WoW: Shadowlands is not far away anymore. But no one should buy the last expansion, Battle for Azeroth. We explain why.

The current WoW expansion Battle for Azeroth is in its final stages. While players are still benefiting from a powerful reputation buff, most are already preparing for Shadowlands. With all the talk about the new expansion, some players are returning to WoW after a long break or want to take a look. But beware – no one should buy the current expansion, Battle for Azeroth.

What’s going on? On October 14, the pre-patch for World of Warcraft will be released, which is the big patch 9.0. It brings numerous changes, such as the level squish, the new starting area, and extensive character customization.

From that point onward, it will no longer be necessary to purchase the current expansion “Battle for Azeroth” separately. It will simply be included in the normal WoW subscription. Blizzard announced this through official news.

Anyone who buys the game now is essentially throwing away €45, as the game will essentially be free from next Wednesday.

One should soon think about buying a version of Shadowlands …

Is the purchase still worth it? It depends. Battle for Azeroth still includes a character boost to level 110 and the digital Deluxe Edition has some cosmetic bonuses.

However, with patch 9.0, leveling a character will happen in just a few hours, so buying it solely for the character boost probably isn’t worth it anymore. It’s better to just wait for the patch and then level a fresh character over the course of two to three evenings – for example, on the new starting island. But the decision ultimately has to be made by each individual.

If you want to “recruit” friends to World of Warcraft, be sure to share this info with them – otherwise, it would be money thrown away.

Patch 9.0 of World of Warcraft is almost here. We tell you what is included in the update and reveal every little detail.

In a few days it will be time, because on October 14, 2020, the long-awaited pre-patch for Shadowlands finally goes live. To give you a heads-up on what to expect, the developers have now released the complete patch notes – and they are packed with details.

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The Highlights of Patch 9.0

Patch 9.0 revamps the World of Warcraft experience. To give you an overview of the new features waiting for you, we have summarized the highlights here.

• Level Squish: All heroes at level 120 will be reset to level 50, the new max level. With Shadowlands, it will increase to 60.
• All characters will receive many new character customizations to give heroes a unique look.
• The classes will be extensively revised, and old abilities will return.
• Allied races can now be unlocked without reputation grinding.
• The new area “Island of the Exiled” serves as the new starting area with a cool story.
• The pre-event with the zombie invasion of the Scourge is coming later.

Is the zombie event coming directly? No. It will still be a few weeks before the pre-event for Shadowlands starts. A specific start date has not yet been provided. However, it is expected that the pre-event will only go live two weeks before the actual launch of Shadowlands.

The Complete Patch Notes for WoW Patch 9.0

If you’re interested in all the particulars, you can find the complete patch notes here.

The Flood of Death – Limited Time Event

Shortly after the release of the preparation patch, the defenders of Azeroth will have to take up arms again to fend off an invasion from the undead Scourge sweeping across the land. Players can embark on a quest to establish a base in Icecrown, where the veil between Azeroth and the afterlife has been torn. There, you must prepare for the journey into the Shadowlands. This limited-time preparation event will only be available until the launch of Shadowlands – so make sure to log in to experience this content and earn special rewards.

Adjustment of Levels, Items, and Values

Levels, items, and values have been adjusted so that reaching a new level feels more meaningful, and you can reach max level faster than ever before. Characters at level 120 will be at level 50 after the content update.

New Character Customizations

The character creation has been equipped with a brand-new user interface and you have a lot of new options for character customization at your disposal. These new options include selecting eye color, new skin tones, as well as new hairstyles and hair or fur colors.

All these new options are available at all barbers in Azeroth. You can even change gender and customize the appearance of your shapeshift forms as a druid. All customizations are now available at any time in-game, meaning character customization is no longer offered in the shop.

New Starting Experience

The Island of the Exiled

The Island of the Exiled is a brand-new starting experience where you will be introduced to the basics of World of Warcraft and the core mechanics of your class through an expedition. If you are playing World of Warcraft for the first time and have never created a character or leveled up, you will begin your journey through Azeroth with the starting experience. If you are an experienced player or already have a character leveled up, you can choose to skip the starting experience and start at level 1 in your race’s starting area.

Once they reach level 10, new players can continue their journey into Battle for Azeroth and eventually into Shadowlands.

Timewalking Campaigns

Players who have experienced Battle for Azeroth and reached level 50 with at least one character can now opt to level up with additional characters through timewalking campaigns in a different expansion. With this new feature, content from places like Northrend or Pandaria scales with character level, allowing you to level up there from level 10 to 50 and experience the stories of those places at the pace originally intended. To select your preferred expansion for leveling, you need to visit Chromie at the embassy in Stormwind or Orgrimmar. If you want to choose a different expansion at any point, you can simply speak to Chromie again.

Beginner Chat

After you create your character and begin your journey in World of Warcraft, you join the beginner chat. There, you can exchange ideas with other newcomers and ask experienced players from the same faction for advice, who will assist you as mentors through your journey in the new starting area, the Island of the Exiled. New players and mentors can recognize each other in chat channels and by a symbol above their heads that only they can see. Once they reach level 20, new players are ready to venture out on their own. From this point on, they can no longer access the beginner chat.

If you are an experienced player interested in supporting new players experiencing World of Warcraft for the first time, travel to Stormwind or Orgrimmar and speak to the mentor recruiter. To become a mentor, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must have an account in good standing.
• You must have reached level 50.
• You must have completed 3,000 quests.
• You must have achieved at least two of the following achievements: “Great Trio”, “Rival: Season 4 of Battle for Azeroth”, “Keystone Master of Battle for Azeroth: Season 4”, “The Dream of Watchers” or “We have the technology”.

If you no longer want to be a mentor, you can simply speak to the mentor recruiter again.

Achievements

• You no longer need the achievements “Pathfinder of Draenor” and “Pathfinder of the Broken Isles, Part Two” to fly in Warlords of Draenor and Legion.

Allied Races

• You no longer need to achieve the reputation level Exalted with the corresponding faction to unlock allied races.

Auction House

• Successful auctions now display the name of the buyer or highest bidder in a tooltip.
• When selling trade goods (stackable items), selected stacks now take priority over other stacks in the inventory.
• Your auctions can now be sorted by remaining time.
• The “Level Range” filter now also filters battle pets by level.
• For legendary armor pieces that can be crafted by professions, the option “Rune Engraving” has been added under each armor category. The required materials will be available only with the release of Shadowlands.

Black Market Auction House

• You now need to be at max level to access the Black Market Auction House.
• The Mighty Caravan Brutosaurus is no longer offered by vendors and will occasionally be available in the Black Market Auction House.

Classes

Here you can find all the changes to classes with Patch 9.0.

General

• Most abilities that do not cause regular damage or healing will now deal varying amounts of damage and healing by 5% with each use. This change affects all classes.
• ‘Power Word: Strength’, ‘Arcane Intellect’, and ‘Battle Shout’ now increase their respective values by 5% (previously 10%).
• Target area spells can now be triggered at the character’s position using the self-cast hotkey.
• Abilities like ‘Deadly Strike’ or ‘Wounding Poison’, which reduce the healing received by the target, are now double effective against creatures in combat. The values of these abilities remain unchanged in PvP.
  • Warriors, Hunters, Monks: ‘Trauma’ now reduces the healing received by 50% (25% against player characters).
  • Rogues: ‘Wounding Poison’ now reduces the healing received per stack by 8% (4% against player characters).
  • Warlocks: ‘Deadly Cleave’/’Legion Strike’ now reduces the healing received by 20% (10% against player characters).
• The damage and maximum number of affected targets for many area spells have been adjusted. A detailed list of affected spells can be found in the respective class section.

Death Knight

General

• ‘Rune Strike’ is no longer a talent for Blood Death Knights, but an ability that consumes runes and generates runic power. It is available to death knights early on. ‘Rune Strike’ is replaced by ‘Withering Strike’, ‘Heart Strike’, or ‘Howling Gale’ when a specialization is selected.
• Switching between weapons now unbalances the death knight, preventing them from benefiting from their rune enchantments for 30 seconds.
• All death knights can now use the following abilities:
  • ‘Death Mantle’ – Unleashes unholy energies on the target, causing shadow damage to an enemy or healing an undead ally.
  • ‘Death and Decay’ – Corrupts the targeted ground, dealing shadow damage to targets in that area over 10 seconds.
  • ‘Raise Dead’ – Summons a ghoul that fights by your side for 1 minute. You can only summon one ghoul at a time.
  • ‘Chains of Ice’ – Binds the target in icy chains, reducing their movement speed by 70% for 8 seconds.
  • ‘Death Knight’ – Uses unholy energy to become undead for 10 seconds, increasing your leech by 10% and making you immune to charm, fear, and sleep effects.
  • ‘Anti-Magic Field’ – Creates an anti-magic field for 10 seconds, reducing spell damage taken by all group or raid members by 20%.
• You can now engrave five new runes into your weapon with rune smithing:
  • ‘Rune of Sanguination’ – Your ‘Death Blow’ ability deals increased damage based on the target’s missing health. If your health drops below 35%, you will heal for 50% of your max health over 6 seconds. This can only happen once every 5 minutes.
  • ‘Rune of Spell Protection’ – Absorbs 3% of all spell damage and has a chance to generate a shield that absorbs 10% of your max health in magical damage. If an enemy deals damage to the shield, their spellcasting speed is reduced by 10% for 6 seconds.
  • ‘Rune of Hysteria’ – Increases maximum runic power by 20 and your attacks have a chance to increase runic power generation by 20% for 8 seconds.
  • ‘Rune of Eternal Thirst’ – When you kill an enemy that grants experience or honor, you gain 5% haste and movement speed and heal for 5% of your max health. Additionally increases your movement speed as a ghost by 10%.
  • ‘Rune of Apocalypse’ – Your ghoul’s attacks have a chance to trigger an additional effect:
    • ‘Famine’: Reduces damage taken by the death knight.
    • ‘Death’: Reduces the healing granted.
    • ‘Plague’: Slows the target and deals damage over time.
    • ‘War’: Increases the damage taken by the death knight.
• Changes to PvP talents:
  • ‘Death Knight’ has been removed.

Blood

• ‘Rune Transformation’ is no longer a talent and is learned by all Blood Death Knights at level 19. Additionally, ‘Rune Transformation’ now has two charges and no longer has a global cooldown.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • New Talent: ‘Blood Sacrifice’ – While ‘Scarlet Plague’ is active, ‘Death and Decay’ heals you for the next use per stack of ‘Bone Shield’ and instantly grants you 10 runic power.
  • New Talent: ‘Death Pact’ – Makes a death pact that heals you for 50% of your max health, but absorbs incoming healing for 15 seconds at 30% of your max health.
  • The runic power costs of ‘Blood Plague’ have been removed and the healing has been increased to 3% (previously 2%).
  • ‘Rapid Decay’ now has an additional effect: Your ‘Blood Plague’ now drains 50% more health.
  • ‘Anti-magic Barrier’ now reduces the cooldown of ‘Anti-magic Shield’ by 20 seconds (previously 15 seconds) and increases the duration and absorb value by 40% (previously 30%).
  • ‘Greed’ now grants you 15% leech for 8 seconds (previously 6 seconds). Additionally, the spell now has an additional effect: increases the healing of ‘Death Blow’ by 20%.
  • ‘Red Thirst’ now reduces the cooldown of ‘Vampiric Blood’ by 1.5 seconds for every 10 runic power consumed (previously 1 second).
  • ‘Wasting’ and ‘Bone Storm’ now affect a maximum of 8 targets.
  • ‘Ossuary’ has been removed and will be learned by all Blood Death Knights in Shadowlands.
• Changes to PvP talents:
  • New PvP Talent: ‘Decaying and Passing’ – Your ‘Death and Decay’ makes your opponents rot every time they take damage from the ability, absorbing healing equal to 100% of the damage dealt.
  • ‘Unholy Command’ has been removed.

Frost

• ‘Extinguish’, ‘Frost Strike’, ‘Frost Scythe’, and ‘Unstoppable Glacier’ can now be used with two-handed weapons.
• New passive ability: ‘Power of the Frozen Waste’
  • Rank 1: When wielding two one-handed weapons, your uses of ‘Extinguish’ and ‘Frost Strike’ additionally hit with your off-hand and you can engrave a rune smithing enhancement into either weapon.
  • Rank 2: Increases damage dealt by ‘Extinguish’ by 35% and the triggering chance of ‘Killing Machine’ when you use a two-handed weapon.
• ‘Frost Wyrm Fury’ is no longer a talent and is learned by all Frost Death Knights at level 44.
• ‘Rune Weapon Enhancement’ and ‘Column of Frost’ no longer have a global cooldown.
• ‘Howling Gale’ and ‘Sindragosa’s Breath’ now deal less damage to secondary targets.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • New Talent: ‘Hypothermic Presence’ – Fully embrace the ice in your veins, which reduces the runic power costs of your abilities by 35% for 8 seconds.
  • The triggering chance of ‘Runic Cycle’ has been adjusted to equalize effectiveness when fighting with two one-handed weapons and with a two-handed weapon, with runic power generation increased from 3 to 5.
  • ‘Blinding Froststorm’ now has an additional effect: When ‘Blinding Froststorm’ ends, enemies are slowed by 50% for 6 seconds.
  • ‘Frost Cap’ now reduces the remaining cooldown of ‘Column of Frost’ by 4 seconds (previously 3 seconds).
  • ‘Frost Scythe’ now affects a maximum of 5 targets.

Unholy

• ‘Mastery: Dreadblade’ now also increases the damage of your minion’s abilities.
• ‘Epidemic’ is no longer a talent and is learned by all Unholy Death Knights at level 34. Additionally, the range of ‘Epidemic’ has been reduced from 100 to 40 meters and the ability is not castable if there are no nearby enemies affected by ‘Virulent Plague’.
• ‘Breaking Doom’ now gives your automatic attacks a chance to reduce the runic power costs of your next cast of ‘Death Mantle’ or ‘Epidemic’.
• ‘Scourge Strike’ now prefers targets affected by ‘Withering Wound’ while you’re in the area of effect of ‘Death and Decay’.
• The duration before ‘Virulent Plague’ erupts has been increased from 21 to 28 seconds.
• ‘Virulent Plague’ no longer has a 30% chance to erupt each time the disease deals damage. Additionally, the area damage range has been increased from 8 to 10 meters.
• The runic costs of ‘Army of the Dead’ have been reduced from 3 to 1.
• ‘Scourge Strike’ and ‘Rending Shadows’ now affect a maximum of 5 targets while you are in the area of effect of ‘Death and Decay’. Both abilities prefer targets affected by ‘Withering Wound’.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • New Talent: ‘Unholy Pact’ – ‘Dark Transformation’ creates an unholy pact between you and your minion, igniting burning chains. These deal shadow damage to enemies between you and your minion over 15 seconds. Increases your strength by 5% while this effect is active.
  • The disease from ‘Unholy Plague’ can now stack up to 4 times. Additionally, the spell now has an additional effect: Your minions deal 3% more damage to enemies affected by ‘Unholy Plague’ per stack. Additionally, the ability infects enemies with ‘Virulent Plague’.
  • ‘Soul Reaper’ has been overhauled. The ability now costs 1 rune and has a cooldown of 6 seconds. Deals shadow damage to an enemy and applies ‘Soul Reaper’. If the target is below 35% health after 5 seconds, this effect explodes and deals additional shadow damage to the target. Grants ‘Runic Corruption’ when a target affected by ‘Soul Reaper’ dies.
  • ‘Desecrate’ now has an additional effect: If enemies are within the area of effect of ‘Desecrate’, the radius and damage of the effect increase per second.
  • ‘Army of the Damned’ now has an additional effect: ‘Apocalypse’ and ‘Army of the Dead’ summon a Magus of the Dead who remains for 15 seconds. This casts Frostbolts and Shadowbolts at your enemies.
  • ‘Unholy Frenzy’ has been revamped and renamed to ‘Unholy Strike’. It hits your target with an unholy strike that deals shadow damage, applies 4 ‘Withering Wounds’, and plunges you into a berserker rage, increasing your haste by 20% for 12 seconds.
  • ‘Bursting Blisters’ now affect a maximum of 8 targets.

Demon Hunter

General

• Newly created demon hunters now start at level 8.
• ‘Firebrand Aura’ is no longer a talent for Vengeance Demon Hunters and is learned by all demon hunters during their first quests or at level 10.

Vengeance

• New passive ability: ‘Endless Hatred’ – Increases your maximum Fury to 120.
• ‘Blur’ now reduces all damage taken by 20% for 10 seconds (previously 35%).
• ‘Metamorphosis’ no longer grants 20% leech. The talent ‘Soul Ripper’ now increases the leech from ‘Metamorphosis’ to 25%.
• ‘Blade Dance’ and ‘Death Sweep’ now affect a maximum of 5 targets.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • New Talent: ‘Burning Hate’ – ‘Firebrand Aura’ additionally generates 60 Fury over 12 seconds.
  • New Talent: ‘Unleashed Chaos’ (replaces ‘Demonic Mastery’) – When activating ‘Firebrand Aura’, your inner demon slams down on opponents with your next use of ‘Demonic Glaze’, dealing Chaos damage.
  • New Talent: ‘Gloating Scythe’ – Throws two demonic glaives in a whirlwind of energy, dealing Chaos damage to 5 nearby enemies over 3 seconds.
  • ‘Unquenchable Hunger’ now causes ‘Demon Bite’ to deal 20% more damage and additionally generates 5 to 10 Fury.
  • ‘Demonic Circle’ now reduces the cooldown of ‘Eye Beam’ by 3 seconds when ‘Chaos Strike’ refunds Fury (previously ‘Metamorphosis’).
  • The leech from ‘Soul Ripper’ has been increased by 5% (previously 10%). Additionally, the leech now increases healing from ‘Soul Reaver’ by 20%.
  • ‘Annihilation’ now has a cooldown of 2 minutes (previously 2.5 minutes).
  • ‘Demonic Fury’ has been revamped and now throws your enemies into the air, dealing Chaos damage on landing and increasing the damage you deal to them with ‘Chaos Strike’ and ‘Blade Dance’ for 8 seconds by 40%.
  • ‘Demon’ is now 6 seconds long, while using ‘Eye Beam’.
  • ‘Nemesis’ has been removed.
  • ‘Demonic Shot’ now affects a maximum of 8 targets.

Revenge

• The resource Fury and the corresponding Fury bar have been removed.
• New Ability: ‘Weapon of the Wind Fury’ (replaces the passive ability ‘Wind Fury’) – Enchants your main hand weapon with the element of the wind for 30 minutes. Each of your attacks with the main hand has a 25% chance to trigger two additional attacks that deal physical damage.
• New Ability: ‘Totem of Wind Fury’ – Summons a Totem of Wind Fury with 5 health at the feet of the caster, which lasts for 2 minutes. Group members within 30 meters have a 10% chance to strike again with automatic attacks.
• ‘Weapon of the Maelstrom’ has been revamped: When you deal damage with a melee weapon, you gain ‘Weapon of the Maelstrom’. This effect can stack up to 10 times. Each stack of ‘Weapon of the Maelstrom’ reduces the cast time of your next damage or healing spell by 20% and increases the damage or healing of your next spell by 20%. You can consume a maximum of 5 stacks of ‘Weapon of the Maelstrom’ at the same time.
• ‘Wild Spirit’ now instantly generates a stack of ‘Weapon of the Maelstrom’ and additionally generates another stack every 3 seconds for 15 seconds.
• ‘Lightning Shield’ now has an additional effect: When ‘Lightning Shield’ deals damage, you have a 50% chance to generate a stack of ‘Weapon of the Maelstrom’.
• ‘Chain Lightning’ now has an additional effect: If ‘Chain Lightning’ hits more than 1 target, each target hit increases your next use of ‘Tremble Lightning’ damage by 20%.
• ‘Storm Bringer’ no longer ensures that your next use of ‘Storm Strike’ does not trigger a cooldown, but still has a 5% chance of resetting the remaining cooldown of ‘Storm Strike’.
• The damage of ‘Lava Lash’ has been decreased by 50%. The ability now has a cooldown of 12 seconds and has an additional effect: Increases the damage by 100% if your off-hand weapon is enchanted with ‘Weapon of the Flame Tongue’.
• ‘Frostbrand’ has been replaced with ‘Frost Shock’.
• ‘Frost Shock’ shares a cooldown with ‘Flame Shock’.
• The cooldowns of ‘Frost Shock’ and ‘Flame Shock’ are now reduced by Haste.
• ‘Flame Tongue’ has been replaced with ‘Weapon of the Flame Tongue’.
• ‘Rock Biter’ has been removed.
• ‘Rumbling Lightning’ now deals less damage to secondary targets.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • New Talent: ‘Whipping Flames’ (replaces ‘Rock Fist’) – ‘Lava Lash’ now increases the damage that the target suffers from ‘Flame Shock’ for 12 seconds by 100%.
  • New Talent: ‘Storm Fan’ (replaces ‘Grounding’) – ‘Storm Strike’ has a 25% chance to hit the target a second time and deal 40% of the normal damage.
  • New Talent: ‘Ice Strike’ (replaces ‘Totem Mastery’) – Deals Frost damage to your target and slows it down by 50% for 6 seconds. ‘Frost Strike’ also resets the cooldown of your ‘Flame Shock’ and ‘Frost Shock’ spells.
  • New Talent: ‘Elemental Strike’ (Passive) (replaces ‘Overload’) – Increases the damage of ‘Storm Strike’ by 15% and ‘Storm Strike’ now generates 1 stack of ‘Weapon of the Maelstrom’.
  • New Talent: ‘Fire Nova’ (replaces ‘Fire Strike’) – Causes targets affected by your ‘Flame Shock’ to unleash a wave of fire that deals fire damage to up to 6 targets in the vicinity.
  • New Talent: ‘Storm Keeper’ (replaces ‘Wrath of Air’) – Charges you with lightning, causing your next 2 uses of ‘Lightning Bolt’ or ‘Chain Lightning’ to deal 150% more damage and become instant cast.
  • ‘Hot Hand’ now ensures that your automatic melee attacks have a 5% chance to reduce the cooldown of ‘Lava Lash’ by 75% and increase the damage of ‘Lava Lash’ by 100% while ‘Weapon of the Flame Tongue’ is active. Lasts for 8 seconds.
  • ‘Elemental Strike’ now increases your critical strike chance, haste, or mastery by 3%.
  • The bonus damage from ‘Powerful Winds’ for ‘Wind Fury’ now amounts to 50% (previously 80%).
  • ‘Hailstorm’ has been revamped: Each consumed stack of ‘Weapon of the Maelstrom’ increases the damage of your next use of ‘Frost Shock’ by 35%. Your next use of ‘Frost Shock’ strikes up to 1 additional target per consumed stack of ‘Weapon of the Maelstrom’.
  • ‘Shattering’ now has no Maelstrom costs and instead costs 6% of your mana.
  • ‘Ascendance’ now deals damage to all enemies within 8 meters when activated.

Restoration

• New Ability: ‘Water Shield’ – The caster is surrounded by water orbs that grant 50 mana every 5 seconds. When a melee attack hits the caster, they regain 2% of their mana. This effect can occur only once every few seconds. Only one elemental shield can be active at a time.
• New Ability: ‘Totem of Mana Flood’ – Summons a Totem of Mana Flood at the caster’s feet for 8 seconds. The mana regeneration rate of group and raid members within 10 meters of the totem is increased by 100%.
• ‘Earth Shield’ is no longer a talent and is learned by all restoration shamans at level 22.
• The duration of ‘Flooding’ is now 18 seconds (previously 15 seconds).
• ‘Flame Shock’ now has a duration of 18 seconds (previously 21 seconds).
• The chance to trigger ‘Lava Lash’ has been reduced to 10% (previously 15%).
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • New Talent: ‘Wave of the Earth’ (replaces ‘Earth Shield’) – Consumes up to 3 charges of ‘Earth Shield’ to heal up to 3 allies near your ‘Earth Shield’ spell target per charge consumed.
  • ‘Flow’ now increases the initial healing of ‘Flowing’ by 20% (previously 30%).

Warlock

General

• New Ability: ‘Demon Mastery’ – Reduces the cast time of your next summon spell for imps, voidwalkers, succubi, or infernal by 5.5 seconds.
• New Ability: ‘Ritual of Damnation’ – Starts a ritual that sacrifices a random participant to summon a Doomguard. The caster and 4 additional group members are needed to complete the ritual.
• ‘Demonic Circle’ is no longer a talent and is learned by all warlocks at level 41.
• ‘Demonic Gateway’ no longer disappears when the caster dies. If the portal is about to disappear, it will start to dissolve and warn the caster and allies that they may need to renew it.
• ‘Demon Slave’ has been renamed to ‘Subdue Demon’.
• ‘Eye of Kilrogg’ can now be used in arenas and battlegrounds and can be killed by enemy players. It has 1% of the caster’s health (previously 100%).
• The cast time of summoning spells for imps, voidwalkers, infernals, doomguards, and succubi has been increased to 6 seconds (previously 2.5 seconds).
• All warlocks can now use the following abilities:
  • ‘Curse of Languages’ – Forces the target to speak Demonic for 30 seconds, increasing the cast time of all spells by 30%. Warlocks can only have one curse active per target.
  • ‘Curse of Weakness’ – Increases the time between a foe’s attacks by 20% for 2 minutes.
  • ‘Curse of Exhaustion’ – Reduces the target’s movement speed by 50% for 8 seconds.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • New Talent: ‘Terror Howl’ (replaces ‘Demonic Circle’) – You let out a terrible howl, causing 5 enemies within 10 meters to flee and disorienting them for 20 seconds. Damage can break the effect.
  • ‘Dark Pact’ now also grants 20% additional health for 20 seconds.
  • ‘Fury of Darkness’ now additionally increases the radius of ‘Shadow Fury’ by 2 meters.
• Changes to PvP talents:
  • New PvP Talent: ‘Curse Amplification’ – Your next use of ‘Curse of Exhaustion’, ‘Curse of Languages’, or ‘Curse of Weakness’ is amplified.
    • ‘Curse of Exhaustion’: Further decreases the movement speed of the target by 20%.
    • ‘Curse of Languages’: Increases the cast time by an additional 30%.
    • ‘Curse of Weakness’: The enemy cannot score critical hits.
  • ‘Warlock Mastery’ is now available to all Warlocks – Increases the range of your ‘Demonic Gateway’ by 20 meters and reduces the casting time by 30%. It also reduces the time intervals in which player characters can use your ‘Demonic Gateway’ by 15 seconds.
  • The efficiency of ‘Curse of Languages’ in PvP has been reduced to 15%. This efficiency can be increased to 30% with the ‘Curse Amplification’ talent.
  • ‘Curse of Fragility’ has been renamed to ‘Curse of Frailty’.
  • ‘Binding Flames’ has been removed.

Affliction

• New Ability: ‘Unholy Euphoria’ – Your periodic damage effects erupt on all targets, dealing shadow damage per effect.
• ‘Unstable Affliction’ now has a duration of 16 seconds (previously 8 seconds), costs no soul shards, and can no longer be stacked.
• The damage taken when ‘Unstable Affliction’ is dispelled has significantly increased.
• ‘Seed’ now plants a demon seed in 2 additional enemies (previously 1 enemy).
• ‘Shadow Embrace’ is no longer a talent and will be learned by all Affliction Warlocks in Shadowlands.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • New Talent: ‘Inevitable Death’ (replaces ‘Shadow Bolt’) – When you deal damage to an enemy with ‘Agony’, the damage of your next ‘Drain Life’ spell is increased by 15%. This effect stacks up to 50 times.
  • New Talent: ‘Dark Caller’ (replaces ‘Shadow Embrace’) – Reduces the cooldown of ‘Summon Dreadstalker’ by 1 minute.
  • ‘Nightfall’ procs more often when ‘Corruption’ jumps to additional targets.
  • ‘Torment’ now begins at 4 stacks and can increase up to 18 stacks (previously 15 stacks).
  • ‘Soul Reaver’ no longer has a small chance to summon a Dreadstalker when the target is killed.

Demonology

• Wild Imps now appear faster after using ‘Hand of Gul’dan’, and 2-3 Imps appear faster in succession. Additionally, they now teleport to the Warlock when pathfinding doesn’t work as intended.
• ‘Axe Throw’ now interrupts targets that are immune to stuns like dungeon or raid bosses. This does not affect PvP combat.
• ‘Demonic Storm’ now affects a maximum of 8 targets.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • ‘Fury Extraction’ now also increases your next two uses of ‘Demon Bolt’ damage by 30%.
  • ‘Demonic Call’ reduces the soul shard cost of ‘Summon Felguard’ by 2.
  • ‘Doom’ no longer has a small chance to summon a Doomguard when the target is killed.
  • ‘Out of Shadows’ is now triggered by ‘Dreadbite’ (previously triggered by ‘Summon Dreadstalker’).
  • The attack power of randomly summoned demons by ‘Inner Demons’ has been increased by 21%.
  • The attack power of demons summoned by ‘Nether Portal’ has also been increased by 21%.
  • ‘Demonic Consumption’ no longer sacrifices Imps. Instead, ‘Demonic Consumption’ now drains 15% health from all active demons, empowering itself based on the health consumed.

Destruction

• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • ‘Soul Fire’ now generates 1 soul shard (previously 4 soul shard fragments), applies ‘Firebrand’, has a cast time of 3.5 seconds (previously 1.5 seconds) and a cooldown of 45 seconds (previously 20 seconds).
  • ‘Shadow Brand’ now costs 1 soul shard, has a 50% chance to critically hit against targets below 20% health. The cooldown is now reduced by haste.
  • ‘Fire and Brimstone’ now generates 2 soul shard fragments (previously 1).
  • ‘Inferno’ now also increases the damage of ‘Rain of Fire’ by 20%.
  • ‘Grimoire of Supremacy’ has been renamed to ‘Chaos Rain’. Each soul shard you consume now has a 20% chance to summon an additional Infernal that remains for 10 seconds (previously increased the damage of ‘Chaos Bolt’ by 8%).
  • ‘Smoldering Fire’ has been revamped: ‘Combustion’ now increases the damage of ‘Soul Fire’, ‘Incinerate’, ‘Firebrand’, ‘Conflagrate’, and ‘Combustion’ by 30% for 8 seconds.
  • The damage against the primary target of ‘Demonfire’ has been increased by 10%.
  • ‘Dark Soul: Instability’ no longer has a global cooldown.

Warrior

General

• ‘Whirlwind’ now affects a maximum of 5 targets.
• All warriors can now use the following abilities:
  • New Ability: ‘Shattering Throw’ – Throws your weapon at the enemy, dealing physical damage, ignoring armor and removing all magical immunity effects. Deals up to 500% more damage to absorption shields.
  • New Ability: ‘Charge’ – Rushes towards an ally at high speed and intercepts all melee and ranged attacks directed at them for 6 seconds, as long as they are within 10 meters.
  • ‘Slam’ – Slams an enemy, dealing physical damage.
  • ‘Shield Block’ – Raises your shield and blocks all incoming melee attacks for 6 seconds.
  • ‘Knee Strike’ – Deals physical damage to the enemy and cripples them, reducing their movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds.
  • ‘Whirlwind’ – Unleashes a whirlwind of steel, dealing physical damage to up to 5 nearby enemies.
  • ‘Spell Reflection’ – is no longer a PvP talent. Raises your weapon, reflects spells cast on you, and reduces your magic damage taken by 20%. Lasts for 5 seconds or until a spell is reflected.
  • ‘Clench Your Teeth’ – Endures the pain and ignores 50% of the damage taken. It can prevent a maximum of double the total damage taken.
  • ‘Shield Slam’ – Deals a heavy blow to the target with your shield, dealing physical damage.
• Changes to PvP talents:
  • New PvP Talent: ‘Overwatch’ (replaces ‘Spell Reflection’) – When you use ‘Charge’ on an ally, they gain ‘Spell Reflection’ for 5 seconds or until a spell is reflected.

Fury

• New Ability: ‘Piercing Howl’ – Slows all enemies within 12 meters by 70% for 8 seconds.
• ‘Mastery: Deep Wounds’ has been revamped: ‘Deadly Strike,’ ‘Cleave,’ ‘Ravage,’ ‘Colossal Smash,’ ‘Warbreaker,’ and ‘Blade Storm’ inflict ‘Deep Wounds,’ dealing bleed damage over 12 seconds and increasing the damage the enemy takes from you by 9%.
• ‘Widespread Strikes’ now has a global cooldown of 0.75 seconds (previously 1.5 seconds).
• ‘Blade Storm’ now affects a maximum of 8 targets.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • ‘Bloodthirst’ now restores 3% of your health (previously 5%).
  • ‘Rampage’ now costs 80 Fury (previously 85).
  • ‘Fury Rush’ now generates an additional 40 Fury instantly.
  • The cooldown on ‘Piercing Howl’ is now 30 seconds (previously 0 seconds) and the range is 12 meters (previously 15 meters). The ability now reduces the movement speed of enemies by 70% (previously 50%) and lasts for 8 seconds (previously 15 seconds).
  • ‘Berserking’ has no global cooldown anymore.

Protection

• The damage from ‘Revenge’ is now reduced starting from the 6th target. Additionally, ‘Revenge’ no longer has a cooldown, the Fury cost has been reduced to 20 (previously 30). It replaces ‘Slam’ when learned. If you successfully evade or parry attacks, there is a chance now that ‘Revenge’ costs no Fury (was previously guaranteed).
• ‘Avatar’ no longer has a global cooldown.
• ‘Intercept’ has been removed.
• ‘Thunder Clap’ now deals less damage to secondary targets.
• The following talents have been adjusted:
  • New Talent: ‘War Machine’ – Your automatic attacks generate 20% more Fury. Killing enemies instantly generates 10 Fury and increases your movement speed by 30% for 8 seconds.
  • New Talent: ‘Double Trouble’ (replaces ‘Surgery’) – Increases the maximum number of charges of ‘Storm Charge’ by 1 and reduces the cooldown by 3 seconds.
  • ‘Dragon Scream’ now has a cooldown of 30 seconds (previously 35 seconds), no longer reduces the movement speed of enemies, and deals triple damage on critical hits.
  • The cooldown of ‘Devastator’ is now 45 seconds (previously 1 minute), the duration has been increased to 12 seconds (previously 7 seconds), and the ability now deals damage every 2 seconds (previously every 1 second). ‘Devastator’ also now generates 10 Fury for every damage dealt and now tracks enemies nearby in combat. Additionally, ‘Devastator’ now affects up to 8 targets.
  • ‘Sweet Revenge’ has been revamped: ‘Revenge’ now deals an additional 20% damage. If you successfully evade or parry and the ability costs no Fury, ‘Revenge’ deals an additional 50% damage instead.
  • ‘Threat’ has been revamped: ‘Taunt’ now pushes back all enemies in the area except your primary target. The enemies freeze in fear for 15 seconds instead of fleeing.
  • The damage reduction effect from ‘Punish’ can now overlap and stacks up to 5 times.
  • The healing from ‘Impending Victory’ has been increased to 30% (previously 20%).
  • ‘Prepared’ now also grants the effect of ‘Shield Block’ during ‘Last Stand’ (previously increased block chance to 100%).
  • ‘Unyielding’ now has an additional effect: For every 10 Fury spent, you heal for 1% of your maximum health.
  • ‘No Surrender’ now causes ‘Clench Your Teeth’ to avoid 40 to 100% of damage depending on missing health (previously 0 to 100%).
  • ‘Into the Fray’ now grants 2% haste for every enemy or ally within 10 meters (previously 3%).
  • ‘Roar of Thunder’ now increases the damage bonus from ‘Roar of Thunder’ to 20% (previously 15%).
  • ‘Howling Wind’ now additionally causes ‘Shield Slam’ to generate 3 Fury. The damage from ‘Shield Slam’ is no longer increased during ‘Shield Block’.
  • ‘Aggression Management’ no longer reduces the cooldowns of ‘Demoralizing Shout’ and ‘Last Stand’.
  • ‘Crackling Thunder’ now has an additional effect: Increases the movement speed reduction from ‘Thunder Clap’ by an additional 10%.
  • ‘Blood Vengeance’ has been removed.

Dungeons & Raids

• Affixes of Mythic Keystone Dungeons
  • Bursting
    • ‘Bursting’ is now a magical debuff effect that can be dispelled.
    • ‘Bursting’ now deals fixed damage and no longer deals percentage-based damage based on maximum health.
  • Volcanic
    • Players can now be thrown into the air when hit by ‘Volcanic’.
    • ‘Volcanic’ now deals damage equal to 15% of the player’s health (previously 40%).
  • Bleeding
    • The duration of ‘Bleeding’ has been reduced to 20 seconds (previously 60 seconds).
  • Terrifying
    • Non-periodic healing effects now remove 1 stack of ‘Terrifying’.
    • ‘Terrifying’ now deals fixed damage and no longer deals percentage-based damage based on maximum health.
  • Explosive
    • Explosive Orbs now appear 4 to 8 meters away from the unit that summoned them (previously 3 meters).
    • The health of Explosive Orbs has been reduced and no longer scales with the Keystone level.
    • Explosive Orbs now have a sound effect that plays when they are destroyed.

Items and Rewards

• Corrupted Items
  • After N’Zoth the Corruptor has been defeated and the Black Empire has turned to ash, all corruption effects have now lost their effectiveness.
• Heart of Azeroth
  • Essences at rank 4 can no longer be obtained.
  • The Azerite bonus ‘Heart of Darkness’ no longer requires 25 corruption to be active.
  • The Azerite essence ‘Memory of the Dream’ affects Holy Power for Protection Paladins instead of ‘Shield of Righteousness’.
  • The Azerite essence ‘Memory of the Dream’ now affects Mana for Enhancement Shamans.
  • The PvP talent granted by the Great Power of the Azerite essence ‘Conflict and Strife’ has been changed for the following classes:
    • Mistweaver Monks now learn ‘Cocoon of the Crane’ (previously ‘Path of the Crane’).
    • Affliction Warlocks now learn ‘Rot and Decay’ (previously ‘Endless Affliction’).
    • Restoration Druids now learn ‘Reactive Resin’ (previously ‘Wild Growth’).
    • Discipline Priests now learn ‘Purification’ (previously ‘Preconception’).
    • Mages now learn ‘Netherwind Armor’ (previously ‘Temporal Shield’).
• All bonuses from legendary items from Legion are now inactive.
• Crafted drums from Leatherworking now grant 15% haste (previously 25%).
• War drums of battle, intelligence, and soul strength can no longer be used by characters above level 50.
• Many consumable items now have a cooldown of 5 minutes.
• While drinking, mana now regenerates more slowly during the first seconds. The longer you drink, the more the regeneration accelerates.
• The effectiveness of secondary stats critical strike, haste, mastery, and versatility now decreases once high thresholds are reached.
• Heirlooms now provide no experience bonus, but instead grant a set bonus. The new set bonus is granted by all heirlooms except for weapons and trinkets:
  • (2) Set: The rest bonus is consumed 30% slower.
  • (3) Set: Increases regeneration outside of combat in the open world, in normal dungeons, and in battlegrounds.
  • (4) Set: Each level-up triggers an ‘Explosion of Knowledge’ that deals holy damage to nearby enemies and increases your primary stat by 40% for 2 minutes. Defeating additional enemies extends this effect by up to 2 minutes.
  • (6) Set: The rest bonus is consumed an additional 30% slower.
• The Elixir of Eternal Knowledge, Elixir of the Quick Thinker, and Excessive Potion of Accelerated Learning are now items of poor quality and cannot be used anymore.
• The Distillate of the Ten Lands continues to increase experience gained by 10%, but can now only be used by characters under level 50.
• Glyphs that change the appearance of druid forms are now single-use and unlock the respective form permanently at the barber.
• PvP weapon illusions can now be used by all characters on an account with which they were earned.
• You can now no longer choose a faction from Mists of Pandaria to gain bonus reputation.

Pet Battles

• Modifiers like ‘Black Claw’ that increase damage by a fixed amount are now applied after multipliers like ‘Broken Defense’ or strengths/weaknesses of pet species.
• ‘Broken Defense’ now increases damage taken by 50% (previously 100%).
• The overall damage of abilities like ‘Hunting Pack’ that deal damage twice per round has been increased by 25%.
• The damage of abilities like ‘Pack’ that deal damage three times per round has been increased in the second round by 66% and in the third round by 133%.
• The recurring damage effects of aquatic pets have been increased by 25%.
• The damage from ‘Gold Meteor’ and ‘Twilight Meteor’ has been reduced by 10%.
• The cooldown for the ability ‘Glass with Smelly Liquid’ has been increased to 2 rounds.
• The cooldown of ‘Righteous Inspiration’ is now active at the start of the pet battle.
• The following pet battle pets’ stats have been decreased:
  • Morastrider
  • Solitary Crab
  • Slime Dark Hunter
  • Tomb Beast
  • Mechanical Prairie Dog
  • Tiny Blue Carp
  • Mechanical Cockroach
  • Ember Kitten

PvP

• Season 4 of Battle for Azeroth ends with the release of the preparation patch for Shadowlands. During the season break, mythic keystone dungeons will continue to be playable with the affixes and rewards from Season 4, but the corresponding seasonal achievements can no longer be completed. Additionally, it will still be possible to sign up for rated PvP matches based on your rating from Season 4, but titles and associated rewards can no longer be earned.
• All Gladiator mounts and titles, including those from previous seasons, can now be used by all characters on the account with which they were earned.
• ‘Medallion of the Gladiator’, ‘Adaptation’, and ‘Unrelenting’ have been removed from the list of honor talents. The functionality to remove control loss effects returns in the form of powerful PvP trinkets that can be purchased from Aneka Melae in Orgrimmar and Alice Fischer in Stormwind for honor.

User Interface

• A navigation indicator now appears in the user interface that leads you to quest objectives, reducing the need to open the map.
• You can now place markers on the world map with Ctrl+Left Click at the destination. Markers on the world map can be tracked using the navigation indicator and shared in chat.
• Druids can now customize their different forms at the barber. This customization is independent of the hair color and weapon transmogrification of the respective character and also includes the forms of your artifact templates.
• Campaign quests are now listed separately in the quest tracker.
• The quest tracker now has a minimize button for each section.
• Player spells have been re-organized in the spell book. Each class now has a tab for abilities available to all characters of that class. Spells tied to specialization are now listed in their own tabs.
• When you hover over the resource bar with your mouse, the tooltip is now displayed at the position of the mouse pointer.
• When you cast spells triggered at the position of a friendly target with the self-cast hotkey, the corresponding spell is now triggered at your position.
• If you activate the new fast keystroke mode in the “Key Binding” menu, you can now customize key bindings when your mouse hovers over an action button or a button in the micro menu.
• You can now search for abilities of encounters through the search bar in the adventure guide.
• The “Item Sets” tab has been removed from the adventure guide.
• Group leaders can now trigger a countdown timer using the group options or simply input /countdown 10.
• The character selection screen now displays notifications for unread messages from the auction house or other players.
• The UI scaling setting has been moved in the system settings from “Advanced” to “Graphics”.
• New accessibility options have been added to the interface settings:
  • Options for motion sickness have been added.
  • The option “Overlay fading out” has been introduced, causing colors of brief full-screen fades to fade to black.
  • Support for key bindings, camera, cursor control, and movement for gamepad controllers has been added.
  • The subtitles for cutscenes are now enabled by default.
• The ability to join a Battle.net lounge voice chat from the game client has been temporarily disabled.
• The list of contributors accessed via the “The Team” option has been updated and revamped for Shadowlands.

World Event

• The brawler’s guild is now temporarily closed. This refuge of savage brawls and rough fights will reopen at a future date.

WoW Companion App

• Quests and followers from Legion are now available.
• Characters can now be marked as favorites in the character selection.
• The latest news on WoW is now available in the app.

If you read the patch notes all the way to here – Wow, you are a bit crazy. You can frame yourselves – and then see what 5 things you can look forward to most in Patch 9.0.