World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Expansion Overview

With Shadowlands on the way, it’s useful to see what exactly it will bring. It’s the eighth expansion of WoW, and there are definitely some nice features and improvements to it. Still, some core changes in gameplay might look frightening to players, mostly the game’s new leveling system. Howsoever, we wanted to make sure you get a clear Shadowlands expansion overview and be up-to-date on what can you expect.

Now, let’s quickly skim through what this guide will be about. We have all read about Shadowlands way back, tried the beta, and experienced some bits of this gem. 

Despite, let’s remind ourselves again about what Covenants will represent, a new leveling system, and “new-old” core changes in the game.

Covenants

Upon reaching level 60, you will have to choose one of four Covenants. Moreover, each Covenant stands for one of four main factions you’ll encounter in Shadowlands:

• Kyrians – These divine beings from Bastion, dedicated to guide and protect mortal souls in the realm of Shadowlands. They are noble, immortal creatures whose rows count only pure and noble and they are the primary source of Spirit Healers of Azeroth. 
• Venthyr – Vampire race in Shadowlands, they prey on souls and surround themselves in extravagance and rule the Revendreth. 
• Necrolords – These skeleton rulers are leading the undead in their quest to preserve the Shadowlands. They value only the ambitious and contentious, making them into their undead soldiers.
• Night Fae – Only those who reflect nature through themselves are marching like soldiers of Night Fae. These Fae absorb anima from mortal souls and imbue slumbering spirits with it.

As you see, every Covenant has its own story and traits that it values. Not only that, but it also means that you’ll gain some awesome abilities depending on which Covenant you join. In that light, every Covenant gives you specific Covenant Signature Ability and Class Covenant ability depending on your class.

Precisely, here are Covenant Signature abilities for every of the four:

1. Kyrians – Summon Steward 
2. Venthyr – Door of Shadows 
3. Necrolord – Fleshcraft 
4. Night Fae – Soulshape 

To top it off, Covenants will open the doors to Souldbinds that you’ll unlock more and more while leveling. Also, each Covenant gives you the option to choose from three types of Souldbinds , and each is different playstyle – wise. So, Blizzard really tried to allow more customization by introducing this feature. 

Not to forget, Souldbind resembles a skill tree with the possibility to connect three NPC’s from the Covenant and channel bits of their power. Therefore, expect slots for passive buffs and the ability to slot it with gems that provide unique passive buffs. Simply speaking, you can choose from 12 skills trees and it extends to giving you the option to level and rotate between threes.

Torghast – The Mega dungeon

Finally, Shadowlands are bringing a big improvement in Dungeons. When you reach cap 60 and join a Covenant, the storyline will take you to the Maw, and thus, Torghast. 

What’s more, Torghast or Tower of the Damned is a dynamic, computer-generated mega dungeon that changes every time you enter it. Therefore, expect more challenging objectives and be ready to face a final boss ‘’The Jailer’’ while earning epic loot. 

On every instance you get into the Dungeon, the Jailer will use stronger and stronger Torments on you.

Level squish 

Notably, this is something you surely heard about and many players are wondering what it exactly means. As we all know, in BfA you were able to reach level 120. This time, the devs decided to disrupt the scale and basically squish your level down. 

However, it’s not to worry about, as your power will stay the same. Level squish is only a new scale that the game will interpret the levels. To be precise, players with max level will drop down to level 50 and those below max will squish down proportionally. 

The good news is that the players will be offered to level in any of the earlier expansions, which is great. Anyhow, get ready for the old-school way of WoW to knock back on your door big time.

 More personalization

With this feature, there’ll be a variety of options to customize hairstyles, eye color, face paint, scars, tattoos, and whatnot. This additional customization will finally come to players who had a scarce of it, like Nightborne for example. Obviously, we will get a few cosmetic improvements and options, something players were begging for.

Besides, you can choose any race for your Death Knight now. This is true even for BfA allied races. Yes, Vulpera, Nightborne, and Zandalari DK’s will be all marching along with all others right into Shadowlands, finally. 

Plus, you can finally make your dwarf become a Wildhammer clan member or say, create a Sandfury, desert troll. 

Conclusion 

As you see, Shadowlands are getting huge improvements and many of you tried the bits through alfa. Now, it really looks great on paper – a lot of innovation, the rectification of older issues, and the implementation of player’s wishes/remarks to the game’s core. 

Nonetheless, we believe that the release was delayed for a good reason and Blizzard will make those promises a reality later this year. Until then, swing by and make sure you are properly informed by reading the latest Shadowlands’ articles we’ve prepared for you.