Project Epoch April 2025 developer log: 154 issues closed ahead of launch

Project Epoch says it is "extremely close to launch", and a trailer, a release date and the Website 2.0 reveal are expected soon. With backend work largely complete, the team is switching back to hands-on game development in May, along with polish and final content passes.

The team closed 154 issues in April, leaving 1,417 open, and 28 of those are launch-blocking, a net increase of five after the QA team re-categorised issues. QA also verified all unconfirmed reports. In May, key developers will work almost exclusively on launch blockers. The team also thanked community contributor ulmetrs for significant open-source core fixes.

The team now considers Stratholme's dungeon scripting "done", and endgame dungeon bug fixing is nearly complete. Baradin Hold received a final tuning pass covering pacing, clarity and trash nerfs, and the Eastern Plaguelands PvP towers will be enabled for launch.

Website 2.0

The new site is in its final phase, with a strong focus on responsive design for mobile and tablet users, who make up over 41% of visitors. The team commissioned Magic to help finish the site, which is meant to be Project Epoch's long-term web presence. Initial reviews are done, and final tweaks are expected in early May.

Polish work by Kes

Kes spent April on game polish, including:

Reviewed and corrected hundreds of custom item, quest and NPC texts, and created an internal style guide
Upgraded the custom goblin skin files to include teeth
Audited all custom quest, rare spawn and reputation vendor items for balance and fit with the itemisation philosophy
Overhauled every item with the Expertise stat to match Epoch's new stat weights
Fixed more than 50 quest bugs, many of them from recent beta tests
Added a new Gnomish graveyard in Brewnall Village for convenience on Gnomeregan runs
Added new vendor items for the Argent Dawn, Thorium Brotherhood and Ravenholdt
Reintegrated and reworked TBC-era Ashenvale quests for Demon Fall Canyon
Restructured the internal team Discord for better planning
Added custom content to Moonglade, including Malfurion in his barrow den

Class and racial changes

The class tweaks are small, and the full log has the details:

Mage: Improved Blink merged into Prismatic Cloak, a new Improved Arcane Intellect talent and adjustments to Pyroclastic Burst
Druid: Overgrowth reworked as an AoE Rejuvenation, Dreamstate buffed and Moonfire buffed significantly
Hunter: lower mana cost for Steady Shot
Shaman: Shamanistic Rage formula rewritten and an itemisation tweak to the Elemental Shaman Dungeon Set 2
Rogue: adjusted 4pc, 6pc and 8pc Dungeon Set 2 effects

The team also rethought Undead racial knowledge. Cannibalize returns as a mainline Racial Knowledge ability that other races can learn, with thematic variations. Undead get a new cosmetic racial, Body Modification, which lets them temporarily take on the appearance of most Undead and Forsaken NPCs.