The beta of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is live. We will tell you what is new and how to recognize if you are part of it.
A few days ago, Ion Hazzikostas, the Game Director of World of Warcraft, announced the beta of the new expansion Shadowlands. Now it is finally here and the first players have already received an invitation. How to recognize if you also have access and what you should pay attention to, we explain here:
The beta is live – am I in it? You can easily check if you can participate in the Shadowlands beta. Just open your Battle.net account and click on World of Warcraft. Then open the menu under “Game Version and Account” and you will see if you can participate. If the menu item “In Development – Beta of Shadowlands” appears for you, you can start downloading immediately and then play.
What is new in the beta? With the transition to the beta, Shadowlands is largely already “feature complete” – this means that all content is at least available in its basic outlines. So it doesn’t matter if you want to embark on the new leveling phase, play the individual areas of Shadowlands, explore Torghast, take a look at PvP, or see what the endgame – such as the Maw – has to offer.
You don’t have to start a character at level 1. In character creation, you can create characters directly at level 50-60, depending on which area you want to start in. You can also directly transition to the endgame and start with the selection of a covenant.
Keep in mind, however, that the balancing process is by no means finished. In particular, the strength and bonuses of some covenant abilities still differ drastically. The final balancing of these abilities usually takes place quite late in the beta. However, you should still diligently provide your feedback, as this is the best chance for the game to develop according to your wishes.
Attention, there are no beta keys: At this point, another warning that there are no beta keys for Shadowlands. Instead, active accounts are simply unlocked and you thus gain access to the beta. So if someone wants to “sell” you a beta key or you are asked to log in on any page, be careful: it is very likely a scammer trying to get your account details.
Did you get access to the beta? Or are you still waiting to be finally chosen by Blizzard?
