As the latest expansion for World of Warcraft nears its October 28 release date, fans are eagerly awaiting the main game client patch that will allow them to fully begin preparations for Shadowlands.
The pre-patch period for the series is implemented to allow subscribers to go back, explore some of the changes or features that are implemented in the game. For the Battle for Azeroth pre-patch, Blizzard has introduced the Allied Races feature, where players could start a small quest chain that would allow them to unlock races allied to their faction, such as Dark Iron Dwarves for Alliance players and Nightborne for Horde. .
Changes to the basics of the game for many classes are expected with the Shadowlands update, designed to bring back more of the unique identity that comes with each class. The public domain testing has already seen the class changes, being live since mid-August, so they should go live as part of the full version of the pre-patch, while the new areas of the expansion will be accessible on the launch date. .
However, the pre-patch for each expansion has historically been released at different times. Four of the game's eight new releases had a four-week pre-patch period ahead of the official release date, including current Battle for Azeroth content. This week would mark four weeks before release, so the pre-patch is expected to drop in the next few days.
But with the development of many studios disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the time between the pre-patch launch date and full release may be much shorter. There are indications that this could also be later than normal in-game, with the current Mythic + season content still active while it would normally be completed around two weeks before release. Blizzard is also in the process of making class balance changes in the current Public Test Realm, so the situation is currently on hold.
However, our best advice would be to keep a close eye on the official World of Warcraft Twitter page as this will be the first to announce the release date of the game's pre-patch, although this will also be updated once the date is confirmed. .
