Shadowlands Beta Build 35256 News Recap - Spell Variance, Castle Nathria Open, Cute Pet Models

Posted 2020/07/26 at 10:59 AM by perculia

News Webhookmaster list of Shadowlands coverageShadowlands BetaWoW Launcher updated to Shadowlands betaLevel 60 Character Templatesno usable beta keys yet for ShadowlandsHere's how you can opt inGeneral

Blizzard released a lengthy post on what to do before Shadowlands, listing content removed in the pre-patch and at launch. Some of the confirmed content include the removal of the Brutosaur in the pre-patch and removal of Azeroth's Champion at launch.

Barber Shop Gender Change Preview: The previously-announced barber shop change was now implemented on the beta.

Pet Battle Feedback: Blizzard has posted a lengthy blue post about what's coming in Shadowlands for Pet Battles, including content available to test starting this build. These changes include the previously announced ability rebalance, which intends to change the pet battle meta from its BFA state.

Models

Exile's Reach HD Simple Weapon Models: In Shadowlands Beta Build 35256, many new weapon models labeled "Newplayer" were datamined. These weapons have HD models but picture more simplistic weapon types. These are believed to come from the new starting zone coming in Shadowlands, Exile's Reach.

Maw 2H Sword Models in Shadowlands: The Maw Legendary sets now have a matching spiky weapon.

Updated Sylvanas Model: Sylvanas' model has received another set of color tweaks, creating greater contrast between her armor and skin.

New Shadowlands Models - Jelly Cat, Bat Pet, Tree Pet: Many cute models have been datamined! Are you team Jelly Cat or Baby Tree?

Ardenweald Toad Mount: One of the new models added in Shadowlands Beta Build 35256 is an Ardenweald-themed Toad Mount.

New Spirit Healer: The Spirit Healer has received a model update to look closer to the Kyrian aesthetics.

Zones and Story

Alexandros Mograine Reflects: Mograine is confused by his assigned covenant and we see how he reaches an understanding.

Night Warrior Curse Questline: In the Night Warrior's Curse chapter, we learn more about past Night Warriors, who may be instrumental in helping Tyrande maintain control of her dark powers.

Kael'thas Sunstrider in the Venthyr Covenant: After completing Kael's encounter in Castle Nathria, he is the focus of the Venthyr covenant campaign, where we learn more about his path to redemption and encounter a surprising villain from Azeroth's past.

Concept Art Revendreth Interview: We learned a bit more about the aesthetics of Revendeth and Castle Nathria, notably getting a glimpse at the concept art for the missing Castle Nathria leather shoulders.

Castle Nathria Raid Preview: The Castle Nathria raid opened for testing for the first time, and we took pictures of all the vampiric castle rooms.

World PvP

Trials of Zo'Sorg - Return of PvP World Quests in Shadowlands: One of the more popular World Quests in Legion were PvP World Quests, where you could focus on doing PvP objectives in free-for-all PvP areas. Although these quests were not available in Battle for Azeroth, they are making a return in Shadowlands with the Trials of Zo'Sorg.

Deathbringer Title and Flayedwing Mount - World PvP Meta Achievement in Shadowlands: In the latest Shadowlands Beta build, a new World PvP Meta Achievement has been discovered, with two rewards attached to it: the Deathbringer Title and a Deathbringer's Flayedwind chimera mount.

PvP Honorable Medallion Talent Slot Removed in Shadowlands - Replaced by PvP Trinkets: Blizzard has updated their PvP Medallion Trinkets in Shadowlands post to confirm that the first PvP talent slot, which offers the choice of anti-CC talents Adaptation, Gladiator's Medallion, or Relentless, will be removed in Shadowlands.

Soulbinds and Conduits

Shadowlands Beta Build 35256 Soulbind Conduit Changes - Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Hunter, Paladin Conduits: This build brings many new conduits for Death Knights, Demon Hunters, Hunters, Paladins, Shamans, Warlocks, and Warriors. Note that many of these appear to be Covenant specific, as they directly affect individual Covenant abilities.

Volatile Solvent & Ultimate Form - Perfecting Fleshcraft for Necrolords with the Plague Deviser Marileth Soulbind: In this soulbind spotlight, we explain how covenant abilities can interact with a particular soulbind for hidden sources of power.

More Soulbind Conduits Receive 15 Ranks in Shadowlands Beta 35256: In today's Shadowlands Beta build, over 700 more entries were added to the Soulbind Conduit Rank database for the newly revealed Conduit powers. This may indicate that Soulbind Ranks are still an active system as it's still being worked on.

Shadowlands Soulbind Changes - Instant Cast Door of Shadows Removed: There was a major change to Theotar's buff to the Venthyr Covenant ability Door of Shadows, which no longer makes the ability instant, but instead gives it a second charge.

Character CustomizationLegendaries

New Shadowlands Runeforged Legendary Powers for Druids - Rage of the Sleeper, Oneth's Intuition

Shadowlands Runeforged Legendary Powers for Monks - Face Palm, Keg Smash Shoulders

Runeforged Legendary Power Updates for Paladins, Priests and Warlocks

Classes

Build Class Changes: Master list of class changes including Destruction Warlocks once again have access to Shadow Bolt.

Each week as the beta progresses, we publish feedback articles by our class guide writers. This week's articles covered the state of Vengeance, Rogue, and Elemental Shaman

Spell Variance is returning in Shadowlands.

We learned in a Windows Central interview that dungeons will have unique covenant-specific effects.

Comment by AlcestRogue: No conduits, no legendaries, missing talents, bugs. We're *how* close to 9.0 pre-patch? How are Rogues gonna get to test this stuff *AND* get changes before Blizzard just goes "lul too late to make changes now, should have given feedback for these things sooner!"?Comment by GarrusN7So...classes are ducked, systems are bloating the game resulting in same amount of lags we got in BfA... is this the state of shadowlands? I understand this is beta, but *!@#, we are IN BETA. Less than 4 months before expa release and everything is a mess. What do we get instead? Variance, pet battles and 15 conduit levels. Yeah, they listen to feedback. But all they do is minimal effort. 4 months left and I dont see how they plan to make it. They waste time with 4 systems of which most we don't need. This expa was meant to be about classes and all I see is garbage classes. I don't think the game is going to undergo much change. I guess I will have to put my main to slumber for an expa or 2 it seems.Comment by CornerStoreDRemovedComment by 395230New Spirit Healer: The Spirit Healer has received a model update to look closer to the Kyrian aesthetics. /pic of Sylvia as an example of new model.Comment by AssassinRogue: No conduits, no legendaries, missing talents, bugs. We're *how* close to 9.0 pre-patch? How are Rogues gonna get to test this stuff *AND* get changes before Blizzard just goes "lul too late to make changes now, should have given feedback for these things sooner!"?Comment by RolouRogue: No conduits, no legendaries, missing talents, bugs. We're *how* close to 9.0 pre-patch? How are Rogues gonna get to test this stuff *AND* get changes before Blizzard just goes "lul too late to make changes now, should have given feedback for these things sooner!"?Comment by EkkaRogue: No conduits, no legendaries, missing talents, bugs. We're *how* close to 9.0 pre-patch? How are Rogues gonna get to test this stuff *AND* get changes before Blizzard just goes "lul too late to make changes now, should have given feedback for these things sooner!"?Comment by ZeturionSo...classes are ducked, systems are bloating the game resulting in same amount of lags we got in BfA... is this the state of shadowlands? I understand this is beta, but *!@#, we are IN BETA. Less than 4 months before expa release and everything is a mess. What do we get instead? Variance, pet battles and 15 conduit levels. Yeah, they listen to feedback. But all they do is minimal effort. 4 months left and I dont see how they plan to make it. They waste time with 4 systems of which most we don't need. This expa was meant to be about classes and all I see is garbage classes. I don't think the game is going to undergo much change. I guess I will have to put my main to slumber for an expa or 2 it seems.Comment by tdwp
I mean, you're just complaining about how clunky rogue feels but it's doing good nevertheless. Feral, Survival and Spriest have been doing worse for 4 years now, including numbers wise and nothing's been done about it. But since rogue is played by a greater amount of ppl, now you have a reason to complain but we could not,,,, uhm feels questionable.Comment by Seraphyel
I mean, you're just complaining about how clunky rogue feels but it's doing good nevertheless. Feral, Survival and Spriest have been doing worse for 4 years now, including numbers wise and nothing's been done about it. But since rogue is played by a greater amount of ppl, now you have a reason to complain but we could not,,,, uhm feels questionable.Comment by FixiMeh, with how OP rogue was at the start of BfA, I think sounding the alarm now, when SL is coming in November, isn't needed.Comment by perplurpGood question...