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World of Warcraft Classic is Blizzard's official re-release of the original game as it stood at patch 1.12, the last patch before The Burning Crusade. Announced at BlizzCon 2017 after years of player requests and the shutdown of a popular unofficial server, it launched on August 26, 2019, and released the original game's content over six phases. Its success led to Classic versions of later expansions, to seasonal servers such as Classic Hardcore and Season of Discovery, and eventually to World of Warcraft: Forever.
Background
For years Blizzard resisted calls for "vanilla" servers running the original game. At BlizzCon 2013, when a fan asked about classic realms, J. Allen Brack answered, "You think you do, but you don't." The line became well known among players who wanted the old game back.
Many of those players turned to unofficial private servers. The largest, Nostalrius, opened in February 2015 and tried to recreate the game as closely as possible. When Blizzard sent a cease-and-desist letter, Nostalrius shut down on April 10, 2016. It had about 800,000 registered accounts and around 150,000 active players.
A petition asking Blizzard for official classic servers passed 200,000 signatures within weeks. Former Blizzard developer Mark Kern delivered it to Blizzard president Mike Morhaime. Blizzard said it had discussed legacy servers internally for years but faced technical problems.
Announcement and development
Blizzard announced World of Warcraft Classic at BlizzCon on November 3, 2017. J. Allen Brack, the same developer who had turned down the idea in 2013, made the announcement as World of Warcraft's executive producer. Blizzard described the game as a faithful recreation of the original running on modern server infrastructure.
In June 2018 a developer blog post explained how the team was rebuilding the patch 1.12 game on modern technology, and at BlizzCon 2018 the team held a panel on the process.
Launch
Classic launched on August 26, 2019 in the Americas (August 27 in Europe). Demand was high enough that many realms had long login queues, and Blizzard opened additional realms in every region in the first days.
To handle crowds in the starting zones, Blizzard used layering, a temporary system that split a busy realm into several copies of the world. Players criticized it for splitting communities and for exploits that let players hop between copies to farm resources. Most realms were down to a single layer by October 2019.
Content phases
The original game's content was released in six phases, roughly following the order it first came out in 2004 to 2006:
| Phase | Date | Main content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 26, 2019 | Molten Core, Onyxia's Lair, Maraudon |
| 2 | November 12, 2019 | Dire Maul, world bosses Azuregos and Lord Kazzak, the Honor System and PvP rank rewards |
| 3 | February 12, 2020 | Blackwing Lair, Darkmoon Faire, Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley |
| 4 | April 2020 | Zul'Gurub, the green dragon world bosses, Arathi Basin |
| 5 | July 7, 2020 | The Ahn'Qiraj war effort, Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj and Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, dungeon loot updates |
| 6 | December 1, 2020 | Naxxramas, the Scourge Invasion, world PvP objectives |
The Ahn'Qiraj raids opened on each realm only when that realm finished its war effort, recreating the Opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. When Zul'Gurub returned, pets were made immune to Hakkar's debuff so that the Corrupted Blood Incident could not happen again.
Reception
Classic holds a Metacritic score of 81. PC Gamer scored it 80 and described it as a window to a time when meeting people online still felt new. It won PC Game of the Year at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards.
Later history
Classic grew into a family of games:
- Classic Era. When Classic moved on to The Burning Crusade, Blizzard kept a set of realms on the original game permanently.
- Expansion Classics. The Burning Crusade Classic launched June 1, 2021, followed by Wrath of the Lich King Classic (September 2022), Cataclysm Classic (May 2024) and Mists of Pandaria Classic (July 2025).
- Seasonal realms. Season of Mastery (November 2021 to February 2023) restarted Classic with harder boss mechanics and an optional "ironman" challenge. Classic Hardcore (August 2023) added permanent death, and Season of Discovery (November 2023) added new abilities and content.
- Fresh realms. The 20th Anniversary Edition launched November 21, 2024 with new realms that went through the phases again, and moved on to The Burning Crusade on February 5, 2026.
In September 2026 Blizzard announced World of Warcraft: Forever, a separate game that starts from the same 2004 setting but adds new zones, dungeons and stories. Classic and Season of Discovery are among the influences Blizzard has named for it.
Sources
- World of Warcraft Classic, Wikipedia
- World of Warcraft: Classic, Warcraft Wiki (phases, layering, launch)
- Blizzard bows to fans and announces World of Warcraft Classic, TechRadar, November 2017
- Nostalrius petition passes 200k signatures, Mark Kern to deliver it, PC Gamer, April 2016
- WoW Classic launch plagued by login queues, Game Informer, August 27, 2019
- Blizzard is frantically opening new WoW Classic servers to keep up with demand, GamesRadar+
- WoW Classic: World Bosses and PvP Honor System Available, Blizzard Entertainment
- Zul'Gurub is live in WoW Classic, but Corrupted Blood doesn't plague Azeroth, Blizzard Watch, April 14, 2020
- World of Warcraft: Forever, Wikipedia
Categories: Game History