A new event awaits the heroes of Azeroth in World of Warcraft patch 10.0.5. There is also an anime reference that should please JoJo fans.
The World of Warcraft patch 10.0.5 will be released in January and will bring some fresh content. While a lot of this is “little stuff,” it’s more actionable and adds to the overall gameplay of World of Warcraft. Things get wild in the new Storm’s Wrath event – so wild that Blizzard even added an anime reference.
What is this event? The Storm’s Wrath event takes place in the future of the primalists. As usual, you can reach them in patch 10.0.5 via a portal at the bronze dragonflight. However, a new, epic world quest will also be displayed on the world map if the event is currently active.
For the event itself, you’ll most likely need a party, as you’ll need to capture and control multiple objectives at the same time.
There are a total of 4 portals used by the primalists. Similar to PvP objectives, the portals must first be conquered. As long as you are near the portals, you will slowly take control and will be constantly attacked by enemies until you capture the portal.
But beware: A captured portal can be recaptured by the primalists! So you have to turn off people guarding the portal until all other portals are taken as well.
The whole thing is made more difficult by a new cold mechanic. Because as long as you stay in the open world of the primalists, your body temperature drops in the form of a debuff. If you have too many stacks, you will freeze to death and quickly find yourself in the graveyard. Heat sources allow you to drain the debuff and even “store” some heat to last longer in combat before the cold builds up.
When all 4 portals are under the control of the heroes, then the barrier that was previously protecting the event’s final boss will disappear, leaving him vulnerable. However, the boss has extremely high life points – on the PTR he had 33 million – and also scales with the number of players attacking him. He therefore feels more like a slightly weaker world boss. Here at the latest you are dependent on a group.
Once a week, the reward is a crate containing gold, Dragon Isles resources, and a chance at Primalist cosmetic weapons. There is also a new currency that you can use to buy additional rewards such as pets or mounts.
Now what is this anime reference?
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a manga and anime series that has become extremely popular, especially in recent years. The series impresses with its (mostly male), extremely exaggerated characters with the most absurd signature poses and insane abilities.
The NPC “Zawarudo”, a bronze dragon, starts the event “Rage of the Storm”. You can find him at the Seat of the Aspects and he will give you the starting quest that will ultimately lead you to the event.
Zawarudo alludes to the JoJo series’ primary antagonist, Dio Brando. Using his power, he is able to freeze time for everyone else while he himself continues to fight, eliminating enemies unopposed. This ability is called “The World” and is pronounced “ZA WARUDO” by the Japanese speaker – probably one of the most well-known exclamations in the whole series and in the anime field at all.
Since bronze dragons have the ability to manipulate time, this seems to have been the perfect way to implement a “JoJo reference” in World of Warcraft as well. In general, reference has been made more frequently to Japanese animation series in WoW in the recent past – in the Academy of Algeth’ar, for example, there are NPCs that the heroes and enemies from “YU-GI-OH!” are modeled on.
You can play the storm event yourself from January 25, 2023 – because that’s when patch 10.0.5 goes live.