World of Warcraft's goblin and worgen visual update is coming soon

(Image credit: Blizzard)

World of Warcraft's vanilla races got a big makeover during Warlords of Draenor, but the newer races were deemed good enough and left alone. If your worgen has started to look a little bit mangy, don't worry, their time has finally come. Goblins and worgen are both getting a visual update, including new animations. The new look will be tested in the Public Test Realms soon, along with some other new features coming to 8.2.5.

Blizzard will be testing 15th anniversary event, which will gift players an adorable Lil' Nefarian pet and other presents, along with raids and battlegrounds with nods to the MMO's past. If you manage to defeat all the bosses in the raid wings, you'll get your very own Obsidian Worldbreaker, inspired by Deathwing itself.

If dragons aren't your thing—they're big, they're temperamental, they're a nightmare to groom—you might prefer riding a bee, also available in the update. Alliance players can get the mount by helping Barry the Beekeeper and the Hivemother. And If you need more raids, max-level players will be able to hit up Sulfuron Spire when Cataclysm Timewalking is active.

Blizzard's made it a lot easier to find a party and quests over the years, even introducing zone scaling a couple of years ago, and it looks like it's now taking a page from the likes of Final Fantasy 14 by experimenting with party sync.

"When players activate Party Sync, everyone in the party becomes aligned to the same quest state, including phases," says Blizzard. "By mousing over a quest in your tracker, you can see who is on the quest, what their progress is, and who’s ready to turn in the quest."

Blizzard's also testing a replay feature that will let players replay quests for level-appropriate rewards, making it more worthwhile to join some friends on a low-level adventure. High-level players will also be able to queue with their low-level friends in dungeons and PvP, with their level being scaled down.

Recruit A Friend is returning with 8.2.5, after ceasing last month. Everyone with active game time will be able to recruit friends, using a custom link that will also let you see if they've bought WoW and what rewards you're due. The longer your friend subscribes, the more rewards you'll get, including pets, mounts and game time. Is it ethical to hook your friends on an MMO? Who cares, you get cool toys.

The 8.2.5 is coming to the PTR soon. And if you're feeling nostalgic, World of Warcraft Classic is due out on August 27.

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Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.