Though I've only just finished Exile's Reach in the alpha test, other players have completely leveled a new character up to 60 and say it takes significantly less time. New abilities aren't sprinkled over 120 levels, so each time I level up I have some spell or customization option to play with.Д«lizzard isn't just fudging the numbers, either. What's great about this change is that it also makes leveling a much more consistent and rewarding process. When this change is implemented on live servers, this will effectively shave off half of the unnecessary bloat of the current leveling experience. One of the biggest changes in Shadowlands is that Blizzard is refactoring player levels, squishing them down to the original max of level 60. The fun isn't over once I reach level 10 and finish Exile's Reach, though. None of Azeroth's older zones have that kind of richness. And like most of WoW's newer zones, Exile's Reach is gorgeous and teeming with hidden treasure and special monsters to kill.

To save my captain's son from being turned into a sacrifice in a ritual to revive an undead dragon, for example, I had to use a gnomish invention to enlarge a nearby boar that I could then use to trample an army of undead soldiers. Voice-acted dialogue also does a much better job of telling a story and building drama than reams of written quest text, and I really like the goofy little touches that make no two quests feel the same.

It's more explanation of a fundamental class feature than WoW has ever given me before. Playing as a druid, I was given one quick quest that explained how my shapeshifting works and what each of my different animals forms are useful for. Early quests will teach you the basics of combat and even help you understand some of the nuances of your given class. For a brand new player, Exile's Reach is going to be a much warmer welcome than the old leveling system.

World of warcraft graphics overhaul