WoW: Blizzard is giving away Shadowlands – but you have to be quick

Don’t have the latest expansion yet? Blizzard is giving away WoW Shadowlands. We will tell you who is entitled to do so.

While Shadowlands is considered World of Warcraft’s worst expansion by a wide margin, there is some content that deserves praise. The current season 4 in particular is considered a big improvement by many players, since it is easier to equip twinks and many hurdles have been overcome. At least for the story of the pacts, playing through it at least once is definitely worth it.

Since the next Dragonflight expansion is coming up, WoW is giving away Shadowlands for now – but only to everyone who is entitled to it. And there’s a boost to level 50 right away.

Who does this apply to? The offer is subject to some restrictions, which are not easy to see through at first glance. The offer is valid for you if these two points are met:

• You have purchased any license of a WoW expansion (Burning Crusade, WotLK, Cataclysm, etc.) on your Battle.net account in the past.
• Shadowlands has not yet been added to any of your WoW accounts on your Battle.net account.

The gift is clearly aimed at returnees who have played World of Warcraft during any expansion in the past but are no longer doing so. With the boost at level 50 you can start directly in Shadowlands.

I don’t understand, who does this not apply to? Since Blizzard’s terms are a bit complicated, here are the restrictions that prevent you from getting Shadowlands:

• If you only have a trial account.
• If you only own the “standard version” of World of Warcraft, i.e. you have only expanded from a test account by taking out a subscription.
• If you have multiple WoW accounts on your Battle.net account and any of them already have Shadowlands.

How do you get the expansion then? If you meet the above requirements, Shadowlands should appear in your Battle.net software as a gift in the next few days. Then all you have to do is click on it and redeem it. However, it can take up to 7 days for the gift to appear on all affected accounts – i.e. by August 29th, 2022 at the latest.

Everyone will then have until September 5th to redeem Shadowlands.

What if you’re not selected? If you’re not in a hurry, don’t worry. As a rule, shortly before the new extension is released, the old one is integrated into the basic package. Shortly before the launch of Dragonflight, Shadowlands should be free anyway.

What do you think of this returnee offer? A good thing or way too specific?