World of Warcraft has a legacy of change, but there is one constant truth that the community knows all too well: the pre-expansion content drought. Blizzard delayed the release date reveal for Shadowlands at the start of June, but more details should be coming next month.
The only public statements from Blizzard so far put Shadowlands' launch in the 4th quarter of 2020, but that still leaves players with three to five more months without new content. So, of course, a lot of people are wondering what to do during this time.
10 Complete Battle For Azeroth Keystone Master Season Four
It's never been easier to get into running Mythic dungeons. Patch 8.3 added a ton of new ways to get equipped for endgame, including the legendary cloak and catchup gear from visions. Just focusing on weekly objectives, players can take a fresh 120 to clear +15 mythic keys in under a month.
Get together with some guildies or start PUGging away—the BFA Keystone Master Season Four achievement is closer than it seems. And with it comes the exclusive Awakened Mindborer mount.
9 Go Back To Old BFA Mythic Raids
Battle for Azeroth has had three full-sized raids and a single two-boss raid. Sometimes it's easy to forget that. Raiders spend so much effort focusing on gearing up and taking on current content that people forget about rewards tied to older raids.
Well, it's too late to get the Ahead Of The Curve achievements for old BFA raids, but this is a great time to farm out transmog sets and mounts. Battle for Dazar'Alor is specifically worth calling out since Blizzard made it easier to get the Glacial Tidestorm mount by skipping straight to the last boss.
8 Complete Ahead Of The Curve For Ny'Alotha
The Ahead Of The Curve achievement for Ny'Alotha pairs pretty well with the Keystone Master Season 4 Achievement. A little bit of work each way goes a long way in terms of prep. The main challenge with clearing Ny'Alotha on Heroic difficulty comes from finding a group.
Ideally, players looking for this achievement can find their way into a guild that focuses on raiding. For mount collectors—or really anyone hoping to look their best—the Uncorrupted Voidwing mount should make the effort well worth it.
7 Slay Mythic N'zoth For The Ny'Alotha Allseer Mount
Mythic N'zoth is no joke. He's a tough boss that requires players to be armed to the teeth with the best gear available. Add to that the difficult fight mechanics, like splitting a raid into two separate instances, and killing N'zoth seems like a real feat. Why worry about it now when you can come back in a later expansion when it's easier? Well, the answer is WoW's legacy loot system.
Right now, Mythic N'zoth is guaranteed to drop the Ny'Alotha Allseer. At some point during Shadowlands, though, BFA raids should switch to the legacy loot system, and the mount will end up with a 1% drop rate.
6 Farm Gold
In general, the easiest time to make gold is actually just after a new expansion or raid tier releases. Despite that, there are some pretty good arguments for getting gold now instead of waiting. The most extreme gold farmers want to get their hands on the Caravan Brutosaur—a 5 million gold mount—before it's removed from its vendor in the Shadowlands pre-patch.
Ordinary players, though, can benefit a lot from setting up evergreen gold farms, like Sky Golem and Vial of Sands mount sales. These mounts are time-gated and require heavy investment in professions from previous expansions, but they can each net players over a million gold per month, depending on a server's auction house.
5 Level New Characters
The best time to level a new character is always right before an expansion drops. There are a couple of reasons why: First, a character that's a bit behind at the end of an expansion will be caught up on gear as soon as the expansion launches. Second, it's a great way to figure out which classes seem the most fun to play, and what race/class combo to run in the next expansion.
Shadowlands will also be introducing a level squish, and nobody is quite clear how long it will take to reach the new level cap of 60. Players who were able to take advantage of the 100% experience boost were probably better off, but this is still a good time to level with heirloom gear.
4 Explore Old World Content
The old world of WoW may not have all of the charms of Classic, but there's a lot more content in the game than some players realize. For anyone who missed out on Wrath or Cataclysm, this is a great time to check them out.
Old dungeons and raids have tons of mounts and class-specific cosmetics. On top of that, the current Timewalking boost can help players with reputation rewards. Classic fans especially should get to know the Outlands; it's likely that The Burning Crusade will come eventually.
3 Try Out World Of Warcraft Classic
When World of Warcraft Classic launched, it dwarfed the live game's streaming viewership. While its numbers have dropped steadily over time, the game certainly has its own thriving community, and it's well worth checking out. It's never too late to try to get ahead in Classic, and it's a great way to make new friends.
At a glance, someone coming to Classic from the live servers might expect a pretty similar experience. But be warned: WoW has changed dramatically over its 15-year lifespan. Classes and core systems have been retooled and remade, and every single major zone on the core continents saw a redesign in Cataclysm. Classic truly is a unique experience.
2 Check Out Other Games
It's not a big secret that World of Warcraft is usually a player's main gig. After all, there are always new daily quests, new reps to grind, and quests to hunt. It can be a lot of pressure to keep up with WoW when there isn't any new content coming soon, and grinding right up to the launch of a new expansion is a terrible way to burn out on the game.
With that in mind, this is a great time to try out some other games—especially other MMOs. Taking a break from WoW is a great way to come into a new expansion feeling refreshed and excited.
1 Get Up-to-date On Lore With Shadows Rising
World of Warcraft's style of storytelling can be pretty overwhelming at times. Simply put, there are a ton of characters and it always seems like there's a torrent of new villains to get to know.
For a while now, Blizzard's fix for this has been making novels that lead to new expansions and story developments. Shadows Rising promises to answer a lot of fans' big questions while giving insight into characters like Nathanos Blightcaller.