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World of Warcraft is reintroducing the Mage Tower when its 9.1.5 patch releases later this year, and it will be part of the game's timewalking feature, a limited-time event that allows players to play content from previous expansions to obtain gear scaled up to their appropriate level. It runs for one week every month and is always themed around a different expansion. World of Warcraft patch 9.1.5 is also slated to bring a sizeable amount of player-requested changes to the game.
When 9.1 released at the end of June, it was met with mixed reactions from the WoW community. Many claimed that the amount of content added with the patch was far too small when it took over seven months, and it didn't include many of the quality-of-life changes players said World of Warcraft needed during that time. Since then, Blizzard has worked to regain player trust by making 9.1.5 primarily focused on player feedback, with some changes having already recently removed inappropriate references in WoW.
In a recent post on the World of Warcraft forums, community manager Kaivax announced the return of the Mage Tower when Legion timewalking arrives in patch 9.1.5. The Mage Tower was highly regarded when it released in World of Warcraft: Legion's 7.2 patch, offering a wide variety of challenges for every class in the game. Beating the challenges originally gifted players cosmetic skins for their weapons, which are no longer obtainable. The reason Blizzard gives for these remaining unobtainable items is because it doesn't want to diminish player accomplishment from when the cosmetics were initially available.
Instead, recolored World of Warcraft: Legion expansion armor sets will be given out, and druids will be given a new shapeshifting form. Those committed to completing every challenge will be rewarded a flying mount called the Soaring Spelltome. When the event goes live, it will run for two weeks before being cycled back into the rotation Blizzard uses with its expansions for timewalking. Six expansions are currently in the rotation for timewalking, which means that players will have twice a year to try their hand at the Mage Tower's gauntlet of challenges.
When The Mage Tower was shut down in Battle For Azeroth's pre-patch, many were frustrated with Blizzard's decision. Not only did it provide a decent challenge for players, it was one of the few pieces of solo content the game had to offer. This is not the first time Blizzard has removed content altogether, either. Many beloved questlines, such as the iconic Angrathar the Wrathgate questline, were also removed over time. While it is disappointing that the cosmetic weapon skins will not be returning, Blizzard appears to be making a conscious effort to win back player trust by using timewalking as a way to preserve content that may be no longer accessible. In addition to this, many player-requested changes are also being added in WoW: Burning Crusade Classic updates. Hopefully this marks just the beginning of Blizzard heeding player feedback more frequently than before.
World of Warcraft is available on PC.
Source: Blizzard