Acacia sent a tip that Swedish magazine Level has released their annual WoW issue, and there are some juicy tidbits in there about patch 2.4, which as you probably know will feature the last expected instance before the next expansion, the Sunwell. Jeff Kaplan did the deed in an interview, and let us know that:

• Sunwell Isle will be off the north coast of Silvermoon.
• Magister's Terrace will be the 5-man instance, and the Sunwell Plateau will be the 25-man raid, designed to close off the Burning Crusade storyline (although Kaplan admits there are a few more stories in progress in case they need to delay Wrath at all)
• There will be quests outside the dungeons, too, and they will tell the story of Tempest Keep
• And with those quests, there will be a new faction, called the "Shattered Sun Offensive."
• Finally, the limit of daily quests will raise in 2.4, from 10 to a whopping 25 (which is all the quests in your log. Money money money!)

There are a few more good story notes, but those are spoilers, so we'll put them after the break. If you don't want to know what you'll find in the Sunwell, don't click the link below. But if you're fine with hearing about it ahead of time, feel free to hit the link and move on.

Serious Spoiler Alert! Do not read on if you don't want to know what's in the instances.

• The town outside the instance will start as a camp, and as more quests are done, it will grow into a full town, with some buildings being "retaken." Kaplan says it'll work just like the opening of the AQ gates, but on a smaller scale.
• Some bosses in the dungeons will be inaccessible without reputation, and will be "unlocked" as the rep comes along.
• One of the bosses in the 5-man will be none other than... Kael'thas. He's back. And apparently Kaplan says he'll have a large green crystal attached to his chest. Keeping him alive, maybe?
• Kil'jaeden will feature in the 25-man instance, and Kaplan says it'll be a fight on par with Illidan. Other bosses in the 25 man: A pit lord named Brutalicus, the blue dragon aspect Kalecgos himself (who is enslaved under Kil'jaeden), a Fel Dragon (!), female Eredar twins, and a Dark Naaru (!!)
• The Sunwell dungeon will be on par with the Black Temple, and all the drops will be above Tier 6.

Wow. Sounds incredible-- not just the stuff in the dungeon, but the events and quest hubs outside of it as well. Patch 2.4 is scheduled to drop sometime in 2008. Should be amazing.

Update: There's more:

• "Balancing" for PvP coming.
• Blizzard is extremely happy with daily quests, so expect to see more of those to encourage players to visit places they might not have.
• Big plans for Arenas, especially in terms of "e-sport acceptance." Your guess is as good as ours as to what their plans are.

Tags: bosses, instances, kil'jaeden, magisters-terrace, naaru, patch-2.4, sunwell, tempest-keep

Filed under: Patches, Blizzard, Instances, Raiding, The Burning Crusade, Bosses, NPCs, Wrath of the Lich King