Blizzard’s World of Warcraft first hit the MMORPG scene in 2004. Nearly 20 years later, it is still receiving updates, so it was no exception to announcements at this year’s BlizzCon in Anaheim, California.
Perhaps the biggest piece of World of Warcraft news is the announcement of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth expansions. All three of these expansions will be tied into one arc called World of Warcraft: The Worldsoul Saga. The first of them will be released next year, titled The War Within.
Chris Metzen, WoW icon and executive creative director of the franchise, called the saga “the culmination of the first 20 years of our storytelling” that will “vector us into the next 20 years of adventure.” Needless to say, fans hearing this from someone so influential within the community has only heightened their excitement, especially with the first expansion having a cinematic announcement trailer with some incredibly impressive CGI.
The War Within will have players explore Azeroth where Nerubians and Allied Dwarfs live. The expansion will add new locations such as Azj-kahet, Isle of Dorn, The Ringing Deeps, and Hallowfall, two new activities: the treasure hunting game Delves and War Bands, which is community based, and of course, new dungeons and raids. The expansion will also feature the return of the beloved knife friend Xal’atath.
Although less is known about the other two expansion packs in the saga, fans were informed of their names and general concept. The eleventh will be titled World of Warcraft: Midnight where players will fight the Void forces in Quel’thalas as they try to plunge the world into darkness. The twelfth is called The Last Titan. Taking place in Northrend, Titans return to Azeroth, and players must discover the “vast conspiracy” about the Titans and their intentions.
World of Warcraft: The War Within is scheduled to release in 2024.
Fans of World of Warcraft: Classic were not forgotten among the announcements. Blizzard announced that Classic players will be returning to the controversial Cataclysm expansion. The reason behind the Cataclysm controversy is that, rather than adding new zones as was done in other expansions, Cataclysm had many established zones in Azeroth completely revamped. This drastic change caused older storylines to become unplayable while new ones were added as replacements. Unsurprisingly, players did not have a positive reaction to essentially being locked out of gameplay elements and rewards in exchange for something else. Executive producer Holly Longdale reassured players that the team will be making changes to Cataclysm before it is released onto the world once more, so hopefully they will be keeping players’ initial reactions in mind.
Classic will also be receiving a new season called the Season of Discovery. This season will allow players to combine classes and roles, with Longdale giving an example of a “tank warlock” being possible. The Season of Discovery will also feature a 10-player Blackfathom Deep Raid, reworked mechanics and new challenges within Kalimdor.
The Season of Discovery launches in Classic on Thursday, November 30, 2023 while Cataclysm is scheduled to launch within the first half of 2024.