The tail end of 2020 is arriving and gamers are about to have more titles to choose from than there are hours in the day. The launch of two new consoles, brand new high end graphics cards, and a barrage of AAA games are sure to make fall 2020 a busy (and expensive) season for fans of gaming. With so much cutting edge tech on the table and dozens of brand new games competing for the attention of the community, how much of a chance does a 16 year old PC game that still requires a subscription model like World of Warcraft really have?
Although it may sound like the odds are stacked against it, World of Warcraft is poised to have a very big spike in popularity as the end of the year arrives. The nearly two decade old Blizzard MMO has a dedicated fanbase at any given time, but there is always a big spike in subscribers when a new expansion drops. That spike is likely to be even bigger this time around as Shadowlands rolls out and makes some major changes to Azeroth that some World of Warcraft players are anxious to experience.
Battle for Azeroth generated some good hype at launch, but ultimately did not end up a fan-favorite in quite the same way that the previous expansion, Legion, did. There were some valid complaints about the endgame and post launch content for BfA and Blizzard seems to be learning from its mistakes once again and optimizing World of Warcraft’s 2020 expansion in a way that will help avoid some of those problems. Part of the reason for delaying the launch of Shadowlands to late November was to tweak the endgame experience and make sure it is more in line with what fans are looking for based on feedback from the extensive alpha and beta testing.
So, with so many other options on the table is it worth if to dive into World of Warcraft in 2020? Obviously that’s going to depend what each individual gamer is looking for this fall and early winter. The level squish dramatically changed the grind in World of Warcraft by making level 50 the current max (it will rise to 60 when Shadowlands arrives) and making it way more tempting and less daunting to create alt and new characters. Although most gamers have likely tried out World of Warcraft at one point or another by now, this change does make diving into the game more approachable than ever. There is a new starting zone that takes players from level 1 to 10 and teaches them the basics of the game and their class in a way that WoW never really took the time to do before. From there, players are able to select any one of the eras of World of Warcraft and level up through a full expansion story, rather than jumping from expac to expac without ever finishing a whole narrative.
It’s clearly a great time to get started in the game for players who are interested to pick up the classic and get hooked just in time for Shadowlands, but it’s also a pretty enticing time for veteran players. There has been a lot of speculation and drama surrounding the major class changes and Covenant abilities arriving with Shadowlands, but overall hype amongst the engaged WoW community it still very high. The delayed release date could signal some problems with the expansion, but Blizzard already has a habit of not releasing a product until the team is sure it is finished, so that isn’t exactly a dealbreaker. Many old school players returned to Azeroth for the WoW Classic servers last year and it will be interesting to see how many of those fans will take a break from grinding through their vanilla raids to check out the new and improved retail version of WoW.
The level squish is definitely ushering in a new era of WoW, but that probably isn’t enough to will everyone over. The Shadowlands expansion also brings some exciting new zones, updated character customizations, and a ton of other brand new features to the MMO. Gamers who want to experience the new expansion at the height of its popularity should definitely make some time in late fall and early December for the 50-60 grind and the new endgame experience.
There’s nothing quite like working through Mythic Dungeons and new Raids right as an expansion launches to see the most exciting parts of the MMO community and experience as players work together to crack each puzzle and find the best strategies for different fights and obstacles. Some of that magic fades away from the game once everything is “solved” and there are optimized routes and plans established as best practices throughout the community. For those reasons, it is definitely worth playing Wow in 2020 to see what the early days of Shadowlands are like as the Horde and Alliance both usher in a new era for the iconic MMO.
Blizzard is clearly hoping Shadowlands can help bring about another WoW renaissance and things are off to a strong start. The expansion’s pre-sales are already doing incredibly well and the recent Welcome Back event offered lapsed subscribers a chance to dive back into WoW and see what the Shadowlands pre-patch era is like. It will be very interesting to see how strong subscription numbers are when the new expansion launches and whether or not WoW is able to hold onto that influx of players in the months after Shadowlands is out. Hopefully an engaging endgame and steady flow of post launch content are delivered and can keep the community logging in throughout the end of 2020 and into the new year.
Be sure to check back in the coming weeks as more details about Shadowlands emerge. Until then, For the Horde!
World of Warcraft is available now for PC. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands launches globally on November 23 for PC.
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