputations

All Battle for Azeroth factions now offer repeatable Paragon reward caches when you earn reputation with them after reaching Exalted.

　　Rewards include toys such as the Bowl of Glowing Pufferfish and companion pets such as the Cobalt Raven.

　　

Gold Rewards

World Quests and Missions now reward more gold.

　　

New PvP Brawl: Cooking: Impossible

Nomi is back, and he wants you to bring your most dangerous pots and pans to The Valley of the Four Winds for a new brawl in the kitchen. Look to your in-game calendar for round one of this cutthroat culinary conflict.

　　

Battle Pets: There’s Gnome Place Like Gnomeregan

You’re called to an all-new pet dungeon experience. Pick up your first quest to head to Gnomeregan from Radek Fuselock in Dazar'alor or Tizzy Gearjolt in Boralus. You'll find the new vendor Micro Zoox just outside Gnomeregan, offering four new companions: Mechanical Cockroach, Leper Rat, Mechantula (a schematic for Engineers to craft and trade), and everyone's best friend, Rechargeable Alarm-O-Dog Battery.

　　Completing the normal version of the pet dungeon rewards an Ultimate Battle-Training Stone, and completing the Challenge version rewards your very own Mini Spider Tank pet.

　　The Gnomeregan battle pet dungeon does not require that you have completed previous battle pet dungeons.

　　If you’d like to compete head-to-head with other players, the PvP pet battle matchmaker has been improved. Now, players who are new to the PvP battle pet system are more likely to be matched up against other new PvP pet battlers.

　　

Professions

Keep an eye out for new additions to many Professions, including new gear, new feasts for your raid and dungeon groups, new Jewelcrafting rings, inscription Contracts for increased Honorbound and 7th Legion reputation, and new craftable pets.

　　Learn new Sanguicell recipes for Engineering, Alchemy, Enchanting, and Cooking.

　　Look out for the Enchanting new pet: Enchanted Tiki Mask.

　　Level 111-120 gems can no longer be placed into the sockets of items from previous expansions.

　　Darkmoon Faire quest-based skillups now apply automatically to the most recent expansion profession progress that is not at its maximum.

　　Professions-related World Quests now have a chance to reward Expulsom.

　　Herbalism World Quests now have a chance to reward Anchor Weed.

　　

Character Appearances

Night elves who complete the new Darkshore questline may earn a new custom appearance that may then be selected at barber shops throughout Azeroth.

　　Partially collected transmog sets will now tell you more information about which missing appearances are relevant to your current character.

　　Items with reputation requirements to acquire no longer require that reputation to apply as a transmog appearance, once acquired.

　　Fist weapons can now be transmogrified over other types of one-handed melee weapons, and vice-versa.

　　If your character’s race or faction cosmetically changes (such as in Battle of Dazar’alor or Mercenary Mode), any Horde or Alliance-centric armor and weapon appearances your character is wearing or has transmogrified to will update to appear as the enemy faction’s version. If you have a transmogrified appearance that isn’t considered valid for the race you change in to, the transmog will be removed and your equipped armor will show, subject to the same faction split.

　　

Group Finder

Dungeon from prior expansions will no longer appear when searching for Dungeon groups in the Premade Group Finder. For example, level 120 players will no longer see groups listed for Lower Blackrock Spire.

　　Battle for Azeroth dungeons now automatically change you to a spec that matches the role you chose when you queued.

　　Fixed issues that could prevent groups from using the Premade Group Finder to form or backfill groups for Timewalking raids.

　　When an attempt to queue for an activity fails due to party member eligibility, the group leader is now informed which party members are not eligible.

　　

Mobile Companion App

Added new Missions and rewards.

　　Added new World Quests and additional zones: Arathi Highlands and Darkshore.

　　Fixed performance and disconnection issues.

　　Fixed a bug where Azerite Armor Caches showed incorrect item level.

　　

World and Questing

Time to level from 1 to 110 has been reduced by approximately 25%.

　　Legion World Quests for the Highmountain Tribe, Nightfallen, Army of the Light, and Argussian Reach now reward increased reputation.

　　The initial chapters of the War Campaign now reward more reputation with the 7th Legion or Honorbound.

　　Most world quests are no longer completable in a raid group, and Premade Group Finder groups for them will automatically delist upon reaching 5 players. Epic world boss quests are still raid-eligible.

　　Rest areas have been added to Hook Point and The Mugambala.

　　A new flight point has been added to The Mugambala.

　　

User Interface

The flight maps in Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor have been updated to a higher resolution.

　　Reputation rewards from world quests and missions now use quality to indicate their potency.

　　Bag search will now help find new things including item quality, Azerite, specific Azerite powers, and stats appearing on an item.

　　Items which have stats that scale with your character’s level (such as gems in the auction house) will now show their stats at the maximum value.

　　Pending summons now show on party/raid frames.

　　While the scrapper UI is open, scrappable items will be marked with an overlaid icon.

　　The location of the scrapper will now show on your minimap.

　　The Mythic Keystone Dungeon tab now shows the highest-level Mythic dungeon that was completed in time. Higher-level completions that were not in time are still stored and can be seen when mousing over a given dungeon in the interface.

　　Inbound and outbound blocks (both melee and ranged) will now show in floating combat text.

　　The responsiveness of the Communities UI has been improved.

　　Upcoming calendar events are now shown in Community chat.

　　

Game Client

Integrated new multi-threaded performance optimizations for clients using DirectX 12 and Metal.

　　All systems that are capable of DirectX 12 now default to DirectX 12.

　　Battle for Azeroth, World of Warcraft’s seventh expansion, is available globally now. As said, the 8.1 patch is being rolled out today in the US. Those in the EU will be able to play the expansion as of tomorrow.