Castle Nathria raiding begins on December 8, just two weeks after Shadowlands launches

Since we finally know the release date (again) for Shadowlands, knowing when the raid will open is the other big question. The first raid tier of an expansion is always hotly anticipated. Usually, that’s where we’ll find our first major victory in righting the wrongs that are being done to the lands we find ourselves in, and some delicious story morsels about what’s looming on the horizon that we have to deal with. Luckily, we won’t have to be waiting long before we can sink our teeth into Nathria.

The gates to that castle will be thrown wide on December 8 — just two weeks after we’ve arrived in Shadowlands.

Shadowlands Season 1 also begins on December 8

It’s not just Castle Nathria that’ll be opening on December 8, either. That’s when Shadowlands Season 1 of PVE and PVP begins. It also means that you’ll be able to start getting your fancy new weekly chest the week after.

This is sooner than I was expecting by about a week. In Warlords of Draenor, Legion, and Battle for Azeroth, there were three weeks between the launch of the expansion and getting our feet wet in the first raids. This is not a lot of time to get yourself geared up and raid ready if your guild is planning on starting that first night. I wonder if it’s opening so soon so that there’s more incentive to spend time in the Normal difficulty. Since there are only two weeks where you could be running dungeons and gathering mats for crafting, the average raider might need the extra time in the raid to get the gear you need to progress in Heroic.

This is going to put a tighter clock on the Mythic Raiders who take part in the Race to World First. They’ll be bumping into the holiday season unless Sire Denathrius winds up being a huge pushover. They’ve been hard at work testing the raid as best they can, but there’s no substitute for the information they get once everyone gets in.