The developers from Blizzard Entertainment have taken to the official forums to reveal the new initiative: World of Warcraft Community Council. This program will add another venue for communication between players and the WoW development team with the goal to gather more detailed feedback on all aspects of the game from players with a wide range of backgrounds and interests.
- Submissions are open to any player interested in taking part in the program.
- Once players are selected, they’ll be given the ability to post in a new discussion forum that is publicly visible to everyone. In this new forum, the team will ask members to share their experiences and perspectives on anything in the game, and some topics may be started by Blizzard developers and community managers. Responses and updates from Blizzard will be posted there so they can easily be discussed by the entire community.
- A private discussion will also be setup for Council members to encourage direct interaction between members.
- Separate conversations between smaller groups of members and Blizzard developers will be encouraged to ensure players with differing perspectives are being heard.
“One of the key goals with this program is to encourage discussion with players from a wide variety of different playstyles. To help ensure this, part of the application process will involve sharing your areas of interest and expertise. Whether it’s cutting-edge raiding, playing alts, completing achievements, accessibility, or collecting transmog, we want to know your perspective and ensure you’re heard. Therefore, after one year in the program, we plan to unflag Council members and open the application again. All WoW players will be free to apply at that point.”
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands – Update 9.1.5
Additionally, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands players can now dive into the new content in patch 9.1.5 that introduced class balance changes, new allied race customization, updates to covenants, Legion Timewalking & Mage Tower and much more.
- Covenant updates – Players who reach max Renown for their Covenant will be able to freely switch among any of the four Covenants without cooldown or restriction. Cosmetic rewards, including pets and mounts, that have been earned from that covenant will thereafter be available regardless of your membership in a different one. Covenant switching and the use of cosmetic rewards will also apply to any alternate characters once the Renown threshold is reached on one character.
- Conduit Energy is being removed and Conduits will be freely swappable without any restrictions.
- Completing a Covenant campaign on one character will allow alternate characters the ability to skip that same Covenant’s campaign, earning the Renown and a third Soulbind unlock immediately without needing to replay the full narrative arc.
- Introducing Legion Timewalking, including access to Legion Mythic+ dungeons
- Skip Maw Introduction – Players who have completed the introduction in the Maw on one character will be able to speak to Highlord Darion Mograine in the capital cities to skip it on their alternative characters on their account.
- Island Expeditions – queue solo or in party
- Talent and ability improvements coming to a variety of classes
- Allied race unlocks no longer require dungeons
- Additional travel points in the Maw
- Alt leveling improvements
- And more!
Check out the official page to learn more about the new content being added to the game in Patch 9.1.5. If you are most interested in returning to the Mage Tower once Legion Timewalking begins in December, Blizzard prepared a special preview to bring you up to speed.
