A pre-expansion patch for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has been released on North American servers, bringing a huge number of changes and tons of zombies. This pre-patch (simply titled 9.0.1), which lays the groundwork for Shadowlands to be released later this year, greatly improves the way new characters level up in WoW and prepares them for their (eventual) journey to the afterlife, with major rework to all classes

The game has been reworked to maximize and enhance the number of characters.

The biggest and most immediate change is that Blizzard has refactored the level mechanics and condensed the effort to level up new characters. The new level cap is 60 instead of 120, and instead of leveling a decade-old zone, players will begin their journey in a new area called Exile's Reach. I played on WoW's beta server earlier this year and it was a better introduction to what modern WoW is like.

Once you reach level 10, you will play the story of the current expansion, Battle for Zeroth. Alternatively, if this is not your first time playing, you may choose to play the previous expansion instead.

In addition to the new leveling process, you may notice zombies running around Azeroth. This is thanks to the Pre-Expansion Event, which recreates some of the glory of the Wrath of the Lich King launch by unleashing a plague of the undead upon Azeroth. By participating in this event and either becoming a zombie yourself or fighting off hordes of undead, you can earn a lot of loot and time-limited rewards. For more information, read the pre-patch guide.

While we are happy that the 9.0.1 patch has finally been released, we do not know when the rest of Shadowlands will be released; Blizzard has delayed the release of this expansion patch from its original October 26 date, but the new release date is still this year They have not revealed anything other than that it will be later in the year.