At long last – and I do mean long, since the expansion broke with modern tradition and actually saw a delay at almost the last minute earlier this fall – World of Warcraft’sShadowlands expansion is finally launching today. Or tomorrow, depending on where on this planet you happen to be standing.
As anyone reading an MMORPG website surely already knows, Shadowlands is WoW’s 8th expansion; it introduces the five core zones of the Shadowlands (Bastion, Ardenweald, Maldraxxus, Revendreth, and The Maw), the new player hub (Oribos), the Covenant system and with its perks and sancta, the dynamic dungeon Torghast, and the new level cap, which dovetails perfectly with the new leveling squish and choose-your-own-campaign system that already made it into the game with the pre-patch (although do note the pre-patch events come to an end today). Don’t forget about the major character customizations that are live too!
Oh, and by the way: Shadowlands is launching on the literal anniversary of launch date for the game here in North America and Australia. Happy 16th birthday, WoW.
The expansion is set to roll out tonight at 6 p.m. EST and 3 p.m. PST, meaning it’ll be earlyish on the 24th for everyone further ahead in time than we are here. Check the chart so you know exactly when you can log inwhen you can get in the queue when you can start complaining on Twitter that the servers are busted.
The trailer, cinematics, and survival guides should keep you busy while you wait.
“On your first character to explore the Shadowlands, you will not be able to queue for a Shadowlands dungeon if you haven’t yet restored access to that dungeon’s zone via the main quest campaign for that zone. For example, while Necrotic Wake will be available the moment you depart Oribos (when you first reach the Shadowlands), you’ll have to complete the Bastion campaign and reopen the way to Maldraxxus before you can queue for the Plaguefall dungeon. You’ll then later unlock Mists of Tirna Scithe and Halls of Atonement as you complete their associated campaigns. On subsequent characters, all dungeons can be made immediately available to you via the Threads of Fate system.”
Oh come on, you knew this wasn’t gonna go smoothly with everyone you know all trying to log in at the same time. “We’re aware of the log in issues, including characters not appearing,” Blizz CS wrote on the forums this evening. “They are being looked into.” The servers are expected to be offline in the morning too.
[#Warcraft] We're continuing to work on login issues, including but not limited to: Slow loading, black character select screens, and character not found alerts. Thank you for your patience!
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