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. Originally scheduled for release on October 27, 2020; its release was delayed until November 23, the sixteenth anniversary of the release of the original game.[1][2][3][4][5]

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Developer(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)Blizzard Entertainment
SeriesWarcraft
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, macOS
ReleaseNovember 23, 2020
Genre(s)Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Mode(s)Multiplayer

The expansion opens up the Shadowlands, the realm of the dead in Warcraft lore.[3] It features 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.[1][6]

Gameplay
Main article: Gameplay of World of Warcraft

Shadowlands involves 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 have an updated starting experience on an island called "Exile's Reach", which introduces them to the game and its systems. For players new to World of Warcraft, characters who finish the starting experience on Exile's Reach 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 proceed to the Shadowlands.[7][8]

Shadowlands features five major zones - Bastion, Ardenweald, Revendreth, Maldraxxus, and the Maw. In the center is 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 are 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, was introduced for both solo and group play.[6][8]

All playable core races (not allied races) received new customization options (for example, humans are able to customize their ethnicities, dwarves and trolls gain tattoos, and undead are able to show varying degrees of decay). The Death Knight class (added in Wrath of the Lich King) was 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 the Shadowlands comprise are ruled by "Covenants", similar to the Class Orders introduced in Legion. Each Covenant has 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 are required 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]

Reception

Shadowlands has received generally favorable reviews with a score of 83 on Metacritic.[9]

References
  1. Sirani, Jordan (November 1, 2019). "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Expansion Announced at BlizzCon 2019 - IGN". IGN.com. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  2. Marshall, Cass (November 1, 2019). "The next World of Warcraft expansion is Shadowlands". Polygon. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  3. Messner, Steven (November 1, 2019). "World of Warcraft new expansion revealed: Shadowlands". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  4. Fahey, Mike (November 1, 2019). "The Next World Of Warcraft Expansion, Shadowlands, Takes Players Into The Afterlife". Kotaku.
  5. "An Update on Shadowlands". Worldofwarcraft.com. October 1, 2020.
  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. "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands". Metacritic.
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