Shadowlands Expansion (Launches November 23rd) (Megathread)

[MiRai]

As we tend to do for larger topics with ongoing discussion, I'm going to create a megathread so that it'll be somewhat easier for people to re-cap everything that's been said about Shadowlands, the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft.

Shadowlands Launch Schedule:

November 10th - Pre-Launch Scourge Event
November 23rd - Shadowlands Launch
December 8th - Castle of Nathria Raid Opens




----------------------Older Information Below----------------------

Shadowlands Livestream (July 8th)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGCvhZRoR3k


So far, we have the following developer posts:

Shadowlands: Developer Update (4/6) (Blizzard (https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23377994/shadowlands-developer-update) | WoWHead (https://www.wowhead.com/news=311858/shadowlands-developer-update-closed-alpha-invites-this-week))
Shadowlands: A Look at Covenant Class and Signature Abilities (Blizzard (https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23374470/shadowlands-a-look-at-covenant-class-and-signature-abilities) | WoWHead (https://www.wowhead.com/news=311862/shadowlands-covenant-preview-early-look-at-all-class-covenant-abilities))
Shadowlands: Class Updates (Blizzard (https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23310980/shadowlands-class-updates) | WoWHead (https://www.wowhead.com/news=311877/shadowlands-class-changes-preview-early-preview-of-class-changes-and-class-philo))
Shadowlands: Bastion and the Kyrian Covenant (Blizzard (https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23379368/shadowlands-update-bastion-and-the-kyrian-covenant) | WoWHead (https://www.wowhead.com/news=311887/shadowlands-update-bastion-and-the-kyrian-covenant))
Shadowlands: Adventure Awaits in the New Starting Experience (Blizzard (https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23380363/shadowlands-adventure-awaits-in-the-new-starting-experience) | WoWHead (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311891/shadowlands-leveling-new-starting-experience-preview))

Including WoWHead mirrors because they tend to have better formatting.

Miscellaneous and data-mined information (subject to change):


Alpha begins later today (4/9)
Standard backpack is now 28 slots (https://i.imgur.com/YZBY7Hy.jpg)
New "Target FPS" setting for things such as the new "Dynamic" spell density setting (https://i.imgur.com/VKdHtCK.png)
Potential gamepad support (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311904/shadowlands-alpha-spell-density-options-and-gamepad-support-strings-found)
AoE abilities are now capped for how many targets (5-8) they are allowed to hit (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311911/shadowlands-class-changes-target-capping-aoe-abilities)
Data-mined class abilities and class changes from the alpha (Build 9.0.1.33978) (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311908/new-class-abilities-and-class-changes-shadowlands-alpha-build-9-0-1-33978)
Demon Hunter, Death Knight, and allied races now start at level 10 8 (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311892/demon-hunters-death-knights-and-allied-races-will-begin-at-level-10-in-shadowlan)
Profession "Drums" items nerfed (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311944/demon-hunters-and-death-knights-now-begin-shadowlands-at-level-8)



Current state of alpha testing (Blizzard (https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/shadowlands-development-update-notes-april-9/490669) | WoWHead (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311950/shadowlands-development-update-notes-for-april-9th-level-53-cap-bastion-open))
Shadowlands alpha forums are open to those who were invited (https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/c/in-development/23)
Character level and item level squish details (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311945/shadowlands-alpha-level-and-item-level-squish-details)
Flying now opens up at level 25 (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311953/shadowlands-alpha-characters-can-learn-flying-at-level-25)
New NPC/quest/map markers, including shareable map pins (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311942/new-shadowlands-quest-markers-and-map-pins)
Shadowlands talent calculator available (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311943/shadowlands-talent-calculator-now-live-new-talents-and-what-level-you-learn-abil) (expect it to change over the course of the alpha)
Interview with Game Director, Ion Hazzikostas (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311952/liveblog-of-the-shadowlands-sloot-interview-with-ion-hazzikostas) (additional details to come)



Covenant ability upgrades (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311922/shadowlands-covenant-ability-upgrades)
Unread mail now displayed on character selection screen (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311963/shadowlands-alpha-unread-mail-now-displayed-in-the-character-selection-screen)
Soulbinds System (Early Alpha Preview) (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311964/shadowlands-soulbinds-system-early-alpha-preview)
Graphics engine upgrades found in CVars (Ray-Tracing/DXR/Variable Rate Shading) (https://old.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/fyl4s2/new_engine_features_dxr_support_raytraced_shadows/)
From Ion's interview with Sloot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp044blwDsQ):

No Warforging/Titanforging/Corruption systems
Smaller pool of loot (easier to identify upgrades)
No "AP" grind
Account-wide legendary profession recipes
More stuff, just hitting major points



Shadowlands Collector's Edition Physical Box (Sold Out):
Blizzard Gear Store (https://www.blizzardgearstore.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcraft:-shadowlands-collectors-edition/o-98725720+t-87946860+p-47854731+z-8-2245625715)

[MiRai]

It's interesting to hear about the "un-pruning" that they're doing, and it maybe sounds like they brought a ton of stuff back and are just going to sort it out based on player feedback during alpha/beta.

In addition, these Covenant-specific and class-specific Covenant abilities look to be interesting, but it seems like those of us who wish to run mixed-role/class teams in Shadowlands will have to spread our attention and time across multiple Covenants if we want the most for our competitive PvE teams, but we'll have to see how this all unfolds.

Finally, while not much of a multiboxer thing these days, the return of actual PvP vendors has to be the most talked about (read: meme'd about) thing at the moment.

[Ellay]

Class changes just came out today.... Shamans are back on the menu!!

[Kalros]

@Ellay I was thinking the same thing! Very exciting!

[Ellay]

I'll need to see the rotation but having Chain Heal baseline brings Elemental and Enhancement back on table. Being able to blast this x4 is why the Druids are strong using 4x Wild Growth. The problem with Wild Growth on Druids is it drops you out of boomkin form, so you lose a GCD everytime you use this heal (and you also lose the armor)
Adding on top of this Healing Stream Totem, and you should be able to do a 1x tank 4x Ele for PvE and this should also work well for PvP. Too bad Shaman didn't get that fabled 4th tank spec. THAT would be something.

[Lyonheart]

I want shamans to be like they were TBC-WOtK so bad! cant wait. Guess i better level them up before the exp buff expires! ( they are 100 now )

[MiRai]

I'm going to just start bumping this thread when a new update comes out, since I ninja'd in the class change link earlier today.

With that said, Bastion and the Kyrian Covenant update is available.

[WOWBOX40]

Hopefully this wont be a repeat of the issue i had...when i went to shatrath city in outlands.. when that content was relevant.. by accident some of my characters choosed the wrong faction... aaargh. Better be ultra carefull and disable any "automatically complete quests on slaves"... untill you made your faction choice.

[Lyonheart]

The only time i wish i had 5 active Bnets is during betas. I would love to test multiboxing. Wish all a bnet would get to log in.

[MiRai]

Alright, some additional updates that I need to catch up on and what we're seeing from data-mining...



New player starting experience (optional for veterans) (Blizzard (https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23380363/shadowlands-adventure-awaits-in-the-new-starting-experience) | WoWHead (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311891/shadowlands-leveling-new-starting-experience-preview))
Alpha begins later today (4/9)
Standard backpack is now 28 slots (https://i.imgur.com/YZBY7Hy.jpg)
New "Target FPS" setting for things such as the new "Dynamic" spell density setting (https://i.imgur.com/VKdHtCK.png)
Potential gamepad support (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311904/shadowlands-alpha-spell-density-options-and-gamepad-support-strings-found)
AoE abilities are now capped for how many targets (5-8) they are allowed to hit (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311911/shadowlands-class-changes-target-capping-aoe-abilities)
Data-mined class abilities and class changes from the alpha (Build 9.0.1.33978) (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311908/new-class-abilities-and-class-changes-shadowlands-alpha-build-9-0-1-33978)
Demon Hunter, Death Knight, and allied races now start at level 10 8 (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311944/demon-hunters-and-death-knights-now-begin-shadowlands-at-level-8)
Profession "Drums" items nerfed (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311915/some-profession-drums-nerfed-to-15-haste-in-shadowlands)

[MiRai]

Additional updates since alpha has been opened up:


Current state of alpha testing (Blizzard (https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/shadowlands-development-update-notes-april-9/490669) | WoWHead (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311950/shadowlands-development-update-notes-for-april-9th-level-53-cap-bastion-open))
Shadowlands alpha forums are open to those who were invited (https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/c/in-development/23)
Character level and item level squish details (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311945/shadowlands-alpha-level-and-item-level-squish-details)
Flying now opens up at level 25 (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311953/shadowlands-alpha-characters-can-learn-flying-at-level-25)
New NPC/quest/map markers, including shareable map pins (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311942/new-shadowlands-quest-markers-and-map-pins)
Shadowlands talent calculator available (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311943/shadowlands-talent-calculator-now-live-new-talents-and-what-level-you-learn-abil) (expect it to change over the course of the alpha)
Interview with Game Director, Ion Hazzikostas (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311952/liveblog-of-the-shadowlands-sloot-interview-with-ion-hazzikostas) (additional details to come)

[ebony]

just letting you know am in alpha x2 so i have been boxing it :D i have been twitching some of it.

[MiRai]

More things being slowly pieced together as data-mining continues:


Covenant ability upgrades (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311922/shadowlands-covenant-ability-upgrades)
Unread mail now displayed on character selection screen (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311963/shadowlands-alpha-unread-mail-now-displayed-in-the-character-selection-screen)
Soulbinds System (Early Alpha Preview) (https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/news=311964/shadowlands-soulbinds-system-early-alpha-preview)
Graphics engine upgrades found in CVars (Ray-Tracing/DXR/Variable Rate Shading) (https://old.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/fyl4s2/new_engine_features_dxr_support_raytraced_shadows/)
From Ion's interview with Sloot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp044blwDsQ):

No Warforging/Titanforging/Corruption systems
Smaller pool of loot (easier to identify upgrades)
No "AP" grind
Account-wide legendary profession recipes
More stuff, just hitting major points



I'll probably not be linking to any lore, art, or any non-system/QoL improvements or changes, so if you're interested in those things then seek them out yourself, and, as always, this is alpha and things are subject to change.

[tsincaat]

Not sure if this is something that has been discussed much regarding Shadowlands but I'm curious if they're going to take any steps to nerf gold farming via multiboxing in Shadowlands, like via gathering nodes or hyperspawns.

It seems like wow multiboxng has gained a lot in popularity (or at least in visibility) since people became able to pay for their subs via wow-tokens. I've seen way more posts complaining about multiboxers in various places, as well as people discussing goldmaking using multiboxing in TSM/goldmaking related communities.

I could imagine people at Blizzard being concerned that multi-boxing is becoming too prevalent of a gold-making 'strategy'.

Whether the current gold-making methods that are quite effective for multiboxers being nerfed would wholly be a bad thing, I don't know. It would certainly frustrate some people who have invested a lot of gold or money into extra WoW accounts for the explicit purposes of farming gold with their teams.

[Ellay]

The herb/ore farming came into focus recently because of Nazjatar being the only place to get the new herbs. There is little reason to go to these zones anymore unless you are working on getting flying (which is a much lower amount of players) or you are gathering the nodes. So the entire zone is now just gatherers and it exasperates the problem. A multiboxer has no effect vs a solo player on this unless the boxer is playing 10 (which is also not as common since you'd have to split to 2 bnet accounts).
The hyperspawn farming I'm assuming wasn't an intended method for farming but it has been ongoing for more than 1 expansion now. I actually even saw this on Classic.


More to Shadowlands and while I am hyped for Shamans being a potential option coming up. They are still a very turret like class and WoW has evolved so much mechanically that if a lot of bosses or events require movement Hunters will still reign.

[Lewsifur]

From the visions instances, I see Shadowlands as a mix of BFA and Cataclysm.

[MiRai]

Shadowlands Livestream (July 8th)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGCvhZRoR3k

Shadowlands Collector's Edition Physical Box:
Blizzard Gear Store (https://www.blizzardgearstore.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcraft:-shadowlands-collectors-edition/o-98725720+t-87946860+p-47854731+z-8-2245625715)

Honestly, there wasn't a whole lot of new information in the stream, but we learned a little bit more about Covenants, in general, and that beta launches next week—with each week including new waves of invites throughout the summer—as well as Ion stating that Shadowlands is slated to launch "this fall."

[Ellay]

Shaman Theorycrafting hype!! Working on all the potential viable options we'll be getting in SL and Shamans are getting some great improvements for us.

bOkz6T3kr1A

[Shania]

just letting you know am in alpha x2 so i have been boxing it :D i have been twitching some of it.

Ive been in the Beta for ages but dont play it, cause I cant box it I thought

How can I box it ?


Shaman Theorycrafting hype!! Working on all the potential viable options we'll be getting in SL and Shamans are getting some great improvements for us.

bOkz6T3kr1A


who is old person in the video ?

[Facedthemusic]

Are any of the Covenant quests instanced/phased to where if you're running a team of anything more than 1 you have to do them individually versus together?

[daviddoran]

I heard a rumor that Loot-a-rang is bing changed to require Cataclysm engineering. Gonna have to go farm a bunch of cata ores I guess.

[Ellay]

the Auction house market is already completely in shambles on my server for the mats. A team of 5 to get engineering up to use it is 82,000 gold. There isn't enough supply to meet the demand either.

[daviddoran]

Yikes, well I better get farming it then. Could maybe even make some gold if I get more than I need.

[Tin]

You need lv. 70 in Cataclysm engineering to use Loot-a-rang (beta)

https://www.reddit.com/r/woweconomy/comments/is7xwm/blizzard_added_a_barrier_to_entry_change_to/

[schmonz]

I am completely confused by Covenants. I wonder which i should choose for by druid team or my mixed team. I really would like to play one covenant with each team.

[Tin]

Preach Gaming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXuLW1eWAsM

Covenants:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E1TxEKvH6LoCUwhG1-8QQ4CikblmHaaBp-Ozr9ugQHw/htmlview?usp=sharing&pru=AAABdJL6IbQ*vIELVBuahyKTV74fdzBXLw

[Barazanthul]

Short Recap of all the Dungeons Boss Fights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsecBHaEo44&list=PLhx6nABtx9XO7FbNsxvoBZ9dRvvbv38SL&index=1

Man is that a lot of party splits and movement bullshit. Keep in mind, the video is a bit old. Maybe the mechanics were changed a bit.

[schmonz]

It is very likely dungeons will be a real PITA again at the start of Shadowlands. As like at the start of BFA. Seems, multiboxing and dungeons becomes more fun as closer to the end of an expac we are.

[Teknetron]

Looks interesting, love the art and design of the encounters from what I've seen.

At the start of the expansion I think comps that have the ability to switch things up and have a pet tank and roll double healer will benefit on certain encounters. Same with comps that have strong healing from multiple toons (druids).

I'm not sure how well pets (lock & hunters) will do in the tanking department though.

[schmonz]

Shadowlands just got delayed.

https://www.wowhead.com/news=318294/shadowlands-world-of-warcraft-expansion-delayed-until-later-this-year

[Lyonheart]

Shadowlands just got delayed.

https://www.wowhead.com/news=318294/shadowlands-world-of-warcraft-expansion-delayed-until-later-this-year

I think its a good decision! Lots of streamers/testers have been saying its not ready. I am happy that will be able to test ( on the live servers) a lot of the changes starting Oct 13th!

[schmonz]

I think its a good decision! Lots of streamers/testers have been saying its not ready. I am happy that will be able to test ( on the live servers) a lot of the changes starting Oct 13th!

I agree. Better we get a well tested product than being frustrated by bugs at launch.

[luxlunae]

I don't mind a while to try out the new levelling system.

[z0k]

This was absolutely the right move. When I came back to play Classic with my friends, I was so impressed with the work Blizzard had done to cleanup and polish Classic to make it playable. Made me want to try retail again. I've been very impressed with Blizzard and how they seem to want to revert to their older ways of doing things and doing them correctly. Some of their messaging around covenants and ripcords and stuff has been a little contradictory to that of late, but I think this was the best move they could have made.

I'm stoked to get some more time with the new leveling system, and hopefully the first raid tier won't begin until January.

[Teknetron]

I don't mind a while to try out the new levelling system.

Same here! As much as I want the expansion now, having a bit of extra time for pre-patch and all the new systems will be great.

[Ellay]

As long as Arenas/Mythic + is still active in some sort of fashion this will be good. I actually also wanted a little more time during prepatch to level up teams, work on professions and just get a feel for all of the classes.
As long as prepatch is now sub 2 weeks away, count me in the happy category.

[Wubsie]

I'll take waiting and receiving a (hopefully) finished product over a rushed failed launch any day of the week.

And ye gives us time to prep for the eventual launch with the benefits of the prepatch leveling.

[schmonz]

I read the changes on Covenants currently, and Druids just moved from Night Fae to Ventyr to be the best to chose. At least regarding to the Comparisons made by this chart:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E1TxEKvH6LoCUwhG1-8QQ4CikblmHaaBp-Ozr9ugQHw/htmlview?usp=sharing&pru=AAABdJL6IbQ*vIELVBuahyKTV74fdzBXLw

Seems Blizzard will continue to rebalance this over and over and over and over again, so chosing a covenant just for hoping to get the most powerful will only work for one patch cycle. Instead of FOTM specs we get FOTM covenants in Shadowlands.

[z0k]

They're really making covenants more agnostic and kinda nerfing them all at a flat rate. Mixed feelings on this. I'd rather covenant abilities be less impactful, but it also reduces a little bit of the fun. It's a slippery slope though because Corruption was a lot of fun but it was also extremely frustrating and didn't feel good.

[Gnomepower]

They're really making covenants more agnostic and kinda nerfing them all at a flat rate. Mixed feelings on this. I'd rather covenant abilities be less impactful, but it also reduces a little bit of the fun. It's a slippery slope though because Corruption was a lot of fun but it was also extremely frustrating and didn't feel good.

They have too many systems to balance around atm. Covenants, legendaries and soulbinds make balancing an absolute nightmare. Also with the CD in covenant swapping and hybrids getting pretty screwed by this system (or anyone mixing roles/pve/pvp) it’s honestly not a great system. It seems that they ‘want’ people to stick to a covenant with the CD on swapping, make people feel an almost Aldor/Scryer type of affinity but with the current power gain from covenants that’s very unlikely to happen. I really hope one of these systems gets axed or converted to super arbitrary power gains (with maybe aesthetic changes) to make choice based on flavour an actual reality.

[Barazanthul]

It seems they fixed the switching: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/shadowlands-development-update-october/666214

Last part of that entry:
Class and Covenant Balance
Tuning has been underway over the past couple of weeks, but much work remains. Our initial tuning efforts have focused on Covenant class abilities that were outliers on either end of the spectrum, including some substantial redesigns where necessary. The coming weeks will see continued iteration on these abilities, as well as the soulbinds that complement them. Balance in this area means pursuing a mix of offsetting strengths and weaknesses rather than identical capabilities, and our goal in this process is that every class/covenant combination should have something to commend it.
Alongside these specific areas of focus, we are all using this time to tune various endgame rewards, fix bugs (thousands of which continue to come from the in-game Bug Report tool - thank you!), and add the finishing touches that will hopefully make your journey into Shadowlands a magical one when the time comes.

[MiRai]

Shadowlands pre-launch event begins on November 10th, Shadowlands launches November 23rd, and the new raid opens up on December 8th:

https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23558953/shadowlands-arrives-november-23

[DasButo]

Global release times:

https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/blog/images/21160-shadowlands-release-date-and-times-on-november-23rd-24th-global-release.jpg