World of Warcraft Classic

Last updated

World of Warcraft Classic
World of Warcraft Classic logo.png
Developer(s) Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s) Blizzard Entertainment
Series Warcraft
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, macOS
ReleaseAugust 26, 2019 [1]
Genre(s) MMORPG
Mode(s) Multiplayer

World of Warcraft Classic is a 2019 MMORPG video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Running alongside the main version of the game, Classic recreates World of Warcraft in the state it was in during the release of its first expansion, The Burning Crusade . It was announced at BlizzCon 2017 and was released globally August 26, 2019. [1] [2]

Contents

Additional versions of the game were later released, including "classic" versions of the expansions The Burning Crusade , Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm , in addition to seasonal servers with new and altered content distinct from the original version of the game.

Gameplay

Classic recreates the game in the state it was in during patch 1.12.1, c. September 2006, before the launch of The Burning Crusade expansion. The maximum level of the player characters is set to 60, all expansion content is absent, and almost all the gameplay mechanics of the original version have been exactly replicated. [3] As the game's multiple expansions have dramatically changed the gameplay over time, Classic allows players to relive the original experience, albeit some modern interface and functional enhancements introduced in later expansions have been integrated, as well as re-patching of bugs and exploits that were present at the original release of patch 1.12.

Players can choose from the eight original races of World of Warcraft: humans, dwarves, gnomes, and night elves for the Alliance, and orcs, trolls, tauren, and the Forsaken for the Horde. The original nine classes are present: druid, hunter, mage, paladin, priest, rogue, shaman, warlock and warrior. As in the original version of the game, only Alliance players can become paladins, and only Horde players can become shamans. Races and classes added in the expansions are not available in the game. The game world is restored to its original, pre-Cataclysm state, and expansion areas such as Outland are not accessible.

To emulate the original game's patch release cycle, content in Classic was released in phases. [3] [4] This means that game content originally released in patches, such as the Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraj, and Naxxramas raids; battlegrounds like Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley; and certain items and quests; became available after launch according to a six-phase schedule. Unlike the content patches for the original game, these phases did not modify the core game mechanics such as character abilities in any way; the game balance has been set to the 1.12.1 version of the game since release.

Development

Release timeline
2019World of Warcraft Classic
2020
2021Burning Crusade Classic
2022Wrath of the Lich King Classic
2023
2024Cataclysm Classic
2025Mists of Pandaria Classic

The option of Classic servers has been a long-standing request in the World of Warcraft community. Every expansion has removed or replaced old content and introduced controversial or unwanted mechanics, resulting in many players expressing a preference for older versions of the game. For example, the game's first expansion, The Burning Crusade, removed the original level-60 version of Kazzak, and in the process, all of the items that he dropped became forever unobtainable. The Burning Crusade also added flying mounts, which were criticized for their effect on world PvP; raised the level cap to 70, which was criticized for making all level 60 content obsolete; and opened the formerly faction-specific Paladin and Shaman classes to both factions. The second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, removed the original versions of the Naxxramas and Onyxia raids and all items that could be obtained from them; added a Random Dungeon Finder tool, which many players felt spoiled the "social aspect" of the game; and made certain UI improvements that were criticized for reducing the need to read quest descriptions. Blizzard repeatedly refused to create legacy servers so that players could stay on older versions of the game. One of their oldest refusals was posted on February 21, 2008, by Drysc, who stated "We were at one time internally discussing the possibility fairly seriously, but the long term interest in continued play on them couldn't justify the extremely large amount of development and support resources it would take to implement and maintain them. We'd effectively be developing and supporting two different games."

Versions of World of Warcraft that existed prior to the launch of The Burning Crusade were often referred to as "vanilla" by players, but were referred to by Blizzard as "classic" at least as far back as November 29, 2009, when Vaneras wrote "We occasionally see requests for us to open pre-TBC realms, or classic realms if you prefer. Lately there have also been requests for pre-WotLK realms, and I am sure that once the next expansion pack is released there will be requests for pre-Cataclysm realms as well. We have answered these requests quite a few times now saying that we have no plans to open such realms, and this is still the case today. We have no plans to open classic realms or limited expansion content realms". [5]

Demand for Classic and other legacy realms significantly increased when the Cataclysm expansion revamped the entire original game world, making the majority of the classic or "old world" content forever inaccessible. Blizzard's response at the time, as provided by Tom Chilton, was "Currently, my answer would be probably not. The reason I say that is because any massively multiplayer game that has pretty much ever existed and has ever done any expansions has always gotten the nostalgia of, 'Oh God, wouldn't it be great if we could have classic servers!' and more than anything else that generally proves to be nostalgia. In most cases - in almost all cases - the way it ends up playing out is that the game wasn't as good back then as people remember it being and then when those servers become available, they go play there for a little bit and quickly remember that it wasn't quite as good as what they remembered in their minds and they don't play there anymore and you set up all these servers and you dedicated all this hardware to it and it really doesn't get much use. So, for me, the historical lesson is that it's not a very good idea to do". [6] When the issue was raised at a Q&A panel at BlizzCon 2013, J. Allen Brack famously responded "You think you do, but you don't", a phrase which would become the subject of ridicule years later.

Meanwhile, many private servers were being created by the community. Originally, private servers were mere novelties used for experimenting with alterations to the game rules, such as raising the level cap to 255. These early servers rarely had properly scripted raids, quests, or anything else. However, as expansions progressed and demand for legacy realms grew, private servers reversed focus and were seen as a way to faithfully re-create older versions of the game. Private servers emphasizing fidelity to the official versions of the game were referred to as "Blizzlike" and included Feenix, Molten Core, Emerald Dream, Nostalrius, and Light's Hope. The most popular was Nostalrius, which opened in February 2015 and had 800,000 registered accounts and 150,000 active players when it shut down in response to a cease and desist letter on April 10, 2016. [7] In the wake of Nostalrius's shutdown, a Change.org petition for official Classic servers was created and received over 200,000 signatures, and ex-World of Warcraft team lead Mark Kern personally delivered it to Blizzard's president at the time, Michael Morhaime. [8] Blizzard acknowledged the community's desires, and stated they had been discussing legacy servers internally for years but technical problems prevented them from implementing them. [9] [10] Consequently, the Nostalrius team released their source code to Valkyrie-WoW, another long-standing private Vanilla WoW server, hosted in Russia, and the Nostalrius servers returned on December 17, 2016, under the name of Elysium Project, with the player database as it had been just before the shutdown in April.

On November 3, 2017, at BlizzCon 2017, the then-Executive Producer of World of Warcraft, J. Allen Brack, announced Classic on stage during the WoW panel. [11] Details of the project were further revealed in interviews: it was going to be a faithful recreation of the original version of the game, but running on the modern infrastructure. [12] A developer blog post published on June 15, 2018, further detailed the technical implementation, [13] and a panel was held during BlizzCon 2018 that explained the development process behind the game. [14] To create Classic, Blizzard ported the original 1.12.1 game data and assets to their modern server and client infrastructure. This allows Classic to share much of the source code between the modern version of the game, which removes the development overhead of maintaining two different versions of the game, and also means that Classic will have all the performance and security improvements added to the original game server and client that were absent in the 2006 version.

Burning Crusade Classic

In March 2020 Blizzard sent out a survey to Classic players gauging their interest in a Classic Burning Crusade game. [15] After positive reactions it was verified in February 2021 [16] and in the last week of May it became available for download leading up to its release on June 1. [17] [18]

Wrath of the Lich King Classic

In April 2022, Blizzard announced Wrath of the Lich King Classic, scheduled for release later in the year. [19] On July 25, Blizzard released a trailer with the confirmed release date of September 26. [20]

At the launch of the Wrath of the Lich King Classic, the developers announced a strategy of minimal changes seeking to reproduce the feeling of the game's original state as much as possible. [21] [22] This contrasts with the approach from Classic's launch in 2019, where Blizzard sought to preserve all the interactions and behaviors of World of Warcraft's original release, even ones that seemed irrelevant or unintended. [23]

Traditionally, both unofficial private servers and Blizzard's official Classic servers have used the "end-patch state" for each expansion, meaning that the class balancing and features are based on the final phase of the original games. [24] In Wrath of the Lich King, the end-patch state included a Dungeon Finder tool that allowed players to enter a queue and be automatically matched with other players to complete 5-man content. Blizzard opted to not include the Dungeon Finder, instead offering an improved in-game bulletin board system where players can look for groups for any type of content, in effort to promote social interaction. [25]

In the lead-up to launch, Blizzard implemented one of its first major changes: Joyous Journeys, a limited-time 50% experience buff intended to ease the leveling experience for new and returning players. [26] Joyous Journeys was active during the Wrath of the Lich King pre-patch, and returned again one month before each new content phase was set to launch. [27] [28] Blizzard also made it so that any player could immediately create a Death Knight character on any server. Previously, this required that the player reach level 55 before being able to unlock the Death Knight class. This was later reverted to reduce abuse by bots. [29]

In the first content phase, the health and damage of all mobs in the Naxxramas raid were increased in order to provide players more of a challenge, due to the original release in 2008 being rather undertuned and quickly defeated. [30]

The second content phase included broader changes, including entirely new systems. With the introduction of the Ulduar raid, Blizzard implemented a series of changes and "catch-up mechanics" to make acquiring gear and items from Phase 1 easier and faster. First was changing the loot tables of Phase 1 bosses: in Phase 2, all bosses on 10-player difficulty would instead drop items from their 25-man difficulty. [31] The items from 10-man difficulty were scattered across bosses in Heroic Dungeons, and could be accessed by doing the dungeons on a new "Titan Rune Dungeon" difficulty. [32] Players referred to this new difficulty as "Heroic+", as the feature is reminiscent of Mythic and Mythic+ Dungeons from later World of Warcraft expansions.

Like for Naxxramas, the developers sought to release the main raid of Phase 2, Ulduar, with a higher difficulty. All bosses were released in their most "pre-nerf" state, giving players the hardest possible version of each boss from 2009. [33] To give players greater incentive to continue running Ulduar in later phases, gear on all difficulty modes was given higher stats and higher item levels. [33] During this phase, Blizzard also introduced the first significant changes to PvE class balancing, by changing abilities to increase performance [34] or eliminate newfound play styles that were detrimental to group content. [35] [36]

Several cosmetic changes also came in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. When the in-game barbershop was originally added in 2008, [37] players were able to pay in-game currency to subtly alter their characters appearance, such as changing their hairstyle and certain accessories. Blizzard later added a paid Character Recustomization service, which allowed players to fully recreate their character, changing gender, skin color, and more. [38] For the Classic version, these recustomization options were made baseline, and any player could use in-game gold to completely recreate their character's appearance, including gender (now called Body Type). [39] Wrath of the Lich King's original release also included paid Race Change and Faction Change [40] features, which were both added in Phase 2 of Wrath of the Lich King Classic. [41] [42]

The "WoW Token" became available for Wrath of the Lich King Classic players on May 23, 2023. [43] [44] Originally launched during the Warlords of Draenor expansion, this item allows players to exchange real money for the token, which can then be exchanged for in-game gold or a 1-month WoW subscription. [45]

Phase 3 for Wrath Classic launched on June 20, 2023, adding the Argent Tournament area and daily quests, Trial of the Champion dungeon, Trial of the Crusader and Grand Crusader raids, Onyxia's Lair raid, Trial of the Champion dungeon, as well as Defense Protocol: Beta, a new difficulty level for existing endgame dungeons. [46] [47] This phase saw the introduction of "Heroic" difficulty for raiding content, which was immediately available without requiring players to first complete the "Normal" difficulty mode. Unlike the original release of Patch 3.2, the heroic and normal difficulty of raids in this tier shared a lockout, and could instead be toggled on a boss-by-boss basis. [48] [49] [50]

Wrath Classic's 4th Phase was released on October 10, 2023, adding the Icecrown Citadel raid, three Frozen Halls dungeons, Defense Protocol: Gamma difficulty for existing dungeons, and several new features. Among these was the introduction of Random Dungeon Finder, a tool that allows players to join a queue and be automatically grouped with others for the specific or randomized content. Additionally, the Pets and Collections systems were added, allowing players to access mounts, pets, heirlooms and toy items from characters across their account. [51] [52]

Phase 5 was released on January 11, 2024, adding the Ruby Sanctum raid. [53]

Cataclysm Classic

At BlizzCon 2023, Blizzard officially announced that Wrath of the Lich King Classic would continue into Cataclysm content, coming some time in the first half of 2024. [54] The announcement noted that gameplay changes would be coming to the Classic version, such as continuing the "Titan Rune Dungeon" system, as well as faster leveling speeds and a faster content release schedule. [55]

The 4.0 Cataclysm pre-patch launched on April 30, 2024, adding the new races of Worgen and Goblin, unlocking different race/class combinations, as well as the revamped 0-60 zones and quests. [56] On May 20, 2024, the expansion officially launched, unlocking the new level 80-85 zones and dungeons. [57]

The Rise of the Zandalari patch was introduced on July 30, 2024, adding reimagined versions of the Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman raids as 5-player dungeons for max level characters. [58] [59]

Content in the Rage of the Firelands patch became available on October 29, 2024, bringing the Firelands raid as well as "Elemental Rune Protocol: Inferno" dungeons, which allowed players to complete heroic dungeons at a higher difficulty level in order to earn tokens and purchase select items from tier 11 raids. The release of the Firelands raid was delayed, opening on November 6, 2024.

20th Anniversary Edition

During Warcraft Direct 2024, Blizzard announced a re-release of the 2004 version of World of Warcraft, which launched shortly after on November 21, 2024. Named the "20th Anniversary Edition", this version of Classic retains most of the features from the 2019 release of World of Warcraft: Classic, but also includes certain quality-of-life updates, such as the Chronoboon Displacer, updated Honor System, removal of the Buff and Debuff Limits, as well as a native LFG tool and the ability to enable a more modern guild panel UI. Blizzard stated on its announcement that the 20th Anniversary Edition would be continuing into The Burning Crusade some time in late 2025 or early 2026. [60] [61]

20th Anniversary Edition: Hardcore

Blizzard also released Hardcore-only servers with the launch of the 20th Anniversary Edition, which feature previous permadeath mechanics and an optional "Self-Found Mode". Blizzard has stated that the Hardcore servers will not be progressing to The Burning Crusade, and characters on them will be given the option to transfer to Normal realms to continue playing in The Burning Crusade Classic. [62]

Classic Era and Seasonal Servers

Classic Era

Before the launch of Burning Crusade Classic, Blizzard created separate copies of each server, known as Classic Era servers, while the original realms all were set to automatically progress with content from Burning Crusade. Players were able to pay to create copies of their existing characters on the Classic Era servers, which would stay in a 1.12.1 state, with all content phases unlocked. Similarly, players could freely create new characters on Classic Era servers to replay content from the game in that state. [63]

Season of Mastery

Reinvented versions of World of Warcraft Classic have launched as separate servers intended to give players a fresh experience with the game. [64] Blizzard began creating seasonal Classic servers in November 2021 with the launch of Season of Mastery, which introduced changes to the game's mechanics that made it more challenging. [64] [65] Season of Mastery also included an "ironman" mode, by which players could attempt to progress without letting their characters die. [65] Season of Mastery officially concluded on February 14, 2023. [66]

Classic Hardcore

On August 24, 2023, Blizzard launched official Hardcore Classic servers that feature permadeath and the ability for characters to "duel to the death", known as Mak'gora. [64] [67] This game mode was inspired by a community of players on Classic Era realms who used addons to create an unofficial permadeath experience, with other rules such as restricting access to the auction house or trading with other characters. [68] Characters that die on official Hardcore servers are not able to log back in to the character or resurrect, but are able to transfer the character to existing Classic Era realms. [69]

Self-Found Mode

On February 29, 2024, a Self-Found Mode was added to Hardcore servers, allowing players to formally apply an extra set of restrictions to their character. In addition to the normal Hardcore ruleset, Self-Found Mode prevents players from grouping, using the auction house, and sending or receiving mail. [70] Self-Found Mode is only available for new characters, as an option during character creation. Players are able to turn off Self-Found Mode, but are unable to turn it back on once disabled. [71]

Season of Discovery

On November 30, 2023, Season of Discovery was launched as a seasonal server type. Discovery introduced new content to the base "Vanilla" world for the first time, including a new system of class abilities called runes, allowing certain classes to perform new roles, and additions to existing systems such as professions. Discovery launched with gated leveling, where players can only progress to level 25 in the first phase and subsequent phases will increase the level cap incrementally. Additionally, Season of Discovery features forced faction balance upon launch which would lock players from creating a new character of the dominant faction. Each phase also features reworked PvE and PvP content, such as 10-player Blackfathom Deeps raid and a world PvP event in Ashenvale. [72] [73]

Phase 2 of Discovery raised the level cap to 40 and converted the dungeon Gnomeregan into a 10-player raid, added a PvP event in Stranglethorn Vale called The Blood Moon, and introduced restrictions to players participating in so-called "GDKP" runs, where players bid for items that drop from raid bosses with gold. [74] [75]

Phase 3 of Discovery raised the level cap to 50 and converted the Temple of Atal'Hakkar ("Sunken Temple") dungeon into a 20-player raid. Persistent world events called Nightmare Incursions were also introduced, allowing players to complete specific quests and missions to gain reputation with a new faction and purchase rewards. [76] [77]

Blizzard has been testing new methods to combat Real-money Trading (RMT) within World of Warcraft, including restricting new accounts ability to trade, send mail, or use the auction house within their first 30 days.

Reception

PC Gamer scored Classic an 80 out of 100 and wrote, "WoW Classic is more than just a new version of an iconic game, it feels like a window to a time where interacting with people online still felt novel and exciting." [80] Polygon praised the difficulty of Classic and its overall design to nurture "social connections" in comparison to its modern counterpart, calling it a "faithful snapshot of a moment in time". [81]

Since launch, Blizzard has faced some criticism from players for their use of layering technology for the Classic servers. In addition to splitting the communities within each unique realm, players were found to be using the "layers" to exploit the in-game economy. [82] [83] [84] However, as of October 10, 2019, most realms are down to a single layer, with only the highest population servers still utilizing additional layers. [85]

The game won the award for "PC Game of the Year" at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, [86] and was nominated for "Game, Classic Revival" at the NAVGTR Awards. [87]

Related Research Articles

<i>World of Warcraft</i> 2004 video game

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game produced by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the Warcraft fantasy universe, World of Warcraft takes place within the world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events of the previous game in the series, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The game was announced in 2001, and was released for the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise on November 23, 2004. Since launch, World of Warcraft has had ten major expansion packs: The Burning Crusade (2007), Wrath of the Lich King (2008), Cataclysm (2010), Mists of Pandaria (2012), Warlords of Draenor (2014), Legion (2016), Battle for Azeroth (2018), Shadowlands (2020), Dragonflight (2022), and The War Within (2024). Two further expansions, Midnight and The Last Titan, were announced in 2023.

Warcraft is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of six core games: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Warcraft Rumble. The first three of these core games are in the real-time strategy genre, where opposing players command virtual armies in battle against each other or a computer-controlled enemy. The fourth and best-selling title of the franchise is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), where players control their character and interact with each other in a virtual world.

<i>World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade</i> 2007 video game expansion set

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is the first expansion set for the MMORPG World of Warcraft. It was released on January 16, 2007 at local midnight in Europe and North America, selling nearly 2.4 million copies on release day alone and making it, at the time, the fastest-selling PC game released at that point. Approximately 3.53 million copies were sold in the first month of release, including 1.9 million in North America, nearly 1.6 million in Europe, and over 100,000 copies in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BlizzCon</span> Annual gaming convention by Blizzard Entertainment

BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corrupted Blood incident</span> Virtual epidemic in World of Warcraft

The Corrupted Blood incident took place between September 13 and October 8, 2005, in World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment. When participating in a certain boss battle at the end of a raid, player characters would become infected with a debuff that was transmitted between characters in close proximity. While developers intended to keep the effects of the debuff within this boss's game region, a programming oversight soon led to an in-game pandemic throughout the fictional world of Azeroth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Metzen</span> American game designer (born 1973)

Christopher Vincent Metzen is an American game designer, artist, voice actor, and author known for his work creating the fictional universes and scripts for Blizzard Entertainment's three major award-winning media franchises: Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft. Metzen was hired by Blizzard Entertainment as an animator and an artist, his first work for the company was with the video game Justice League Task Force.

<i>World of Warcraft Trading Card Game</i> Collectible card game

The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on Blizzard Entertainment's MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The game was announced by Upper Deck Entertainment on August 18, 2005 and released on October 25, 2006. Players can play against each other one-on-one, or can join others in order to defeat dungeon/raid "bosses" based on those in the MMORPG. In March 2010, Upper Deck lost the license from Blizzard Entertainment. The license was acquired by Cryptozoic Entertainment later in the month, with the company announcing that planned card sets would be released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wowhead</span> Database for World of Warcraft

Wowhead is a website that provides a searchable database, internet forum, guides and player character services for the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. It is owned and operated by ZAM Network LLC, a subsidiary of the Chinese company Tencent.

<i>World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King</i> 2008 expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is the second expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade. It launched on November 13, 2008 and sold 2.8 million copies within the first day, making it the fastest selling computer game of all time released at that point. The game added a substantial amount of new content into the game world, including the new continent of Northrend, home of The Lich King Arthas and his undead minions. In order to advance through Northrend, players were required to reach at least level 68, with the level cap for the expansion being 80. The first hero class was introduced, the Death Knight, that starts at level 55.

World of Warcraft (WoW), is set in a fictional universe, with its primary setting being the planet of Azeroth. The first expansion, The Burning Crusade, introduced a second planet, Outland. Wrath of the Lich King expanded upon Azeroth and added Northrend, the frigid northern continent of Azeroth, while the next expansion, and Cataclysm, drastically changed various other continents by destroying some and unveiling new ones. The next expansion, Mists of Pandaria, added Pandaria, the southern continent previously hidden behind a perennial mist cover. Warlords of Draenor introduced the planet of Draenor, a version of Outland in a different timeline before its partial destruction. The Legion expansion took adventurers to the Broken Isles, an island chain near the Maelstrom in the middle of the Great Sea, and the damaged planet Argus, the headquarters of the Burning Legion. The seventh expansion, Battle for Azeroth, added two new island continents to the center of Azeroth: Kul Tiras and Zandalar. The latest expansion, Shadowlands, introduced the eponymous Shadowlands, a realm composed of five major zones: Bastion, Maldraxxus, Ardenweald, Revendreth, and the Maw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle.net</span> Online gaming platform by Blizzard Entertainment

Battle.net is an Internet-based online game, social networking service, digital distribution, and digital rights management platform developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The service was launched on December 31, 1996, followed a few days later with the release of Blizzard's action-role-playing video game Diablo on January 3, 1997. Battle.net was officially renamed to "Blizzard Battle.net" in August 2017, with the change being reverted in January 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illidan Stormrage</span> Fictional character

Illidan Stormrage is a fictional character who appears in the Warcraft series of video games by Blizzard Entertainment.

<i>World of Warcraft: Cataclysm</i> 2010 expansion set for World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the third expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Wrath of the Lich King. It was officially announced at BlizzCon on August 21, 2009, although dataminers and researchers discovered details before it was announced by Blizzard. The expansion was released on December 7, 2010.

<i>World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria</i> 2012 expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the fourth expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Cataclysm. It was announced on October 21, 2011, by Chris Metzen at BlizzCon 2011, and was released on September 25, 2012.

<i>World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor</i> 2014 expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor is the fifth expansion set to the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Mists of Pandaria. It was announced on November 8, 2013 at BlizzCon 2013. The expansion was released on November 13, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvanas Windrunner</span> Character in Warcraft series of video games

Sylvanas Windrunner is a fictional character who appears in the Warcraft series of video games by Blizzard Entertainment. Originally introduced in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, she received a dramatic redesign in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, followed by a minor redesign in World of Warcraft: Legion. Once a high elf ranger-general of Silvermoon, Sylvanas was murdered by Arthas Menethil when she led a doomed resistance against his invasion. In one climactic battle, that left the capital city of Silvermoon in ruins, he managed to finally beat the elven general, ripping her soul out and transforming her into a banshee. This newest agent of the Lich King was empowered by hatred of the living and an everlasting desire to rule over her new people. In The Frozen Throne, Sylvanas was able to regain her free will and body, and founded the Forsaken faction of undead while styling herself as the "Banshee Queen" and "Dark Lady". With her new undead forces vowing to take revenge on the Lich King, they set out to wage war against the Scourge. Throughout nearly the entirety of Legion and the first one-third of Battle for Azeroth, she was also the Warchief of the Horde, standing as one of the most powerful political leaders in all of Azeroth following the death of Vol'jin during the opening events of Legion. She effectively abandoned the role in patch 9.1, Chains of Domination, resulting in the title of Warchief being retired and replaced by the Horde Council while leadership of the Forsaken is inherited by Desolate Council.

<i>World of Warcraft: Legion</i> 2016 expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Legion is the sixth expansion set in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Warlords of Draenor. It was announced on August 6, 2015 at Gamescom 2015. The expansion was released on August 30, 2016.

Nostalrius was a private World of Warcraft server, which opened on February 28, 2015. The server ran Patch 1.12, catering to aficionados of the early version of the game, nicknamed "Vanilla". Stating breach of copyright, Blizzard Entertainment issued the administrators of the server a cease and desist letter, and so the Nostalrius server was shut down on April 10, 2016, leading to outcry on Facebook and Twitter and large-scale coverage in mainstream computing journalism.

<i>World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth</i> 2018 expansion set for the game World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is the seventh expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Legion. It was announced at BlizzCon on November 3, 2017. In contrast to previous expansions, which went live at midnight in each time zone, Battle for Azeroth had a simultaneous release for all regions, corresponding to midnight Central European Summer Time on August 14, 2018.

<i>World of Warcraft: Shadowlands</i> 2020 expansion set for the MMORPG

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is the eighth expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Battle for Azeroth. It was announced and made available for preorder at BlizzCon on November 1, 2019. Originally scheduled for release on October 27, 2020, its release was delayed until November 23, the sixteenth anniversary of the original game's release.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mark Your Calendars: WoW Classic Launch and Testing Schedule". Archived from the original on May 19, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
    Mark your calendars: WoW Classic goes live worldwide August 27!
  2. ↑ "World of Warcraft goes back to basics". August 26, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  3. 1 2 "World of Warcraft Classic: Release date, news, and everything we know so far". PC Gamer. May 30, 2019. Archived from the original on May 20, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Staggered Classic Content Update: Six Phases, Up from Four, to Address Itemization and Power Gains". Wowhead. March 11, 2019. Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  5. ↑ Vaneras. "TBC, WOTLK, Original Realms". MMO Champion. Archived from the original on May 9, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Exclusive GamesCom Tom Chilton Interview - Archaeology Details and More!".
  7. ↑ "Nearly One Million Gaming Accounts Lost In Legacy Servers" (PDF). Nostalrius Begins. April 10, 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Nostalrius petition passes 200k signatures, Mark Kern to deliver it". PC Gamer. April 22, 2016. Archived from the original on December 12, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Official Reply to Vanilla Servers and Nostalrius - MMO-Champion". MMO-Champion.
  10. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (April 26, 2016). "Blizzard breaks silence on Nostalrius WoW server, says classic servers under discussion". Polygon. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Blizzard finally relents to years of fan pressure with World of Warcraft Classic". Ars Technica. November 3, 2017. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019.
  12. ↑ "This is how Blizzard plans to finally bring back Vanilla WoW servers". PC Gamer. November 3, 2017. Archived from the original on November 17, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Dev Watercooler: World of Warcraft Classic". World of Warcraft Official Website. June 15, 2018. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019.
  14. ↑ "BlizzCon 2018 Restoring History: Creating WoW Classic Panel". Wowhead. November 3, 2018. Archived from the original on November 24, 2018.
  15. ↑ perculia. "Classic Burning Crusade Character Creation Survey Sent by Blizzard". Wowhead. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  16. ↑ Marshall, Cass (February 19, 2021). "World of Warcraft returns to 2007 with Burning Crusade Classic". Polygon. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  17. ↑ Ridgely, Brandon (May 28, 2021). "What We Know About WoW Classic The Burning Crusade". RealSport101. It's finally official, WoW Classic TBC will launch on June 1.
  18. ↑ "World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic" . Retrieved May 31, 2021. June 1, 2021 Return to Outland
  19. ↑ Valentine, Rebekah (April 19, 2022). "World of Warcraft: Classic Gets Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Later This Year". IGN . Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Wrath of the Lich King Classic - Date Announce Trailer". YouTube . July 25, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  21. ↑ "Developer Update: A Look at What's Ahead for Wrath of the Lich King Classic". worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  22. ↑ Bailey, Dustin (June 23, 2022). "WoW Classic is dropping its "no changes" philosophy for Wrath of the Lich King". gamesradar. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
  23. ↑ Anshlun. "Spell Batching in Classic WoW". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  24. ↑ Gilliam, Ryan (June 15, 2018). "World of Warcraft Classic will be based on patch 1.12". Polygon. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  25. ↑ "WoW Classic Players Are Divided Over The Lack Of Dungeon Finder In Wrath Classic". GameSpot. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  26. ↑ Squishei. "Blizzard Announces Joyous Journeys in TBC Classic WoW – Upcoming 50% EXP Buff Before Wrath Classic". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  27. ↑ Rokman. "Joyous Journeys Experience Buff Returning to WotLK Classic". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  28. ↑ Rokman. "Joyous Journeys Experience Buff Returning May 23 - WotLK Classic". Wowhead. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  29. ↑ "Changes to Death Knight Character Creation Restrictions Coming - Week of March 20th". World of Warcraft Forums. March 14, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  30. ↑ Rokman. "Naxxramas will Receive Buffs for Wrath of the Lich King Classic". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  31. ↑ Rokman. "How Loot Changes in Phase 2 WotLK Classic". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  32. ↑ Rokman. "Wowhead Wrath of the Lich King Classic Interview with Kris Zierhut". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  33. 1 2 "[Classic] Discussion following Live Chat with Devs". World of Warcraft Forums. September 2, 2022. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  34. ↑ Rokman. "Retribution Paladin Buffs Coming Soon for WotLK Classic". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  35. ↑ Rokman. "WotLK Classic PTR - Testing Changes to Death Knight Summon Gargoyle". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  36. ↑ Rokman. "Feral Druid Adjustments to Omen of Clarity - WotLK Classic". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  37. ↑ "Wrath of the Lich King Beta FAQ". Engadget. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  38. ↑ "Character Re-customization Available in WoW". Tech2. December 12, 2008. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  39. ↑ Rokman. "Wrath Classic Beta Update - Barbershop, Spells Renamed, Bug Fixes". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  40. ↑ "World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Faction Change Service Now Available". September 10, 2009. Archived from the original on September 10, 2009. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  41. ↑ Rokman. "Faction Change In Shop - WotLK Classic". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  42. ↑ fewyn. "Paid Race Change Now Available". Wowhead. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  43. ↑ "Get the Wrath Classic WoW Token". news.blizzard.com. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  44. ↑ May 25, Rebekah Valentine (May 24, 2023). "World of Warcraft Introduces WoW Token Into Wrath Classic, Sends Community Into Chaos". IGN. Retrieved May 30, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  45. ↑ "WoW Tokens launch tomorrow in Europe". Eurogamer.net. April 20, 2015. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  46. ↑ "World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic Phase | GameWatcher". www.gamewatcher.com. June 16, 2023. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  47. ↑ "Heed the Call of the Crusade Update— Raid Dungeons Now Live! - WoW". World of Warcraft. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  48. ↑ Tomakic, Izabela; Kelly, Michael (June 22, 2023). "WoW Wrath of the Lich King Classic phase 3 patch notes". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  49. ↑ "World of Warcraft Patch 3.2 Raiding Guide". Engadget. July 15, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  50. ↑ "Normal And Heroic Lockouts Will Be Shared in WotLK Classic". Warcraft Tavern. October 13, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  51. ↑ "Wrath of the Lich King Classic: Fall of the Lich King is Now Live! - News - US - Blue Tracker - World of Warcraft". Wowhead. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  52. ↑ "Wrath of the Lich King Classic Patch Notes - Version 3.4.3". World of Warcraft Forums. October 9, 2023. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  53. ↑ Veins 2020, Icy. "Phase 5 Wrath of the Lich King Classic Summary". Icy Veins. Retrieved February 23, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  54. ↑ "WoW Classic: Cataclysm Classic Announced at BlizzCon". news.blizzard.com. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  55. ↑ "WoW Cataclysm Classic Is Coming Next Year, But With Some Changes". GameSpot. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  56. ↑ Daro, Catherine (May 1, 2024). "WoW: Cataclysm Classic Pre-Patch Now Live". GameSpace.com. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
  57. ↑ Marasigan, Marc (May 21, 2024). "World Of Warcraft Classic: Cataclysm Now Live With Key Changes And New Content". MMOs.com. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  58. ↑ Anshlun. "Cataclysm Classic Phase 2 Rise of the Zandalari Goes Live on July 30th - Zul'Gurub and Zul'aman Return as Dungeons". Wowhead. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  59. ↑ "Cataclysm Classic: Rise of the Zandalari Now Live! - WoW". World of Warcraft. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  60. ↑ "WoW Classic Fresh Launch Roadmap - 20th Anniversary". Wowhead. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  61. ↑ "Relive Your Adventure With the WoW Classic 20th Anniversary Edition - WoW". World of Warcraft. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  62. ↑ "WoW Classic Fresh Launch Roadmap - 20th Anniversary". Wowhead. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  63. ↑ Maria, Alex Santa (April 5, 2021). "When Can You Transfer A WoW Classic Character To An Era Realm?". ScreenRant. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  64. 1 2 3 Kelly, Michael (August 23, 2023). "Will WoW Classic ever get a Season of Mastery 2?". Dot Esports. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  65. 1 2 Koch, Cameron (November 15, 2021). "WoW Classic Season Of Mastery: Full List Of Changes". GameSpot. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  66. ↑ "Season of Mastery Comes to an End". Warcraft Tavern. November 14, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  67. ↑ Randall, Harvey (August 25, 2023). "WoW Classic's hardcore servers have launched, giving Blizzard fans a whole new way to punish themselves". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  68. ↑ "WoW Hardcore? Blizzard might be bringing a highly-requested mode to Classic". Dot Esports. March 13, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  69. ↑ Newman, Heather. "Your World Of Warcraft Classic: Hardcore Questions Answered". Forbes. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  70. ↑ Kelly, Michael (November 3, 2023). "What is solo self-found mode in WoW Classic Hardcore?". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  71. ↑ Kelly, Michael (November 3, 2023). "What is solo self-found mode in WoW Classic Hardcore?". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  72. ↑ "World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery Announced at BlizzCon". news.blizzard.com. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  73. ↑ Tyler Colp (November 3, 2023). "WoW Classic's Season of Discovery will break rules that have existed for 19 years". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  74. ↑ "Go Inside Season of Discovery Phase 2". news.blizzard.com. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  75. ↑ Heather Newman (February 8, 2024). "Everything you can do in WoW Season of Discovery Phase 2". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  76. ↑ "Season of Discovery Phase 3 Now Live! - WoW". World of Warcraft. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  77. ↑ Harvey Randall (April 5, 2024). "WoW Classic Season of Discovery phase 3 is live—with a raised cap of level 50, 54 new runes, a fresh 20-player raid, and an unruly Emerald Dream". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  78. ↑ "World of Warcraft Classic for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  79. ↑ "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  80. ↑ Messner, Steven (August 30, 2019). "World of Warcraft Classic review". PC Gamer .
  81. ↑ Newman, Heather (September 5, 2019). "World of Warcraft Classic review: The players grew up". Polygon.
  82. ↑ Allan, Darren (September 6, 2019). "WoW Classic cheat is spoiling the game for some players – so Blizzard is taking action". TechRadar.
  83. ↑ Mamiit, Aaron (September 7, 2019). "Blizzard to Fix World of Warcraft Classic Layer Switching Exploit". Digital Trends .
  84. ↑ Connolly, Denny (September 11, 2019). "World of Warcraft Classic: What Is Layer Hopping?". Game Rant.
  85. ↑ Anshlun (October 3, 2019). "Classic Realms Layer Update - First Realms with a Single Layer". Wowhead. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  86. ↑ GamesRadar staff (November 15, 2019). "Here's every winner from this year's Golden Joystick Awards, including the Ultimate Game of the Year". GamesRadar+ . Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  87. ↑ "2019 Nominees". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. January 13, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.