Blizzard will be hosting the World of Warcraft expansion reveal livestream at 12PM EDT/9AM PDT/5PM BST over on the game’s official YouTube (opens in new tab) (embedded below) and Twitch (opens in new tab) channels. According to the scheduled stream’s description, fans will see the future of World of Warcraft during the event, so it’s definitely worth tuning in when it’s live. 

Although, there’s a chance you may have got a glimpse at the MMORPG’s next installment already. Earlier this month it was speculated that the next World of Warcraft expansion could be ‘Dragonflight’ after the source code for the game’s official website was leaked. 

Not only did the leak reveal the upcoming expansion’s title but also the URL of a new website for the expansion and details surrounding pre-purchases. We should find out whether or not these leaks were accurate by the end of today’s stream. 

This expansion reveal is clearly highly anticipated amongst fans as – an hour before the stream is due to officially begin – there are already over 60,000 people waiting on YouTube, with more joining as the wait continues. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise honestly as Blizzard did announce the event way back in early March, meaning WoW fans have been eagerly waiting for over a month for this reveal. 

In other World of Warcraft news, Blizzard previously announced that it was releasing World of Warcraft on mobile later this year. Not much is known about the mobile release right now, as it was originally revealed in Activision Blizzard’s quarterly earnings report, all we do know is that “Blizzard is planning substantial new content for the Warcraft franchise in 2022 […] and getting all-new mobile Warcraft content into players’ hands for the first time.”

The World of Warcraft expansion reveal is due to start very soon so head over to YouTube or Steam and get ready to see what the future of Warcraft will have in store for players. 

Wondering what else you should be playing? Take a look at our best MMORPG list for inspiration. 

The post How to watch the World of Warcraft expansion reveal today appeared first on Game News.

A new video has just been dropped onto the Universal Pictures All-Access (opens in new tab) YouTube channel which contains 11 deleted scenes from Warcraft: The Beginning. It’s just shy of 14 minutes of footage in total.

Plenty of the scenes aren’t finished, so there’s some placeholder CGI and visible green screens scattered throughout the footage, but you get the idea of what the creators were aiming for in each scene, and Warcraft fans should find some extra world-building and characterisation here that’s worth checking out.

The Warcraft Movie, also known as Warcraft: The Beginning, received a mixed response from critics and fans when it dropped back in 2016. The CGI was certainly very impressive and it brought the world of Azeroth to life in impressive fashion, but the movie tried to cram too much into its runtime, leading to something that “manages to feel both rushed and dull” according to our review.

There were originally plans for a sequel to the Warcraft Movie, but there’s been no word on that in quite some time, so it looks like the mediocre critical reception may have put those plans to rest. Things are looking much rosier for the game that spawned the movie though, as World of Warcraft continues to smash records. Just last year, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands launched and was the fastest selling PC game of all time.

Want to see more games on the silver screen? Check out our list of the best video game movies to see our top picks.

The post 14 minutes of deleted scenes from Warcraft: The Beginning released on YouTube appeared first on Game News.

Why collect Redeemed Souls?

Before we get to the collecting part though, let’s look at the reasons why you should want Redeemed Souls. The Souls are basically Shadowlands’ endgame currency. Together with Anima (which is far easier to collect), Redeemed Souls are used to upgrade the Covenant Sanctum, which consists of four different parts:

• Transport Network: upgrade this for easier movement around your Covenant’s region and to travel to new locations.
• Anima Conductor: this will give you a special task, ranging from treasure hunting to fighting an elite enemy (refreshing daily). Upgrading with Redeemed Souls will grant you more challenging tasks with better rewards.
• Adventures Upgrades: unlock the Adventure mini challenges, upgrade your adventurer’s healing abilities, and decrease the time they need to complete a challenge.
• Covenant activity: this is a special ability that may, for example, allow you to create special constructs, or make useful consumables (depending on your choice of Covenant).

So, if you don’t want to miss out on new abilities, new ways to discover the Shadowlands and lots of new looks and mounts for your character, you are going to need some Souls.

How to get your first Redeemed Souls

If you are wondering why you haven’t encountered any Redeemed Souls yet, you probably haven’t finished the Shadowlands storyline. To sum up, every Champion needs to enter the Shadowlands at level 50, play through the story, reach the maximum level of 60 and choose a Covenant before unlocking the Sanctum Upgrades and gaining access to Redeemed Souls. 

However, once you have reached that point with your first character, every new character can join a Covenant at level 50, without the need to play through the story first. If you decide to do the latter, be careful not to miss out on the first five Redeemed Souls (more about this below).

After choosing one of the four Covenants, the first chapter of your chosen Covenant’s campaign will start. Follow the quests until the chapter completes. You will then automatically receive your first five Redeemed Souls. 

It is important to know that this is the only time you’re awarded with Redeemed Souls during the campaign. There is just one other way to get them after that; by doing a weekly quest. 

The Return Lost Souls weekly quest

The weekly ‘Return Lost Souls’ quest became available on December 1, when Shadowlands entered its second week. The player’s task is simple; go to the Maw and save five of the souls trapped there. In return, the player gets gold, an Emblem of Renown, and, of course, five Redeemed Souls. 

To find and accept the quest, talk to your Soul Warden in the Covenant Sanctum. You then need to go to the Maw, which you can reach through the Ring of Transference on Oribos. But beware; the quest marker’s location is misleading. The best places to find Souls are west and northwest of Ve’nari’s Refuge.

Once you’re there, you can begin to rescue Imprisoned Souls, Caged Souls, Wailing Souls, or Aimless Souls. As some of them are further up north, the easiest option is to go for the Imprisoned Souls. There are plenty of them trapped in Stone Prisons just west of Ve’nari’s Refuge (see the red area in the picture). 

You can see the exact locations of the Stone Prisons on your mini map. The Stone Prisons look like piles of rock. Just hit them until they break, and the Soul (a silvery-grey human form) will be freed. Don’t forget to click on the Soul before you move on though! This will start the ‘rescue soul’ action, after which the Soul will follow you.

By going to the right location, this quest should not take longer than 5-10 minutes to complete. Once you are done, go back to your Soul Warden to complete the quest and collect the Redeemed Souls. Just repeat this process every week to increase your Souls collection.

Soulkeeper upgrades & Renown

Earning only five Redeemed Souls a week may seem like a very slow process, but you can speed it up by upgrading your Covenant’s Soulkeeper. There are three upgrades in total. Once you have them all, the weekly Return Lost Souls quest will be rewarded with 20 Redeemed Souls instead of just 5. Although it will take you a bit more time to complete the quest itself, this will significantly increase the rate by which you collect Redeemed Souls.

However, it is important to keep in mind that the Soulkeeper upgrades become available at Renown levels 15, 24, and 32. Your Renown level is comparable to a reputation system for your Covenant. So, to get more Redeemed Souls at a faster rate, be sure to increase it! 

There are three ways to increase your Renown. The first way is by doing the Return Lost Souls weekly quest, which you need for Redeemed Souls anyway. The second is by completing chapters of your chosen Covenant’s campaign, and the third is by doing the ‘Replenish the Reservoir’ weekly quest. To complete Replenish the Reservoir, you need to collect Anima by doing world quests and defeating elite enemies.

Missing Redeemed Souls Hotfix

Unfortunately, some players found themselves without any Redeemed Souls after skipping the tutorial quests and switching Covenants with their alt characters. As said in an update on November 25, Blizzard has now fixed the issue. If this situation applies to you, you should be able to get the five Redeemed Souls the next time you visit the Covenant Sanctum.

Now you know everything there is to know about Redeemed Souls. High time for a visit to the Maw!

The post How to find Redeemed Souls in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands appeared first on Game News.

You can check out the full pre-expansion survival guide from Blizzard just below. In full, the video covers character customization changes, class changes, an event that kicks off before the Shadowlands expansion, and all content in World of Warcraft that’s going to be exiting the game once Shadowlands arrives.

The survival guide also takes you through what to expect from the new Shadowlands pre-expansion patch. All players at the level 120 cap will be automatically reset to level 50, and the new level cap will be set to level 60 across the board. Additionally, Blizzard is streamlining the levelling-up process, so it takes you less time to reach the maximum level.

There are also some big character customization changes coming. For example, Dwarves will have the ability to add tattoos in the vein of the Wildhammer tribe, and Undead can change how much their bones are exposed. Lovely stuff.

Just last week, Blizzard announced that the Shadowlands expansion for World of Warcraft was being delayed until an unspecified point in 2020. The big expansion was originally meant to launch later this month on October 27.

When it does launch though, Shadowlands will be introducing a total of four new zones to the game: Revendreth, Ardenweald, Maldraxxus, and Bastion. It’ll be following the story of Sylvanas taking power from the Lich King, and using it to open a portal to the afterlife.

Additionally, Shadowlands will be removing the fee to change genders. Previously, changing genders in World of Warcraft would cost you $15/$13, but that will be going away for good once the expansion arrives.

To see where World of Warcraft ranks among the MMORPG hall of fame, you can head over to our best MMORPG games guide.

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Rather, the release of every new expansion has often focused on what’s next for the hardcore WoW community, and that’s come at the expense of attracting fresh audiences. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands (opens in new tab), the eighth expansion for the long-running MMORPG scheduled to launch later in 2020, is looking to change all that. 

The much talked about “level squish” is a key component of the plan, reducing the level cap back down to 60 (just as it was when the game launched, and as it is today in World of Warcraft Classic (opens in new tab)), and represents just one way in which Blizzard is attempting to rebalance the playing field in everyone’s favour. 

Part of that squish is Blizzard’s decision to offer a fresh, uniform starting experience for new players (or old players creating new characters), one that offers a more streamlined, didactic introduction to the world of Azeroth. It’s a much needed change, as the uneven miscellany of race and class-based openings that currently make up the tapestry of WoW’s welcome mat are somewhat outdated to say the least.

“Say you want to try out World of Warcraft right now,” explains Shadowlands director Ion Hazzikostas. “If you literally go and log into Battle for Azeroth to make a level one character, you’re by and large playing content that was made over ten years ago, and was a reflection of the game we were making back then.”

“In many cases, it also wasn’t necessarily designed with new players in mind. If you decided to make a Goblin because you thought they looked cool, for example, the first thing that you’re doing is a vehicle quest, because back then we assumed that Goblins were only being made by people who owned multiple expansions and were World of Warcraft veterans.” 

Trouble in paradise

Read more

World of Warcraft turns 15: Looking back on the MMO’s journey to WoW Classic with Blizzard’s Patrick Dawson (opens in new tab)

Exile’s Reach is Blizzard’s attempt to rectify that issue. Drawing from the classic video game trope of island starter zones, the tutorial will see newly recruited members of the Horde and Alliance travel to a mysterious archipelago to participate in a microcosmic storyline that will guide you all the way through to level ten. 

Not only does Exile’s Reach tell a much better story than its more dated counterparts, elevated by a well-rounded cadre of fully voiced characters to care about, it does a great job of teaching players the fundamentals. The two hour long sequence organically weaves in lessons on class-specific combat, boss fights, raiding, and even emotes, with a final mini dungeon using AI party members to demonstrate how class roles work on the battlefield. 

“I think Exile’s Reach was really driven by a desire to put our best foot forward as a game and as a franchise,” says Hazzikostas. “We wanted to create a modern introductory experience that actually gives you a sense of what playing World of Warcraft is like in 2020; it’s interaction with people around you, it’s powerful rare enemies that you can optionally tackle, and exhilarating dungeons that climax long-running storylines.” 

But the overhauled starting experience doesn’t end at Exile’s Reach. Blizzard wants to make sure that new players aren’t suddenly inundated with World of Warcraft’s reams of older content upon leaving the island, but instead hopes to gently guide you along a coherent narrative experience leading up to the Shadowlands saga. The finale of Exile’s Reach will thus naturally segue into the beginning of the critical path for World of Warcraft’s last expansion, Battle for Azeroth (opens in new tab), which itself will take players all the way up level 50, before they’re ready to take on the Shadowlands for themselves. 

This is a radically different system to the one that currently exists, where you must progress back and forth through the game’s older expansions in  jumbled order, often leaving you in a state of canonical whiplash. Shadowlands will still present the option for players to take on any expansion’s content in the order they wish (this is still a fantasy role-playing game where the world is your oyster, after all), but the new path laid out by Shadowlands presents a seamless experience that is specifically designed to help players – regardless of your experience with the game – gradually submerge themselves into Azeroth’s wealth of adventures.

“That’s part of what’s really exciting for us about new players going into Battle for Azeroth and being able to play it in its entirety, or being able to pick an expansion of their choice. They can experience these stories as they were meant to be told, and in many cases with pacing that hasn’t been possible since those expansions came out for the first time years ago,” Hazzikostas explains.

A new journey begins 

But this shake-up shouldn’t just be exciting for the studio and anyone who potentially discovers World of Warcraft for the first time as a result; it’s exciting for lapsed players such as myself, too. For years, I’ve toyed with the idea of diving full-time back into the MMO that dominated my teens, but felt somewhat turned off by its sprawling complex of endgame systems and mechanisms that were non-existent during my time with the game in its simpler days. There’s a reason why World of Warcraft Classic remains so popular, after all. 

But with Shadowlands, Blizzard is offering a tasty proposal; one where players can create a character, enjoy a bitesize adventure that catches them up to speed with the MMO’s basics, and breeze through a whirlwind tour of World of Warcraft’s freshest content before ending up at its all new expansion. 

It sounds like the ideal fastrack course into this still titanic MMO, shedding the grind-filled timesink in favour of a more coherent adventure that represents a much healthier alternative to paying your way to max level. Whether Shadowlands itself is any good is another question entirely, but the fact that the journey towards it already looks like a huge improvement is surely a good sign. 

For more, check out the best MMORPG (opens in new tab) games to play right now, or watch our latest episode of Dialogue Options below. 

The post Forget endgame, the most exciting shake-up in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands starts at level one appeared first on Game News.

Speaking at a panel at BlizzCon 2019 over the weekend (via Digital Trends (opens in new tab)), where a release date for WoW Classic’s PvP Honor System (opens in new tab) was also announced, World of Warcraft Executive Producer John Hight teased that Blizzard is “not opposed” to bringing major expansions to the remastered vanilla version of its hit MMO, which launched earlier this year. 

Read more

World of Warcraft turns 15: Looking back on the MMO’s journey to WoW Classic with Technical Director Patrick Dawson (opens in new tab)

Hight mentioned both The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King in his comments, and even asked the audience which expansion they’d prefer to see released for WoW Classic first (the audience apparently cheered louder for the latter). 

“We’ve done it before”, stated Hight, in reference to pulling off what Blizzard assumed was previously unfeasible with WoW Classic, suggesting that – while there’s no official plans in motion for bringing either of these expansions to the game at present – the studio is certainly open to the idea in the foreseeable future. 

In the meantime, World of Warcraft Classic’s Diremaul dungeon is now live (opens in new tab), and the MMO’s Honor System arrives on November 12, so start preparing your character now for some seriously intense PvP battles between the Horde and Alliance.  

For more, check out the best MMORPG (opens in new tab) games to play right now, or watch our Dialogue Options video below for a further exploration of open world games. 

The post Blizzard is “not opposed” to bringing The Burning Crusade and Lich King expansions to WoW Classic appeared first on Game News.

Dedicated fans have already uncovered tons of new assets, lore, and class changes by combing through code, and the more that’s unearthed, the more it looks like Blizzard is playing coy by taking its hands off the wheel and letting fans steer pre-release hype themselves. Let me show you what I mean:

Foxy ladies coming your way

Since the alpha launched in January, loads of datamining has been related to the new fox-like race, the Vulpera. It was obvious from the start that the Vulpera used the same skeleton as Goblins, but then more and more evidence came piling on. They have a reputation tracker (one of the things needed to unlock an allied race). They have male and female customization options. They have unique animations.

Are Vulpera going to be playable in the future? Nobody knows for sure, because Blizzard won’t say. But all the data gets those wheels of imagination turning in fans’ heads. “What if Vulpera are going to be an allied race?” we ask, as we start to picture it in our minds: Vulpera Rogues, Vulpera Hunters, Vulpera mounts. Look at this cute little bastard! It’s a fox riding a fox – two foxes for the price of one! Who could resist?

Blizzard first showed off Vulpera as background characters in the trailers for Battle for Azeroth. They certainly weren’t a selling point of the new expansion. But look up almost any poll on what race fans want to see playable and Vulpera usually top the list. Datamining has turned these little critters into an obsession.

Alliance: home of werewolves and werebears

When datamining from February revealed that Zandalari Trolls (a new race joining the Horde) would get new, super cool Druid forms (opens in new tab) based on dinosaurs, players were in a tizzy. Some were pumped, because um, hello? Who doesn’t want to play as a dinosaur? Others were upset and accused Blizzard of bias in favor of the Horde, because the Alliance didn’t (yet) have anything revealed that could compete in terms of sheer cool factor. Dedicated miners simply set about digging up more code, this new discovery spurring on more digital paleontology. And some ran wild with speculation.

Fan site and database Wowhead (opens in new tab) produced a particularly comprehensive argument regarding the possibility of an Alliance counterpoint to the Zandalari. They started paying more attention to the lore and NPCs, eventually coming across Kul Tiran humans who seemed to have a particularly strong connection to nature and druidic magic. Perhaps the Alliance’s answer to the Zandalari Druids and their sweet dinosaur forms would be Kul Tiran human Druids and forms inspired by the wicker beasts that roamed the land.

And wouldn’t you know it, just this week datamining uncovered a Kul Tiran bear form for Druids. And it looks sweet.

Again, it’s important to note that none of the above has been confirmed by Blizzard or commented on in an official capacity – players started discovering things organically, led by curiosity and passion. The studio could have just as easily put out a press release saying “And here are the new Druid forms you’ll get in Battle for Azeroth” – but it didn’t. It left breadcrumbs and let players follow the trail, leading to more discussion, more excitement, more engagement.

A possible betrayal for <REDACTED>

And lastly, there are the lines spoken by NPCs, what’s referred to as “broadcast text.” These snippets of dialogue have also been datamined or otherwise uncovered by alpha players, and the lines hint at some pretty significant revelations. I’m not sure how many out there play WoW for the story (it hasn’t been a major focus until recent years) but consider this a SPOILER warning. Skip ahead if you don’t want to know anything about Battle for Azeroth’s story.

In the most recent datamine, broadcast text suggests that Saurfang (the de facto leader of the Orcs) is leaving the Horde. Considering the faction was started by the Orcs, that’s pretty dang big. “I have stopped counting the days I have sat in this cell. It has, however, given me a great deal of time to reflect,” he tells players when they attempt to rescue him from an Alliance prison. “You think you are here to take me back to Orgrimmar. Back to the Warchief. You are mistaken. After all she has done, I will never return to her Horde. … Make sure you know the difference between loyalty and honor. And pray you never have to choose.”

Even as incomplete as this peek into the new lore is, it has fans running wild with speculation. Does it mean the Alliance will get Orcs on their side? Does it mean Sylvanas (the current leader of the Horde) is going to go full villain? Again, we just don’t know, but new theories are popping up every day.

END SPOILERS

I have a hard time believing all these tasty tidbits have been inserted into the alpha on accident. I think it’s far more likely that Blizzard is sprinkling these morsels around and letting fans take it from there.

Speculation (opens in new tab) is one of the most fun parts of WoW, as players wonder what new races will be playable, what new classes will be available to choose, what new lands we’ll explore, what new dungeons and raids will challenge us. You can’t speculate when everything’s laid out on the table, and so far, Blizzard hasn’t done that. They’ve just made suspiciously well-animated fox people, inserted one very peculiar bear, and written some gasp-worthy dialogue, all with no official comment on any of it.

But speaking of official comments: a Q&A session with game director Ion Hazzikostas will be livestreamed on Twitch (opens in new tab) today, March 15, at 11am Pacific (you can watch the embed below) – it feels strange to say, but personally I hope I come away with more Q than A.

Get the best games and entertainment news, reviews, tips and offers delivered to your inbox every week by signing up to the GamesRadar+ newsletter today. 

The post World of Warcraft datamine discoveries include Vulpera, Kul Tiran Druid, and much more appeared first on Game News.

In their financial results for the first quarter of 2012, Activision took the opportunity to tout some seriously impressive numbers about their most popular series. Not only is Call of Duty still kicking some serious tush online, but Skylanders is growing as well.

“Through March 31 , players have logged more than 1.6 billion hours of online gameplay of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” said Activision CEO Bobby Kotick in a statement recorded by VG247 (opens in new tab). “And for the quarter in North America and Europe, including the accessory packs and figures, Skylanders Spyro’s Adventures was the #3 best-selling game overall in dollars across all platforms.”

He also added that the Call of Duty series is still played (at least monthly) by 40 million users. On top of that, there are 10 million subscribers to Call of Duty Elite, 2 million of which are premium annual members.

They also added that the kid-phenomenon, Skylanders has continued to grow, and they expect it to soon top Star Wars as the number one toy franchise.

Furthermore, they added that they have bolstered Battle.net, and that World of Warcraft subscriptions have stabilized following the exodus in the wake of the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic. They’re also expecting another subscription boost when the Mists of Pandaria expansion launches.

“On May 15 Blizzard Entertainment will release the highly anticipated Diablo III and we are proud to report that pre-orders for the game worldwide have set a new record for Blizzard,” Kotick said. “For the remainder of 2012 and beyond, our product pipeline includes some of the most innovative games we have ever developed for our established franchises, including Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm and all new MMORPG game, as well as Activision Publishing ‘s Skylander ‘s Giants, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and a new universe from Bungie.”

Activision may be the evil empire these days, but wow, that’s a seriously fantastic lineup of games. From Heart of the Swarm to Skylanders, they’ve got half a dozen #1 hits and even a few worldwide sensations.

The post Call of Duty has 40 million monthly users appeared first on Game News.

Head to Booth C-303 and you can tweet a picture of yourself with this seven-foot tall Thrall for a chance to win a surprise Mega Bloks prize pack. Attendees can also enter for a chance to be the future owner of this rare Frostmourne replica by guessing how many blocks were used to crafting it.

Oct 19, 2011

The post BlizzCon 2011: Mega Blocks Thrall figure and StarCraft Battlecruiser ready for attendees appeared first on Game News.