Originally Posted by
realmofshadows2020
World of Warcraft: Realm of Shadows
- New Level Cap: 130
- New Allied Races: Tuskarr, Taunka, Vrykul and Frost Dwarves. Some Allied Races will be restructured and act as a reskin for current races instead of being their own standalone race. For example, Dwarves can be either Dark Iron or Frost Dwarves, Humans can be either Kul Tiran Humans or Vrykul.
- The Faction split between Horde and Alliance is changing lore wise. Both Horde and Alliance will work together to save Azeroth from the corruption of the Old Gods and Death. Warmode Off allows you to go to any Faction City as any race. Warmode On will continue to be the same, Horde vs. Alliance. New Allied Races will have a choice to either be Horde or Alliance other then a select couple due to current lore.
- Class Prestige Skins will be available. They will be tied in with all new class quests. These are just visual updates to spells, animations, dances, emotes, jokes etc., no gameplay changes.
- No new classes, but we will get major spec redesigns and additional specs for select classes. List is below.
Death Knights: Unholy redesigned to be a ranged caster wearing Plate Armor. Think Necromancers and Destruction Warlocks. They will summon or reanimate the dead around them while also being able to cast hard hitting spells.
Shamans: Class redesign and fourth spec. Elemental will focus Fire/Lightning ranged abilities. Enhancement will focus on Air melee abilities. Restoration will focus on Water healing abilities. Earthwarden will focus on Earth tanking abilities. Totems are being redesigned and will have a heavier focus on the element that your spec is based on. No more air totems on Elemental Shamans for example.
Hunter: Fourth spec called Shadow, which is still a WIP name. Basically, making Shadow Hunters bringing back spells like Black Arrow and some cool spells that you have seen Sylvanas use previously.
Monk: Monk is being redesigned. Four specs in total to fix the quick turn out that they failed with Mists of Pandaria. Brewmaster will be based on Niuzao, the Black Ox. Windwalker will be based on Xuen, the White Tiger. Mistweaver will be based on Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent and stay as a full-blown healing spec. There will also be a fourth new spec that is also a healing and DPS spec, kind of like Discipline but also like a Fistweaver. The name for this spec is undecided as of this post, there are a couple options. It will be based on Chi-Ji, the Red Crane.
The rest of the classes are getting major redesigns and rebalances. You will see a lot less pruning and more class fantasy and spec identity. Paladins will be all about the light, with brighter more holy abilities and animations. Priests are going to be interesting as they serve both Holy and Shadow. Warriors are going to be all about spec identity. Fury will be faster and crazier, while Arms will be more of a brute force that strikes slow but hits very hard with big weapons. Protection Warrior is going to be able to DPS as well with a redesigned Sword and Board playstyle, kind of like Gladiator but it’s not called that since it’s not its own spec. Rest of the classes are also getting major changes but nothing worth talking about.
- We will be getting a full Guild UI redesign with multiple new social features, achievements, pets, mounts, toys and transmogs. Cross faction guilds will be a thing with both Warmode on and off as well as grouping in general will be possible with only Warmode on as this would break World PVP if it was disabled. No workaround to this solution yet.
- Guild Halls will be a thing. You can design them how you want to look and there will be multiple layouts or locations that your hall can be located. This is more of a hangout spot for guild mates instead of a hub for the expansion. You won’t see banks, auction houses or anything you would normally see in a city.
- PvP will be seeing a full redesign. Currencies will be brought back, the current Honor system is staying but being upgrarded. Think of Diablo 3s Paragon system. Conquest will be used as Arena currency where you will be allowed to purchase gear on a weekly basis.
- PvP specific stats are being reintroduced. Resistances, Stun Duration Reduction, Movement Speed Increased, etc.
- There will be no new AP grind for this expansion. The essence system is staying but becoming a talent/essence system instead. You will have multiple Major and Minor slots that both have passive and active abilities. These will evolve throughout the expansion. The essences will be purchasable from a vendor with a special currency to avoid having to do content that you would prefer not to do as well as to avoid major grinds and allow for alts to catch up easier. Currency will be earned through all content.
- World Quests are staying, rewards are being changed and will scale with your item level and on a weekly basis to make World Quests relevant throughout and entire patch instead of for a few weeks of a new patch. Kind of like how the item level currently scales but the currencies will scale as well. Gold will most likely stay the same but WQs that award gear currencies will be increased over time.
- Titanforginig/Warforging is being removed. No more will an item level 400 scale to a 455.
- Talent trees are being redesigned for each spec and will be more involved and rewarding while leveling. They will mostly include more class fantasy talents instead of spec/gameplay changing talents. Think more 3 charges of Divine Steed and increased movement speed by an additional 100% instead of a Wake of Ashes talent for Paladins. They won’t allow you to alter the way your spell rotation is determined.
- We attempt to imprison N’zoth once again with the assistance of MOTHER, Magni, Wrathion and several other major characters. In the final battle N’zoth manages to kill Sylvanas and a couple other major characters. With no victory in sight, Mother, Magni and Wrathion manage to open a portal to allow us to escape back into the real world which fails miserably and allows N’zoth to escape as well. The premise of 9.0 is that N’zoth has escaped and is wreaking havoc on the real world. We will be searching Azeroth for a solution on how to stop him from corrupting the entire planet. Eventually we will find a portal to the shadowlands that is located in Icercrown Citadel. The fight to the Shadowlands isn’t easy as Bolvar has gained control of a new Scourge army that has taken control of a new and redesigned Northrend. We seek assistance ins topping the Scourge and Bolvar through the help of the Bronze Dragonflight as well as others.
- N’zoth is corrupting everything on Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. His goal is to release the imprisoned Old Gods and destroy Azeroth.
- Some old-world locations will be redesigned and used as locations that your character will use to level. All new stories and leveling experiences.
- Dragon Isles will be a location we visit. Think Broken Shore, Argus, Timeless Isles.
- We will be going to the Shadowlands or Shadow Realms sometimes in the expansion to stop N’zoth and the Old Gods. This is where we will meet Death and where new lore will be introduced.
- Major playes. Sylvanas, Bolvar, Murozond, Zul’jin, Azshara, Tyrande, Anduin, Magni, Wrathion, both Infinte and Bronze dragonflights. New allies and new enemies as well.
Beta invites will be given out like hot cakes. The goal is to have as many testers as possible to allow bug fixes to be handles before release instead of finding them after. Beta release is schedule for early Q1 2020, shortly after 8.3 release and 8.3.5 announcement. Full release Q4 2020, possibly Q1 2021. Blizzcon is going to be big this year. Multiple changes to all games, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch and Diablo seeing the biggest changes. All games will get something. Possible new IP announcement at Blizzcon. Blizzcon schedule will be released Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, 22nd or 23rd of October.
Notes: Level cap is being increased to 130. Once we save Azeroth from the corruption of the Old Gods we will return to a new redesigned Azeroth with a level squish and other changes in 10.0, with new lore and story arch. At least that’s the plan for now.