World of Warcraft Shadowlands will entertain players well into 2021. We reveal what new features are coming.
The year 2020 is almost over, and at least World of Warcraft has gracefully exited the year with the launch of the Shadowlands expansion. But what’s next for 2021? What does Shadowlands have in store for the coming months, and what content can we look forward to?
We at MeinMMO take a small look ahead at what is coming our way in the coming months and make some predictions about the future of WoW.
Plenty of Content in the First Months
At least in the first two months of 2021, WoW should still be in pretty good shape. There are several reasons for this, as not all content from the release version of Shadowlands is accessible yet.
The Raid Castle Nathria: Castle Nathria is likely to keep most players engaged at least until mid-February. Many WoW heroes experience the raids only through the LFR mode. However, the final wing of the raid, along with Count Denathrius, will not be released until February 3rd. Those who haven’t been part of a normal or heroic raid group by then will only catch a glimpse of the current final boss in early February.
Covenant Campaign: The features of the four covenants will be unlocked gradually. So far, most players have only developed their covenant sanctums in their basic forms. It will take several more weeks until enough souls are available to maximize the features. The same goes for the glory levels and the associated content, such as the covenant campaign or new unlocks in the sanctum itself.
It is likely to be the end of February or early March before players unlock all features completely. This gives the WoW developers a buffer to work on patch 9.1.
Patch 9.1 – Flying and a Big New Raid
There isn’t a lot of information yet about Patch 9.1 of World of Warcraft, but the developers have already revealed a few things. There are many things for players to look forward to after they complete the original content of Patch 9.0.
Flying for Everyone, No Reputation Grind: The first major patch for Shadowlands will also bring the ability to fly in the Shadowlands. This will make traveling in the zones much easier, and completing world quests should also be a bit faster. Farming resources, such as ores or herbs, will be much more enjoyable.
The flying unlock will not be tied to a Pathfinder achievement this time, though. Those who feared they would have to farm reputation for weeks can relax – this requirement will be removed.
Instead, the flying ability will be unlocked through the covenant campaign and will likely be tied to a glory level. Therefore, it is enough to progress through your covenant’s campaign in Patch 9.1 to eventually gain account-wide flying capability.
More Covenant Campaign: It is already confirmed that the covenant campaign will not end with glory level 40. The campaign is not completed even if you reach glory level 40 in February. Patch 9.1 will bring fresh content for all four covenants and continue the story of the Kyrians, Night Fae, Venthyr, and Necrolords. There are more incentives to try out the other covenants as well.
A New Raid: Patch 9.1 will introduce a new raid, unless anything changes. This has become standard with a major WoW patch, but the developers have already revealed a few details. For instance, in an interview with Ion Hazzikostas, it was mentioned that the next raid will have the most visually impressive setting yet.
The size and scope of the raid are still unknown.
New Dungeons? Shadowlands only had 8 dungeons at launch, which is a bit scarce for a WoW expansion. It is therefore likely that the developers will add one or more 5-player dungeons to provide new content for smaller groups. However, this has not yet been confirmed.
Tier Sets Are Returning: After patch 9.0 focused mainly on the sets of the covenants, the upcoming patches are expected to bring back class sets. All classes can look forward to new tier sets that provide special bonuses or at least visually fit their respective class.
When is Patch 9.1 Coming? There is not yet a specific date for Patch 9.1. Considering that the final LFR part of Castle Nathria will not open until early February, one should not expect Patch 9.1 before March or even April. More details about the upcoming patch will definitely be available at the BlizzConline in February.
Even More Content After Patch 9.1
Even though Blizzard remains tight-lipped, it is almost certain that the story of the Shadowlands will not be finished with Patch 9.1. After all, it would be too early to introduce the Jailer as the final boss. So far, not much is known about him, and Blizzard will not want to use him up too quickly. He is meant to represent the final boss of the expansion and thus needs a bit more time to be built up.
It is also important to note that Shadowlands has a number of major villains that have not yet been addressed. There are several threats that still need to be dealt with to restore order in the Shadowlands, including:
- The Drust, who invade Ardenweald and turn the Night Fae into mindless servants
- Helya, who is allied with the Jailer
- Sylvanas, who is also pacting with the Jailer
- The Primus from Maldraxxus is still missing
- The Jailer himself, who is behind all the incidents
It is certainly possible that some of these answers could be found in the covenant campaigns, but the villains are likely too significant to be mentioned only “in passing” in a campaign.
When Will a New Expansion Come?
No one should expect a new expansion in 2021. At best, we might get a small glimpse towards the end of the year of where the story might take us in a future expansion.
Since Shadowlands was released late, it is likely to continue for a while before the journey moves to another world.
But even without the announcement of a new expansion, the year 2021 looks pretty good for World of Warcraft. If Blizzard can build on the content of the starting version of Shadowlands even a little, players are likely to experience little boredom and will be able to tackle plenty of challenges in the Shadowlands throughout 2021.
