Blizzard has announced that the Closed Alpha for Shadowlands, the new expansion of World of Warcraft, will start soon. Everything you need to know about the new WoW Alpha and who can actually participate.
5 months after the official presentation of the WoW Addon Shadowlands at BlizzCon 2019, the Closed Alpha is finally set to begin. Several contents and changes are expected to be available in the Alpha.
Who will be invited? The first wave of invitations is expected to be very small and aimed at specific players:
- long-term players of WoW with active accounts
- friends and family members of Blizzard
- special community members and journalists
There will be additional waves of invitations for testing PvP and raids. These will also primarily target players with a lot of experience in PvP.
When is the release? Even though the invitations are being sent out now, we cannot say much about the release of Alpha and Shadowlands yet. The new addon is quite certainly not expected to be released before October.
Registration for the Alpha
The registration for the Alpha proceeds the same as for the Beta. How to register for the Shadowlands Beta is explained here. Alternatively, you can directly visit the official Opt-In page: Registration is valid for both the Alpha and the subsequent Beta phase.
If you are not invited, we have 7 ideas on what you can do until the launch of the Shadowlands addon. Those who registered but do not gain access may still be invited to the Beta.
If you have already decided that you want to play Shadowlands, you can find the difference between the versions and where you can purchase the new addon here.
WoW Shadowlands – What the Closed Alpha offers
What contents are available in the Alpha?
- The zone Bastion and the dungeon “Nekrotische Schneise” are available to players
- All content can be completed with an Alliance character
- From April 2020, the zone Revendreth with the endless dungeon Torghast, Tower of the Damned, will be added.
- Furthermore, additional content such as zones, dungeons, and quest lines will be unlocked as they become available for testing.
You can also use the Alpha to experience some of the long missing abilities from WoW’s history that return in Shadowlands.
Is there any gameplay available? We do not have any gameplay for the Alpha yet. However, there is already a glimpse from BlizzCon 2019:
What comes after the Closed Alpha? After the successful Closed Alpha phase, WoW: Shadowlands will transition into a Beta phase. Old characters will be deleted and a larger number of players will be invited.
In the new addon, time could also pass faster than one might think. And this time jump is due to a peculiarity of Shadowlands.
