The next World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands, is just over the horizon, and with it is going to come a big shakeup of the MMORPG’s status quo. That includes quests and rewards that will never be available again — so here’s everything leaving Blizzard’s title after the Shadowlands release date.
Sylvanas Windrunner has ripped open the wall between the living world of Azeroth, and the mysterious Shadowlands. Or at least, she’s going to — Blizzard has yet to actually lock in an official Shadowlands release date, for the time being.
That gives World of Warcraft players a bit of time to get their affairs in order before the huge ninth expansion finally arrives. There’s quests that will never be available again, mounts fans will need to tame, and rare Battle for Azeroth rewards that have been handed an ever-ticking timer ahead of the 2020 expansion switchover.
At a bit of a loss at what to do first? Well, let us help. We’ve put together everything — quests, rewards, and gear — that will leave when Shadowlands launches, as well as pre-patch events & features that won’t survive the update.
Everything leaving by Shadowlands release date
Battle for Azeroth was a mega-sized World of Warcraft expansion, and added plenty to the long-running MMORPG. Many of its key quests, including those tied to raid boss N’Zoth the Corruptor, will be removed when BfA ends.
These include the Uncorrupted Voidwing, which is earned by defeating N’Zoth the Corruptor in the Ny’alotha the Walking City raid, then finishing the “Lost Flight” quest, and the legendary Heart of Azeroth necklace given to all players.
The Heart of Azeroth necklace won’t technically be leaving the game, but its powers will be significantly reduced; it will now only work in zones introduced in the seventh expansion. It will still retain all powers in these areas, however.
Essence preferences will also be removed by the Shadowlands release date. If you’re trying to get your hands on the “Azeroth’s Champion” title, make sure you get your Essences up to Rank 4 before the end of the year, because that’s a key step.
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Everything leaving in Shadowlands pre-patch
There is plenty headed out the door when the Shadowlands release date finally arrives, but there’s a few things set to change even earlier than that too. Achievements, mounts, quests, and more will also leave during the pre-patch.
The World of Warcraft story is headed for the underworld, and away from the evil corruption of the Old Gods. That means their powers will lessen immensely.
Corruption-tainted items will “shed away their dark power,” Blizzard confirmed in a recent dev blog. Corruption resistances on Essences, and on every players’ legendary clock, will also be removed in the 9.00 pre-patch.
The current player-vs-player season will also end with the pre-patch. All players who finish in the top 0.1% of the 3v3 arena ladder at season-end will be rewarded with the rare Corrupted Gladiator title, Corrupted Gladiator’s Tabard, and the Corrupted Gladiator mount.
Finally, a number of mount rewards and possible achievements will also be unavailable once Shadowlands pre-patch 9.00 begins in November or December. There’s the full list:
Mounts
- Awakened Mindborer mount (earned by completing all Battle for Azeroth Season Four dungeons at Mythic Level 15 or higher).
- Mighty Caravan Brutosaur mount (currently available for purchase from shopkeepers Talutu or Tricky Nick).
Achievements
- ‘Mad World’ achievement (earned for completing all Horrific Visions of Stormwind and Orgrimmar objectives in a single visit, alone).
- ‘Ahead of the Curve’ achievement (earned for defeating N’Zoth the Corruptor on Heroic difficulty).
- ‘Cutting Edge’ achievement (earned for defeating N’Zoth the Corruptor on Mythic difficulty).
- ‘Hertz Locker’ achievement (earned for defeating all bosses in Operation: Mechagon without any player dying on Mythic difficulty).
There will also be a few difficulty changes to older reward drops in Shadowlands. The main mounts affected by this are the Glacial Tidestorm and Ny’alotha Allseer. Both will decrease in regular drop-rate from two to one.
So, there you have it — all the quests, mounts, achievements, and mechanics that are set to leave World of Warcraft ahead of the Shadowlands release date. The expansion itself should be released in November or December.