WoW Season of Discovery: Hakkar the Blood God Envelopes Stranglethorn Vale?

Phase 2 of WoW Season of Discovery is set to launch on February 8th, raising the level cap to 40. It enhances the leveling assault within Gnomeregan and introduces new runes, skills, and a PvP event across the entire Stranglethorn Vale! Blizzard's promotional video shows the sky above Stranglethorn Vale turning red. Could there be a related legend?

As the Blood God, Hakkar the Soulflayer has always been closely associated with the red or "blood-colored" moon, particularly in his artistic representations. According to "Embrace" (Folk Stories and Fairy Tales of Azeroth), she only turns deep red when the White Lady is angry.

Around 1500 years before the Dark Portal opened, the Gurubashi trolls of Stranglethorn Vale were once one of the most powerful empires in Azeroth. They turned to Hakkar, the Blood God, to reclaim their past glory. Hakkar agreed to help the Gurubashi expand their empire into the lower half of the Eastern Kingdoms, but the deity demanded a vast amount of blood in exchange.

Thousands of beings were brought to the Hakkar-blood-soaked altar in the Gurubashi capital of Zul'Gurub, consecrated to the Blood God. His insatiable spirit greedily consumed their blood. Over time, this concerned the Zandalari trolls, who realized Hakkar's bloodlust could never be satisfied. Worse still, they discovered that the extreme Hakkar cultists, the Atal'ai, were plotting to summon Hakkar into a tangible form. The Zandalari trolls were well aware of the danger - a similar attempt to summon Hakkar into Zandalar millennia ago had led to a blood plague sweeping through the entire empire.

Most Gurubashi opposed summoning Hakkar, and they united with the Zandalari trolls to thwart this madness. Fortunately, their efforts were successful. Hakkar and his followers were defeated, and the surviving Atal'ai fled to the Swamp of Sorrows, where they built the Temple of Atal'Hakkar. Once again, they planned to summon Hakkar into our world, but this time, the green dragon, Aspect Ysera, intervened. The Atal'ai were defeated again, but many survived.

It turns out that Hakkar can only be summoned again within Zul'Gurub. The Atal'ai, determined to summon the Blood God, infiltrated the city and enslaved its most powerful priests using mind control. When the trolls of the region realized what was happening, it was almost too late. Zul'Gurub was quickly ultimately under Atal'ai control, and the summoning of Hakkar had begun. Any attempts to storm the capital and stop Hakkar proved futile.

In Season of Discovery, the story progresses to this point. While we may not enter Zul'Gurub soon, the Atal'ai are likely already there, preparing to summon Hakkar into our world. Of course, Season of Discovery involves some surprises, so what impact could the "Blood Ritual for the Blood God" have on our game?

Once summoned, the Corrupted Blood Plague triggered by Hakkar is perhaps one of the most infamous plagues in World of Warcraft, comparable even to the Undead Plague. This is because, in the original version of Azeroth, after Zul'Gurub's initial release, players discovered that the plague could be brought out of the instance through infected Hunter and Warlock pets. The plague quickly spread across Azeroth, causing a significant pandemic and resulting in numerous deaths in major cities. Now known as the Corrupted Blood Incident, Blizzard attempted to stop the plague through several hotfixes but ultimately had to terminate it through forced resets and updates.

We'll share plenty of news and strategies about the Season of Discovery, so feel free to explore. Season of Discovery Gold is available, and you're invited to purchase it. Click the link for the US server: wow sod gold or for the EU server: wow sod gold eu.