WoW-Addon: Warlords of Draenor – What new things will there be?

Now it’s official – the next expansion of World of Warcraft at a glance

The suspicion of many gamers has been confirmed. This year’s BlizzCon announced the new addon for WoW. The next expansion for World of Warcraft is titled Warlords of Draenor. What will be new there, you can find summarized here at Mein MMO.

The World of Draenor

Draenor is reminiscent of the shattered world known from The Burning Crusade and consists of seven zones. Some sights may be familiar, while other areas deviate significantly from The Burning Crusade. For example, Hellfire Peninsula will become a jungle and Shattrath will be a coastal city. Thus, Draenor offers more beautiful areas that invite exploration. Additionally, there will be hidden quests besides the regular ones, which are not relevant to the main storyline but can provide attractive rewards.

The Story (WARNING SPOILER!)

Warlords of Draenor deals with a time travel story. However, it is not a story full of typical confusions, but it’s the explanation of why the player comes to Draenor at all. Garrosh manages to escape his imprisonment and travels back in time with an accomplice. He arrives in Draenor. Warlords of Draenor is not meant to completely rewrite the Warcraft story. The shattered world is still the shattered world. Nevertheless, the storyline is supposed to have consequences for the ongoing gameplay and leave traces.

(FINALLY!) Housing

A major (and long demanded) innovation is WoW’s housing system. Here, players not only have their own house but also their own base. This can be expanded via an interface with all possible rooms, like a Jewelcrafter or an Alchemy Lab. Each building has its own bonuses and can also be upgraded. Additionally, more followers can be hired. The followers are, of course, NPCs that can be sent on missions during gameplay (which smells a bit like SWTOR), where they can gain experience and thereby provide the player with resources for base expansion. Just like in Star Wars: The Old Republic, the gamer does not have to be logged into the game while the (companion) mission progresses.  Via a group invitation, other players, such as friends or guild members, can be invited to the player’s base. This can rise to a true prestige object when raid bosses are defeated, unlocking items that can be placed in the home.

Instances and Raids

The WoW addon begins with two raids and seven group instances. These are available in both normal and heroic modes. The flexible scaling of raids is the new standard. Furthermore, there are no fixed group sizes in either normal or heroic mode (similar to a raid). All modes can utilize flexible scaling from 10 to 25 players. For the hardcore among you, there is a new difficulty level called Mythic, where the group size is set to 20 players.

PvP Battles

And what would a WoW addon be without a cool new open PvP area? Exactly, that’s why there is Ashran, a zone reminiscent of Alterac Valley. Players fight for specific key points and can even destroy the enemy base. This can be accomplished, for example, with self-built siege engines.
The reward system has also been slightly overhauled (again): There is still the Honor System, but players now have a chance for random loot after a match.
The Trial of the Gladiator system is a new arena ladder. This competition is supposed to take place at regular intervals and further showcase the player’s skills. Gear in this mode does not need to be obtained through play but can simply be purchased from a special vendor for this specific mode.

The Characters

Level 100 is the new maximum level. Upon reaching it, there are new talents for each class. Those who purchase the expansion can bring any character directly to level 90, enabling them to immediately keep up with friends who have already reached that level. Additionally, all character models of the “older” races will be overhauled. Goblins and Worgen will likely receive new models as well. However, not all new variants will be available immediately but will be gradually implemented into the game.

Small Conclusion:

Now, with Warlords of Draenor, several aspects are being implemented that many players have demanded for many years. Whether this will effectively and sustainably counteract the current downward trend remains to be seen. The backstory of the new expansion also evokes a mixed response. On one hand, it gives the player the opportunity to directly reach one of the focal points of the entire WoW story and likely witness and participate in the subsequent events. On the other hand, the whole thing sounds a bit clichéd, particularly the fact that Garrosh will still play a significant role. But one way or another, the new WoW addon should provide us spoiled gamers with several (or even more) exciting hours of gameplay. A look into the game should not hurt at the right time. 🙂

So, now let yourself enjoy the first trailer!

[intense_video video_type=”youtube” video_url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RedsrWlnYQ8″ /]

And since the video was quite nice to watch, here are a few impressions of the new play area. Oh, and please don’t forget later –> to like, share, comment and whatever else you can do! We thank you very much! 🙂