Amidst discussion surrounding the nostalgia presented by WoW Classic and even the imminent future of Battle for Azeroth, perhaps one World of Warcraft’s biggest announcements may have been overshadowed. Coming to the game a little later down the road in Patch 8.2, Rise of Azshara, will be “The Mechagon”, the home of a massive dungeon serving as a potential highlight when it comes to 5-man content in BfA.

Firstly, it’s important to establish that The Mechagon is much more than a dungeon; it’s a lost gnomish city home to an entire age of Azeroth’s history. It’s ruler, King Mechagon, dreams of a civilization where the races of flesh are transformed into more perfect, more pure robots, powered by metal and steam.

At first glance, this mechanical and technologically-centered kingdom most definitely harkens back to places like Ulduar and of course, Gnomeregan, while instances like The Motherlode and the Halls of Lightning seem to have played an integral part of the new area’s development. However, with elements of the Battle for Azeroth art style surely to be involved in the overall creative arc of the Mechagon, we could expect to see a much-needed update to Gnomish culture and architecture, one that would most definitely fit the current era of World of Warcraft.

As of now, the Mechagon Megadungeon is slated to have eight bosses, and, in a similar vein to the Return of Karazhan dungeon from Legion, it will only be available on Mythic difficulty – at least for the first few months of its existence. While it’s unclear who exactly we’ll be facing off against inside the dungeon, it’s almost a given that King Mechagon, one of WoW’s newest foes, will be involved somehow.

In addition to the brand new aforementioned dungeon, The Mechagon will also play host to “Mechagon Arena”, a new PvP arena slated to release alongside Patch 8.2. And while it’s still up in the air as to when the patch will hit the live servers, or even the PTR for that matter, we could expect to be in the Mechagon sometime in 2019. At the very least, we could hope that the release of the new content doesn’t overlap with the release of WoW Classic in the Summer of next year.