*The Coiled Isle — the new zone arriving in patch 12.1 on August 11, home of the Venomous Abyss raid and the Amani serpent loa Ula'tek.*

Week of 1 August 2026

World of Warcraft's next major content update is eleven days away, and the genre is moving at pace to meet it. Patch 12.1, confirmed for August 11, brings a new zone, a new dungeon, and a new raid for Season 2 a week later — while elsewhere, the Berlin Fanfest revelations for Final Fantasy XIV continue to settle into the community, Star Wars: The Old Republic has put its 8.0 update onto the public test server for the first time, EverQuest Legends has launched to queues and strong demand, and Black Desert Online's new Agent class is live. It is a week of movement, with several major releases converging on August.

World of Warcraft

Blizzard confirmed the release date for patch 12.1, Curse of Ula'tek, on 28 July: August 11 in North America, August 12 in Europe. Season 2 follows one week later on August 18. The announcement closes out a period of uncertainty that has run since the PTR opened in early July, and the full schedule through late September is now known.

Patch 12.1 — 11 August (US) / 12 August (EU)

The new zone is the Coiled Isle, a serpentine tropical island steeped in Amani troll history. The zone introduces new story quests, the World Boss Nymrissa Wavecaller (appearing from week one), and the Prey seasonal activity (Normal and Hard modes from launch; Nightmare and Curse of the Isle from week two).
New dungeon: Altar of Fangs, a three-boss instance on the Coiled Isle — Rav'i, The Writhing Coil, and Zul'jan. Opens to Heroic from patch launch; Mythic and Mythic+ from week two with Season 2.
New Delves Season 2: all tiers available from launch, with Bountiful Delves and keys unlocking on August 18. Three new delves added: Ring of Glory, Gnarled Rise, and Venom Fall Deeps.
Quality-of-life improvements confirmed for 12.1: account-wide UI settings, Auction House improvements, a one-time Profession Knowledge reset, and fixes for common combat and travel issues.
Decor Duels is being removed in patch 12.1. Most rewards are obtainable for Voidlight Marl after the patch; coin drop rates were doubled in the final weeks to help players complete existing runs.

Season 2 — 18 August

The Venomous Abyss — the new eight-boss raid — opens on August 18 across Normal, Heroic, Mythic, and Raid Finder Wing 1 simultaneously. The raid tells the story of Ula'tek, an ancient serpent loa summoned by the Amani whose awakening has unleashed further corruption. Boss order: Nek'zali the Soulcoiler, Entombed Sentinels, The Lost Explorers, Vashnik the Malignant, Sszorak, The Twin Fangs, The Coiled Altar, and Ula'tek herself.
The Season 2 Mythic+ rotation is confirmed: Altar of Fangs, Murder Row, Den of Nalorakk, The Blinding Vale, Voidscar Arena, Kings' Rest (Battle for Azeroth), Temple of Sethraliss (Battle for Azeroth), and Ruby Life Pools (Dragonflight).
PvP Season 2 and Great Vault Season 2 gear also begin August 18.

Classic — Upcoming

The Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary Phase 3 launches 27 August, introducing Black Temple and Mount Hyjal raids, a new daily faction quest hub, and more.
Classic realm UI elements are being updated to modern equivalents — a gradual change that improves usability at the cost of some vintage feel.
Turbulent Timeways runs through August 11, offering Battle for Azeroth Timewalking this week and Burning Crusade Timewalking from the Tuesday reset.

BlizzCon 2026

BlizzCon 2026 is confirmed for September 12–13 in Anaheim. Free global livestream. Digital BlizzCon bundles (mounts, transmog, housing decor) are available to purchase through September 28. Patch 12.1.5 is already in early vendor-server testing, expected later in autumn in line with the eight-week cadence.

*Bastion — the new Tank job for Evercold, wielding paired skyltborg gun-shields. Revealed by Naoki Yoshida at the Berlin Fanfest keynote on 25 July.*

Final Fantasy XIV

The Berlin Fan Festival delivered what its audience came for: a new job reveal, expansion of the Evercold world, a major crossover announcement, and a confirmed Switch 2 launch date. The week following has been dominated by community discussion of everything that was shown, with Patch 7.55 having landed on 28 July and the Switch 2 launch five days away.

Berlin Fanfest — Key Reveals

The new tank job is Bastion — a main tank, Evolved mode only, starting at level 90 and unlocked in Limsa Lominsa. Its weapons are paired large shields called skyltborgs, which transform between melee and ranged modes mid-combat. The job can also apply healing and defensive effects directly to party members. Its lore originates in the ancient martial traditions of Aersland, the ancestral home of the Sea Wolves Roegadyn.
Two new Realmships were confirmed as expansion areas: Naglfar (Realmship of Water) and Hringhorni (Realmship of Fire), vast airship-cities that became the centres of civilisation after the world froze. A new city called Fargarth was also named.
The MSQ structure for Evercold is non-linear: after a shared opening area, players can tackle three areas in any chosen order before the story reconverges. A new auto-balancing system adjusts content accordingly.
The next eight-man raid series is a Final Fantasy VII Remake crossover titled Beyond the Lifestream, with story contributions by Motomu Toriyama and supervision by Kazushige Nojima and Tetsuya Nomura. It launches with patch 8.01 across Normal, the new intermediate difficulty, and Savage. A Gold Saucer FFVII-themed area (including the four-player typing mini-game Keybound Brawler) and Tifa/Barret glamour sets arrive in patch 7.6 on October 28.
World Raids: a new open-world public content system in the vein of Eureka and Bozja is confirmed for Evercold, bringing large-scale field activities back to the main game.
Chocobo companions can be brought into dungeons from patch 8.1, with a new dungeon co-op mode scaling the duty to Chocobo stats.
The second new job — a Physical Ranged DPS — will be revealed at the Tokyo Fan Festival in October. A sound cue in the extended trailer (a raptor-like call) has fuelled speculation about its theme.

Upcoming — Switch 2 and Patch 7.56

Final Fantasy XIV launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on 4 August, with a one-month free access period for server stability. Full cross-progression is supported, and a Free Trial version is also available from launch. The eShop listing is live now.
Patch 7.55 went live on 28 July as the final substantive Dawntrail patch before the Evercold cycle begins.
Patch 7.56 — including MSQ Part 2 and the Beastmaster Limited Job — is scheduled for 8 September.
The Yo-kai Watch collaboration event returns from 4 August through 5 October, its fifth run. The current weapon lineup covers jobs through Shadowbringers; Reaper, Sage, and Pictomancer are not yet included.

*The Children of Nul operation is now testable on SWTOR's public test server — the first major preview of the 8.0 update.*

Star Wars: The Old Republic

The biggest SWTOR development in some time landed on 31 July: Game Update 8.0 hit the public test server, giving subscribers access to the Children of Nul operation and early builds of several headline features. Meanwhile, Game Update 7.9.1 is imminent, with Galactic Season 11 to follow in mid-August.

Game Update 8.0 — Now on PTS

Children of Nul — the new operation — is testable in Story and Veteran mode on the PTS. The encounter is set aboard the Enigma station and continues the Darth Nul storyline following her escape from the fleet. Players need to create a level 1 character and boost to 85 on the test server to access content.
Overworld difficulty toggles: in 8.0, players can set a personal difficulty (Story, Veteran, or Master) for open-world content including daily missions, world bosses, and main story areas. The difficulty is a per-player effect — two players in the same area can be set to different difficulties simultaneously.
The Venture system is a new dedicated player mode requiring a separate character. Two variants are initially available: Classic Venture (Veteran difficulty) and Expert Venture (Master difficulty). These characters remain bound to their chosen challenge throughout.
Level cap raised to 85: each combat style receives a new ability and a new passive at level 83, replacing one existing shared ability. Item level ceiling is also increasing significantly.
Animated stronghold decorations will now persist between instances of entering and leaving strongholds.
Three class balance passes are included in this initial PTS phase; further passes to follow before full launch.
Approximately 500 additional items are being added to the Collection, removing the need to retain them permanently in inventory.
No confirmed launch date for 8.0 beyond 'end of 2026'. The 15th anniversary in December 2026 is expected to at least begin the reveal and testing period, with full release potentially early 2027.

Game Update 7.9.1 and Galactic Season 11

Game Update 7.9.1 is targeting the first week of August. It introduces the Accessories category to the Cartel Market, heralds Galactic Season 11, and prepares the Feast of Prosperity's return (the event itself runs October 6 – November 3, not with 7.9.1).
Galactic Season 11: Light and Shadow begins 18 August. Returning companions from Seasons 2 and 4 — Fen Zeil and Amity — are available again, alongside new rewards: companion customisations, mounts including the Safire City Haven Havar, titles, and Stronghold labels. Details on the official TOR site.

Black Desert Online

The Heidel Ball roadmap is now in motion: Agent, the 33rd class, launched globally on PC on 30 July, and Edania Part 2 content is beginning its phased rollout. The level cap increase arrives 12 August.

Agent — Live

Agent (full name: Edward Henry Connery) is now live on global PC servers as of 30 July, and on console from 6 August. The class uses a heavy revolver as his primary weapon, grenades, and a special weapon type called the Hexround, with combat focused on area control and powerful, slower strikes rather than Deadeye's mobile run-and-gun approach. His Succession is available now; Awakening follows in winter.
A Hyper Boost catch-up system is also live, aimed at new and returning players looking to reach the current content bracket (730 Battle Power target).

Edania Part 2 — Phased Rollout

The Sulfur Golem monster zone (north of Sulfur Mine) went live 29 July — a solo-friendly hunting ground with its own drop table including a Fragment of the Junk Collector's Ring.
The main Edania Part 2 regions, new items, Life Artefacts, and accessories launch 12 August, alongside the level cap increase to 70. Inner Edania features a mix of solo and party zones, seven new bosses, and new dyes and outfits.
The Hadum boss and the main Edania quest chain conclude on 19 September.

System Updates

Guild Fame launches 5 August, adding a system of daily guild activities, guild-wide progression benefits, and new war-related uses.
Level cap increases to 70 on 12 August and to 75 on 7 October.
DLSS and FSR 4 support is coming to PC in September, alongside a DirectX 12 update. North American console servers are relocating to Chicago this month.
Family Dispatch — allowing alternate characters to continue life skill activities while you play a main — launches in November. Functional costume effects extractable into crystals from 2 September.

Old School RuneScape

Wyrmscraig, the player-designed island chosen from over a thousand competition entries, launched on 29 July. The island is a substantial addition — a new sailing destination with a new quest, a repeatable boss, a new Slayer Master, and two new training activities.

Wyrmscraig — Launched 29 July

Designed by player ScreteMonge (also known as Gnome), the island arrives via sailing and includes the quest Fallen From Grace, which establishes the island's lore and unlocks its main activities.
The Mad Angel is a new repeatable boss encountered on the island, with the Hallowfell weapon as its signature drop. Early market prices for Hallowfell have been tracked at around 4–4.3 million coins as the item's value settles.
Mortimer is a new Slayer Master offering choice-based tasks with selectable modifiers — a different structure to existing Slayer Masters, giving players more agency over task selection.
Golem Crafting: after completing Fallen From Grace, players can craft protective golems for the island's people, granting Crafting XP.
Goat Hunting: a new Hunter training activity in which players herd an out-of-control goat population into spike-filled pits using traps. Hunter XP is awarded per goat, with a bonus per additional goat processed. The unique goat hunter pet Mr McGroot is available as a reward.

Fractured Archives Poll Blog

The rewards poll blog for Fractured Archives — the upcoming Raids 4 content — was published 30 July, with the poll itself opening 3 August. Players are voting on the reward set for the new raid, including gear appearances and unique item types.

RuneScape 3

Leagues II: Equilibrium has a confirmed launch date of 10 August, and the week saw a relic reveal that has generated significant community speculation about the overall relic tree structure.

Leagues II: Equilibrium — 10 August

Three new relics were revealed on 31 July: Assassin's Insight, Nature's Network, and Voidwalker. All three are teleport-focused relics, and community speculation strongly suggests these are the Tier 3 choices, though Jagex has not confirmed the tier assignment.
The full Leagues II launch is 10 August. Leagues II: Equilibrium is a seasonal game mode separate from the main game, offering an accelerated progression experience with unique relic combinations and league-specific rewards.

Elder Scrolls Online

The Update 51 Public Test Server went live on 3 August as previously announced, following its delay from the original schedule. A development roadmap update was also published this week, giving clearer visibility into ZOS's plans through the rest of the year.

Update 51 PTS

The U51 PTS is now live. The full update is expected to ship in mid-September in line with the PTS timeline. Season 1 runs through 21 October.
Item sets remain enabled for Vengeance content testing. Crown Store purchases continue in-game; the web-based Crown Store remains offline following its removal on 22 July.

Development Roadmap

ZOS published an updated development roadmap this week, providing more detail on what Update 51 contains and what remains on the schedule for Q4 2026. The roadmap does not yet announce any new major expansion, consistent with the studio's current reduced capacity following the July layoffs.

Guild Wars 2

It is a quiet week for Guild Wars 2 in terms of formal updates, with World Boss Rush the headline active event and the Black Lion Trading Company continuing its regular cosmetic rotation.

World Boss Rush

World Boss Rush is currently active, offering bonus rewards for world boss participation across all servers. No formal end date has been announced for the current run.
The Visions of Eternity expansion and its story — including The Only Way chapter and the associated map — continue to be the game's primary content engagement point, with no new chapter imminent.
Wintersday in July continues in Guild Wars Reforged (not GW2) through early August, as the traditional out-of-season holiday event runs its annual course.

EVE Online

EVE Online launched its Cradle of War update and closed Alliance Tournament XXII registration this week, capping a busy fortnight for New Eden.

Cradle of War — Launched

The Cradle of War update is live, adding Military Campaigns, new ships, starter space in the Exordium region, a new epic arc, and a comprehensive titles and achievements system. The update introduces persistent goals that players can track and unlock across New Eden.

Alliance Tournament XXII

Registration for Alliance Tournament XXII closed on 30 July at 11:00 UTC. The 16-team format proceeds to the Preliminary rounds on 29–30 August, 5–6 September, and 12–13 September, with the final a best-of-five. This remains the final year the CCP development ticker will compete in the tournament.

*EverQuest Legends launched 28 July to queued servers and demand that exceeded expectations — a strong start for Game Jawn's reimagining of Norrath.*

Broader Genre News

Two genre closures were announced this week alongside EverQuest Legends' strong debut, and several titles have content updates or milestones worth noting.

EverQuest Legends — Launched 28 July

EverQuest Legends went live 28 July, developed by Game Jawn in collaboration with Daybreak. The game is a reimagining of classic EverQuest, priced at $19.99 for the first month and then $9.99 monthly. Launch servers opened in stages due to demand exceeding expectations; six US servers and two EU servers are available, with Asian servers under consideration.
The game features a triple class system (up to three active classes per character), 15 playable races including the newly confirmed Kerran (cat-folk from Kerra Isle, not the Luclin-line Vah Shir), zone instancing, self-selected difficulty, and personal loot drops. The Kunark expansion is planned later in 2026.
Reception has been broadly positive, with community commentary noting that the combination of nostalgic aesthetics and modern solo-friendly systems appears to be finding an audience. The Verge described it as 'one of the most exciting games in years' for players with EverQuest history.

Skyforge — Closure Announced

Skyforge has announced end-of-service dates: PC servers close 3 September 2026, console servers 29 October 2026. The game has been in continuous operation since 2015.

RIFT — Character Cleanup

Gamigo has announced that archived characters on the Reclaimer RIFT shard — tied to accounts inactive for more than two years — will be deleted on 11 September as part of a data privacy compliance process. Players with old characters should log in before that date to preserve them.

Lord of the Rings Online

Update 49.1 Patch 1 released 29 July, extending the Leading the Charge deeds for Pagru-kirit through 24 August. Farmers Faire returns 13 August with new cosmetic rewards. The new monster player class — the Angmarim Sorceress — remains in development as the first new PvMP class in 18 years.

EverQuest 1 — New TLE Server

Daybreak has opened a new Time-Locked Expansion server for the original EverQuest, allowing players to experience the game's expansion history at a controlled pace from the beginning. The server opened this month.

Looking Ahead

The next two weeks are unusually packed. Final Fantasy XIV arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 on Tuesday. SWTOR's GU 7.9.1 is expected by mid-week. RuneScape 3's Leagues II: Equilibrium opens on Monday 10 August. And then, on the following Tuesday, World of Warcraft's patch 12.1 lands — bringing the Coiled Isle, the Venomous Abyss, Season 2, and a great deal of renewed endgame activity with it.

The Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary Phase 3, Blizzard's release of BlizzCon details, and the continuing Edania Part 2 rollout in Black Desert fill out August's schedule. The OSRS Fractured Archives poll is open from Monday, and its result will shape what the next major raid rewards look like. There is, for the next few weeks at least, something to watch almost every day.

Eleven Days and Counting