World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will completely change the game

BlizzCon 2019 has come to an end. This year we have got all that was expected and a bit more. The reveal of Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 have been spectacular, causing great excitement among the fans, but World of Warcraft's next expansion shadowed them both when its features were listed. Silvanas killed Saurfang in Battle for Azeroth after he challenged her to Mak'gora. In the process, she revealed her disdain for all living things, abandoning her position as leader of the Horde and leaving everyone wondering about her destiny. The presentation video of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands provides the answer to that question.

When everyone thought that she was going to take over the Lich King's army, she instead breaks the barrier between Azeroth and the land where the souls of the deceased go. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will offer players a new universe to explore with four new factions (Covenants) for players to join that will define their experience through the expansion. As they become allies with those Covenants, the players will gain special skills and armor sets progressing through the specific campaign of each of them, but using a system that is not going to be the typical reputation system used previously in World of Warcraft. Instead of that, players will have to forge bonds with different individuals, becoming stronger in the process.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will come with new zones to explore, lots of quests, new enemies, and much more, but it will also change some core mechanics of the game to change the experience of the players. The first huge change and the most commented one is about the leveling system. With this expansion, the maximum level in World of Warcraft will be 60. Blizzard is changing the leveling experience in the game to make it shorter but more meaningful. The addition of a new starting zone available to all players and connected to Battle for Azeroth will provide a more streamlined experience that will also allow you to level from 10 to 50 in whatever expansion you choose, providing a better connection to the latest content available. The players that are level 120 when the expansion comes out will be level 50 instead, and the place to level up from 50 to 60 will be Shadowlands.

Along with those changes to the leveling system World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will also see the return of class defining mechanics that were previously pruned, like totems, auras, or curses. Blizzard is putting a focus on class identity again instead of specializations, probably trying to get that aspect of the game a bit closer to what it is in World of Warcraft Classic, which is having a great success among the players.

With plenty of surprises and much more to be revealed during the following months, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has been the great announcement of this year's BlizzCon. When it's released in 2020, it will contribute a lot to maintain World of Warcraft in its position as the most popular MMORPG.