While Hearthstone players find themselves in the midst of their first Scholomance Academy semester, fans of World of Warcraft prepare to enter a much darker timeline: Later this year, Shadowlands, WoW’s newest expansion, will be released across the globe, and take its players on a trip into the Shadowlands, the realms of Azeroth’s afterlife.
On October 13th, Blizzard releases Patch 9.0.1, the usual “expansion pre-patch” that already introduces a whole bunch of Shadowlands’ new additions to class gameplay, character customization, and the leveling experience. In the following short overview, we’ll highlight the most important changes to the game and Wowhead’s corresponding guide coverage!
Our sister site Wowhead spared no expenses to create the most comprehensive guides about all the new content coming with Pre-Patch 9.0.1!
Leveling Squish & Revamp
What players thought would never hit the servers will be finally introduced with Shadowlands: For the first time in the history of World of Warcraft, all player characters will be subject to a level squish. Level 120 characters in Battle for Azeroth will become Level 50 characters in the upcoming pre-patch, and Level 60 will be the future maximum level in Shadowlands. During this process, item and ability scaling will be adjusted accordingly.
Another great addition to the Leveling process in Shadowlands and its pre-patch will be “Chromie Time“, a new system in the game that lets you level from Level 1 to Level 50 within a single expansion! Whatever your favorite expansion has been in the last 15 years: You can relive its full experience without the need to complete content of other expansions!
The last big change to leveling is the removal of experience bonuses on heirloom items. From now on, heirlooms should focus on giving the player an edge in the leveling process not through experience gain, but rather stats and other helpful bonuses. In exchange, leveling rates have been adjusted so that this change will not be a nerf at all!
Want to read about the ins and outs of the Leveling Changes, the new player leveling experience, and the Chromie Time system? Just click the highlighted links!
Shadowlands Class Changes
As it is with every World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands brings massive class changes to the game. But unlike most class design iterations of the past, the upcoming expansion will introduce many long-forgotten abilities that once defined class identities. What the community calls the “un-pruning” of almost every single specialization includes a whole lot of ability shuffling. Many talents become base-line abilities, and some of them return to design ideas of earlier expansions, while others are now backed into the whole class instead of a certain specialization.
Besides this new approach to general class design, many class specializations receive much-needed “face-lifts”. For example, Shadow Priests will receive Void Form as a flexible cooldown instead of the spec-defining mechanic it once was since it has been added to the game with the Legion expansion, while Enhancement Shaman’s resource management will once again embrace the cooldown-heavy Legion design philosophy.
If you want to know more about the upcoming changes for your class, check the complete guide list down below!
- Death Knight Class Changes
- Demon Hunter Class Changes
- Druid Class Changes
- Hunter Class Changes
- Mage Class Changes
- Monk Class Changes
- Paladin Class Changes
- Priest Class Changes
- Rogue Class Changes
- Shaman Class Changes
- Warlock Class Changes
- Warrior Class Changes
Pre-Patch Event: “Death’s Rising” Scourge Invasion
So what is happening in the current lore of World of Warcraft? Well, thanks to the cinematic Shadowlands trailer, we know one thing for certain: Sylvanas, the Banshee Queen and former Warchief of the Horde, confronted the Lich King, destroyed his Helm of Domination, and opened up a rift to the Shadowlands. By the looks of it, her actions during the Battle for Azeroth all led to this very moment, as she seems to have forged a pact with the Jailer, an incredibly evil entity ruling the realm of the Maw, the “hell” of Azeroth’s afterlife.
We don’t know yet what Sylvanas’ exact plans are, but one can expect that destroying the Lich King’s “crown”, the Helm of Domination, most definitely didn’t go unnoticed. In fact, this unholy artifact not only turns its bearer into the Lich King; it also provides full control of the Scourge, a menacing army of undeath.
Well, guess what? That exact army is now roaming free across the lands of Azeroth, and that brings us to the current happenings of the pre-patch. We won’t spoil the complete story told by faction-unique questlines coming up with the game update, but we can say that the leaders of both Horde and Alliance are in for some trouble. And while this particular event won’t start right at the beginning of the pre-patch phase, we can be certain that – within the next one or two weeks – the headless Scourge will haunt the lands and capital cities of Warcraft.
Similar to previous pre-patch events, players will get the chance to not only combat the looming threat in the form of rare bosses all over Icecrown, but also be rewarded by the Argent Crusade with powerful items and cosmetic rewards such as an exclusive 34-slot bag!
Profession Changes, Allied Race Requirements, Improved Character Customization
Besides the massive class changes and the pre-patch event, Patch 9.0.1 also introduces several changes to other systems.
- Crafting and professions will become more useful during the level process thanks to the “Relics of the Past” system that heavily upgrades crafted leveling items.
- From Patch 9.0.1 on, all Allied races will be much easier to unlock, as you won’t need to be Exalted with the related faction anymore.
- World of Warcraft’s outdated character customization receives a very much-needed overhaul. For many players, this particular change may very well be the heavy favorite of the pre-patch – new face, hair and facial hair options, tattoos, scars, war paint, flowers, the possibilities for make-overs during character creation or at the barbershop for existing characters are limitless!
- Several smaller but equally important improvements are made to the Mentor leveling system, Hunter pet taming, and the transmogrification system.
Need more information about Patch 9.0.1, the upcoming Shadowlands expansion, and World of Warcraft as a whole? Feel free to check out wowhead.com!
