Depuis Warlords of Draenor World of Warcraft had some form of evolutionary 'base', and functionality returns as Sanctuary upgrades in Shadowlands. Your Sanctuary is your Covenant's home base, and upgrading it provides many benefits. Luckily, none of these Sanctum buffs affect your Power progression in any substantial way. Instead, they provide quality of life upgrades that will make exploring your Covenant's area easier, speed up your transmog acquisition, and unlock a mini-game activity unique to your Covenant that will provide you with cosmetic treasures and other similar treasures.
Sanctum upgrades are unlocked after choosing your alliance and reaching level 60 in Shadowlands.
In order to unlock Sanctum upgrades in Shadowlands, you'll need to both choose your Covenant and reach level 60. If you level up an alt through Threads of Fate, you'll immediately clear the first stage, but you'll need to reach the new level cap to start the Covenant campaign. The Sanctum upgrades tie into the first chapter of the campaign, which is basically a giant “Shadowlands Endgame 101” tutorial. You will be introduced to the fame system and your first weekly fame quest before unlocking Sanctum upgrades.
You will be tasked with farming 1000 Anima to complete the quest just before "Home Improvement", which is the quest to unlock Sanctum upgrades in Shadowlands. This Anima quest will give you a rank of Fame, and then you will have enough Anima to buy your first upgrade. Once you've moved on to "Habitat Upgrade", talk to your Covenant's Sanctum Upgrade NPC (he's the one giving the quest) to open the Sanctum Reservoir interface.
This user interface performs two functions. First, this is where you will convert all of your Anima items into Anima to spend. Click "drop" at the bottom of the interface to empty any Anima items you currently have in your inventory into your Covenant's Anima reservoir, freeing up space in the bag and allowing you to spend the Anima on the Sanctuary upgrades (among others).
The second function is to upgrade your Sanctum! You'll notice four options around your tank: the Transport Network, Anima Conductor, Adventure Command Table, and your Covenant's Special Activity. You'll need Anima and Redeemed Souls to purchase Sanctum upgrades in Shadowlands, and since Redeemed Souls are locked into a weekly quest, you won't be able to purchase every upgrade for at least a few months.
You will have enough animas and redeemed souls from previous quests to choose an upgrade. If you've used the Threads of Fate to level in Shadowlands, you may have enough Anima to unlock the first upgrade for anything but your Covenant activity (this requires 6 redeemed souls, and you'll only get 5). Buy everything you can afford to complete the quest. Here, you'll have permanent access to Sanctum upgrades, so be sure to farm more Anima as you play, and don't forget to complete your weekly Redeemed Souls quest to purchase additional upgrades.
