After many months of waiting, here is finally the eighth expansion of the game which will arrive this Tuesday, November 24 (at midnight): Shadowlands. And there are new things! And others that will change! What if we made a little point together on what awaits us?
Areas
Five new areas await us in the Shadowlands. The first of them, the Antre, will serve as an introduction. We can then visit Oribos, the new capital. We will then have the opportunity to progress in the four other zones, each connected to a congregation:
- Level 53: Bastion, zone des Kyrians
- Level 55: Maldraxxus, Necro-Lords area
- Level 58: Sylvarden, zone des Faë nocturnes
- Level 60: Revendreth, Venthyrs zone
The Congregations
Four in number, these are the ruling factions of the Shadowlands. Each of them comes with unique bonuses, including armor sets as well as special abilities.
During the adventure, it will be necessary to choose a congregation for which to fight. This choice is not final, it will be possible to change later.
Before that, during the leveling up, narrative arcs dedicated to each congregation will, among other things, allow to benefit from these capacities during this time, thus giving a useful insight to decide later.
Once the Congregation has joined, a series of quests can be started, giving you access to new skills, but also to the Sanctum, which you can improve to unlock new content.
Torment, the Tower of the Damned
The continuation of the quest of the Congregation is imperative to be able to unlock the Tower of the Damned, accessible at level 60. This is a game mode of increasing difficulty, intended for 2 to 5 players.
The goal is to climb the floors of the tower, the difficulty of which increases as you go. The specificity of the Tower is that its content changes every time.
There is no loot to be obtained directly inside, but it is possible to obtain there from the Anima, the main resource of the expansion. The Tower is also the only place where you can craft legendary items.
Note that not all floors of the Tower will be open immediately, but this Wednesday 25 will be accessible the first three floors. Stages 4 to 6 will be on December 9, while 7-8 can be explored on the 16th. This means that the legendaries cannot be crafted before December 9, since you must have reached the floor 6 for this.
Dungeons and raids
8 in number, 4 dungeons will be unlocked during leveling up and 4 others will reach level 60.
- In Normal mode, the equipment obtained will have an ilvl 158
- In Heroic difficulty, an ilvl 171
- Finally, in Mythic mode, an ilvl 174.
The expansion's first raid, Castle Nathria, will open on December 8 in Normal and Heroic modes. The Mythic mode will be available one week later, on the 15th. It is on this same day that the first wing will be available in LFR, the following wings then being available on January 5th, February 19th and February 2nd.
The Lair
After getting a glimpse of it in the introduction, it will be possible to return to the Lair to perform various tasks, including daily and weekly quests.
But be careful, because the Jailer is watching. The more time you spend in the Den, the more you will get his attention. Much like Corruption in BFA, five levels of threat will be applied, bringing various negative effects. For example, enemies will launch in pursuit of you, or bombardments which will destroy your area, or even for the last level, increasing damage which will increase exponentially as well as an increasingly reduced speed.
However, the risk is well worth the effort, as this area allows you to improve your congregation's Sanctum.
This is the main thing to remember from this new extension in order to prepare yourself as well as possible. Now it's your turn to roam the Shadowlands and thwart Sylvanas and the Jailer's plans!
