World of Warcraft: Shadowlands players will be getting their levels squished from the current max of 120 to 60. For the pre-patch, players will be brought to level 50, being able to level back to 60 when the expansion launches. According to the official press release, "Shadowlands will introduce a new leveling system, meant to provide a meaningful sense of advancement with every level achieved."

A level squish refers to changing the way a player character scales as they earn experience and gain new levels. With the reduced level cap, it will now be easier to reach endgame content like raiding and players won't have to spend as much time questing in older zones. It also helps Blizzard balance and adjust character stats.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands was revealed earlier today during Blizzcon 2019 and it looks like players will be traveling back to Icecrown. Shadowlands will be available next year and bring tons of new places to explore in the large world of Azeroth. The trailer also mentions that you can “choose a covenant,” showing what looks like leaders of each of the four zones. The accompanying cinematic trailer sees Sylvanas Windrunner ambush the current Lich King in Icecrown, Bolvar Fordragon.

Plenty of other announcements have been made so far during the opening of Blizzcon 2019. Overwatch 2 — which was probably one of Blizzard’s worst-kept secrets for this year’s BlizzCon — was officially announced and will feature four-player co-op Hero Missions, a new PvP core gameplay mode called “Push,” and a new graphics engine.

It was also revealed that the various heroes from the crossover title Heroes of the Storm will be free-to-play during the entirety of the three day convention. Blizzcon 2019 will run until November 3rd, giving players a solid weekend to try out the unlocked characters.

Diablo 4 finally made its appearance during the opening ceremony and is going back to the franchise’s “darker roots” with a first look at Lilith. Gameplay featuring the first three classes were also shown: Barbarian, Sorceress, and Druid. Druid class will be coming back to Blizzard’s action RPG franchise fully capable of becoming a werebear and werewolf. Maps seem to have a bit more verticality as the barbarian attacked from a higher plateau to the ground below it. Diablo 4 will bring back PvP zones.