WoW’s Shadowlands patch 9.1 is coming up… soon? In this post, we’ll discuss the release date based on historical x.1 patch dates (remember how we were right about the Shadowlands release date, until they changed it), new legendaries (maybe), the new raid, our guess for tier sets in this patch, and more. As always, make sure to subscribe or book mark or just remember alternateimage.net/gaming or however people find websites these days… because there will continue to be information on Warcraft’s upcoming content as well as other games.
Release date
I briefly mentioned this in my Shadowlands Predictions Part 1 post. And since I had some lengths of time wrong, I’m going to update my expected release date for patch 9.1 based on the following information:
- Legion released: August 30, 2016
- Patch 7.1 released: October 25, 2016 – 2 months
- 2 months between
- BFA released: August 14, 2018
- Patch 8.1 released: December 11, 2018 – 4 Months
- 4 months between
From this information… we know a little. 2 months from November 23, 2020 would be January 23rd and that seems incredibly unlikely. 4 months would be near the end of March. This, however, gives us a connection to something else. Blizzconline is February 19, 2021 – making a march release for 9.1 very likely after a February announcement. I had previously guessed early April, but late March feels more accurate. So let’s call it March 30th, 2021 for the patch 9.1 release date.
Story line?
Patch 9.1 seems like a time that won’t drop a significant story update, but I think it will stick to the current storyline, unlike BFA where it felt like almost every patch came out of no where. Each covenant will probably get more ranks and therefore more little story bits continuing those directions already in place. As for the overarching story, well…
New Raid
Most speculation I’ve seen leans towards a Maldraxxus-related raid, with Kel’Thuzad as a key component. Thematically, it would probably end up being Naxxramas 3.0 with maw elements mixed in. I expect the weapon token thing to go away… or for it to change. While it’s convenient for gearing, it’s awful for cosmetics.
Tier sets?
Blizzard promised us the return of raid tier sets in Shadowlands, but we won’t see those in 9.1. In an interview with Sloot in December 2020 Ion Hazzikostas said that, roughly, “they’re still on the menu in a later patch and Ion has seen the art and they look awesome. The old system is the default starting point. They want to re-examine some of the shortcomings like them locking out a slot.” The vagueness says not the next patch. I don’t think we will have class sets in Naxx3.0.
The Maw & Torghast
These are not features that Blizzard will let go early in the expansion (as much as I wish the Maw would go to, well, the Maw). To some extent, the rewards from the Maw – sockets and conduit ranks – will continue to drive people (kicking and screaming) to that content. Torghast, outside of those who just feel like doing it, will need a new or upgraded hook. Everyone who wants their legendary (or 2 or 3) will be able to get those to max rank before patch 9.1 releases with plenty of ash to spare. So, we can assume a couple of things First – there will be new levels of the legendary. That’s practically a given. Increased requirements for soul ash. I’m guessing 2-3 more ranks, as opposed to the 4 we started with, but requiring enough ash that the current 8k max will not be enough (assuming they don’t reset the currency). Also, Naxx3.0 will almost certainly have new legendaries to get, which means farming ash for ranks 1-4 as well as 5-7.
Not Yet
Again, it’s not likely that we’ll get get tier sets in Shadowlands first patch. I don’t think we’re going to see Arthas in game, at least not much until much later. We will have to wait longer to equip a second legendary. We won’t be fighting the Jailer or Sylvanas. And we probably won’t have any new big systems like BFA’s essences or corruptions to contend with until patch 9.2 or 9.3, particularly given how system overloaded we already are in 9.0.
What do you think? Anything I’m missing? Let me know in the comments.