WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Store

When the official release date for WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 3 was postponed from August 13th to August 27th, it caused an uproar on forums and online. For hardcore players who just wanted to climb the leaderboards and get into Black Temple as soon as possible to obtain Warglaive of Azzinoth, these 14 days were a long and agonizing wait.

However, for the vast majority of Guild leaders, Raid leaders, and members of small and medium-sized Raid teams, these seemingly long yet short two weeks were not a period of inactivity, but a crucial preparation period that would determine whether they could successfully complete the first week of Phase 3.

These 14 extra days were a golden window for resource integration and market maneuvering. This article will teach you how to make good use of this crucial preparation period and gain a foothold in the first week of Phase 3.

Ultimate Gear Material Preparation

Mother Shahraz, deep within Black Temple, is notoriously difficult to defeat. Her core abilities, Prismatic Shield and frequent Fatal Attraction, inflict extremely high chain shadow damage.

Under BCC Anniversary's stat system, raids must rely on brute-force shadow resistance to ensure survivability when facing Mother Shahraz. While the blueprints for crafting the corresponding gear won't be available until Phase 3 opens, the basic materials must be gathered in advance:

Shadowcloth

Crafting Frozen Shadoweave Set requires a large amount of Shadowcloth, but crafting Shadowcloth has a strict cooldown, only possible every few days. This 14-day delay increases the production of this material, preventing the predicament of not being able to buy Shadowcloth even with money during the first week of raiding.

Heavy Knothide Leather

Shadow resistance gear for Rogues, Hunters, Shamans, and Druids requires a massive amount of Heavy Knothide Leather. Since Heavy Knothide Leather requires crafting from regular leather, these two weeks represent the last golden period for farming Knothide Leather in the wild.

Consumables and Gem Market

Potion Hoarding

The delay of Phase 3 has significantly impacted the market. The originally scheduled release in early August had driven up prices, but the delay announcement triggered a rapid short-term sell-off.

During the new raid progression, achieving Potion Chaining across the entire raid is a crucial requirement for maximizing DPS. The following two are currently your top priorities for hoarding:

1. Destruction Potion: Essential for caster DPS, increases spell critical strike chance by 2% and spell damage by 120 for 15 seconds.
2. Haste Potion: Increases your physical attack speed for 15 seconds.

The delay announcement has prompted players who hoarded Potion at high prices to lower prices and cash out. Savvy players and guilds should purchase enough Potion in batches during this period to sustain at least four raid cycles, avoiding the price surge on the eve of the 27th.

Gems Prices Rise

Besides Potion, Gem is also the most worthwhile resource to prepare for before Phase 3 opens.

Many players believe that the delay means Gem prices will continue to fall, so they are choosing to wait and see. However, based on the market patterns of previous TBC Classic Anniversary updates, the real low point usually doesn't occur on the eve of the opening, but rather in the days following the announcement.

After the Black Temple and Mount Hyjal open, many players will immediately upgrade to Tier 6 gear. Gear upgrades mean new socketing needs, and the demand for Epic Gems will explode across the server in the first week.

For ordinary players, even if they don't plan to hoard and resell, they should at least prepare all the gems they need for the next two weeks in advance to avoid being unable to complete their gear setup due to market shortages in the first week.

Gold: the True Pinnacle of Productivity

During the delay, there's another crucial point that's easily overlooked - gold. After Black Temple opens, all raid-related resources will see a significant price increase. If you're currently short on gold, the next two weeks are your last chance to farm. Besides obtaining it through in-game quests, you can also directly buy TBC Classic Anniversary gold from IGGM.com, greatly saving you time researching Phase 3 combat strategies.

Don't wait until Phase 3 opens to start earning gold. By then, your gold-earning speed may not keep up with the market price increases. For most players, preparing an extra 5,000 gold in advance is far more valuable than farming an extra piece of gear. Gold can solve almost all raiding problems.

Remember, in the survival rules of TBC Classic Anniversary, the real raiding battle often begins before even entering the raid. These extra 14 days aren't a long, agonizing ordeal, but rather the final chance for all teams to turn the tide in the cutthroat raiding arena. When the gates of Black Temple officially open on August 27, those players who have prepared sufficient resources and have plenty of money in hand will surely be the first to claim the Warglaive of Azzinoth.

You have likely wrapped up most of the content from TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 2 by now. Just as you were aimlessly preparing for Phase 3, the development team suddenly announced the official launch date for this phase!

Even if you have played the original TBC or Classic servers, we are bringing you the ultimate overview of WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 3 to ensure you stay on top of potential changes and don't miss any nuanced adjustments.

Phase 3 release date confirmed

This phase was originally scheduled for release on August 13, but after that the date was shifted to August 27 at 3:00 PM PDT. It has to be said that this kind of back-and-forth scheduling makes it very easy to miss the actual launch - it is honestly quite annoying.

Counting back from August 27th, both Phase 1 and Phase 2 lasted approximately three months (excluding the pre-patch), and BCC Anniversary consists of five phases in total.

If each subsequent phase maintains this three-month duration, TBC Classic Anniversary should conclude around February of next year. Although this is slightly longer than the expected 8–10 months, the overall pace is still faster than that of the original Classic release.

Mount Hyjal Raid overview

Like Phase 2, the new content for TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 3 includes two raids: Black Temple and Mount Hyjal. Additionally, a new faction associated with each raid has been introduced.

Unlocking Black Temple requires not only completing its own attunement questline but also ensuring you have completed the attunement quests for Tempest Keep, Serpentshrine Cavern, and Mount Hyjal. Therefore, we will first introduce the unlock process and an overview of Mount Hyjal raid.

The attunement quest for this raid, Vials of Eternity, essentially requires you to defeat the final bosses of Tempest Keep and Serpentshrine Cavern raids: Kael'thas Sunstrider and Lady Vashj.

This is because the quest requires you to turn in two key items, Vashj's Vial Remnant and Kael's Vial Remnant, to a specific NPC; the method for obtaining these drops is self-explanatory.

If you haven't done this yet, it is best to complete it before Phase 3 launches to avoid falling behind. Additionally, you need to raise your Keepers of Time reputation to Revered to gain access to Hyjal Summit, the location of Mount Hyjal raid.

As for Mount Hyjal raid itself, it features five bosses: Rage Winterchill, Anetheron, Kaz'rogal, Azgalor, and Archimonde, all of which must be defeated; there are no optional encounters.

Azgalor and Archimonde drop tokens for gloves and helms, respectively, with the final bossArchimonde dropping loot of a higher item level.

It is also worth noting that while fighting within Hyjal Summit zone, waves of trash mobs will continuously spawn and advance on your group until the main boss appears.

Therefore, when assembling your Mount Hyjal raid team, you must consider not only general mob mechanics but also the specific abilities of various enemy types.

It is also advisable to buy WoW TBC Classic Anniversary gold on IGGM to redeem stat-boosting consumables, ensuring your group isn't worn down by trash mobs before even reaching the bosses.

Black Temple Raid overview

We have already briefly mentioned the attunement requirements for this raid. Following that, depending on whether you have joined The Aldor or The Scryers faction, you must complete a lengthy questline to obtain Medallion of Karabor, the item required to unlock the raid.

In fact, parts of this questline were made available during Phase 1 and 2, so you may have already completed some of the steps.

Notably, the seventh step of the questline involves defeating the boss Rage Winterchill, which is why we strongly recommend completing Mount Hyjal raid first.

Black Temple raid features nine bosses, all of which must be defeated to clear the raid:

• High Warlord Naj'entus
• Supremus
• Shade of Akama
• Teron Gorefiend
• Gurtogg Bloodboil
• Reliquary of the Lost
• Mother Shahraz
• The Illidari Council
• Illidan Stormrage

It is worth mentioning that the raid entrance is a crack in the wall along the path to Karabor Sewers; it is easily overlooked, so it is best to navigate to the coordinates /way 71, 46.

As for loot, Black Temple raid bosses drop Tier 6 tokens, and the final boss Illidan Stormrage also drops the rare gear Warglaive of Azzinoth.

Two new factions

The two new factions introduced in Phase 3, Ashtongue Deathsworn and Scale of the Sands, correspond to the two new raids and are unlocked as you progress through their respective attunement questlines.

You can earn reputation points and raise your standing with these factions by completing the raids themselves. Once you reach Exalted status with Ashtongue Deathsworn, you can trade for nine new items using gold.

Regarding Scale of the Sands, you receive a ring as a reward upon reaching Friendly status; this ring upgrades automatically as your reputation level increases.

Other updates

Phase 3 also introduces a new Netherwing daily quest hub, making it easier to build reputation with the faction; upon reaching Exalted status, you can unlock Netherwing Drake.

Additionally, Epic Gems will begin dropping in-game, and Scale of the Sands vendors will sell Epic Gem patterns, allowing you to craft them yourself by gathering the necessary materials.

The final update concerns PvP: Arena will officially enter Season 3. If you are looking for a more thrilling PvP experience and the associated rewards, be sure to prepare in advance!

That covers the details of BCC Anniversary Phase 3 update. If you still have unfinished content from Phases 1 and 2, you might want to prioritize the tasks that will help you experience the new Phase 3 raids! Good luck!