What you can do in the World of Warcraft: Shadowlands pre-expansion patch

The World of Warcraft: Shadowlands pre-patch has added some long-requested content and revamps to the game.

Whether you’re a lapsed veteran or a new player, there’s something for everyone. Here are the biggest takeaways.

The level “squish” crunched max levels down from 120 to 60

Player, enemy and NPC levels have been adjusted all across the board. In a throwback to the very first World of Warcraft released in 2004, the max level is 60 once again.

This level adjustment from 120 down to 60 has been called the “squish” by the WoW community. You can read more about the level scaling here.

Character customization has been revamped

At long last, Blizzard has added additional customization for characters. Some of the new options include tattoos, body scars, jewelry, additional hairstyles, skin colors and more.

Human players can now choose different phenotypes for their characters because, believe it or not, not all humans are white! Shocking, I know.

New leveling zone: Exile’s Reach

Exile’s Reach is a starter leveling zone featuring a new area, characters and narrative that’s available to all new characters except the hero classes (demon hunters and death knights). Players will take the role of a fresh Horde recruit who is sent on a rescue mission to recover a lost expedition.

After character creation, you can choose to start at the old leveling zones but I highly recommend you go with Exile’s Reach instead. It’s a much more faithful portrayal of how WoW plays now than the legacy zones.

The Scourge returns to terrorize Azeroth

In a throwback to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King pre-patch event, the undead Scourge has invaded mortal lands once again.

While Blizzard has yet to announce when the Scourge invasion will kick off, we do know that it’s a limited-time event with special rewards, so if you want those goodies, be sure to keep your eyes open.

Players infected by zombies can be cured by finding an Argent healer. But if you’re a special kind of jerk (like me), you can choose to succumb to the plague and attack players as a zombie yourself.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands was originally planned to launch on Oct. 27 but has now been delayed to a later date in Q4 2020 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

If you enjoyed this story, check out In The Know’s article on World of Warcraft streamer Asmongold checking a viewer who downplayed the severity of COVID-19.

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