There’s a new patch coming to the World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion beta period as the team behind the MMO works out the kinks. The variety of content in the beta patch is actually pretty massive, so let’s look through what some of Blizzard’s plans are for the update. The official launch of the World of Warcraft: Shadowlands got pushed back, but that has not stopped the team from moving forward with a balance pass and other content additions. Most of the changes center on three key areas: Maw, Conduits, and Class and Covenant balance.
Blizzard has said that the World of Warcraft Shadowlands beta patch could land soon, in the “next few weeks,” according to the announcement.
We all know about the level squish by now, so things are likely in need of some balancing. Many players have pointed out that the new max-level zone, The Maw, has some problems. The new zone is supposed to be a “desolated and brutal domain” but it’s “currently falling short of that mark.” The development team has said they will work on future updates to the theme and layout of the zone to achieve the feel they want. These changes could include gameplay tweaks to give each part of the zone a more immersive feeling for players. The team is also working on adding more localized content and events that will be unique to the Maw.
The Conduits systems as a whole need a fair bit of attention as well, it turns out. Adding new layers of player and gear customization is complex, who would have thought. One of the common problems is that players feel too limited by the current cooldown. A single weekly reset “fails to draw any distinction between someone who only wants to adjust a single conduit, and someone who wants to clear and rebuild their entire soulbind tree,” said the update post on the issue.
Image Credit: Blizzard
There will also be reworks to the way the player gains Conduit Energy through the Forge of Bonds as well. Conduit Energy will recharge once per day, with a maximum of 10 stored at any one time. Players can consume this energy to add new items to their tree.
For the new class content, the team is looking into “a mix of offsetting strengths and weaknesses rather than identical capabilities” for each new Covenant combination. This is being done to draw more distinctive differences between different choices.
Source: Blizzard
