Warcraft

WoW Classic is about to get its Phase Six, with the patch for 1.13.8 going live on December 1 and the opening of Naxxramas and the Scourge Invasion starting on December 3.

Easily lost amidst the excitement of the Shadowlands release last week was the publication of Exploring Azeroth: The Eastern Kingdoms, a fun book that sends our favorite Rogue couple traveling through the Eastern Kingdoms.

Every expansion to World of Warcraft goes through a cycle, starting out fresh to the majority of players (those that weren't in the alpha or beta, anyway) and then, over time, as we all level through it there's a feeling of growing familiarity.

I admit it: Despite Jellycat existing, I hated Maldraxxus for months.

It's been a while since we had a linear leveling experience in World of Warcraft, where the game's story took you from Zone A to Zone B with no decision on your part. Warlords of Draenor had a single starting zone for each faction, but you could more or less decide which zone to go to next after that, while Legion and Battle for Azeroth both allowed you to pick and choose which zone you wanted to run.

Now, to be fair, as the Wowhead article points out, Pilgrim's Bounty only gives a slight buff to your overall reputation gains, but every little bit counts.

If you've tried in the first couple of days of Shadowlands to make a group in the group finder for one of the Elite quests only to be inexplicably out of phase with the rest of your group, we have good news!

There's no question that the 50 to 60 leveling curve is pretty relaxed in Shadowlands, as some players managed to get to max level within three hours of the expansion's release, and even pokey players like me hit level 52 in a couple of hours of gameplay. World of Warcraft has probably never been easier to level in than it is in Shadowlands, and I'm curious what you think of that fact -- are you happy to be getting to max level relatively quickly, or at least to be able to do so, even if you're taking your time?

We've talked before about how Battle for Azeroth used cinematics to expand on its storytelling, but I have to say, watching how Blizzard has merged its various kinds of cinematics in Shadowlands is nothing short of breathtaking.

If you've been keeping up with the Shadowlands expansion -- and trying to understand all of its systems -- you might be finding yourself slightly overwhelmed.