Blizzard has announced major changes for World of Warcraft. By the end of Shadowlands, a Season will start, which will run differently than you are used to. In the popular Mythic+, old dungeons will return – and the system will even be expanded.
This is what Blizzard says: In a new post in the US forums, community manager Kaivax talks about the upcoming changes in WoW Shadowlands. Initially, the expansion was supposed to end after Patch 9.2, but apparently, there will be more content after the current story.
“Later this year” the 4th Season of Shadowlands is set to start. This applies to both PvP and PvE. In PvP, there will be a new title called “Eternal Gladiator” and in PvE, the developers aim to approach the Mythic+ system with a completely new approach.
Which dungeons are returning? In Season 4 of Shadowlands, 8 dungeons will be included in the M+-instances pool, including 6 from past expansions:
- Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder and So’leah’s Gambit (Shadowlands)
- Mechagon: Junkyard and Workshop (Battle for Azeroth)
- Upper and Lower Karazhan (Legion)
- 2 dungeons from Warlords of Draenor
Which dungeons from Draenor will return will be decided by a vote. You can participate in a poll in the official forum and choose from the 8 dungeons of the expansion. The two dungeons with the most votes will be included.
The announcement of the new season and the returning dungeons is not everything. In the Bluepost, the community manager also talks about a completely new system: raids with additional mechanics.
WoW teases M+-Raids, but when is all this coming?
This is also in the announcement: In the last paragraph, Kaivax mentions introducing some “mechanical tricks” into the raids of Shadowlands: Castle Nathria, the Sanctum of Domination, and the Mausoleum of the First.
The goal is to make all three raids relevant again in Season 4. With increasing difficulties, there will also be better raid loot in all three raids. However, which affixes will be introduced and how exactly they will work has not yet been revealed.
The idea of “Mythic+-Raids” has been floating around for years. In 2017, WoW head Ion Hazzikostas was asked what he thinks about it. Back then, it was said that the target audience was hard to grasp. However, these considerations seem to have evolved since then.
When is Season 4 coming? So far, there is no specific date for Season 4. The current Season 3 started only with Patch 9.2 on March 1 and will certainly run for several months. Late summer or autumn 2022 seems likely for the start.
In April, the new expansion is set to be announced.
That another season is coming also means that the new expansion will likely take longer to arrive. The content from Shadowlands will therefore be stretched a bit longer until Patch 10.0 finally releases.
However, Season 4 promises significant changes that players have been waiting for some time. What do you think about making old content interesting again?
