Break the Meta Returns for Dragonflight Season 2!

Season 2 of Dragonflight has certainly been a unique one, as a new spec and archetype entered the ring that completely changed the way Mythic+ was played this season – especially at the very top of the leaderboards. With the meta barely budging over the last 3 months, it is time to let other specs and classes take the spotlight for once. What better way to do so than through the Raider.IO Break the Meta (BTM) event?


BTM will make its return next week on October 3rd! Among WoW Game Time and a Blizzard Store Prize Bundle, the BTM prize pool also includes another opportunity to earn the Smoldering Banner of the Aspects, and after already allocating over 34.000 banners in our previous BTM events, we’re looking forward to how this number will grow in Season 2 of Dragonflight.

Let’s Break the Meta!

Table of Contents

About the Event

Break the Meta is a Push-Week Event that we developed to showcase and highlight each Season’s off-meta specs and classes. It’s finally time to dust off your Assassination Rogue, Brewmaster Monk, or Preservation Evoker and show what you’re capable of! During the Competition Period, completing any Mythic+ keystone on LIVE servers with a group made up entirely of the BTM-Eligible Specs will earn you a spot on the BTM Leaderboards. If you register for the Event via the BTM Registration Form, you’ll also be eligible to win some amazing prizes, including the Smoldering Banner of the Aspects!

The Competition Period lasts for the following dates:

Americas & Oceania: October 3 - October 10, 2023
Europe: October 4 - October 11, 2023
Korea & Taiwan: October 5 - October 12, 2023

The Competition Period for each region will begin and end with each region’s individual weekly reset times.

We will have a Break the Meta Leaderboard that you can use to keep track of your progress throughout the event. It will only show BTM-Eligible runs: Timed Runs that are made up entirely of the eligible specs listed below. You can also filter the Leaderboard by all of the usual selections, such as Regions, Brackets, Factions, etc. Keep an eye out on our Twitter and Discord for the link!

Prizes

We’re happy to announce that we will have three separate prize offerings for this event, each with a different way to win them! Whether you’re tackling +5 keystones or +25, there’s prizes for players of all skill levels!

⚠️Each Blizzard Account is eligible for one of each of the prize offerings. Register here⚠️

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Smoldering Banner of the Aspects

We are once again partnering with Blizzard for BTM to provide players another opportunity to earn the Smoldering Banner of the Aspects! This in-game toy was made available to participants of the various WoW Esports programs this Season, including the TGP and AWC. However, those opportunities to get the exclusive toy have come and gone, so we’re excited to provide one more chance to collect this awesome in-game item through BTM!

“I'd say the fact that everyone feels represented makes BTM so special. You get to see variety in gameplay and conversation because each run can be quite unique. People like watching the spec that they play. It also highlights members of the community that aren't highlighted traditionally. There are a lot of highly skilled players out there who happen to play on the wrong side of the meta.” —Psybear

Register for the event and complete at least 2 BTM-Eligible timed keystones at level +15 or higher during the Competition Period, and the Smoldering Banner of the Aspects will be automatically added to your collection in-game after the conclusion of the event. (Due to Blizzard preparing for Blizzcon and Patch 10.2, the Postmaster might run a bit later than usual on this).

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World of Warcraft Game Time

Break the Meta is, after all, a competition, so we will be awarding this set of prizes to the winners of the event! The players who achieve the highest Mythic+ Character Score for each of the eligible specializations will win 60 days of WoW Game Time. There will be one winner per spec for all three regions, for a total of 63 winners.

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BTM Prize Bundle

We like being able to award one prize that does not have any requirements in terms of keystone levels or Raider.IO Score, to give all players an opportunity to win something. This Season, we’re offering the BTM Prize Bundle, a collection of the following wondrous in-game prizes:

• 60 days World of Warcraft Game Time
• The Enchanted Fey Dragon Blizzard Store Mount
• The Sprite Darter’s Wings Transmog Set
• The Blinky Blizzard Store Pet
• The Baby Murloc Satch-Shells Transmog

In order to win the BTM Prize Bundle, you must complete BTM-Eligible dungeons during the Competition Period while using the Raider.IO Client with Live Tracking enabled. Every completed keystone, regardless of keystone level, earns you 1 entry into the raffle, and one lucky winner will be chosen after the event ends! This prize is only available to players in the NA, TW and EU regions.

How To Enter

BTM participation will be on an individual basis, and completed via the BTM Registration Form. This means that you can play with any number of people throughout the event in various groups, and it will not affect your prize eligibility or progress, as long as every member of the group plays a BTM-Eligible spec. Registration is open NOW and will close at 11:59pm PDT on October 15th, 2023.

Eligible Specs

Deciding on the eligible BTM specs was even more difficult this time around than in previous seasons. While the meta at the top-end is very stable, and a lot of specs could be considered off-meta, many specs had to be removed from the pool due to their popularity across all keystone levels, even if they aren’t seeing much play in the highest of keys. Additional adjustments were made to ensure that each class has at least one spec available to compete (i.e. Protection Paladin), and we hope this methodology provides a good representation of the classes and specs that are considered off-meta across many different levels of skill, not just one.

“I think my favorite thing about the event is that it gives off-meta players a spotlight to really show what they can do but also encourages people who play meta specs to try something new and branch out a bit. It's always fun to see people say "Oh I didn't know X spec could do that!" or "Wow X spec actually does really good damage!" etc. when they're watching during the event. it's special to me since I do main a spec that's always off-meta, and have a lot of friends who also do, so being able to get everyone together to just play for fun but also clear up community perception on some specs.” —Megasett

In order for a keystone to be considered BTM-Eligible, it must be completed in time and made up of ONLY the following eligible specs:

Watch BTM Casted LIVE on Twitch!

The last two Break the Meta events had a streamed broadcast element, and we’re happy to announce that this BTM will be no different! Throughout the competition, we have a handful of WoW streamers act as our BTM broadcasters. They will be getting together for a casting roundtable on October 7th and 8th, restreaming and casting the LIVE streams of competitors, while providing commentary over the dungeon runs as they are happening. This casting roundtable will of course be available on the front page of Raider.IO!

“I personally enjoy casting BTM because of the creativity I get to see from the players participating. We get to watch people of all skill levels enjoy the game and be competitive with each other on classes that I normally might not see as much. That paired with the fact that as a caster I am given all the freedom to be as silly as I want to be whilst casting is amazing. A perfect example I think is when Psy did part of previous BTM casts in a Maid uniform. All of this has just the right mix of chaos, unpredictability, and fun, to make for an amazing weekend for the casters and the viewers. BTM gives inexperienced casters like myself and players/classes that normally might not be in competitions a taste of what it feels like and I think that is amazing and creates a very fun environment.” —Chevelle

Make sure you Register early for a chance to have your stream chosen by our amazing casters, and get some new eyes on your stream!

Rules

• Break the Meta is open to players in all eligible regions.
• In order for a run to be BTM-eligible, the dungeon must be completed in time and every player in the group must have played the entire dungeon as one of the eligible specializations.
• Each Blizzard Account is only eligible for one of each of the different prizes.
• We reserve the right to disqualify any run for any reason.
• To be eligible for prizes you must register via the Break the Meta Registration Form before registration closes at 11:59pm PDT on October 15th, 2023.
• Prizes other than the Smoldering Banner of the Aspects will be distributed via the Discord Account or Email provided during Registration. If we do not hear back from you within 48 hours of attempting to award you a prize, then your prizes will be forfeited.
• The Smoldering Banner of the Aspects and Game Time prizes are available to players from all eligible regions. The BTM Prize Bundle is only available to players from the NA, EU and Taiwan regions.

Winners will be contacted by October 27th, 2023.

Raider.IO Desktop Client

While using the Raider.IO Desktop Client is only a requirement for being entered into the raffle for our BTM Prize Bundle, the client offers several benefits that you do not want to miss out on!

One of the biggest upsides of using the Raider.IO Desktop Client during the Break the Meta event, is that the client updates your runs to the leaderboard almost instantaneously. This allows you to check up on your ranking shortly after finishing a run, instead of waiting for your score to get updated correctly. It also solves the issue of runs that are difficult to track via the API, such as runs that were of a lower key-level than a depleted run of a higher key-level that had the same five players and group composition.

Another benefit is that you will be able to use our two newest Raider.IO features: The Auto Route Creator, and the Mythic+ Replay feature! Both are currently in Open Beta, and you will be able to quickly take a look at another group's routes and replays, or use your own, to continuously improve over the course of your Mythic+ and Break the Meta journey!



Even without any prior runs, you can add our Just In Time replay presets, which will allow you to compare your current run to a set of boss and mob-count timers that give you a good idea of whether your current run is still timable or not!



All that’s left to do is to dust off those off-meta characters and show the world that unconventional group comps can still smash keys! Get out there and Break the Meta!

“Break The Meta has always been a great way to bring the community together, showcase how strong off-meta picks can be in a team environment, and even bring unfamiliar faces together to make new friends. I've made a lot of friends from it in the past and it's nice seeing other people having that level of fun.” —Equinox

Got any questions? Join us on our Discord server in the #break-the-meta-df2 channel.

If you’re still looking for a Group to play with, we highly recommend checking out the Mythic Plus Friends Discord, as you will find many like-minded players amongst their community!

Good luck to all competitors!