Patch 9.1 of WoW: Shadowlands looks really good. But there is a major downside. In the coming months, no one should expect the patch.
At BlizzCon, a lot of new features for WoW: Shadowlands were announced. The Patch 9.1, Chains of Domination, will be quite large. A new raid with 10 bosses, a mega-dungeon, and a small but interesting new zone in the Maw. Along with more campaign quests and a new season for dungeons and PvP, there should be something for every player.
However, there is a catch that could become a problem: Patch 9.1 is likely still early in development. No one should expect a release anytime soon.
BlizzCon talked about a lot, showed little: Looking at the pure promises for upcoming content, everything sounds good. A 10-player raid, an 8-boss mega-dungeon, 40 new levels of renown, new pets, and mounts.
However, BlizzCon was relatively lacking in visuals regarding Patch 9.1. There was a story trailer, but there wasn’t much to see from the new raid or the areas. Only a handful of meager screenshots, most of which showed only individual models of creatures.
This is unusual for Blizzard, as the developers usually proudly showcase the new areas or creatures in camera sweeps. The lack of this is a clear indication: Everything is still not quite finished.
Patch 9.1 is likely still in a very early stage. Many things will still be in conceptualization, textures and animations will be missing, and simply not in a presentable state.
Moreover, Blizzard has massively listened to the community with Shadowlands and implemented feedback from the beta in many cases. At BlizzCon, the developers explained that they want to keep this up. World of Warcraft is being developed in collaboration with the players, and that takes time.
Time that will likely further prolong the testing phase of Patch 9.1 on the PTR.
When will the patch be on the PTR? That is still unclear. As long as mini-patch 9.0.5 is still on the PTR, the big update will not come. That will be the case at least until mid-March.
Is the content sufficient until Patch 9.1? This is currently questionable. Even though the release of Patch 9.0.5 is imminent in the coming weeks, it only brings improvements to existing systems and no really new content.
Players will reach Renown Level 40 in just a few weeks, and then the “staggered” content of Shadowlands 9.0 will finally be exhausted. Certainly, some will still experiment with heroic or mythic raid bosses or improve their Raider.io rating in mythic dungeons.
But for many players, boredom will then set in, and the thought of pausing the WoW subscription for a few months will be tempting.
Let’s just hope that the dry spell won’t be as bad as currently feared. Even if the signs look rather grim.
