New Pandaria Timerunning Spell in Patch 10.2.5 - Connections to Dark Heart & Worldsoul Saga

Wow 2024 Content Roadmap

With the unveiling of the 2024 WoW roadmap, we speculated about the potential return of Challenge Modes with the Timerunning Pandamonium event coming in the Patch 10.2.7: Dark Heart update later this spring. We've since discovered a new spell in Patch 10.2.5 related to Timerunning that could shed some light on what we might expect from the new event and how it could have potential ties to the greater Worldsoul Saga.

New Timerunning Spell

At first glance, "Pandaria Event Shard Active" and its subsequent buff don't appear to offer a lot of additional information, but let's deep dive. 'Pandaria Timerunning' does confirm that the spelling of Pandamonium was not accidental and would likely involve Mists of Pandaria content. That was practically a given in my last speculation, but it's good to get some actual evidence of that.

"Content Tuning Aura" suggests that either the player or the existing content is being retuned via this spell for this Timerunning event. While that's not particularly shocking since that's the exact nature of Timewalking, the method by which they do is via 'Effect - Apply Aura: Modify Raid.'

You might be thinking that has to be a fairly common spell effect, but actually it's quite limited to 20 or so spells, most of which are fairly new. The most similar to a content tuning aura would be Fated Raid which was the buff introduced in Shadowlands Season 4 that indicated a Fated Raid or world boss.

There are other 'Modify Raid' auras in the above list related to world content like Dreamsurges (Dreamsurge Learnings/Dreamsurge Defenders), so it is possible this Timerunning event could be reprised world content. The above spell does reference 'shard' which usually refers to a new copy of an area used to prevent overcrowding. Many have speculated that this could be an evergreen update to one of WoW's most popular zones, the Timeless Isle, which could offer a continual stream of outdoor content for players.

But let's follow the 'raid' aspect a bit further.

Siege of Orgrimmar Returns?

We previously speculated that perhaps Timerunning would just be additional difficulties of the suspected Mists of Pandaria Timewalking raid, Siege of Orgrimmar, and the above aura would lend credence to that speculation. Farming an iconic WoW raid for leveling gear and those sweet updated Garrosh heirlooms as players await the launch of The War Within seems like a credible event to head into the next expansion.

But is it better than challenge modes? Perhaps there's more to it than that?

Xal'atath & The Worldsoul Saga

Timerunning Pandamonium appears in the Patch 10.2.7: Dark Heart content update alongside Harbinger Quests. The Dark Heart here could potentially refer to the Heart of Y'Shaarj. In the Siege of Orgrimmar raid, Garrosh channels this void relic to become an avatar of the old god. The Dark Heart is also conveniently the focal point of the Siege of Orgrimmar loading screen.

The Harbinger as revealed at BlizzCon refers to Xal'atath, a major antagonist of the War Within and greater Worldsoul Saga. Now freed from the black blade that once bound her, Xal'atath is now the Harbinger of a new era of the Void's dark machinations and seeks to set in motion the rise of a new dark legacy.

The Dark Heart of Y'Shaarj, the last remaining vestige of the most powerful and wicked Old God, sounds exactly like something Xal'atath might attempt to collect to empower this new dark legacy. Xal'atath has a history of seeking to empower herself by absorbing the essence of void-related beings.

Lore Spotlight: Who is Xal'atath, the Harbinger?

In our first interaction with Xal'atath, she convinces us to channel the essence of a C'Thrax into her blade. In Dragonflight, Xal'atath (via Iridikron) traversed the timeways to collect Galakrond's essence in an artifact that resembles a void-infused Heart of Azeroth. Could she be looking to infuse the Dark Heart of Y'Shaarj into her Dark Heart artifact?

So why are we now Timerunning instead of Timewalking? We could now be in a race with Xal'atath to prevent her from collecting these dark artifacts across time starting with the Dark Heart in Siege of Orgrimmar. It certainly raises the stakes on Timewalking. Who's to say we have to stop there? We already have a Timewalking Ulduar for Yogg-Saron, so what's stopping us from a Timerunning Temple of Ahn'Qiraj or Ny'alotha?

Tying larger narrative stakes to a reprised raid not only allows players to experience the stories of past expansions but to become active participants in this new Worldsoul Saga. However, if this is indeed their intent with Timerunning Pandamonium, then I do hope this comes with additional gameplay and rewards that truly make it feel like I'm having encounters with the next major villain of World of Warcraft.

That's not to say that I've stopped hoping for a return of Challenge Modes from this event. This evidence could just as likely reinforce the idea that content tuning has been discovered for the reimagined Challenge Modes, but we'll just have to see what arrives later this spring.

What do you think Timerunning is? If we are in a race to stop Xal'atath, what other artifacts do you think she'd be interested in? Give us your best speculation in the comments!