World of Warcraft still looking to grind out levels for their characters at the current increased rate are in luck, as Blizzard has decided that the Winds of Wisdom double XP event is too popular to cancel. During a time of quarantine and growing boredom, player incentivization methods like this one are more than welcome (and should really be a little more widespread).
The Winds of Wisdom event began in late March as a smart way of encouraging players to stay home and play World of Warcraft during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, over which strict social distancing and shelter-in-place orders have been issued worldwide. Scheduled to end on April 20, it's been thus far demonstrably successful at keeping player counts high and (hopefully) further hypothetical spread amongst players and their communities a little lower. As a real-world Corrupted Blood plague tears through the global populace, more game developers should - and some have - followed in Blizzard's lead with similar in-game events to keep their playerbases at home and entertained.
Now, Blizzard has announced that it's caving into fan demand and extending the Winds of Wisdom XP buff "through to the release of the Shadowlands pre-patch." That will especially catch savvy players' eye, as the World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion pack doesn't have a solid release date beyond the promise that it's coming sometime this year. That means Winds of Wisdom - much like the public health crisis to which it's responding - could run on for quite some time, which is sure to keep player engagement at its current high. The official World of Warcraft Twitter account also shared the below celebratory tweet, redirecting fans to the main Winds of Wisdom press release.
Blizzard, the slightly less maligned half of the Activision Blizzard video game publishing empire, has been making lots of positive additions and changes in its decade-and-a-half-old MMO. One of its most popular move in years was the reintroduction of World of Warcraft Classic after slowly stripping away the core game that older fans originally fell in love with after years of iteration. That brought in a massive influx of players looking to variously try it out the for the first time or relive their online glory days, and player-minded choices like the extension of the Winds of Wisdom event are further steps in the right direction for the once-beloved company.
If rumors of a World of Warcraft console release pan out to be true, Blizzard would do well to keep its bearing down that current path if it wants to see multi-platform success for the franchise. For now, though, PC players can take solace in knowing that the Winds of Wisdom buff won't be going away for their characters anytime soon.
