Blizzard announced at Blizzcon 2018 that it will include World of Warcraft Classic, the highly anticipated reboot of the original 2004 World of Warcraft experience, as part of a standard subscription. The news confirms that Blizzard won’t sell Classic separately or charge an extra fee for playing it.
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Better yet, fans now have a release window. Blizzard says fans can expect Classic to arrive in summer 2019. A specific date wasn’t announced.
Some players won’t have to wait to play, however. Classic will be playable on the Blizzcon show floor and will also be available to players at home who own the virtual ticket. Unfortunately, players will only be able to play 60 minutes at a time, and there will be a 90-minute “cooldown” to keep server demand to a minimum.
The announcements related to Classic were the only new information to come from Blizzcon, but the company reiterated some other World of Warcraft news. A focus was placed on patch 8.1, known as Tides of Vengeance, which should be arriving to the game soon.
A new raid, The Battle of Dazar’alor, will be a major burst of new content. It’s set to include two different raids, one for the Alliance and one for the Horde, as the two sides attempt to attack or defend the Horde-held city. This will mark the first time a raid has two different experiences for each side of the conflict. There will also be a new war front, The Battle for Darkshore, which will focus on resolving the fight there in the wake of events that happened just before the current expansion’s release.
Finally, in one last bit of news, Blizzard showed a new cinematic. It was on the short side, but (spoiler alert) showed the Horde general, Saurfang, being released from prison by King Anduin Wrynn, ruler of the Alliance. It’s clear the two will be joining forces again Sylvannas, the current leader of the Horde.
We’re sure we’ll hear more about World of Warcraft as Blizzcon 2018 continues. Several panels will focus on the game and will flesh out both the upcoming features in the Battle for Azeorth patches and also World of Warcraft Classic.
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