World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Delayed

Blizzard has announced it is delaying the release date for the next major World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands. The next expansion will not be released on October 27 as originally planned, and there is currently no replacement date announced.In a blog post addressed to the WoW community, Blizzard announced it made the difficult decision to delay Shadowlands to “later this year.” World of Warcraft executive producer John Hight says that this was the “right decision for the game — and for our players.”

“Over the past several months of testing, we’ve made significant progress iterating on and polishing the core features and gameplay of Shadowlands,” writes Hight. “We’re at a point where the zones, the campaign, the level-up questing experience, and the story we have to tell are essentially ready to share.”

“However, as everything started coming together and we’ve been listening to and building upon your feedback, it’s become clear we need a little more time for additional polish, and to balance and iterate on some interlocking pieces — particularly those related to the endgame,” Hight explains.

Although Shadowlands will be delayed, Hight says that on October 13 the pre-patch for Shadowlands will be released which will include groundwork for the expansion, revamped character leveling, and a new-player experience on Exile’s Reach, along with new character customization.

Shadowlands is the eight expansion since World of Warcraft was released and is set to feature the first “level squish” for the MMO along with an overhauled leveling system. Covenants are coming to the new zones which Hight says are “at the heart of the expansion.”

The community has responded positively to the news. Popular World of Warcraft streamer Zack ‘Asmongold’ tweeted “Thank you Blizzard” after the news of the delay. There were some reported bugs in the early previews for the next expansion and the WoW community would rather see Blizzard address these issues before launch, and welcome more development time.

Check back on IGN when the new release date for Shadowlands is announced.

Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.