Jump to content
FORUMS
Sign in to follow this  
Stan

What's Coming in World of Warcraft Shadowlands

Recommended Posts

JoDzKKY.jpg

Game Director talks about Shadowlands and what's next for World of Warcraft.

Check out our BlizzCon 2019 Content Hub for the latest news!

The Warcraft Afterlife

  • Souls cross the veil between life and death
  • Brought before the mysterious Arbiter
  • They are then routed to one of its realms, each ruled bu a powerful Covenant
  • Souls bear something called Anima, which is the blood of the Shadowlands

The Shadowlands will have six new zones: The Maw, Oribos, Maldraxxus, Revendreth, Bastion, Ardenweald.

blizzcon zones.JPG

We will encounter Uther in Bastion. You can find more concept art here.

A Covenant is the ruling powers of the Shadowlands. Each of them seeks your aid. Each offers power and rewards:

  • Kyrians in Bastion
  • Necrolords in Maldraxxus
  • Night Fae in Ardenweald
  • Venthyr in Revendreth

Covenant Systems

  • A full endgame narrative campaign, similar to BfA's War Campaign
  • Two active abilities, one universal and one class-specific
  • Endgame progression system: Soulbinds
  • There will be no Artifact Power grind in the Shadowlands
  • A wide array of cosmetic rewards
  • A Covenant Sanctum to restore to glory, similar to the Suramar questline

Covenant Rewards

Here's a look at the rewards, featuring a transmog set, mount, and abilities.

covenant reward.JPG

Each covenant comes with various cosmetic rewards including cloaks.

claos.JPG

Oribos, the Eternal City (Major Hub)

  • Ancient city that predates memory
  • The Arbiter stands at its core
  • Gathering point for brokers and soul-traders
  • Serves as our main player hub

The Maw (Possible End-Game Zone)

  • Covenant: None
  • Horrific prison for the vilest souls
  • A mystery even to Shadowlands natives
  • The domain of the Jailer
  • One simple rule: Nothing has ever escaped the Maw

Into the Shadowlands

  • The machine of death is broken
  • Souls are pouring directly into the Maw
  • Starved of Anima, the Shadowlands wither

Sylvanas' actions in Battle for Azeroth were calculated to cause the most death possible. She partners with the mysterious Jailer in the Shadowlands.

muehzala.JPG

Expansion Structure

  • Scourge marauding across Azeroth (Scourge Invasion coming in pre-patch)
  • Azeroth's heroes make for Icecrown
  • We will end in the Maw, from which none can escape... until now
  • With a unique bond to the World Soul of Azeroth, we will find a way to escape from the Maw.
  • Narrative arc weaves through the four zones
  • Work with each realm's leaders and borrow their powers
  • At max level, you will choose a Covenant

Alts in the Shadowlands

  • Playing an alt as "New Game+" experience
  • Choose a Covenant immediately
  • Level in any zone, do world quests, and more
  • Earn "endgame" progression while you level

Retrn to the Maw

  • Max-level zone
  • Fearsome area, free-form outdoor gameplay
  • You will venture here to unravel the mysteries of the Jailer and Sylvanas.

Torghast, Tower of the Damned

  • Endless, ever-changing halls.
  • Can enter solo, or bring up to 4 friends.
  • Ascend the labyrinthine tower.
  • Earn transformative power.

The Power of Anima (Shaman)

shaman.JPG

Dungeons

The Shadowlands comes with 8 dungeons.

4 level-up dungeons:

  • The Necrotic Wake
  • Plaguefall
  • Mists of Tirna Scithe
  • Halls of Atonement

4 max-level:

  • Spires of Ascension
  • Theater of Pain
  • The Other Side (Home of Bwonsamdi)
  • Sanguine Depths

Raid

Castle Nathria

is a 10-boss castle raid available at launch. Here is an early layout of the raid.castleraid.JPG

Systems and Rewards

  • Core Philosophy: Focus on player agency.
  • Profession updates - They want to make them relevant in the endgame.
  • Weekly loot chest - An example of randomness gone too far. You will be given the option to pick one from let's say five items. There will be a fallback option to prevent you from walking away disappointed.
  • Shadowlands Legendaries - Rather than have them randomly obtained, they want to make them craftable through your work in Torghast.
  • Return to class identity (as opposed to spec).

Leveling Updates

  • A streamlined leveling experience
  • Level from 50 to 60 in the Shadowlands
  • Offers better pace for content, but also skills
  • Every levels should unlock something.
  • A modern new player experience.
  • Unprecedented flexibility for alts. Like Pandaria? You will be able to play through the whole thing and go directly to the Shadowlands.

Character Customization

More customization options will be available for all races in the Shadowlands.

Trolls

trolls custom.JPG

Dwarves

You can create Wildhammer Clan dwarves and have various paints/skin tones to choose from.

dwarves.JPG

Humans

Customization options include new faces.

humans.JPG

Undead

You will be able to pick if you want the bones to protrude through armor in the coming expansion.

undead.JPG

All Races Can Be Death Knights

Finally, Ion confirmed that all races will be able to become Death Knights in the Shadowlands.

ok.JPG

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 minute ago, durdyenglish said:

Calling it right now - the Jailer is Arthas.

I thought it was Mueh'zala.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
14 minutes ago, Stan said:

I thought it was Mueh'zala.

It may be, but there's something about all these Arthas references that keeps catching me - especially the one line in this reveal cinematic: "No king rules forever." 

I think Arthas, lost in the Maw since he was defeated, found a way to dominate his surroundings. There is something about Sylvanas's righteous mission to free us all through undeath that rings close to how Arthas (as the Lich King) felt that enveloping Azeroth in the scourge would eliminate conflict, injustice, and strife; that only through undeath could they resist the Old Gods and the Void. She found Arthas in the Oblivion when she flung herself off Icecrown, could she have had an epiphany? Her mission seemed to dramatically shift after that moment. Aligning herself with her former nemesis would be one hell of a plot twist and could set Sylvanas up to be the Gul'dan of the expansion. 

I don't think it's Mueh'zala as the figure seems chained. Also, Mueh'zala would not want the Shadowlands to whither and die as it is the realm from where he draws power. I wouldn't doubt we have to fight the Father of Sleep in a Crucible of Storms type raid, something of a "prove our worth" moment where we will be empowered by him to restore balance to the realms. 

We're obviously missing a lot of information, but when I look at the shadowy figure chained before Sylvanas, I hear the name "Arthas."

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sylvanas' actions in Battle for Azeroth were calculated to cause the most death possible.

Yeah... not too sure about that one Blizzard...

I'm pretty sure there could be way more deaths in that last battle than just Saurfang and running away.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, durdyenglish said:

Calling it right now - the Jailer is Arthas.

Yeah because Sylvans would be soooo fine to work for arthas again. Willingly this time.

Plz dont give them ideas that can butcher the lore even more.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Kurosu said:

Yeah because Sylvans would be soooo fine to work for arthas again. Willingly this time.

Plz dont give them ideas that can butcher the lore even more.

Characters in Warcraft tend to align themselves with whomever best suits their plans. Especially the nefarious ones.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Why has it taken Blizz 15 years to make 'humans' more representative of RL humans?

I mean, 'FINALLY' and 'GREAT' but when many other titles have long (the single player Neverwinter games come to mind) since been fully representative I have truly wondered at this since I started playing in 2011.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, durdyenglish said:

Calling it right now - the Jailer is Arthas.

You mean Arthas, the good paladin soul who is trying to assist us and Sylvanas in combating a new, unknown threat, or Arthas the prince of darkness who is plotting to take over Azeroth once again? Originally he wasn't such a villanous character, mostly Ner'Zhul and Frostmourne tainted him and since we somewhat freed his mind/spirit from that effect, I'm not sure if his goals will be evil or nefarious once he reappears. As we can't say 100% either that Sylvanas did what she did with malicious intent, she may just have saved our world by shattering the Helm of Domination.

Edited by Badadada

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
9 hours ago, durdyenglish said:

Characters in Warcraft tend to align themselves with whomever best suits their plans. Especially the nefarious ones.

I think you need to play wc3 ( with expansion) and wotlk expansion in wow.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, durdyenglish said:

I've played both religiously.

Then replay them and then rethink what you replied earlier.

Edited by Kurosu

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 11/2/2019 at 10:17 PM, durdyenglish said:

Good to know, I suppose.

I still think we're going to run into Arthas at some point.

How about obtain his wretched soul as a battle pet? I would love that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

  • Similar Content

    • By Starym
      We have another triple entry in the hotfix ledger, as Radiant Echoes gets more improvements in retail, while Season of Discovery and Cata Classic get additional class changes.
       August 7  (Source)
      Player-characters
      Steady Flight should no longer be removed after entering an Arena. Quests
      We tuned up the Prototype Shredder MK-03 so that “Eye for an Eye” can be completed. Radiant Echoes Event
      Increased Flightstone and upgrade Crest drop rates in the event. Reduced the HP scaling on all event bosses so that they should be killable in a more-reasonable timeframe. Developers’ notes: This includes both ‘minibosses’ (e.g. Hogger, Thorim) and final bosses (e.g. Remembered Onyxia, Ragnaros). Season of Discovery
      Hunter Heart of the Lion once again has a 100 yard range. Warrior The Focused Rage rune will now correctly reduce the cost of Meathook by 3. Cataclysm Classic
      Fixed an issue where Faerie Fire did not deal intended amounts of threat when used on NPCs targeting another unit.
    • By Stan
      Due to a bug introduced with the War Within pre-patch, some players are receiving item level 250 gear from the weekly cache.
      We've seen numerous reports on Reddit and the official forums that the Last Hurrah weekly quest on live servers drop low-level gear for some players. Apparently, the bug was first introduced with the War Within pre-patch two weeks ago and still hasn't been fixed.
      Here's an example of a low item level drop from the Cache of Awakened Treasures by Omnifox.

    • By Starym
      Week 2 brings quite a few changes, as Hunters in particular rise up, while Shadow has a really bad time. The top 3 remains the same and very consistent, so let's jump in and see what's going on.
      Warcraft Logs Points
      The below logs are based on POINTS, and not actual damage or healing, meaning they log the timed completion for the specs, with higher keys getting more points, obviously. The time in which the dungeon is completed is also a factor, but a much, much smaller one, as it grants very few points if you do it significantly faster than just any in-time completion. We're also using the Normalized Aggregate Scores numbers, for clarity, meaning the top spec is marked as 100 and then the rest are ranked in relation to that peak point.
      All Keys
      95th percentile DPS
      The top 3 remains quite stable with the Evoker-Paladin-Warrior trio reigning supreme. We see the first change of the week right after that though, as Frost DK continues its upward march in dungeons as well as in raids, taking 4th from Elemental. Both DKs are on the rise, as Unholy also moves a spot up, taking advantage of Shadow's precipitous 5-spot fall to the bottom of the top 10. Arms remains stable as two Hunters burst in, Beast Mastery taking 8th and Marksmanship 9th, as Frost Mage disappears down towards the bottom. Speaking of the bottom, Devastation gets some new roommates there, as Outlaw and Destruction fall and give Enhancement and Feral a break.

      Mythic+ All Keys 95th Percentile Data by Warcraft Logs.
      All Percentiles
      As with the top percentiles, the top 3 remains solid, but 4th is immediately changed, thanks to Shadow's massive drop in performance this week. The Priest loses even more ground here, falling 9 spots into 13th, opening 4th up for Arms. Beast Mastery moves even higher here, grabbing 5th and moving in front of Elemental and Frost DK, as Marksmanship brings up the rear and completes the Hunter sandwich in 8th. Affliction breaks into the top 10, just ahead of Unholy which dropped to the final spot.

      Mythic+ All Keys All Percentile Data by Warcraft Logs.
      Raw DPS U.GG DPS Rankings
      U.gg's rankings are based on actual DPS taken from Warcraft Logs data, focusing on the top players and span the past two weeks.
      Frost DK finds itself on top in the raw DPS rankings, as Augmentation isn't calculated properly here. Fury and Arms grab the next two spots, moving ahead of Ret, and the Fyr'alath wins continue in 5th, where Unholy finished the legendary axe streak. Even Survival joins the Hunter good times in 8th, where all three specs gather, just ahead of Balance who closes out the top 10.
      Mythic+ All Keystone DPS rankings by u.gg.
       
       
      For even more in-depth data for each individual key head on over to Warcraft Logs. And if you're interested in more info on the specs themselves you can always check out our class guides (updated for the pre-patch), as well as our Mythic+ guides and Mythic+ tier list.
    • By Stan
      For the next two weeks, the Archaeology quest for Spirit of Eche'ro is available on live servers, so don't forget to get the rare mount before it's gone for 6 months!
      How to Get the Spirit of Eche'ro Mount
      1. Download MapCoords or some other add-os that displays coordinates in the game.
      2. Teleport to Azsuna from the Stormwind/Orgrimmar Portal Room or use your Dalaran Hearthstone to reach Dalaran (Legion) if you have one in your inventory.
      3. Seek out Archaeology Trainer Dariness the Learned in Dalaran at 41,26 and learn Archaeology if you already haven't.
      4. Accept The Right Path quest from the Archaeology Trainer and make your way to Thunder Totem in Highmountain.
      5. Talk to Lessah Moonwater to accept Laying to Rest. For the quest, you must collect 600 Bone Fragments of Eche'ro by rotating between four digsites in Highmountain. The exact locations with coords are outlined below.
      Digsite 1: Darkfeather Valley (50, 44) Digsite 2: Dragon's Falls (58, 72) Digsite 3: Path of Huin (44, 72) Digsite 4: Whitewater Wash (39, 65) it takes roughly around 2 hours to get the mount.
      Spirit of Eche'ro
      "The spirit of Huln Highmountain's pet moose."

      Hurry up! You only have until August 21, 2024, to get the mount!
    • By Stan
      MoP Remix characters that will transfer over to retail will receive a gear boost!
      With Patch 11.0.2 now live on Public Test Realms, you can copy over MoP Remix characters from retail! It appears all MoP Remix characters will receive a character boost so you can dive straight into action when the War Within expansion launches.

      We can't unfortunately log in to the game with the MoP Remix char on the PTR so we can't confirm the Item Level of gear for max level characters. However, keep in mind that the gear boost will scale with your level, so if you're below max cap, you will receive gear appropriate to your current level.
      When Can We Expect MoP Remix Characters to Transfer to Retail?
      MoP Remix ends on August 19, so we assume the characters will need to be transferred to retail by August 22 when Early Access begins.
×
×
  • Create New...