Blizzard Working on “World of Warcraft: Shadowlands” Expansion Despite Setbacks
Blizzard’s developers are determined to release the next expansion of World of Warcraft, titled “Shadowlands,” by the end of this year, despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company recently announced that they will be conducting a closed alpha test for a limited number of players this week and shared some changes players can expect to see.
Expanded Testing to Follow Initial Limited Access
Initially, only a select group of long-time players, content creators, and journalists will have access to the alpha testing. However, Blizzard plans to expand the testing as it progresses, allowing more players to participate. They made this announcement in a post on the Blizzard forums.
Alpha Testing Includes Level-Up Experience and New Dungeon
Once the alpha servers are up and running, players will be able to experience the full level-up journey in the Bastion zone, as well as explore one of the new dungeons in the game. Throughout the month of April, Blizzard intends to gradually introduce additional content and zones for testing.
Beta Testing to Begin Once All Game Elements are Added
Following the completion of alpha testing, Blizzard will move on to the beta phase. They did not disclose an exact date for the beta launch. However, the beta testing will commence once all aspects of the game have been incorporated into the environment.
Changes to Spellbooks, Talents, Interface, and PvP Currencies
Blizzard is also using this opportunity to test changes to spellbooks and talents for all classes, improve the questing interface, and make updates to PvP currencies within the game.
Director of World of Warcraft, Ion Hazzikostas, shared on Twitter that the alpha was originally planned to be released sooner, with a video announcement. However, due to difficulties resulting from working from home during the pandemic, the dates had to be pushed back.
Despite these setbacks, Blizzard remains focused on their goal of releasing the completed expansion before the end of 2020.