Blizzard Confirms Cross-Realm Battles For WoW News

Blizzard Entertainment has today confirmed new details surrounding the next update for MMO World of Warcraft. Whilst a release date for the next patch is yet to be announced by Blizzard, today's news is sure to get the hardcore WoW-ers pretty excited.

First up is confirmation of World PvP, which is to be introduced in two regions of Azeroth: Silithus and the Eastern Plaguelands. Both areas will feature permanently active non-instanced objectives that gamers can access voluntarily, though successfully completing them will mean more Honour points and zone-wide Faction benefits.

In Silithus, gamers will have to collect 'spice' from the various geysers that have sprung up throughout the zone, and return it to their faction's base. Picking up the spice will automatically flag even PvE avatars as PvP active, so the race will be on to return to base before being hunted down and defeated by some of the other players. Collecting a certain amount of spice will make that faction buff, with benefits for the zone and the two Ahn'Qiraj dungeons.

Meanwhile in the Eastern Plaguelands, each of the factions race to control the stone towers dotted in the zone. Once all four towers are controlled, faction benefits will be released, including a faster flight-path to the zone, and a zone-wide buff.

The second gameplay option to feature in the next patch will be Cross-Realm Battlegrounds. For the first time, players will be able to fight against others from a number of realms in the three instanced battlegrounds of Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley. Blizzard states that the intention will not only allow gamers to prove their worth across a number of realms, but to also make the Battleground experience more enjoyable for players.

We'll have more on World of Warcraft shortly...