WoW Buffs Hint at New Expansion’s Release Date

Almost exactly one month ago, Blizzard Entertainment enabled a month-long buff to all World of Warcraft characters which doubles their experience gain from all sources. That experience buff, called “Winds of Wisdom,” was scheduled to expire yesterday. However, after much outcry from players, Blizzard elected to extend the duration of the Winds of Wisdom buff’s effects.

The experience buff in question has now been extended through Monday, May 18th, 2020. That’s an important date for more than one reason and I’ll return to that idea momentarily. First, though, I should mention that as of yesterday, Blizzard has also enabled a second buff which grants players double reputation gains in any zone within the Broken Isles, Argus, Kul Tiras (which reportedly includes Mechagon), Zandalar, and Nazjatar.

This reputation buff, referred to in-game as “Impressive Influence,” is also set to expire on May 18th, 2020. While it’s active, however, players can take advantage of its effects to aid them in such endeavors as unlocking the ability to ride flying mounts in Legion and Battle for Azeroth content, as well as unlocking the playable Allied Races which require players to become Exalted with certain factions.

The date May 18th is important not only because of the expiration of those aforementioned buffs. I would argue it’s actually a more significant date because the following day, May 19th, is reportedly when the “pre-patch” update for the upcoming Shadowlands expansion will reach live servers. If that is indeed the case, I’m not entirely sure exactly what that update will contain at present; even so, I’m still excited to see what the patch may entail.

In turn, I believe the point can be made that these buffs are indirectly hinting at the expansion’s release date rather than just that of its pre-patch. As far as I can recall, once the pre-patch updates for certain past expansions were applied to live servers, the expansion itself was released within two months of that date. Shadowlands, as far as I’m currently aware, is currently scheduled to release sometime this summer. If that’s the case and this expansion pack’s pre-patch does indeed go live on May 19 as reported, that would theoretically slate Shadowlands for a mid-July release date.

Either way, I’m quite excited for Shadowlands to release and, as I mentioned, I’m equally looking forward to seeing what changes its preparatory update may bring to the game world. What are your thoughts on this whole theory, dear reader? Are you looking forward to the upcoming expansion? Have you returned to the game in anticipation of its release, or perhaps to take advantage of these buffs beforehand? Do feel free to let me know in the comments below!