World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth isn't out until September at the latest, but dataminers have already picked through an early alpha version of the expansion to discover some tasty secrets. We still don't know much about Battle for Azeroth beyond what Blizzard has already told us, but thanks to the tireless efforts of these digital snoopers, we do know that Battle for Azeroth will have some pretty awesome looking mounts—like a giant bumble bee—and some killer armor sets too.
I'll always recommend that expansions are more fun if you go in knowing as little as possible, but I get it—we all need a little tease now and then to keep us going. That's why I've rounded up some of the coolest things dataminers have dug up. None of this would be possible without the hard work of community sites like Wowhead, so be sure to check out their the full list of everything datamined so far to see a more complete picture.
Mounts
Wowhead dataminers have already uncovered dozens of new mounts that will be coming in Battle for Azeroth—including retextured versions of already-existing horses. You can check out the full list of each mount, including alternate versions, here (this also lets you check them out using an interactive 3D viewer). But I've gone through and picked out some of my favorite to gawk over.
This bee mount is probably my favorite of all the mounts datamined so far. I love how it's just a giant bee—no glowing energy, no nefarious fel magic taint. Just a really big bee that wants to take you places and also carries a large pot of honey on its abdomen. Oh, there's also a stick of honey that you can use as a weapon trasmog too. Start up a new Pandaren and bam!—you got yourself a pretty amazing Winnie the Pooh cosplay.
During a Q and A panel, Blizzard promised us that there would be a frog mount related to the new Nazmir zone and a frog 'loa' (spirits that trolls worship). What dataminers found was this big boy and it looks amazing.
This Vulpera Buzzard is one of many very suspicious clues that one of Battle for Azeroth's allied races could be the anthropomorphic fox people called Vulperas (more on that below). As the video demonstrates, these buzzards are flown by the Vulpera, and off the top of my head I can't think of all that many NPC-only races that have their own flying mounts.
Here's some other mounts that really stand out.
Weapons, armor, and upright orcs
Of course, Battle for Azeroth is going to introduce hundreds of new pieces of equipment to find and collect. Being that the expansion is split between the Alliance zones' dreary nautical aesthetic and the vibrant, tribal look of the Zandalari trolls means there is no shortage of ways to style your character.
Here are some of my favorite picks from the armor sets that have been mined so far. For a full list, check out Wowhead.
Finally, as we already mentioned, there appears to be an option to change your Orc's posture in Battle for Azeroth. Finally, player orcs can finally stand upright like many of their NPC brethren.
New Allied Races
When Battle for Azeroth was first announced at Blizzcon 2017, we knew that each faction would initially get three allied races. The Horde would recruit the Nightborne and Highmountain Tauren first and the Zandalari Trolls sometime after. The Alliance, on the other hand, would recruit the Void Elves and Lightforged Draenei with the Dark Iron Dwarves coming later. But dataminers have also sleuthed out several new races too.
The Horde will also be recruiting a special clan of Mag'Har Orcs from beyond the Dark Portal leading to the alternate version of Draenor as seen in Warlords of Draenor. Mag'Har orcs have reddish skin and tribal tattoos that help differentiate them from their greenskin kin. Like all allied races, Mag'Har orcs also have a unique set of Heritage Armor. It looks very badass.
The Alliance will eventually be able to recruit Kul'Tiran humans, who are a more hearty and big-boned breed. Not much else is known about the Kul'Tiran allied race at this point, but dataminers have discovered that they'll have their own unique druid forms. So far, only the tank-like bear form has been revealed, but it looks absolutely amazing.
Here's a look at both Kul'Tiran males and females in just their skinnies.
The last suspected Allied Race has a big question mark over it—and not because it's offering you a quest. Dataminers have discovered an impressively large amount of customization and animation options for the Vulpera, a race of anthropomorphic foxes that are about the size of goblins. Optimistic players are using this as evidence that eventually the race will be playable, but a Blizzard community manager has said that they "found that setting up certain races as though they were player characters can be highly advantageous for NPC customization in story content."
Basically, it's easier for them to give NPC races the full customization treatment and that doesn't mean they'll be playable later. But that could also just be Blizzard trying to cover its tracks. Anyway, you can take a closer look using Wowhead's dressing room. What do you think, too cutesy for Warcraft?
Story and lore spoilers
Along with all of these item and character models, dataminers have also uncovered quite a bit of dialogue that hints at, and spoils, some of the events in Battle for Azeroth. There's nothing that is outwardly surprising—Blizzard already confirmed that both Teldrassil and the Undercity (formerly Lordaeron) would be under heavy attack—but lore buffs might want a tease at what big villains like Queen Azshara has to say.
If the thought of spoiling even a hint of the story is as repulsive to you as it is to me, you can also just kick back and listen to some of the wonderful new music that is in Battle for Azeroth. I love this track in particular.
That covers a large portion of what's been datamined in Battle for Azeroth so far. Again, none of this would be possible without the hard work of communities like Wowhead, so be sure to head over to there to check out a complete list of everything that's been discovered so far—including some pretty exciting class changes.
