Patch 12.1 Preseason Guide: Hero Gear & Sparks — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

[00:03] finally live, bringing us a bunch of new content and a whole host of new bugs. Quite a few quests and systems don't seem to be working properly. And we've discovered that you can get up to three sparks of tides this week, but not

[00:16] everyone will be able to get all three, creating a very uneven playing field right before the new season. We're also able to pick up some hero track gear this week. And there are a few content options that are far more lucrative than

[00:30] we previously thought. So, let's go over how you can get some of these better rewards in the preeason and what bugs you might want to avoid. Now, before we jump in, be sure to hit on that like button and subscribe so you never miss

[00:42] The first big change is that we were expecting to only be able to pick up one Spark of Tides this week, but in actuality, you can get up to three. But not everyone will be able to get that third spark. The first spark comes from

[00:56] the trailing the Zalith weekly quest in Silver Moon. You just need to collect 100 fading void whispers from delves, dungeons, rares, or treasures. And this will be completed automatically if you're planning on doing dungeons or

[01:08] delves already this week. The curse surge weekly quest from the coil dial gotten one already from the trailing Salatath weekly quest, but some players are reporting that it hasn't been giving them a spark at all. So hopefully that's

[01:23] quickly. You can pick up a second spark from the PvP weekly quests, Sparks of War Voidtorm and Sparks of War Nagtal. The Sparks of War voidstorm quest doesn't always list a spark as a reward, but it

[01:38] will give you one if you haven't done the other PvP quest first. The Sparks of War Night quest shows the spark as a reward more often. But just like the curse surge quest, it hasn't been consistent in actually rewarding a

[01:51] spark, even if you do it before the void storm quest. So, it's a bit of a mess right now. But the general idea is that you should be able to get one spark from the PvE weekly quests and one from the PvP weekly quests. That lets you create

[02:05] a piece of spark crafted gear in this first week if you really want to, but I would probably hold off until next week when you can start earning champion and hero gear much easier. Now, the third spark we talked about is a bit weird.

[02:18] This one comes from the midnight world tour quest in Silver Moon. If that you played at the very start of the expansion and you've probably already completed this quest. For anyone who is returning for 12.1, for any of your alts

[02:33] that didn't complete the quest, or really just anyone else who completely ignored it for whatever reason, they can pick up this quest from Loramar and earn another spark for season 2. This quest will only show up if you didn't complete

[02:47] it during season 1. So, not everyone can get this third spark, and it creates a very uneven playing field right from the very first week of the patch, which definitely isn't ideal. Getting three sparks in the pre-season

[03:02] is kind of insane. We've never had that many crafting sparks so early before two-handed weapon as soon as the season starts or two pieces of other gear, which is absolutely bonkers. Now, some or all of this may not be intended, so

[03:18] keep your eyes peeled for a blue post if something changes for spark acquisition starting the season with two sparks and others starting it with three. I would expect something to change as we head into next week. Maybe players will have

[03:33] their third spark revoked. Maybe other players will get an extra spark for wait and see what the dev team decides to do. Curiously, that wasn't the only quest that was updated for season 2. The spawn pool raid quest that rewarded you

[03:47] with a bonus role in season 1 was allegedly updated to reward you with a season 2 bonus roll instead if you hadn't already completed it. Now, this was fixed very quickly. So, the bonus roll has been removed at this point, but

[04:01] to the players who had obtained that bonus roll before the quest was fixed. Will I have the bonus roll removed? Will everyone else get a bonus roll for free? What if they already used the bonus roll and got an extra piece of gear? It's not

[04:15] a great situation all around. So once again, keep your eyes peeled for a blue post that goes over what, if anything, will happen to the players affected by Now, something else that we didn't expect is that you can actually pick up

[04:30] some hero track gear in this very first week. We're not entirely sure if this is intended as it's the first time this has been available in preseason, but you don't have to do anything funky. It just seems like a bit of an oversight. As you

[04:43] work your way through the new story quests to unlock the coiled Isle zone, you'll be introduced to the Vaults of Italy underground area, which has a constantly. But what we're most interested in are the important quest, A

[04:56] to Toxic Tour, and the weekly quest, Purging the Vaults. Now, if you can't complete the important quest called Into done that one, you do need to get it out

[05:08] introduces you to the Altar of Corrosion, so it's pretty important. Anyway, to complete these quests, you just have to take part in the various public events in the vaults, and the first one you hand in will give you a

[05:21] Trove Hunters Bounty map for season 2 delves. This is very unusual. The maps are usually restricted to the start of the season, and in the past, they've even been restricted for several weeks after the season starts. So, getting

[05:34] this map in the preseason week is very odd indeed. What's even weirder is that this map actually works on non-bountiful delves, expecting. This is also the first time that all tiers of delves are available

[05:48] in the preseason. So, you can unlock up to tier 11 delves, even though none of them are going to be bountiful. These two oddities combine to let you get a And because it's tied to the delve system, even solo content players can

[06:04] get this gear. for a stepbystep process. All you have to do is complete one of Italute to get your Trove Hunter Bounty map. Do not use that map until you've done the next step. You need to work your way up the delve ti until you can

[06:19] run at least a tier eight delve. That's the first tier where you can get the hero track gear. When you're ready to run your tier eight delve, use the map and then when you finish your tier eight delve run, you'll have a hidden trove at

[06:31] the end that contains a piece of hero track gear. That is the only piece of hero gear you can get in this first week. And the Trove Hunters bounty maps are strictly once per week with no catchup available. So, this essentially

[06:44] just puts you one piece of hero gear ahead of where you would otherwise be, which is actually huge if you're a solo content player. Just make sure you don't use the map until you are ready and able to clear that tier eight delve. If you

[06:57] use it before then, you won't get your piece of hero gear. Working through the tiers of delves to unlock tier eight or even tier 11 this week should also get all of your void whispers you need for the Vista Spark weekly quest. So you

[07:10] complete that one, which is nice and efficient. The vaults of Ital are actually more rewarding than we first thought. As well, the ancient foes that spawn after an incursion has been completed can drop

[07:23] venom cursed fragments and venom dredged sacks. The venom cursed fragments can be combined together into a piece of champion gear. So you can actually farm first thought. And then the venom drenched sacks contain veteran gear and

[07:37] champion crests. So you could potentially gear up quite quickly just by keeping an eye on the vaults of italch events and taking part in any incursions and ancient foe kills. Ancient foes always follow an incursion

[07:49] and the incursions are announced at the top of your screen with a timer until timer while you're in the vaults of Ital, just stick around to get some more Now, if you're wanting to play multiple characters through the new content this

[08:04] week, you will be happy to know that there is in fact a story skip for your chapter of the campaign, you can talk to Oria in Silver Moon to skip over the part where Zuljan finds the dagger and starts down the path that leads to the

[08:17] coiled aisle. Just make sure you don't accept the Hugar's Invitation quest and you might get stuck working through it on that specific character. That's the only skip available right now,

[08:30] to skip over the zone introduction or working through the new story quests. current campaign and unlocked world quests on one of your characters, your alts don't necessarily have to do the quests. Your alts can fly straight to

[08:45] the coiled aisle either on a mount or using the flight path, assuming you picked that up. And then you can just take part in the new zone content right away. World quests and cursed s urges will be available. You'll be able to

[08:57] pick up important weekly quests and even take part in the vaults of Ital events. Hopefully a proper story skip comes in at some point, maybe when we finish off the campaign next week, but for the most part, you don't actually need it right

[09:09] now. Now, unfortunately, there are a few issues with alts at the moment. When you buy a power in the corrosive codeex, it doesn't seem to be available to your alts. In fact, the power disappears

[09:22] entirely, and it messes up the whole look of the screen. So, for now, maybe pick and choose where you want to use the powers carefully. I imagine this will get fixed pretty quickly, though. Another oddity is that patch 12.1 seems

[09:36] to have broken a lot of the weekly quests on characters below level 90. You can no longer pick up any of the world event weekly quests tied to the midnight renowned factions. These quests offered some big chunks of experience for

[09:49] completing them. So quite a few players were using them to chip away slowly but surely at their alt army to get them up to max level with the minimum amount of effort required while earning some reputation or renown along the way.

[10:02] massively increased in one of the most recent patches, so it seems very odd to disable them for characters below level 90 in the new patch. This is probably just an oversight or a bug with the new

[10:15] patch merging with a live server and will hopefully be fixed quickly, but it's something to be aware of if you were using these quests to level up. But that's how you can get up to three crafting sparks this week and some hero

[10:27] track gear in the first week of the patch. So that's it for this video. What issues have you run into in patch 12.1 so far that you'd encourage everyone in the comments section below. A big thank you to all of our supporters over

[10:41] on YouTube. You can see their names on screen. If you're interested in links in the description or click the join button just below the video. If you any way, make sure to subscribe and ring that notification bell so you're always

[10:56] folks. Good luck and have fun. And as always, I will see you next time.