World of Warcraft wraps up Shadowlands with today’s patch 9.2.5 and faction crossplay

    
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Oh no.

As World of Warcraft increasingly turns its attention to Dragonflight, Shadowlands’ days are coming to a close. With the arrival of today’s mid-sized Patch 9.2.5, the expansion cycle has officially come to an end and the wait begins for Patch 10.0.

As with most of the “.5” patches, Blizzard tossed in several quality-of-life improvements for the fantasy MMO. The most notable — and slightly controversial — of these is faction crossplay.

“Players are now able to directly invite members of the opposite faction to a party,” Blizzard said. “Premade groups in the group finder listings for mythic dungeons, raids, or rated arena/RBGs are now open to applicants of both factions, though the group leader may choose to restrict the listing to same-faction applicants if they so choose.”

The update adds a smattering of content in the form of two new questlines for Blood Elf and Dark Iron Dwarves to earn some special rewards. There’s also the new Enigma Crucible area, more threat generation for tanks, and DPS buffs to several of the classes. Torghast has opened all of its wings to players on a permanent basis, with no more rotation taking place.

The studio said that Shadowlands Season 4 will be coming “later this summer.”

Activision-Blizzard is considered a controversial gaming company owing to a long string of scandals over the last few years, including the Blitzchung boycott, mass layoffs, labor disputes, and executive pay fiasco. In 2021, the company was sued by California for fostering a work environment rife with sexual harassment and discrimination, the disastrous corporate response to which compounded Blizzard’s ongoing pipeline issues and the widespread perception that its online games are in decline. Multiple state and federal agencies are investigating the company as employees strike and call for Bobby Kotick’s resignation. As of 2022, the company is being acquired by no less than Microsoft.
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