Shadowlands Story Leveling Experience

The expansion is out and while end game tends to be the main focus of the game, leveling is still where it starts. How is the leveling experience this time around? In this post, I’ll talk about the introduction, the maw, each of the zones, and how long it took us, plus my overall opinion of it. Hint: It wasn’t terribly long, but it felt like it in some places. Also, slight spoilers in here.

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Last Weekend of Shadowlands Prep

Shadowlands Loading

I’ve been slacking a bit. Both in writing this article and also doing the things that will be contained in it. I intended to write this (and start doing the things) several days ago. I was to be the “last week of prep” and not last weekend, but, here we are. This isn’t necessarily a guide for everyone, because we all have different things left to do, but it could give you some ideas to tackle before launch.

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Shadowlands Release Delayed & Pre-patch Date

Collector's Edition WoW

Wow… so, in the end, while my release date prediction was originally spot on… the pre-patch guess was horribly wrong (it’s now slated for October 13) and with todays announcement, I’m retroactively wrong about the release date too (see wowhead post). More importantly, though, we now have more BFA than we expected and a longer wait until the new expansion… is this good?

I was just today watching this new Bellular video and… well his thoughts on the expansion state echo mine (though, since I just got beta 12 hours ago, my opinions are mostly from streamers, youtubers, and friends feedback) and probably say it better than I could… so I’ll just link the video below.

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What to do Before Shadowlands: A Compilation

Given that the expansion prepatch has to be soon… right?… right!? Every content creator is taking their shot at telling us what to do before then… and it seemed to me that bringing a bunch of these together was better than rehasing the same ideas myself. Here ya go.

Wowhead’s Overall Guide: https://www.wowhead.com/what-to-do-before-shadowlands

Then a bunch of specific things they thought you should focus on:

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Shadowlands: Covenants Are Horrible and Really Cool

Covenant Armor Sets

The idea of covenants is a great RPG premise. Going to a new world, meeting the people that live there, finding a group that you connect with and joining forces with them to help their cause and increase your power… perfect role playing game opportunity.

The idea of covenants is a terrible MMO premise. Locking important power gains – that will likely be unable to be balanced from one covenant, class, spec, or even type of content to the next – behind long grinds and with limited access is not the way. Particularly for an expansion that is supposed to be focusing on player agency, telling us that we cannot choose between the pool of options available based on the content we are doing is really against what seems to be the goal.

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Shadowlands: What Should I Play?

Class Icons.

You can vote for which class I should play at this straw poll link: https://www.strawpoll.me/20918880

I’m having a bit of trouble deciding what I want to main in this upcoming expansion. This problem is generally amplified by being unable to get beta access to test the characters to get a feel for them. So far, I’ve made very little progress eliminating options. I’m further undecided because I’m not even set on a role. While I lean heavily towards dps main, the value of being able to tank mythic dungeons or heal PVP is not lost on me, and maybe tank or heal? Or maybe a class that can do all 3, but, then I’d probably only be exceptional at once of those. So, what do I choose: Melee or range? Tank, dps or heals? In this post I’ll break down the what and the why and there could be some links to some resources to make your decision too.

The Contenders:

  • Paladin: Ret MS, Prot/Holy OS
  • Death Knight: Unholy/Frost MS, Blood OS
  • Demon Hunter: Havoc or Vengeance MS/OS
  • Monk: Windwalker MS, Mistweaver OS
  • Mage: Any Spec
  • Hunter: Beast Mastery or Marksman MS/OS
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