‘World of Warcraft: Shadowlands’ release date window: What pre-purchase edition has the best offers for its price

Last year’s BlizzCon was made extra special with the announcement of “World of Warcraft: Shadowlands” – the game’s next expansion title. It has been the tradition in the video game industry to acquire perks when buying upcoming games even before their release dates, and the same principle applies to this title.

'World of Warcraft: Shadowlands’ pre-purchase editions

There are three pre-purchase options for "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands," namely the Base, Heroic, and Epic editions. As the names suggest, the latter mentioned editions have more exclusive items in them, but they also come with higher price tags.

The Base Edition of "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands" comes with the base game only for $39.99. Everything that has been announced for the expansion's gameplay will be included in this purchase, so players who want to experience it starting from scratch might settle for this option.

Not surprisingly, the more expensive editions of "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands" come with several in-game perks and even a significant character boost, which is available in the Heroic Edition. Fans might still be seeing official promo materials that say this variant comes with a level 120 character boost. But it is important to note that Blizzard Entertainment has since announced a level squish and new leveling scheme for the next expansion.

Simply put, existing "World of Warcraft" players who have reached level 120 will be moved to level 50 and will work their way up to the expansion's new level cap of 60. Video game fans should keep this in mind while pre-purchasing "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands." The Heroic Edition, available for $59.99, also comes with the Enscrolled Everwyrm Mount that automatically gives players access to the quest where they could gather the Vestments of the Eternal Traveler transmogrification set.

Meanwhile, all the mentioned items are part of the Epic Edition — plus some more in-game items — should fan decide to pay $79.99 for "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands." This variant comes with the Anima Wyrmling pet, Wraithchill weapon cosmetics, the Eternal Traveler's Hearthstone toy box collection, and 30-day game time.

‘World of Warcraft: Shadowlands’ release date

When "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands" was announced last November, Blizzard promised that the game would go live this year. A specific launch date has not been revealed yet, but based on the schedules of the previous expansions, many fans are expecting "Shadowlands" to go live sometime in August.