On WoW: Shadowlands and its Planned Inclusions

If you’ve been following my written content on World of Warcraft for any length of time, you might have read my editorial that was published a while back where I detailed my thoughts on the game’s then-upcoming major content update. Within that article, I discussed several aspects of Patch 8.3, better known as Visions of N’Zoth.

You may also recall that I ran into an issue near the end of that article. I felt it had gone on too long for me to get into any details regarding what Blizzard is planning to include within Shadowlands, the new expansion that’s slated for release sometime this year.

To that end, you can consider this article the second part of that discussion. For today’s discourse, I intend to offer my thoughts on various things I’ve seen and read up to this point. These are things that either appear legitimate or have been confirmed by Blizzard as far as the new expansion is concerned.

I assure you, folks: there’s a metric ton of ground to cover on that topic, so let’s waste no more time and get right to it. After I spend a few moments discussing the various incarnations of the expansion, I think we’ll start with the more momentous announcements and work our way down to the smaller stuff.

Firstly, I should establish that there are currently three separate versions of Shadowlands available for pre-order as of November 1st, 2019. The base expansion (with no extra goodies) will cost you $39.99. This version is at least enough to grant you access to the ability to create allied races and Pandaren Death Knight characters now that Patch 8.3 has reached live servers.

The so-called “Heroic Edition” will run you sixty bucks. That might sound steep, but I’d personally say that’s a fair asking price considering everything bundled in this edition. In exchange for that $60, you’ll get the expansion and everything included alongside it, as well as an instant level 120 character boost and an epic-quality flying mount known as the “Ensorcelled Everwyrm.”

Finally, there’s the “Epic Edition,” which will set you back $79.99. This version includes every bonus I’ve mentioned thus far, plus thirty days’ worth of game time, a new pet that may or may not be able to participate in pet battles, and two interesting-looking unique cosmetic effects for certain weapon types as well as for your character’s Hearthstone.

Personally, I opted for the Heroic Edition because it was the most cost-effective way I could get my hands on a level 120 character boost while simultaneously ensuring I’d be ready to jump right into new content when the expansion launches. Considering I actively maintain two WoW accounts rather than one, I greatly appreciate the ability granted to me in this context to have at least one max-level character on both accounts for what I personally consider to be an agreeable asking price.

Now that I’ve gone over all that, we can finally get to all the considerably more prominent stuff Blizzard has slated for Shadowlands’ release. I think we shall start with the announcement of the expansion’s new leveling system and the various parts which detail how that works; I think that’s honestly what I’m most excited for.

You might remember an article I wrote around this time last year in which I discussed my thoughts on the then-circulating rumor which claimed that WoW’s development team had, on at least one occasion, planned to “dramatically” lower the current maximum player level of 120. This rumor was based on surveys that were reportedly sent to players and included relevant questions designed to gauge general player opinion on such a decision.

Within these surveys, which were initially brought to light by a Reddit user; Blizzard appeared to ask players not just how they would potentially feel about such a “level squish,” but also whether they were aware that such a squish would indeed take place at some point in the future. That definitely sounded more than a bit ominous to me at the time this news first began to circulate.

Well, it certainly appears that whole idea is no longer little more than a rumor. The game’s first level squish will officially be coming in Shadowlands, and I’d say it is rather dramatic. You see, this squish will reduce the current maximum player character level by exactly half. That will both set the game’s max level to 60 and bring with it an entirely new leveling system through which players will go about attaining that level.

Before we get into any details of how that new leveling system will apparently operate, however, I’d like to offer my thoughts on the rationale Blizzard offered on this whole “level squish” idea. During last year’s BlizzCon, Blizzard pinpointed three main aspects of the leveling process which they felt needed an overhaul, so to speak.

Namely, Blizzard expressed their beliefs that in its current state, the leveling process isn’t rewarding enough. They cited that it’s potentially confusing based on the number of stories told within each expansion, and that getting from level 1 to the maximum simply takes too long. To that end, Blizzard has discussed in detail the various steps they plan to take to address these concerns once Shadowlands releases.

Firstly, the venerable fan site Wowhead reports that Blizzard has stated that the leveling process to get from level 1 to level 50 under the new system coming in Shadowlands will be approximately 60 to 70% faster compared to the time it currently takes to get from level 1 to 120. Once a character reaches level 50, they’re able to begin questing through the new content added in Shadowlands in order to reach the new level cap of 60.

Secondly, Blizzard plans to make an effort to allow players the freedom to explore the story lines that are told within the content of any expansion through which they wish to quest without fear of reaching too high of a level for any completed quests to be considered meaningful in terms of rewards and experience gains. Due to this, any character that has reached level 10 will be able to travel to the areas which contain the content of any past expansion and continue to quest there until they reach level 50.

It’s been reported that players won’t be locked into questing exclusively within the expansion they initially chose; assuming that is indeed the case after all, players will have the ability to jump between expansions at will. There is one major apparent caveat discovered by Wowhead in this context, however. I feel I should briefly discuss it for the sake of our readers who might be considering returning to the game or trying it for the first time once Shadowlands is live.

You see, apparently, any characters created by a player whom Blizzard designates as “new” to the game as opposed to being considered a “veteran” will be guided through a more streamlined set of leveling zones until they reach max level as opposed to having the freedom to level through any expansion(s) they wish. That is to say, any so-called “new” players will have their characters start at level 1 (as normal) and quest within an entirely new starting zone known as Exile’s Reach. I’ll discuss that in more detail shortly.

This zone will teach players the basics of the updated game world and get their characters up to level 10. After that point, they’ll be instructed to quest through Battle for Azeroth content until they reach level 50. To quickly boil this point down to its main aspects, you’ll likely be considered a “new” player if you don’t have at least one character sitting at level 120 before the level squish.

After that small tangent, I shall now return to my main points. There still remains the current issue of the leveling process being generally considered not rewarding enough. You might recall game director Ion Hazzikostas opining within a Q&A session last year that “[i]t would be cool if every level you earned would give you a reward, instead of levels that currently give you nothing.” In order to address this concern, Blizzard has announced several details about what I’ve taken to affectionately calling “the Great Un-Pruning.”

That is, many core class abilities that have been removed, made into talents, or locked exclusively to certain class specializations over the game’s lifespan. These changes are components of a process which has been colloquially called “pruning.” Many abilities affected by this “pruning” will be returning as baseline abilities to all of any given class’s available specs when Shadowlands releases.

To name a few examples, all three Death Knight specs will regain access to abilities such as Raise Dead, Anti-Magic Zone, and Summon Gargoyle. To zero in on a specific Death Knight spec for a moment, Frost Death Knights will also regain the ability to choose between dual-wielding one-handed weapons and using standard two-handed weapons.

Additionally, every specialization available to Rogues will once again be able to apply poisons to their weapons rather than these weapon buffs remaining exclusive to the Assassination specialization. Finally, Mage abilities such as Fire Blast, Frostbolt, and Arcane Explosion, which have long been restricted to their respective specs, will once again become available to all three schools of Mage combat.

As I stated just a moment ago, those are all just a small handful of changes to the leveling system that will be coming alongside Shadowlands as part of the aforementioned “Great Un-Pruning.” Personally, I’m most excited about the changes coming to all three Paladin specs and a few select changes being made to Monks.

My main character has been a Paladin for several expansions now, so I’m sure you can imagine why I’m excited about these upcoming alterations. For example, the area-of-effect spell known as Consecration will now be available to all specs as a baseline ability, rather than only being baseline for Protection Paladins and restricted to being a talent for both other specs.

Considering I’ve been known to aggro more enemies than I can easily handle from time to time, not having to sacrifice another (potentially more useful) talent in favor of taking Consecration will be quite nice to help with encounters against potentially too many assailants.

I briefly mentioned a new starting zone called “Exile’s Reach” a few moments ago. Before I move on to my next talking point, I’d like to share some of what’s known about this new zone and offer a handful of my thoughts on Exile’s Reach as a concept. Exile’s Reach is reportedly located off the coast of Stormheim, which is part of the Legion leveling continent called the Broken Isles, for those among you who may be unfamiliar.

As I stated, this zone will teach players the basics of WoW‘s overhauled game world and culminate in player characters reaching level 10 after questing through it. It’s worth noting that all Allied Race characters will reportedly start at level 10 as opposed to level 1. These characters will, therefore, be able to skip Exile’s Reach entirely and jump immediately into questing through their expansion(s) of choice.

On that same token, something I wasn’t expecting is a development involving the two “hero classes,” Demon Hunters and Death Knights. These classes, which have traditionally started at much higher levels than normal characters, will reportedly start at level 8 in Shadowlands. As a result of that, they’ll either complete Exile’s Reach content or go through a starting area unique to their class.

That is, apparently, unless the game designates you as a “veteran” player under the system I discussed earlier. In this case, you’ll have the opportunity to choose between going through Exile’s Reach at first or questing through your character’s normal racial starting zone.

In my opinion, an entire zone dedicated to getting players acclimated to all the changes that have been made to the game world over WoW’s lifespan is a great idea. As Wowhead points out, fifteen years and eight expansions’ worth of changes can easily confuse and overwhelm new players, as well as those who have been away from the game for some time. I’m certain this will help new players and returning adventurers alike get up to speed so that they don’t feel overwhelmed or left behind.

After all, I could easily see being forced to quest through Exile’s Reach every time you start a new character becoming tedious quite quickly indeed. Thankfully though, as I just mentioned, so-called “veteran” players will be granted the ability to avoid that potential monotony and quest through any expansion, or even some combination of all eight previous expansions, in any order they desire.

Now, as I suspect the Wright brothers must have said to each other at least once in their lifetimes, let’s discuss flying. Players will continue to need particularly expeditious methods of getting around in-game, after all. To that end, the system whereby players unlock the ability to fly in most expansions has been adjusted so that it more easily meshes with the level squish and subsequent new leveling system. This is a change I’m honestly overjoyed to see, so please allow me to elaborate.

If you’re a current WoW player, I’d imagine you probably know that you can unlock the ability to fly at 150% of base movement speed starting at level 60. From there, you can later acquire upgraded flying so that you can move at 280% speed at level 70, and 310% at level 80 in exchange for steadily-increased training costs. Additionally, you must also have unlocked certain multi-part “Pathfinder” achievements in order to fly in Warlords of Draenor, Legion, and Battle for Azeroth content.

Most of this is, thankfully, no longer the case in Shadowlands. For starters, Artisan Riding, the purchased ability to fly at 280% speed has been removed entirely. You’ll also no longer need those pesky Pathfinder achievements to fly in Warlords of Draenor and Legion, although the achievement requirement remains in effect for Battle for Azeroth.

Instead of going through all the required steps to earn those old Pathfinder achievements, you can unlock the ability to fly at 150% speed in every expansion except Battle for Azeroth by simply paying a flight trainer a total of 750 gold once you hit level 30. That total boils down to 250 gold to fly in every expansion except Legion, Warlords, and Battle for Azeroth, and then two additional payments of 250 gold to obtain flight throughout Draenor and the Broken Isles, respectively.

Of course, characters lower than level 30 will still have access to non-flying mounts. Once you reach level 10, you’ll be able to pay a riding trainer ten silver to learn Apprentice Riding. Likewise, for the cost of fifty gold, you can get Journeyman Riding at level 20. These riding skills still grant you 60% and 100% bonus movement, respectively. Considering that Allied Race characters currently start with Apprentice Riding already unlocked, I’d imagine it’s a safe bet this will remain the case post-level squish.

Speaking of Allied Races, I’m quite pleased to see that all ten of them will be considerably easier to unlock in Shadowlands. That’s because all requirements to reach Exalted-level reputation with any given faction in order to unlock Allied Races will be entirely removed. That is to say, you’ll no longer have to reach Exalted with the 7th Legion in order to unlock Dark Iron Dwarves, nor with the Highmountain Tribes to unlock Highmountain Tauren, and so on.

Granted, the only Allied Race I haven’t yet unlocked at the time of writing is Mechagnomes, but even so, I’m exceptionally ecstatic that I’ll soon be able to shirk the responsibility of becoming Exalted with the Rustbolt Resistance and simply complete all the story quests in Mechagon in order to unlock this race. This change will get me ever closer to finally making my Mechagnome Priest named “Healbot,” and I’m sure you can see exactly why that makes me happy.

I’ve just realized this article is running fairly long, so I’ll wrap things up fairly soon. However, there’s one last major aspect of Shadowlands that I want to talk about before I sign off. That aspect is known as Torghast, Tower of the Damned, which sadly only sounds like the coolest title in existence for a death metal-style rock opera.

Torghast is described as a procedurally-generated dungeon which can provide significant rewards to players who manage to ascend as high as they can through its various levels before they perish. The real kicker about Torghast, though, is that despite it being described as a dungeon; you reportedly don’t need to put together anything resembling a traditional dungeon group of one tank, one healer, and three damage dealers to enter or progress very far within its walls.

That’s because Torghast is designed for anywhere between one and five players. Because of that, yes, you could assemble a traditional dungeon group if you felt so inclined, going about things this way would, after all, likely improve all five players’ odds of ascending higher within the Tower of the Damned and receiving more rewards for doing so. However, if you’d rather just go with a friend or two, or even fly entirely solo, Torghast apparently welcomes that.

Torghast reportedly does not have any aspects like a “hard timer,” at least not in its current state. That is to say, there’s no mechanic that will automatically kick you out of the tower after a certain amount of time has passed, no matter how far you manage to get. I’m particularly pleased by that, although Wowhead reports that Torghast does contain a “soft timer” in the form of mechanics that make progression more difficult based on how long players have been in the tower.

Even so, I’m quite excited to eventually brave Torghast’s dangers for myself. Given that the dungeon is said to be seated in the heart of the endgame zone in Shadowlands, though, I’d imagine I won’t be able to do that for quite some time after the expansion releases. Then again, if getting to level 50 to 60 is anywhere near as quick as Wowhead reports getting from level 1 to 50 will be after the level squish, maybe I won’t have to wait quite so long.

There you have it, folks! I knew this article would run rather long given everything there is to cover, so I hope I didn’t bore you too much by dwelling on the technical stuff too long. Honestly, given how many new aspects of Shadowlands are revealed daily by apparently indefatigable data miners, I was initially quite hesitant to begin writing this article for fear of everything I cover being rendered out of date within the span of a couple days. Everything that has been discovered through data mining since I began working on this article several months ago is also a huge reason it’s taken me so long to finish this piece.

Also, do be advised that for brevity’s sake, there’s actually quite a lot I didn’t mention in this article, like new character customization options for most core playable races. If you’re curious about what I may have had to leave out of this piece, I highly recommend checking out Wowhead’s entire section on Shadowlands and what the new expansion will entail.

For now, though, I know I’ve said quite a lot more than my peace today, so I’d like to give you a chance to get a word in edgewise. Does any of what I discussed today have you excited for Shadowlands? Why or why not? What are you most excited for, even if I had to leave it out of this article? Do feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments below!