Eternity's End

Patch 9.2 is now up on the PTR. The release is scheduled for February 22, 2022.

Feel free to download the PTR and copy your characters from the live game to test it out.

For an overview, see The Eternity's End Shadowlands Content Overview. And here's a good video.

When you first log in to Patch 9.2, you will be given a quest "Call of the Primus", which requests that you visit Tal-Inara in Oribos. This is the start of a new 7-chapter campaign, Secrets of the First Ones:

1. Into the Unknown
2. We Battle Onward
3. Forming an Understanding
4. Forging a New Path
5. Crown of Wills
6. A Means to an End
7. Starting Over

Early in the campaign you will travel to a new Shadowlands zone, Zereth Mortis.

There's a new faction associated with Zereth Mortis, The Enlightened. The Quartermaster is Vilo (34.8, 64.2).

You can learn flying in Zereth Mortis by researching Cyphers of the First Ones, a new currency. See the article. Researching the Cyphers starts near the end of chapter 3. You can earn the Cyphers by doing daily quests in Zereth Mortis and you can turn them in at the Cypher Research Console (33.8, 49.4).

There's a new class of gear, Cypher Equipment, which can be upgraded using Cyphers of the First Ones:

Current Level	Upgrade to next level	Cost in Cyphers
1/6 - 233	239	740
2/6 - 239	242	1480
3/6 - 242	246	2220
4/6 - 246	249	2960
5/6 - 249	252	3700

Note that the upgrade doesn't affect existing equipment but, rather, new gear that's awarded from quests like Patterns Within Patterns.

There's also some 246 gear which can be purchased from Rafiq @(60.6, 51.05) using Sandworn Relics. These can be earned by opening Sandworn Chests and from several dailies offered by Firim @(34.2 48.6).

One new feature in 9.2 is the return of tier sets. This gear drops from the new raid, Sepulcher of the First Ones. Currently, on the PTR, the item levels of the gear drops are shown as RF:239-246, Normal:252-259, Heroic:265-272 and Mythic:278-285. Only the last 3 of the 11 raid bosses drop the higher level gear. There are up to 5 items in the tier set: head, shoulder, legs, chest and hands. There are two set bonuses for equipping 2 and 4 items from the set. Additionally, there are items for back, feet, waist and wrist which complete the appearance collection, but they don't contribute to the tier set.

The first 8 bosses of the Sepulcher of the First Ones are scheduled to be available on March 1st for Normal and Heroic difficulty. On March 8th, all 11 bosses are scheduled to be available on Normal, Heroic and Mythic difficulty. The Raid Finder wings open on a staggered basis: Wing 1 - March 8th, Wing 2 - March 22nd, Wing 3 - April 5th and Wing 4 - April 19th. Note that queuing for Raid Finder requires a minimum item level of 220.

So, if you haven't made a new 262 legendary yet, you might want to pick a ring or neck piece if that makes sense for your spec, or, if you don't care about appearances, then the back, feet, waist and wrist are still candidates. But you could also wait until 9.2 is released since higher-level legendaries will be available. See Vestige of the Eternal. It looks like the new max-level legendaries will be item level 291. In addition to Soul Ash and Soul Cinders, these will require a new currency, Cosmic Flux which drops from various sources. This could be useful: Cosmic Flux Parcel.

Cosmic Flux can also be used to convert season 3 gear into tier pieces. See the article.

Note that they just announced that Shards of Domination will be disabled in the new 9.2 zone and raid so you likely will want to replace your Domination gear.

They have also announced that there will be a second legendary (a belt) that will become available at the end of chapter 7 of the campaign, so keep that slot open.

Crafters will be able to make a full set of 233 gear and a unique-equipped piece of 262 gear (which conflicts with any piece of 230 crafted gear which you may already have equipped). The patterns required to craft this gear are sold by Quartermaster Vilo once you reach Honored with The Enlightened so the new gear won't be available on day one.

In addition, crafters will be able to apply a new optional reagent (Progenitor Enhancement) when crafting any gear from level 151 to 262. Currently these are shown as:

• Magically Regulated Automa Core (enchanting)
• Cosmic Protoweave (enchanting)
• Infusion: Corpse Purification (alchemy)
• Ephemera Harmonizing Stone (jewelcrafting)
• Pure-Air Sail Extensions (engineering)
• Erratic Genesis Matrix (engineering)
• Devourer Essence Stone (jewelcrafting)
• Sustaining Armor Polish (alchemy)

You will probably want to craft or buy a piece of 262 gear with one of the new enhancements. As a test, I crafted and equipped two pieces of gear both with the Sustaining Armor Polish and the effect did not stack. You can, however, create multiple pieces of gear with different Progenitor Enhancements and the various enhancements should all apply.

I also crafted a 233 helm but I could not apply an Alloy-Warping Facetor (purchased from Archivist Roh-Suir) to add a socket. So maybe the new crafted gear is considered season 3 gear? Since the new raid traditionally starts the new PvP season, it's not surprising that the Alloy-Warping Facetor can't be applied to the raid gear.

So, based on the above, does it still make sense to farm Cataloged Research in Korthia? If you've gotten to rank 6 with Roh-Suir, upgraded all of your Korthia gear to 233, and added sockets to all of your eligible season 2 gear, maybe not. But Patch 9.2 is still a couple of weeks away and you may get some new gear from the Great Vault which may need a socket. So I would keep at least 5,000 Cataloged Research in reserve so you can buy an Alloy-Warping Facetor from Roh-Suir. In addition, he sells Death-Bound Shards for 3,000 Cataloged Research. While these provide just a random upgrade to Conduits, they may be of some benefit.

Getting ready

Since Shards of Domination won't be effective in Zereth Mortis and the new raid, Sepulcher of the First Ones, consider swapping out your domination gear if you have higher level gear for those slots. AskMrRobot was recently updated for 9.2.

Important: It looks like Valor is getting reset to 0, either with the arrival of 9.2 or likely a week later with Season 3. Also you will no longer be able to upgrade pre-Season 3 gear using Valor. So spend the valor that you have now to upgrade any gear that you can prior to 2/22 to be safe.

Clean out your bags and scrap lower level gear or at least dump it in your bank.

Stock up on Spiritual Healing potions. Also stat food and/or Ethereal Pomegranates. Things like Spectral Flask of Power can be useful at times if you can afford them.

It looks like the Great Vault awards are going up. I copied a character to the PTR that had done a mythic+12 and the Great Vault award went from 246 to 272. I don't know if this is a feature of 9.2 going live or the start of Season 3 with the new raid as both are "live" on the PTR, so I would do a mythic+ dungeon the week prior to February 22nd just in case it's the former (ok, it's likely a season 3 thing which means doing the mythic+'s the week of February 22nd has a better chance of awarding the higher level gear from the great vault. And, of course, it's something that you will want to do every week starting March 1st to help you gear up).

When 9.2 goes live, you may want to pick just your main character to run through the first three chapters of the campaign. Once you have done that, any alts that you have can skip ahead in the campaign. For the alts, just pick up the first 9.2 Campaign Quest, Call of the Primus, and go to Tal-Inara who will give you the option to skip.

Note that you will need to complete chapter 4 of the campaign to gain access to the portal to the new raid, Sepulcher of the First Ones, and Chapter 4 isn't available until March 1st which is when the raid opens. The portal is at (64.8, 53.5) and it looks like each of your characters will need to learn how to access the portal. There is a meeting stone at (77.7, 49.5) so at least two members of your raiding party will need to finish chapter 4.

Season 3

To learn flying in Zereth Mortis (account-wide), you'll need to complete Unlocking the Secrets. This can be accomplished after completing Chapter 6 of the Campaign.

Mythic+ dungeons are again an excellent source of gear both from the chest at the last boss and the weekly Great Vault award. See the awards by dungeon level.

Similar to Season 2, you can upgrade your Season 3 armor using valor:

Rank	Upgrade to next level	Rating requirement
4	246	none
5	249	none
6	252	none
7	255	600
8	259	1000
9	262	1000
10	265	1400
11	268	1700
12	272	2000

You can add sockets to your Season 3 gear using Ephemera-Innfused_Mesh. These are sold by Ko'tul in Oribos.

For flexibility in your choice of a second legendary, you will want to buy a Memory of Unity from the Quartermaster, Vilo. This requires reaching Revered with The Enlightened. See The Enlightened Reputation Guide. The Unity is account-wide once one of your characters has presented it to the Runecarver. It can be used to create a second legendary up to level 291.

Starting April 12th, you will be able to use Cosmic Flux to convert Season 3 gear into Tier pieces. See the article about the Creation Catalyst.

Patch 9.2.7 is arriving August 16, 2022.

Important: It looks like Valor is getting reset to 0 with the start of Season 4 which is arriving on August 16th (Patch 9.2.7). And, when that happens, you will no longer be able to upgrade pre-Season 4 gear using Valor. So spend the valor that you have now to upgrade any Season 3 gear that you can. If you run out of gear to upgrade and still have 500 or more Valor left over, you can visit Au'Dara in Oribos to buy some lower-level gear for alts or Ko'tul in Oribos to buy crafting mats.

They are introducing "Fated Raids" in Season 4. Here's a good overview. Each week, one of the three Shadowland Raids (Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination and Sepulcher of the First Ones) will be marked as "Fated". The "Fated" raids will offer higher-level gear drops (RF-265/272, Normal-278/285, Heroic-291/297, and Mythic-304/311). It's likely that the "Fated" raids will be more difficult. Here is the current Fated raid schedule. Note from the overview above, certain World Bosses will also be "Fated" and will drop 285 loot.

There are some new loot currencies associated with the Fated raids - see the video. At the start, it looks like it will require killing 30 raid bosses to earn 1 dinar which will take 3 weeks. Since each of the raids has 10 or 11 bosses, you probably will want to run a full clear on RF or better each week for whichever Fated raid is up. To earn your second dinar, it will require killing 15 Fated raid bosses over a two-week period. To earn your third dinar, it only requires killing an additional 5 Fated raid bosses which means it can also be completed during the 5th week. The dinar vendors will show up in Oribos once you have earned your first dinar. If you are wondering which piece of gear to buy with your dinars, visit ask mr. robot, select Upgrade Finder/Raid and select the three Shadowland raids on Normal difficulty.

The other new currency is Shards, which will drop one per boss kill on Heroic or Mythic difficulty. It will require 20 shards to upgrade one piece of Fated raid gear.

Visit your covenant quartermaster to see if you can buy this. They've removed the Season 3 Endgame achievement requirement.

It also looks like the Great Vault awards are going up. I copied a character to the PTR that had done a mythic+12 and the Great Vault award went from 272 to 298. This will likely happen after the start of Season 4. Note, also, that the Great Vault awards for raids are only for killing 2, 5 or 8 Fated raid bosses and nothing for the other two raids that week. The Great Vault awards for killing Fated Raids bosses appear to be RF-265, Normal-278, Heroic-291 and Mythic-304.

They are adding older dungeons to the mythic+ dungeon lineup: Operation Mechagon (both Junkyard and Workshop), Return to Karazhan (Lower and Upper), Grimrail Depot and Iron Docks. Fortunately, they have added portals in Oribos near the Flight Manager to get close to where these dungeons are located.

As for the Shadowlands dungeons, only Tazavesh (Streets of Wonder and So'leah's Gambit) are currently shown on the PTR. So this means that the total number of mythic+ dungeons that we can run is being reduced from 10 to 8. This will likely make it harder to work on our mythic+ rating.
Apparently, you won't be able to complete the other Shadowlands dungeons on mythic+ hence they can't contribute to your Mythic+ Rating nor can you farm valor.

Here is an update on the patch notes.