World of Warcraft: Shadowlands – Release and Gameplay

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a large online multiplayer game (MMORPG) launched in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth published game set in the fantasy world of Warcraft.

By 2014 the game had more than a hundred million registered accounts in total. In 2017, the game had pulled sales of over $9.23 billion, making it one of the largest scale video game franchises ever.

Release Date

The 8th extension, Shadowlands, was revealed at BlizzCon in 2019 on 1 November 2019. We don’t yet have a clear release date, but game developer Ion Hazzikostas announced it will be released in 2020.

Details

World of Warcraft: The Shadowlands has some very large holes to fill, particularly after the highly criticized Battle of Azeroth. Considering the World of Warcraft cycle of fantastic expansions leading to mediocre ones returning to great benefit. The shadowlands would have been a far stronger expansion than Combat or Azeroth had been. And the alpha suggests that this may indeed be the case.

As per Hazzikostas, alpha players should have a chance to fight the new Bastion zone-the the more celestial part of the Shadowlands. Later in the month, the team plans to introduce another zone to Torghast, the game’s latest “endless dungeon area” stated at BlizzCon.

The release of a new expansion is an exciting moment, and Shadowlands sounds good. When it was first revealed back at BlizzCon 2019, it was clear that Blizzard has taken to heart some of the critiques players had of Fight for Azeroth’s loot and development structures.

Blizzard has also updated the quest design, making it easy to know where players need to go to the destination. Many PvP currency improvements will still be implemented as the alpha starts — although the planned PvP and raid training won’t happen immediately.

Shadowlands Covenant Reward

One of the main new aspects of the Shadowlands is the Covenants. It’s a zone you adventure to is ruled by a group (like Kyrian or Night Fae) whom each has a different role in the afterlife.

When one has finished the key campaign and hit a new stage limit, they will pick a pledge to be associated. This unlocks certain fraction-specific powers, along with an armor collection. Choosing a covenant will enable a long journey that will comprise most of the final game of the Shadowlands.

Beta Version?

Game Director Ion Hazzikostas confirmed that the upcoming expansion would begin its Alpha phase for selected players.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is open to a small number of players in alpha examinations. More will be welcomed over time as the alpha eventually moves to beta earlier this summer. However, there are no precise specifics as to when that might be.