9.0 General Discussion

[Yarathir]

So I'm guessing that 60 is going to remain the max forever, and once the next expansion hits, Shadowlands is just gonna be one of the expansions from 10 to 50?

[BarelyLegalBear]

Just passing the time till the world building panel then gotta cut that short a little to get to the meaty WoW Q&A

It's going to be just as meaty as that deep dive.

[Chickat]

There definitely feels like there is a giant chunk of the game that is somehow missing. Some secondary threat looming in hte background we have to defeat, something like that.

All in all outside Torghast and the Covenants the expansion feels like a glorified patch. In a parallel world this was BfA's 8.2 or 8.3 patch. As is it definitely looks like it will have all the problems i anticipated from an expansion taking place entirely in the Shadowlands.

It will look great, but it will feel hollow and tiring after a while since every zone will be dealing with the same exact problem, just in a different way. Really there is only the Ardenweald that seems to have some kind of secondary plot worth expanding on.


Not going to write it off just yet though, i have enjoyed all expansions i have played well enough so far, and at least it will be the WoD we were promised with a reason to go and explore the amazing world the art and zone designers have created instead of sitting in your garrison all day.

I think you feel that way because we have no info on the story. With BFA we knew there was going to be a faction war, and old gods from the announcement blizzcon. With Shadowlands they are leaving all of that a mystery. We have no idea what a 9.1/2/3 would look like. I think thats what scares people, but I highly doubt there arent plans. They just didnt share those with us.

[matrix123mko]

The Arbiter is very likely Elune, which would explain why the Night Elves who were massacred went to hell: they were funneled into the Maw by Sylvanas and she was unable to do anything. She has to be neutral because she judges souls + couldn't actually save them because Sylvanas is fucking up the order.

This also explains Delaryn and Sira: they turned "evil" because they thought they were being damned for being slaughtered.

Could be but I think Elune is more tied to arcane and life than death.

[Shadochi]

I hope they rework heirlooms into set gear for leveling instead of XP buff (symilar to legion Class sets for OH)

[FlubberPuddy]

It's going to be just as meaty as that deep dive.

It's gonna be spicy I'm sure

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Yeah, that seems to be it. I was hoping for something more, but we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out in-game.

I'm still not sure how they can fill 50 levels with stuff unless they're bringing back something like Spell Ranks or Passives.

[Chickat]

Chances for that are pretty low i would reckon. The armor they showed is probably the only things they have at a stage ready to show off.

I take the armor as the warfront armor of BFA. Probably a new set each tier, and the raids will continue to have raid specific sets too.

[Marlamin]

WoWEdit/World editing panel coming up in 25 minutes. My favorite.

[Makorus]

I'm still not sure how they can fill 50 levels with stuff unless they're bringing back something like Spell Ranks or Passives.

I mean, we already have spell ranks, and with more spells, I can see that happening.

[Grimbold21]

Watching this Blizzcon, I get the feeling this expansion is not a Summer 2020 release. This is an Early December 2020 release.

They've already suggested that it is a December release

[bagina]

Any info on 8.3?

[Raetary]

Speaking of the Arbiter, i am going to assume that we eventually learn that the Arbiter is the one that ressurected Vol'jin. Eyir seems to be a death entity roughly on the same level as the other death entities like Bwomsamdi and presumably hte leaders of the covenants, so Eyir would have respect for the one above her.

That's most likely the case.
The Jailor manipulated Vol'jin into appointing Sylvanas warchief, then the Arbiter blessed him later on and we got the questline.


With Eyir being a val'kyr queen, she definitely has to know who the Arbiter is.

[Nagawithlegs]

Could be but I think Elune is more tied to arcane and life than death.

Elune is Arcane, Life and Light all at once. She's very likely to be some kind of Balance God: which relates to the Arbiter being a goddess of judgement.

[Jodmos]

I'm still not sure how they can fill 50 levels with stuff unless they're bringing back something like Spell Ranks or Passives.

They mentioned getting a dungeon unlocked as an example of something you got at leveling up so seems they mean a quite ranging list of things when they say you get something each level.

[FlubberPuddy]

I think you feel that way because we have no info on the story. With BFA we knew there was going to be a faction war, and old gods from the announcement blizzcon. With Shadowlands they are leaving all of that a mystery. We have no idea what a 9.1/2/3 would look like. I think thats what scares people, but I highly doubt there arent plans. They just didnt share those with us.

I think this is fine honestly because they needed to focus on core systems and that's exactly what they've been showing so far. Most of the focus has been on core systems: leveling revamp, increased character customization, class revamps, interesting gearing system, covenants are kinda like the pseudo reps. And then ofc we have all the usual core stuff like Dungeons, M+, Raids.

[Damien Handler]

It's nice little bit of synergy that they're giving us a choice of four movement/stealth abilities designed as means to "avoid combat" right before tossing us in a hyper hostile zone we're supposed to explore in a surgical, cautious manner.

[FlubberPuddy]

I'm still not sure how they can fill 50 levels with stuff unless they're bringing back something like Spell Ranks or Passives.

That's what it is. They said they want each level to unlock something. Whether it's a new dungeon, a new ability, or upgrade to an existing ability. But the nice thing is that they're also speeding up leveling by 60-70% so people can get to level cap faster as well.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

They mentioned getting a dungeon unlocked as an example of something you got at leveling up so seems they mean a quite ranging list of things when they say you get something each level.

Okay that's the first thing with Shadowlands where I just shook my head and sighed.

That's peak Blizzard. Thinking dungeons that are irrelevant at level 51 are what people meant by "we want rewards as we level."

[Chickat]

Cata had RBGs and the Guild System
MoP had Scenarios and Challenge Modes
WoD had the Garrison

And besides gameplay fixes, Shadowlands will have all of the outdoor stuff we usually have from legion/bfa, mythic+ etc. We are getting covenants and the tower along with the usual zones,dungeons,raids etc.

This expansion has more content than MoP lets be honest. People love MoP. MoP has outdoor dailys, dungeons, raids, pvp, challenge modes, pet battles, scenarios. Thats it.

Shadowlands has, Outdoor world quests presumibly also some type of assaults and emisarys, dungeons, raids, pvp, mythic+ dungeons, pet battles, Covenants which include a way to get followers, they hinted at a mission table, end game progression, and story like class halls/war campaign. It also have the rogue like tower, and a dedicated eng game zone like Legions Suramar.