About what awaits us in the next major update World of Warcraft , We learned almost a year ago at the festival BlizzCon. For the next, eighth add -on World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Blizzard has prepared a standard set of innovations: a new territory (this time the afterlife), new fractions (carpets), the next editing of the class system, dungeons and raids.

However, in the era of dark lands, something radically new is waiting for us. For example, global remodeling of the pumping system. It is not yet known for sure when all this appears on open servers – it is only known that this year. But we managed to play the first to play the alpha version of the additions. We share our impressions!

You feel good, you died ..

Fans of World of Warcraft remember well what Blizzard began the show of Shadowlands: from the storyline. Sylvanas defeated the king of the Lich, took possession of his crown and opened a break into the dark lands-the world where the souls of the dead heroes and villains fall. Why is it to her?

Players have been wondering for several years, for which Silvana and her subjects will weave for so much time and violate agreements. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the afterlife are perplexed: they had long ceased to arrive at the souls of the dead. Mortals discovered the secret of eternal life? Or is it again the machinations of dark forces?..

This memorial complex is much more attractive live: everything moves, streams and flickers

The story of Shadowlands should answer all these questions and show why Teldassil died and sacrificed Saurfang. But at first we will go to the world of the dead and see the womb – the place is terrible in all respects. Although … no, wait until they will see: in the alpha version the characters created for testing fall directly into the bastion-the first location of the addition of five and the estate of the carpet Kiri.

Bastion is a place for heroes and valiant warriors whose souls should be cleansed and turn into a kind of winged angels. And the most “cleansed” of them become ideals – the ideal of purity, the ideal of courage, the ideal of humility, the ideal of fidelity.

Our first goal is to achieve an audience with this winged creature, archon. No, no, with the fact that the lower

Cyria is only the first of the four carpets with whom we have to meet. This process is well familiar with the fractions system, but there is also a radical difference: to start close relationships with only one carpet to choose from. And this choice depends on what additional skills we can use, what outfits to wear and which mounts to ride.

Each carpet has its own problems, but there are also common ones: they all suffer from anime lack. Anima brings dead souls with them, and they have long stopped falling into the lands of the carpets. Cyria, in particular, is forced to disconnect their centurions-guards.

Some memories are expelled, some are carefully stored

The process of remaking ordinary mortals (even honest and valiant) in the winged Kiri is also not easy: some memories can literally kill. In addition, as it turns out soon, you have to get rid of not only from negativity – sometimes the soul prevents the memory of the house, family or friends. No wonder that many are not able to go this way to the end; They become fallen – apostates.

One way or another, all the inhabitants of the bastion have already died, but we arrived there in the flesh – with the help of hidden mechanics. So the cleansing will have to pass by an external, and we are not at all laid wings. Blizzard will traditionally open flights in the dark lands somewhere in a year, but for now they need to be mastered on their two.

At the same time, the bastion and, probably, all other dark lands are islands and archipelags hanging in the sky. Do not get into some parts of the location, so in some places air bridges are provided, as well as more exotic options for “throwing” our characters there.

This is how we are delivered to inaccessible places: grabbing by the scruff

Bastion is a real paradise … for those who know how to fly or at least soar

The world is in the fold

The heavenly world is certainly beautiful – walks in its picturesque expanses result in gigabytes of screenshots. Only one thing can be put in reproach: their creation is not always perceived as something completely new.

Bastion is similar to the pastel version of Suramar, in which Valkyrie and other ally of Odin from Stormheim settled. Most architectural structures resemble the places in which we have repeatedly visited: here is a repainted gazebo from the split islands, here is the bridge from the “test of valor”, here is the arched entrance from the heritage of the enemy. And with many of the local inhabitants we have already met and fought repeatedly. For example, painful memories expelled from the applicants are close relatives of the SHA forces, with whom we fought in pandaria.

In such lighting, this place is even more like suramar

However, there are also many surprises, and they are not limited to exotic animals, which need to be tamed and killing. During our walks, we will be able to admire the gigantic flowers-brutches, and the statues soaring in the air, and incredibly soft in appearance to light beige grass.

For what merits this owl-spokesman was awarded a personal monument?

On the way to cleansing, we are accompanied by very unusual satellites

The first portion of alpha content is not too large: the whole trip to the bastion with the search for side quests takes only a couple of hours and brings three levels. And the story ends with sending to the first dungeon “Deadly Trinity”, although it is practically useless to take the line there. As always, almost no one goes to master the new content in the role of a tank or doctor.

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The afterlife kingdom meets unexpectedly festive and bright landscapes

Some areas of bastion in the alpha never opened: for example, a citadel of fidelity in the northwest. It is inhabited by elite apostates, and this seems to be a zone for high levels. And not far away, the centurions from a strange syndicate defeated their shopping tents – suspicious ventures and gloomy runners, inhabitants of not open locations, go to them.

Strange merchants from strange syndicate and their equally strange buyers

I see the target, smear by buttons

However, if you distract from winged Kiriy and pastel cabbage, there will be much more innovations: for example, a mark of target has appeared. Yes, sixteen years after the premiere of the game Blizzard finally managed https://bass-win-casino.co.uk/ to draw a beacon that shows where to run. Sometimes it is even more convenient than a classic fashion TomTom , since it indicates precisely the entrance to the cave, and not to the boss in its depths.

Immediately striking and updated classes. Absolutely everyone received new skills … No, excuse me, the old skills, from which they got rid of " Legion »In attempts to make classes and specialization unique. Under the expanded arsenal, even a new bookmark was taken in the book of spells: there are collected skills common to the archetype. Comfortable.

Striptease for King Lich! One of the bugs of the alpha version: Part of the equipment is not displayed at the Tajnok Krutogye

The alteration is conceived so global that this time a new class is not given to us – but for him just the time has come. But to judge what happens in the end, so far, it is too early: everything changes on the fly and will probably change many times before Shadowlands goes into an official release. Each class, in addition, will have the skills of the chosen Covenant, and they are not yet fully represented – which means that designers of the combat system are still breaking over them.

But now it is clear that fans of minimalistic interfaces with a dozen buttons on the screen will have a hard time: all the skills on them simply will not be appropriate. The layout has to be changed radically, and this usually leads to errors in the midst of the battle. But we will have a lot of time for training – you still need to get the missing ten levels of pumping.

A large plot spoiler is hidden on this ordinary screenshot, so do not consider it carefully

Dead souls and where they live

By tradition, the bulk of the important and necessary classes awaits the heroes of Azeroth precisely at the highest level. In alpha versions, one of these activities was presented: Torgast, the Tower of the Damned. This is a completely new type of dungeon – an endless tower with procedural generation of levels.

Players need to climb it as high as possible, and each next floor is a little more complicated than the previous one. On every sixth floor we are waiting for a boss, and mini-bosses or mini-quests can meet on “ordinary”. For example, free captive souls, help them find a certain object or solve a puzzle.

The entrance to Torgast is certainly not in the bastion – it was placed here for convenience

A variety of dead are imprisoned in Torgast. Among them, as developers promise, our old acquaintances may also fall. But probably not the most important-they still have a place in the plot campaign. And the main goal of campaigns in Torgast is fragments of legendary items: with proper efforts, you can get your first “legend” in a week. But to get fragments most really from the bosses, so you have to climb higher and higher.

And the anime skills will help in this. A special purple ball may appear from anywhere: from killed monsters, from broken jugs or from chests with treasures. When interacting with it, you can choose one of the strengthening until the end of the campaign, and a solid set of such additional opportunities is pretty easier.

Anima skills differ in rarity, just like equipment

You can buy additional cells with anime from a vagabond broker, including for the entire group

A constrained broker, a merchant who appears on some floors, will come to the rescue. His currency is fantasy, special trophies from defeated enemies. For them you can buy enhancing talismans, shields, potions and even additional skills of anime. However, the assortment is far from final.

Campaigns in Torgast will "limit" on both sides. You will need a key, approximately as in the case of the visions of n’zot. And on the floors there is a restriction on the number of deaths. However, the exceeding the limit does not mean violent teleportation. It’s just that an incredibly powerful and dangerous enemy begins to hunt for you. If you manage to escape from it, continue the game on the next floor as if nothing had happened.

You can pass the tower of the damned both alone and a group; The developers are ready to “adjust” the assortment of tests for each individual class and even specialization, if they decide that there is a need for this.

The inexorable "tyrant", which is chasing you along the bargain, you can formally kill. But it is not a fact that players will cope with this, who have already exhausted the limit of deaths

Goodbye the past

However, Torgast is high -level content, which means that only heroes of the maximum level will be able to go to it. And now this is not the 130th, but the 60th: the pumping system has completely transformed, and the number of levels was cut more than half. So fighters of 120 levels will begin their path at level 50; Those who did not get to the kapa will be in proportionly.

For new characters, they built a special starting location, although not only newcomers, but also veterans can get to it. The exception is only the knights of death and demon hunters – their own introductions are prepared for them, and their initial level is higher: 8.

Hello, a marvelous new world, a picturesque cemetery of ships

Mini-game for veterans: Guess the location by silhouette

According to the plot, novice heroes of Azeroth fall on the island unknown. Somewhere here the alliance expedition disappeared (for the Horde is not yet ready), and now we have to survive the shipwreck, collect the remnants of the team, find the survivors and deal with local secrets.

The island of exiles recalls simultaneously Stormheim, Krutogoria and the Drustear. Locals vary from the usual wild boars and spiders to the ubiquitous murloks and malicious harpies. And in the finale we are waiting for the battle with the orcs and fences, who decided to experience themselves in necromancy.

How to get to the Horde camp, without attracting excessive attention? Bend a huge one, captured the heels of the heroes of the Alliance!

The new introductory campaign is quite straightforward: we are literally leading by the hand and far from immediately allowed to deviate from the course to find a couple of side quests. And in the process they introduce the basics of the game and the selected class. For example, hunters are taught to tame animals and at the end they give them a unique racial pet.

The path to the heights of development has become shorter, but more saturated. Now with each new level we get something new: skill, opportunity, opening the dungeon.

To leave a new starting location will allow you to only after you pass the first real dungeon

Having mastered with the basics, beginners fall directly into the kul-tyras or Zandalar-the locations of the current addition. Yes, apparently, the Content of the Addon “Battle for Azerot” should be enough for the entire path from the 10th level, even if you have to grab the name and invasion of n’zot from later patches.

However, this revolution has a side effect. Old territories and the remnants of the original plot are finally sent to the archive. Beginners will begin their way in the midst of the confrontation between the horde and the alliance – and what exactly led to him may not recognize.

One of the tiny innovations: at the fortress of Stormgrad, they put a griffin tamper. All for the sake of beginners who may not cope with the search for the station!

A brief excursion at the main points of history, most likely, will now be carried out during the trip through the dead souls of dark lands. After all, somewhere in those parts now all the heroes and villains of past times live-from Artas to Vol’jin.

And for those who crave details, they will allow for pumping to choose any other addition: now the whole world will be trained under the level of the hero. But only those who develop the second or more character will be able to talk with Chroma, responsible for historical excursions.

In the end, there are Warcraft III: Reformged, what else do you need?

If the expedition is lost, then one of its members certainly fell into a spider cocoon. Check?

Giant boar! Who does not dream of ride in enemy armies on a giant boar?

They say that Cyria is immortal, but we now and then begin to doubt it

The death process was also redone: now our soul is met by the nameless Kiria. And you have to return to the corpse

Lokusa minister does not have the right to give us the location of key items, but agrees to play with us “hotly cold”

A set of classes in the Alfa version of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is gradually expanding, so that over time we will probably return with new information about the addition and other territories and carpenants of dark lands. In the meantime, one thing is clear: in the next two years we will definitely not have to miss.

You just need to wait for the release or at least the dispenser. True, even according to the most optimistic forecasts, this will happen no earlier than summer.

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