Six months after announcing World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, Blizzard gave fans more details about the upcoming expansion in a developer update today.
One huge change that might revive the PvP scene is the addition of a familiar currency, Conquest Points.
Conquest Points were the upper-level currency rewarded for participating in PvP encounters in the form of rated battlegrounds, ranked arena combat, Random Battlegrounds, and Ashran. The lower-level PvP currency, gained from non-rated battlegrounds and general world PvP, was awarded in the form of Honor Points instead.
After recent changes in the latest expansions, multiple active PvPers quit the game in response to Blizzard making the game an RNG slugfest. Instead of being able to work toward acquiring currency and purchasing the desired item, you had to go through multiple slot machines, which began to feel like a chore.
The clear way of acquiring an item was no longer there, and with the addition of warforged, titanforged, corrupted, and other types of systems even if you got an item, someone could have had more luck and rolled the same item upgraded to a much more powerful version.
There were multiple pleas to change the system and allow PvPers to have a safe and clear way to acquire loot. In WoW’s latest expansion, Battle for Azeroth, the initial system was quite broken as well. But after endless feedback, Blizzard finally listened to the community and improved its loot system—but it still wasn’t enough.
In addition, Blizzard is also testing changes to spellbooks and talents for all classes, which frankly became quite dull in recent expansions. Most class-defining abilities were pruned away in favor of a standardized kit with a dash, an interrupt, defensive tool, or regeneration.
If Blizzard keeps its word and delivers on the promised changes, WoW might return to its former glory during the Wrath of the Lich King era, the only expansion that’s highly regarded by the majority of PvPers.
The World of Warcraft: Shadowlands alpha was supposed to be out soon, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team working on it transitioned to a work-from-home setup, which has some drawbacks. The team is not yet ready to release a playable version to the public.
There’s no indication that the Blizzard team won’t deliver the finished product before the end of 2020 yet, however.
