9.0 PTR Build On the Way

With the Shadowlands Beta in full swing, most of the systems implemented (thank the Light that they've got covenants and soulbinds at least starting testing before the last week of the Beta) and us here already in the middle of August, it's a good sign of progress that Shadowlands' pre-expansion patch is about to be tested on the PTR.

X.0 patches are always a big deal, as this is where the major systems changes tend to take place.

For Shadowlands, this will mean some huge changes to the leveling system, shrinking current 120s down to level 50, and I believe putting other characters proportionally at their appropriate level. While the pandemic 100% XP buff will go away, in practice this will make leveling even faster, as you'll be able to go all the way from 10 to 50 (the rough equivalent of 10-120 now) doing just a single expansion's quests and content.

We're also going to get class changes. So tankadins like myself will see the return of Holy Power (which I'm mostly ok with - I didn't hate the Legion changes, but I also didn't hate HoPo as a resource either) and, most gloriously (in my opinion) Frost DKs will be able to once again use a two-handed weapon.

Some BFA features will be going while others stay - for the time being, Corrupted gear will effectively all be cleansed, but Essences and Azerite Armor traits will be sticking around at least until we actually head into Shadowlands.

With 9.0, we'll also start getting the pre-expansion event, which appears to be a Scourge Invasion, as the destruction of the Helm of Domination leads to the undead running rampant. I don't know if this will be anything like the Scourge Invasion events that came with the original release of Naxxramas in Vanilla or the pre-expansion event for Wrath of the Lich King - I'd guess that there might be some call-backs, but it's been over a decade, and the event designers might have some newer ideas to try out.

It does seem that this will all lead to a charge toward Icecrown, where the Alliance and Horde will discover the massive rift in the sky.

9.0's release is still probably a month or two off, and we don't have the actual release date for the expansion, but this is a solid sign of progress toward the changing of the guard. I know I'm excited to leave Kul Tiras and Zandalar behind for a more otherworldly adventure (and even more so, I'm eager to get rid of all my azerite armor. How freeing that will be!)