Returning WoW players can get the Shadowlands expansion for free ahead of Dragonflight's launch

World Of Warcraft Shadowlands Review
(Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Blizzard has announced that from now until September 5, 2022, returning World of Warcraft players can get the Shadowlands expansion and a Level 50 Character Boost for free.
  • Players need to have an expansion license for a previous WoW expansion attached to their account in order to be eligible to get a free copy of Shadowlands. Players that already own the expansion aren't eligible to get another copy of it.
  • If your account is eligible, you'll see a gift icon in the Battle.net Desktop App that you can click on to claim your free copy of Shadowlands and the character boost.

Blizzard Entertainment — the developer behind the legendary MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW for short) — has announced that from now until September 5, 2022, returning players can get the base edition of the Shadowlands expansion for free, along with a Level 50 Character Boost. This will make it significantly easier for returning fans to dive into WoW's current endgame experiences, and will also help players get a head start on preparing for the arrival of the Dragonflight expansion later this year.

In order for your account to be considered eligible for free access to Shadowlands and the character boost, Blizzard's announcement post confirms that you have to have an expansion license for a previous WoW expansion. Note that players that already own Shadowlands can't get a free copy of it to gift to friends.

If you're eligible to claim the gift, you can do so by opening the Battle.net Desktop App, clicking the gift icon in the top-right area of the app's window, and then by clicking the Claim button next to the Shadowlands listing under the confirmation window. Blizzard says that Shadowlands gift grants may take awhile to appear, so if you don't see the gift icon, restart the app and keep checking it periodically.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands sees players become the Maw Walker, an adventurer capable of phasing between the world of the living and the afterlife realm of the Shadowlands. Throughout the expansion, players investigate why agents of the Shadowlands have begun to kidnap and imprison leaders from the Alliance and Horde factions. In addition to its new story, the DLC features numerous new locations to explore, additional gameplay systems, a brand new raid to conquer, and more.

Brendan Lowry

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. He's been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you'll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he's not writing or gaming, there's a good chance he's either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once. Follow him on X (Twitter).