World of Warcraft has changed characters, classes, and levelling before Shadowlands launches

With World of Warcraft: Shadowlands being delayed until a little later this year, Blizzard has published a pre-expansion patch "survival guide" to get you ready.

You can check out the full pre-expansion survival guide from Blizzard just below. In full, the video covers character customization changes, class changes, an event that kicks off before the Shadowlands expansion, and all content in World of Warcraft that's going to be exiting the game once Shadowlands arrives.

The survival guide also takes you through what to expect from the new Shadowlands pre-expansion patch. All players at the level 120 cap will be automatically reset to level 50, and the new level cap will be set to level 60 across the board. Additionally, Blizzard is streamlining the levelling-up process, so it takes you less time to reach the maximum level.

There are also some big character customization changes coming. For example, Dwarves will have the ability to add tattoos in the vein of the Wildhammer tribe, and Undead can change how much their bones are exposed. Lovely stuff.

Just last week, Blizzard announced that the Shadowlands expansion for World of Warcraft was being delayed until an unspecified point in 2020. The big expansion was originally meant to launch later this month on October 27.

When it does launch though, Shadowlands will be introducing a total of four new zones to the game: Revendreth, Ardenweald, Maldraxxus, and Bastion. It'll be following the story of Sylvanas taking power from the Lich King, and using it to open a portal to the afterlife.

Additionally, Shadowlands will be removing the fee to change genders. Previously, changing genders in World of Warcraft would cost you $15/$13, but that will be going away for good once the expansion arrives.

To see where World of Warcraft ranks among the MMORPG hall of fame, you can head over to our best MMORPG games guide.