The big pre-patch 9.0 for World of Warcraft is around the corner and introduces the new expansion Shadowlands. Some of the new features of the addon will be available soon. MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus is particularly looking forward to five of them.
With Shadowlands, the new expansion of World of Warcraft is coming and brings several innovations. Old abilities for all classes return, there are new customization options, and the level of all players is being reduced.
In the comprehensive overview of the features and contents of Shadowlands on MeinMMO, you can learn more about the addon. Many of the new features will come before the release – namely with the preparatory patch 9.0.
When is patch 9.0 coming? The new patch 9.0 is set to be released on Wednesday, October 14. The maintenance works are scheduled from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM. You can find the complete patch notes in our article.
Some of the new features particularly excite me. After Cortyn already introduced 5 things you can look forward to, I will now show you my top innovations.
Corruption finally disappears
What is corruption? Since patch 8.3 of Battle of Azeroth, there has been corruption on items. This causes, or rather used to cause, characters to gain new, particularly strong abilities or a boost to their attributes.
As a downside, there were effects that would deal damage, slow you down, prevent healing, or even kill you as your corruption increased. These effects could be mitigated with the legendary cloak, which could be upgraded continuously until a few weeks ago.
What was the problem with corruption? The effects were sometimes so strong that they were solely responsible for the power of a class. This resulted in enormous disparity, as some specializations benefited significantly more.
Fire mages, for example, could overfill themselves with secondary statistics and overshadow everything and everyone. Other classes, like the outlaw rogue, had hardly anything from it.
At times, players could even kill everything in PvP effortlessly with enough corruption. PvP and PvE were thus determined for a while by who could provide more and better effects.
That’s why I’m excited about it: With the removal of corruption, classes will become somewhat more important again. Their abilities and how you play them are more relevant than the amount of corruption, which hopefully brings them closer together without extreme outliers. At least for a while.
What personally excites me even more is the space that will be freed up. At the moment, I am carrying almost four full sets with different corruptions for various situations. From patch 9.0 onwards, my bags will finally be empty!
Reworked affixes in Mythic+
What is happening here? Affixes are mechanics that make Mythic+ instances tougher than regular dungeons. Many of the affixes from WoW’s Mythic+ dungeons are now getting a rework:
- Bursting
- Volcanic
- Grievous
- Horrific
- Explosive
Among the changes are adjustments that allow tanks and healers to manage them better or differently. For DPS players, it should become easier to deal with exploding spheres and area effects, even if volcanoes now send you flying.
Why is this good: By changing the affixes, there may be a shift among the classes that are strong in dungeons or “taken along” at all. Abilities like dispels will become more important, and mobility will no longer be as crucial. Maybe we will soon even see new top combos in groups.
As a progress player, Mythic+ dungeons are almost as important to me as raids. However, I must admit that I had little motivation to visit the instances in BfA.
One of the reasons was the affixes, which after so many seasons eventually felt boring. Whether the changes make the dungeons better or worse now, I cannot say. But that is also not relevant: Any change makes me eager to dive into Mythic+ again. Just as long as there’s variety finally.
New character customizations
What is changing? The old character creation of WoW is undergoing a complete overhaul. Both the interface and the customization options are being completely revamped, and there are plenty of new choices, including:
- Heterochromia for many races (eyes with different colors)
- Tentacle and tail options for Draenei
- new hairstyles and jewelry
- more skin colors for things like white or black elves
This leads to better personalization of your characters to your personal taste, as well as allowing more ethnicities to feel represented. Humans, for example, are getting faces that resemble typical Asian and African American features.
That’s what I’m really looking forward to: Since I have been playing role-playing games for more than half of my life now, the appearance of my characters is extremely important to me. Accordingly, I was pleasantly surprised by the new options in Shadowlands.
In general, such details make me feel more connected to the character, resulting in more enjoyment of the game. In fact, some of the options convinced me so much that I’m considering transforming my main character into a Worgen. I might even finally return to the somewhat dormant role-playing in WoW.
The best part is: Everything can now be adjusted at the barber. The paid character customization service is being discontinued and looks and even gender can now be changed by the barber. I’m really looking forward to experimenting!
Finally not at level 120 anymore
What is happening here? It has been known for a while that with Shadowlands there will be a level squish, meaning a downward adjustment. The new maximum level in Shadowlands is level 60, and those who have reached the current maximum level in BfA will be reduced to 50. A table shows exactly how many levels you lose with the squish.
Along with this, equipment and stats will also be adjusted downward. Such a stat squish has occurred before, during Legion, when the numbers skyrocketed into the millions after a while.
In itself, players are losing something, namely more than half of their levels. However, this only appears to be the case, as the performance of characters remains proportional to their opponents. At least, if everything works out as it should. Ultimately, you win from this.
Why is this good? There are several reasons why I am particularly excited about this squish:
- it is clearer to view your stats again – choosing the best equipment should thus be easier
- no more huge numbers, which makes it somewhat easier to understand your own performance
- levels become relevant again; there are no longer long stretches where nothing happens
Especially the last point is important as it holds a huge advantage for new players. With the 120 levels that Battle for Azeroth had so far, there were always several levels where no new abilities or talents were added. The last talent is obtained at level 100, for example. That was in Warlords of Draenor – six years ago (November 2014).
With Shadowlands, or patch 9.0, you will roughly get a talent every 5 levels up to level 50, instead of every 15 levels as before. Additionally, leveling will generally go faster and more pleasantly, which brings me to my last point.
A new leveling experience
What kind of experience is that? Generally, leveling in Shadowlands will be about 70 % faster due to the level squish and the XP adjustment . Two new features will also be introduced that will change the leveling experience:
- With patch 9.0, the new “Isle of the Exiled” will be introduced, where beginners can take their first steps in the MMORPG.
- Additionally, the “Timewalking campaigns” will come, allowing veterans to speak with Chromie to complete the whole leveling experience up to level 50 in an expansion of their choice.
That’s why I’m looking forward to it: When I tested the island in the beta, I was thrilled. The Isle of the Exiled is even Cortyn’s new favorite zone in Shadowlands.
There’s a lot to discover in a relatively small area, and Blizzard is gradually but sustainably introducing new players to the complex mechanics of the game and classes.
Personally, I am most interested in the timewalking. With Cataclysm, there was already an attempt to renew the leveling experience and with scalable levels to Legion, it was supposed to become adjustable.
Now I can choose my favorite expansion and replay it. Probably not quite with the flair it had back then, but hopefully closer than before. While I already have all classes at the maximum level, I will surely want to level a character again for the sake of some armor of the allied races with the new system.
Pre-event and release: Here’s what comes next
What comes after patch 9.0? After the release of patch 9.0 and before the release of Shadowlands, there will be a new event to prepare: The Flood of Death. After the destruction of the Helm of Domination, the Scourge is running amok and the heroes of Azeroth must fight it back.
The event will proceed similarly to the one back in the lead-up to Wrath of the Lich King. There will be some special rewards, like a big bag that each of your characters can get. The event runs until the release of Shadowlands.
When is Shadowlands releasing? There are currently no details available on this. After the announcement that Shadowlands has been postponed indefinitely, there are no details on the release date. So for now, there can only be speculation.
