Will Atiesh return with Naxx?

Decisions regarding important items like this must be made carefully. We need to make sure the story behind it feels right as we don’t want to force an item with such stature into the game, but we will still make sure there are great items available for everybody to push for.

At this time we are still working on retuning Naxxramas for Wrath of the Lich King and have not made any final determinations on Atiesh.

Q u o t e:


I'm curious, though, Bornakk. Atiesh is already in the game, so adding it again wouldn't really. . .impact the story in any way outside of the way it did the first time it was added. I mean, even gameplay reasons wouldn't make a lot of sense, given that people feel that it's about time for a new caster Legendary anyway. Why not just retune it and save everyone the trouble?

Understand that this is only me theorycrafting. I understand that nothing concrete has been decided upon yet. I'm just arguing the case for a re-introduction to Atiesh.

While we know that a lot of people would like a chance at getting a new updated version of this item, there are a lot of questions that can come up in this process. Here are some that jump to my mind on this:

Are level 80 players really looking for a legendary item that requires them to clear the majority of AQ40 and provides a free port to Karazhan? If we change those parts is it really still Atiesh? Do the people who have Atiesh now just retroactively get the new one? Does implementing the same quest series with a new end result really provide the proper experience for getting a legendary item?

I’m not saying one way or another if Atiesh will return, just that a lot of questions must be considered and answered before we can make a final decision. Once we get closer to launching the expansion we will have more information regarding this and many other things.

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Plus, I really think the Greatstaff of the Guardian deserves more justice than being a level 60 item. It should be incredibly powerful.

Was the staff really a big part of a Guardian’s power? Just food for thought.

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Plus, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing a quest that takes you to Naxx, Malygos, and another instance to create a Legendary. It may not be as powerful as, say, something you get from the Frozen Throne, but still.

This could be one of the problems in itself, would we want this updated Legendary item to be replaced by the time people reach this zone?

There are a lot of points that can be made both for and against updating Atiesh. You can see that in just a few posts here there are opinions on both sides of the topic and we have to consider the playerbase as a whole before making a final decision.

While retuning the encounters and items in Naxxramas will provide a lot of fun experiences for people, we are working on a lot of brand new items and content in this expansion and look forward to sharing information on it… when it’s ready. :)