Shadowlands Preview: The Maw

[Lumy]

Shadowlands Preview: The Maw

To be cast into the Maw is to be doomed to a bleak eternity. In this tumultuous, hopeless land, the vilest souls in the cosmos are imprisoned and tormented forever. Should the ancient evil chained here break free, all of reality will be consumed.

Return to the Abyss

The Maw is where you’ll begin your journey in the Shadowlands—and after you’ve traveled through the realms of Death, you will once again be called upon to return and face its horrors. Here, you will engage in an ongoing conflict with the Jailer to restore balance to the Shadowlands. Your ventures and accomplishments in this dreadful place will help you better understand your enemy and gain power to withstand his relentless assaults. However, every triumph draws the watchful eye of the Jailer, who will send his forces to assail you until you succumb to darkness.

Before the emergence of mortals who could walk the Maw, the Mawsworn knew their enemies had no hope of escape. But with the power to leave and enter as you wish, you are a threat who must be taken down.

When you defeat enemies in the Maw or complete quests, you will earn Stygia that you can use to purchase Cyphers—powerful tools and buffs—to aid your survival within this terrible place as well as Torghast, Tower of the Damned. One of the Cyphers you can purchase from Ve’nari ensures that you will always get to pick from at least two Anima Powers from any source that grants them. For those who wish to take a bit of the Maw with you on your travels, you’ll also be able to trade in your Stygia for cosmetics, including pets.

Ve’nari is a mysterious broker who lives among the shadows and, through unknown means, has managed to survive. For a long time. She is the closest thing you’ll find to a friendly face in this realm.

Should you succumb the Jailer’s forces in the Maw, some of your precious Stygia will slip through your fingers. However, if you are daring enough to return to the place where you fell, you’ll be able to reclaim your lost Stygia.

Soul Salvation

Since the Arbiter went dormant and stopped directing souls to their just afterlives, all have instead been damned to the torment of the Maw. Many souls in the Maw are already too far gone, but a few possessing strong enough will to endure the Maw’s torments can still be saved. If you free these souls and bring them back to your sanctum, then not only have you righted a cosmic wrong, but you’ve also recruited a new member to your Covenant!

The Jailer’s Domain

The entities that roam the Maw are powerful enemies not to be trifled with. You will need to use every ability, tactic, and trick at your command in order to survive.

Mawsworn

The Jailer’s minions who bring pain and punishment to the most wicked of souls.

Mawsworn Avenger: Circling the skies above, these winged warriors use their spears to impale intruders.
Mawsworn Shadowcaster: Powerful magic wielders, Mawsworn Shadowcasters lob powerful bolts of dark energy to destroy those who oppose the Jailer’s will.

Death's Essence

Soul energy trapped within the Maw for untold ages coalesce into malevolent manifestations that wander the dark reaches of the Maw.

Charred Behemoth

These brutish iron-clad creatures crave carnage and use their brawn to pulverize everything that stands in their way.

Soul Seeker

Acting as eyes for the Jailer, Soul Seekers keep an ever-watchful gaze over the realm for any suspicious activity and will eliminate intruders—no questions asked.

Soul Eater

Malicious beasts that lurk the Maw, these savage terrors rend their prey with wicked talons, relishing the screams of their victims before consuming them soul and all.

Blazing Stygia

Once master assassins and scouts of the fallen House of Eyes, aranakk now find themselves bannerless nomads. While their necropolis lies in ruins, they still retain their sense of purpose and are willing to share the secrets they’ve unraveled from the tangledBurning hatred coalesces as Blazing Stygia that mindlessly pace back and forth, unleashing their fiery fury upon hapless souls.

Eye of the Jailer

As you progress through the Maw, slaying Mawsworn and dismantling the Jailer’s forces, the Jailer will notice your presence. Completing quests, opening treasures, and defeating rare enemies in the Maw will attract the Eye of the Jailer. The master of the Maw will torment you with increasingly treacherous punishments—including siege fire that will deal devastating damage and assassins that will hunt you down. There are five different Threat Levels. Once you reach Threat Level 5, your life will be siphoned until you fall, and you will not be able to re-enter the Maw again until the next day.

We look forward to sharing more information as development continues, and we hope this preview prepares you for the Maw and all it has to offer.

What mysteries are you most looking forward to unveiling in the Maw? Join the discussion on the forums.

Rewards and mechanics are still in development and subject to change, so be sure to check back for periodic updates on worldofwarcraft.com as we approach the release of Shadowlands.

[Justpassing]

Looks pretty slick to me.

[Soeroah]

"For those who wish to take a bit of the Maw with you on your travels, you’ll also be able to trade in your Stygia for cosmetics, including pets."

If I'm not wrong, this is a different currency from the Torghast cosmetics itself, which means that's two separate cosmetic systems that are vendor-based rather than rare drop based, like islands were.

This is making me more hopeful on the collection side of things. I'm sure there will still be plenty of rare spawn-based drops for mounts and toys and whatnot, but having the 'extra' stuff on vendors rather than a tiny drop rate every Torghast run is already a big improvement over islands and warfront RNG.

[TheRevenantHero]

I've seen a few videos of people travelling through the Maw. Apparently pulling more than one mob at a time is a death sentence. So essentially, if you're a casual player, you can go fuck yourself as you will never be able to get anything from the Maw. Blizzard is really showing how terrible this expansion is gonna be.

[Feanorgandalf]

Maybe I missed it somewhere. Is the maw going to be helpful in progressing other content (not counting Torghast)? I haven't been overly compelled by what I've seen so far of the Maw (it is beta so I'll keep an eye on it), it just seems everything you do helps with the maw and Torghast only which makes me think this is a more self contained system.

[Relapses]

I've seen a few videos of people travelling through the Maw. Apparently pulling more than one mob at a time is a death sentence. So essentially, if you're a casual player, you can go fuck yourself as you will never be able to get anything from the Maw. Blizzard is really showing how terrible this expansion is gonna be.

Is this sarcasm? I ask because I genuinely can't tell.

[TheRevenantHero]

Is this sarcasm? I ask because I genuinely can't tell.

No, it's not. Apparently, the adds in the Maw are INSANELY powerful, even the non-elites. From what I've seen in videos, pulling more than one requires popping all cooldowns just to stay alive. Which makes me think the Maw is purely for hardcore players.

[Kalontas]

Everything at level cap is insanely dangerous at first. This is how every expansion goes. It will get easier as you gear up and as patches release.

[Darknessvamp]

As you progress through the Maw, slaying Mawsworn and dismantling the Jailer’s forces, the Jailer will notice your presence. Completing quests, opening treasures, and defeating rare enemies in the Maw will attract the Eye of the Jailer. The master of the Maw will torment you with increasingly treacherous punishments—including siege fire that will deal devastating damage and assassins that will hunt you down. There are five different Threat Levels. Once you reach Threat Level 5, your life will be siphoned until you fall, and you will not be able to re-enter the Maw again until the next day.

In other words "We think you've played enough today, go away." I hate their new boner for time limits. It's not like we pay for a time based sub or anything.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

"Should you succumb the Jailer’s forces in the Maw, some of your precious Stygia will slip through your fingers. However, if you are daring enough to return to the place where you fell, you’ll be able to reclaim your lost Stygia."

I'm almost surprised it took them this long to decide to rip off a system from Dark Souls.

[Stormgnoef]

I've seen a few videos of people travelling through the Maw. Apparently pulling more than one mob at a time is a death sentence. So essentially, if you're a casual player, you can go fuck yourself as you will never be able to get anything from the Maw. Blizzard is really showing how terrible this expansion is gonna be.

Casual player and bad player are 2 different thing. If you have problem with killing quests mobs stop being so antisocial and group up. This is mmo after all

[TheRevenantHero]

Casual player and bad player are 2 different thing. If you have problem with killing quests mobs stop being so antisocial and group up. This is mmo after all

This is hands down one of the most tone deaf responses I've seen. I can see grouping up for elites and rares and such. But for regular adds? Yeah, that's dumb.

[Stormgnoef]

This is hands down one of the most tone deaf responses I've seen. I can see grouping up for elites and rares and such. But for regular adds? Yeah, that's dumb.

Why is that dumb. We used to do that up till mop till they nerfed everything down and you can solo everything. I think being forced into groups is a great thing and prolly why I enjoy classic way more than if I could just blast and solo everything in 2 sec

[TheRevenantHero]

Why is that dumb. We used to do that up till mop till they nerfed everything down and you can solo everything. I think being forced into groups is a great thing and prolly why I enjoy classic way more than if I could just blast and solo everything in 2 sec

For one, nobody likes being FORCED into groups. They never have. For two, Classic proved that the mobs really weren't that dangerous. They just had a lot of health. I absolutely can solo everything(except elites) in Classic. In the Maw, everything has way more health AND hits like a fucking truck. And that's just normal adds. Elites can practically one shot you.

It's been shown time and time again that people would prefer to just stop playing the game when they are given the choice of being forced to group up or quit the game.

[Vekrah]

I've seen a few videos of people travelling through the Maw. Apparently pulling more than one mob at a time is a death sentence. So essentially, if you're a casual player, you can go fuck yourself as you will never be able to get anything from the Maw. Blizzard is really showing how terrible this expansion is gonna be.

Why are we commenting on number balancing in alpha? Let's wait until closer to launch before calling this expansion terrible based on second-hand evidence from an untuned alpha build.

[Black Goat]

I've seen a few videos of people travelling through the Maw. Apparently pulling more than one mob at a time is a death sentence. So essentially, if you're a casual player, you can go fuck yourself as you will never be able to get anything from the Maw. Blizzard is really showing how terrible this expansion is gonna be.

What an elementary, small-minded way of looking at it.

THE SKY IS FALLING. "I watched some videos, so I am totally qualified to make outrageously conclusive statements about something I personally have no experience with whatsoever."

^ That's you.

[TheRevenantHero]

Why are we commenting on number balancing in alpha? Let's wait until closer to launch before calling this expansion terrible based on second-hand evidence from an untuned alpha build.

Everything else they've shown of Shadowlands from story to covenants has been fiery garbage. Seeing the overtuning of these mobs on the alpha along with Blizzard basically confirming that the Maw will be exceptionally difficult shows me the expansion is going to be trash. Keep the hardcore difficulty to Mythic raids and Mythic+ dungeons. Keep it out of open world content.

[xeddin]

I mean, it should be hard shouldn't it? I believe this will give it room to grow throughout the expansion. If it is very difficult for a fresh level 60, then over time we can conquer it more efficiently and effectively over the duration of the expansion, and get more rewards from it.

Would be pretty boring if it was a cake walk right from the start. Challenge is good, I see nothing wrong with this.

[taishar68]

Everything else they've shown of Shadowlands from story to covenants has been fiery garbage. Seeing the overtuning of these mobs on the alpha along with Blizzard basically confirming that the Maw will be exceptionally difficult shows me the expansion is going to be trash. Keep the hardcore difficulty to Mythic raids and Mythic+ dungeons. Keep it out of open world content.

Relax, the sky is not falling. I’ve been in almost every beta since Cata, and in every one, open world content was way harder than it was live. Keep in mind alpha players have a basic starter gear set, and likely only have quest drops.

I get the idea you might be unhappy with it in any case, but it won’t be as bad as you think on live.

[Jastall]

No, it's not. Apparently, the adds in the Maw are INSANELY powerful, even the non-elites. From what I've seen in videos, pulling more than one requires popping all cooldowns just to stay alive. Which makes me think the Maw is purely for hardcore players.

Or maybe we can wait until the tuning is done before having panic attacks?

Suramar was tuned higher than most world content when Legion launched, and the expansion did quite well. I'm all for challenging the players a bit TBH, at least at first.