The first major Shadowlands pre-patch should introduce the big level squish and add the new 1-10 starting zone for players who are making new characters. This is a massive undertaking and a very big change for the Blizzard MMO, so it makes sense to release this piece of the new content on its own before the rest of the expansion for World of Warcraft launches at some point later this year.

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So far, there is no new release date for Shadowlands, but the pre-patch is arrive on October 13. That gives players just ten more days to finish leveling alts and doing any other work they wanted to have completed before the big squish arrives and changes the game’s max level from 120 to 50 (it will go up to 60 when Shadowlands actually launches).

Obviously, Blizzard should take however much time is necessary to get the final build of Shadowlands as clean and balanced as possible, but it is exciting to learn that the pre-patch is not being pushed back further into the fall or early winter. This level squish is a serious change for the nearly two decade old MMO and many players are anxious to see how its implementation will change the game for both alt leveling and for the endgame experience.

As for when the next major content update will arrive after October 13, that’s a bit more of a mystery. The official Shadowlands launch was pushed to “later this year” without a firm date at this point in time. Closer to the launch of that content, there will likely also be a smaller, second pre-patch that arrives a week or two ahead of the expansion content. Check back in the coming weeks for more details about those two drops and how the rollout of the October 13 patch goes.

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. At this point, World of Warcraft Shadowlands releases on October 26 or 27 (depending on time zone) for PC.

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Source: Blizzard