World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is the eighth expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Battle for Azeroth. It was announced and made available for preorder at BlizzCon on November 1, 2019. It is scheduled for a 2020 release.[2][3][4][5]

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Developer(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)Blizzard Entertainment
SeriesWarcraft
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, macOS
ReleaseTBA 2020[1]
Genre(s)Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Mode(s)Multiplayer

The expansion will open up the Shadowlands, the realm of the dead in Warcraft lore.[4] It will feature the game's first "level squish" and a completely overhauled leveling system, access to the Death Knight class for the races that did not previously have access to it, Covenants in the new zones, and new dungeons and raids.[2][6]

Gameplay
Main article: Gameplay of World of Warcraft

For the first time since the release of World of Warcraft in 2004, Shadowlands will involve a level reduction ("level squish"), with player characters at level 120 (the level cap in Battle for Azeroth) reduced to level 50, with level 60 being the new level cap (as it had been in the original game). In what Blizzard has called a "New Game+ experience", newly-created characters will have an updated starting experience on an island called "Exile's Reach", which will introduce them to the game and its systems. For players new to World of Warcraft, characters who finish the starting experience on Exile's Reach will proceed to Battle for Azeroth content, while veteran players who create new characters can choose the expansion experience they wish to play through to level 50, at which point they would proceed to the Shadowlands.[7][8]

The Shadowlands will feature five major zones - Bastion, Ardenweald, Revendreth, Maldraxxus, and the Maw. In the center will be the city of Oribos, which functions as the main player hub similar to Shattrath City in Outland in The Burning Crusade or Dalaran in Wrath of the Lich King and Legion. There will be four new dungeons for leveling, four more at maximum level, and a new raid. In addition, a new roguelike "endless dungeon" called Torghast, Tower of the Damned, will be introduced for both solo and group play.[6][8]

All playable core races (not allied races) will receive new customization options (for example, humans will be able to customize their ethnicities, dwarves and trolls will gain tattoos, and undead will be able to show varying degrees of decay). The Death Knight class (added in Wrath of the Lich King) is being opened up to pandaren (added in Mists of Pandaria) and to all allied races (added in Legion and Battle for Azeroth); players who pre-ordered Shadowlands received access to death knights for these races with the release of Patch 8.3.0, Battle for Azeroth's last major content patch, on January 14, 2020.[8]

Covenants

The four zones that comprise the Shadowlands are ruled by "Covenants", similar to the Class Orders introduced in Legion. Each Covenant will have its own campaign, similar to the War Campaign in Battle for Azeroth, with gear specific to the faction and abilities both universal and determined by class. The four covenants are the Kyrian of Bastion, the Night Fae of Ardenweald, the Venthyr of Revendreth, and the Necrolords of Maldraxxus. Players experiencing the Shadowlands content for the first time will need to reach level 60 before they can choose to pledge themselves to a Covenant, while alts are able to do so at the start of the Shadowlands content.[6][8]

Plot

After being deposed as Warchief of the Horde and the defeat of N'Zoth in Battle for Azeroth, Sylvanas Windrunner travels to Icecrown Citadel in the Scourge-infested wastes of Northrend, and confronts the reigning Lich King, Bolvar Fordragon. Taking the Lich King's Helm of Domination from him, she tears it in two, shattering the veil between realities and opening a portal to the Shadowlands (the warcraft universe’s afterlife). The Shadowlands have become warped in function during recent times. The Maw, a place in the afterlife reserved for the most sinful souls, is now absorbing all souls.[9]

Development

Reception

References
  1. Chalk, Andy (May 5, 2020). "A new Call of Duty and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands are still on track for this year". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  2. Sirani, Jordan (November 1, 2019). "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Expansion Announced at BlizzCon 2019 - IGN". IGN.com. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  3. Marshall, Cass (November 1, 2019). "The next World of Warcraft expansion is Shadowlands". Polygon. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  4. Messner, Steven (November 1, 2019). "World of Warcraft new expansion revealed: Shadowlands". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  5. Fahey, Mike (November 1, 2019). "The Next World Of Warcraft Expansion, Shadowlands, Takes Players Into The Afterlife". Kotaku.
  6. Blizzard Entertainment (November 1, 2019). "Prepare to Cross Into the Realm of the Dead in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands".
  7. Carter, Chris (November 1, 2019). "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is completely overhauling WoW's leveling system". Destructoid.
  8. Messner, Steven (November 1, 2019). "Everything we know about World of Warcraft: Shadowlands". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  9. Messner, Steven (November 1, 2019). "Sylvanas just ripped a freakin' hole in WoW's reality, here's what that means". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
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