World of Warcraft: Shadowlands — Deep Dive reveals more about the new expansion

A lot was said regarding Shadowlands, the latest expansion announced for World of Warcraft. 

Covenants

• Four congregations will be available in four zones: Kyrian, Necrolord, Night Fae and Venthyrs
• Choose of at Level 60
• Players can change Covenant if they make a mistake in their choice, but it takes time to connect with your new faction.

The Covenant sanctum is similar to the Legion Class Hall, and players will spend a lot of time there.

The abilities granted by the Covenant are "a way to face a fight without fighting". Some unique customizations are then unlockable for these.

Covenant class abilities are techniques that improve the power of your class directly by adding a unique dedicated spell. Each Covenant grants a different ability.

Players have the opportunity to bind their soul to a Shadowlands inhabitant of their Covenant, allowing them to obtain a unique additional generic new ability.

It is possible to change the bind depending on the situation the player is facing.

• Weapons, armor, cloaks, mounts (upgradable), global bonuses and a unique campaign depending on the Covenant you choose to join.

Levelling

• Leveling much too long.
• Not all levels are impactful, they do not all grant useful rewards.
• Timelines and confusing stories.

Current zones:

New players feel they have missed something if they were not there when events took place in the game during the appropriate expansion.

Objectives:

• Choose the story we want to follow.
• Make each level useful and impactful.
• Modernize the introduction to World of Warcraft.

Updates:

• Level squish: 1 to 60, each level becomes useful and leveling is accelerated.
• Possibility to choose the expansion in which we want to progress between levels 10 and 50.
• The 120 levels become 50 levels.
• Level 50-60 takes place in Shadowlands.
• Players of lower levels are squished to appropriate levels (your level divided by approximately 2.4).
• New starting areas (1 to 10) for Death Knight and Demon Hunter).
• New starting area: Exile's Reach.

• Epic zone finale: a mini-dungeon.
• After the starting area, players travel to their capital to discover Battle for Azeroth.

• Current players have the possibility to go to Exile's Reach if they wish, or to the existing starting areas (Durotar etc).
• Chromie is back, and allows us to choose an expansion whose history we want to follow during the Level 10-50 range, thanks to time travel.
• At Level 50, players return to the present and travel to the Shadowlands.

Classes

• World of Warcraft Classic is a good example of leveling that Blizzard likes.
• Mists of Pandaria was the beginning of the problems concerning the classes.
• Abilities were removed from Warlords of Draenor that were supposed to be useless according to Blizzard.
• Legion introduced Artifact weapons that added unique and distinct spells to each specialization.

• In Shadowlands Covenants will grant unique abilities dedicated to CLASSES rather than specializations.
• Developers have heard players' complaints about classes.

• The identity of the classes is back, say goodbye the identity of the unique specializations that give you the feeling of playing a different class each time you change your specialization.
• Classes must have access to certain basic abilities in their class, even if it is a different school of magic than your specialization, for example.

Here are some of the abilities that will make their comeback in Shadowlands:

Iconic Class Abilities

• Paladin auras (Devotion, Retribution, Concentration).
• Persistent Shaman totems.
• Poisons dedicated to the Rogue as a whole, not only to the Assassination specialization.
• Warlock curses (Tongues, Doom, Weakness, Recklessness).

Talents and Honor Talents

• Demonic Circle
• Summon Gargoyle
• Hunter's Mark
• Hammer of Wrath
• Cyclone
• Anti Magic Zone

Long Lost Friends

• Shattering Throw
• Kill Shot
• Challenging Shout
• Eyes of the Beast
• Ritual of Doom

Torghast and the Maw

The Maw

• The Maw is a prison for the worst souls from Azeroth.
• This is the domain of the Jailer.
• Recently transformed into an unjust prison for millions of souls.
• We have the ability to enter and exit the Maw to help our Covenant.
• The Maw is a high-level outdoor area where everything is a threat: creatures, environment, mechanics, etc.
• Everything you do in the Maw is visible to the Jailer through his Eyes of the Jailer ability. When you do something (kill a lieutenant, die etc.), he sends his guards after you constantly.

Torghast

• Instance that scales from 1 to 5 players
• Enemies gain in power just like players as you climb the tower
• Progress in this tower unlocks new challenges (traps, riddles, locks etc.)
• This is not a timed mode.
• Encourages exploration rather than rushing.
• Enemies and floor layouts change with each visit.
• As players earn Anima in Torghast, they gain access to unique abilities.
• Each visit allows you to change the selected abilities.

• As the weeks go by, the Jailer changes his tactics and modifies the tower to defeat you.
• The abilities available to players change, as do the creatures in the instance etc.
• As you climb the tower, you discover runes to create legendary items.
• It's possibile to discover the origin of Frostmourne or the Helm of Domination.