World of Warcraft got some big news today, with Blizzard announcing the release date of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, as well as a few other dates. The prepatch Scourge Invasion event, the release of the Castle Nathria raid, and, of course, the announcement of the title’s release were all given dates today.
But with the announcement of the release date came a few more questions. For example, players were concerned that the December 8th release of the Castle Nathria raid might impede with the holiday season of players that observe their holidays towards the end of the year.
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Another announcement timing question has appeared – the November 23rd release date sets the day of the Shadowlands release to be the same day as the sixteenth anniversary of World of Warcraft‘s release date.
Obviously, this is a heck of a way to celebrate such an anniversary, with what is arguably the most hyped release that the franchise has seen in quite some time. Players are more excited for Shadowlands than they’ve been in recent memory, save for possibly the release of Classic.
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But more than that, the anniversary often brings some buffs, especially an experience buff. Players are wondering if they’ll be able to jump into the Shadowlands content with the experience buff active.
With the November 23 #Shadowlands announcement, Blizzard has also released a story trailer! The trailer has glimpses of relevant Shadowlands storyline characters.#Warcrafthttps://t.co/SbJnwx6Ou8 pic.twitter.com/XuO6l9ywRw
— Wowhead💙 (@Wowhead) October 29, 2020
As it’s the sixteenth anniversary, the buff given would likely be a 16% increase – a considerable buff for players, especially after the rehaul of leveling. The Chromie Time overhaul to the leveling system of the game, as well as the level squish, has already made leveling extremely quick.
Some are excited for this – who wouldn’t want bonus experience, after all? But others have a few concerns for what this might mean for the introduction to the new expansion’s content.
Many are wondering if releasing the title with a bonus experience buff might lower the first-time leveling experience, as well as possibly knocking the balance out of whack for the new expansion’s scaling.
The experience buff is one thing, but there are often other buffs that may help to throw things a bit out of balance. While it would certainly be fun, and no one wants to see the sixteenth anniversary delayed or removed, no one wants to see it hurt the first-time Shadowlands experience either.
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At the moment, it’s unsure what the developers intend to do. There’s a chance that the XP buff may just not be active in the Shadowlands zones instead to help keep the alteration that it might bring as non-invasive as possible.