World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery
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- "SoD" redirects here. For the raid, see Sanctum of Domination.
 World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery | ||||
| Developer(s) |
Blizzard Entertainment Portion of Team 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Blizzard Entertainment | |||
| Platforms | Microsoft Windows, macOS | |||
| Release |
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| Latest release | 1.15.4 | |||
| Genre(s) | Season | |||
| Season chronology | ||||
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World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery (abbreviated as SOD) is the second seasonal launch of World of Warcraft: Classic, focused on giving seasoned players the opportunity to find new secrets and shake up the meta by adding additional class options such as warlock and shaman-tanks.
Release
The season launched on 30 November 2023. In order to preserve the sense of discovery, there was no PTR for Season of Discovery.[1]
Content phases:
- Phase 1 (Nov 30, 2023): Level cap at 25, Blackfathom Deeps raid, runes, Battle for Ashenvale PvP event.
- Phase 2 (Feb 8, 2024): Level cap at 40, Gnomeregan raid, new runes and abilities, Blood Moon PvP event.[2]
- Phase 3 (Apr 4, 2024): Level cap at 50, Sunken Temple raid, new runes, Nightmare Incursions PvE event.[3][4]
- Phase 4 (Jul 11, 2024): Level cap at 60, new runes, instanced world bosses, Blackrock Eruptions, and Molten Core as a 20-player raid.[5]
- Phase 5 (September 26, 2024): Blackwing Lair and Zul'Gurub,[6] end game content updates.[7]
- Phase 6 (November 21, 2024): Ahn'Qiraj, and the Nightmare Dragons as instanced raid bosses.[8]
Dungeons
Changes
- Season of Discovery launched with an initial level cap of 25. Blackfathom Deeps was re-imagined as a 10-player raid at this level.
- This included completely brand new items, such as
[Fathomblade] and 
[Shoulderguards of Crushing Depths]. 
[Blessing of Blackfathom] is not present, and instead 
[Boon of Blackfathom] is available.- Each new phase will increase the level cap (up to phase 4) and introduce new content.
- This included completely brand new items, such as
- New secret locations and loot.
- Rune system
- Azeroth Commerce Authority & Durotar Supply and Logistics reputations added.
- Many crafted or dropped items have had their stats changed.
- Layering is used.[9]
- Possible introduction of previously unreleased zones such as the Emerald Dream or Azshara Crater.
- Molten Core will be a 20-man raid.[3]
- General itemization and difficulty changes for level 60 raids.[3]
- New world buffs are available with the level raids.
[Might of Stormwind] was added in phase 4, as the Alliance equivalent for 
[Warchief's Blessing]. - Giving druids the ability to train and use polearms
- Reducing the wait time to apply the
[Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer] and [Warchief's Blessing] from six hours to one minute.
Narrative changes
After its announcement there was speculation whether or not Season of Discovery existed as a retcon or alternate timeline to the original World of Warcraft: Classic. At a Community Council Q&A there was confirmation that it would be neither: SoD exists with a "found photograph" narrative, that further contextualizes the characters and places from Classic without altering or reframing things in any dramatic fashion.[10]
Several new series of quests were added:
- A paladin storyline involving Aeonas, a former Knight of the Silver Hand hunted by the Scarlet Crusade for saying that not all Light was good, Ada Gelhardt, a young paladin wanting to defect for the Cult of the Damned, and the free-willed death knight Gregory Edmunson. The storyline involves the Echoing Orbs, returning to Andorhal during the time of its burning, and stopping the ascension of a new Burning Legion general on Azeroth.
- A priest storyline about mysterious shards of Light repelling the undead. The Scarlet Crusade attempted to use them for their "LW project", until the priests of Azeroth engaged in diplomacy and worked together to reclaim them. This led to a miracle, where the shards were fused into a being of Light at Karazhan, and better understanding between the various faiths. This possibly heralded the creation of the Conclave.
- A rogue storyline involving Caius Blackwood, seemingly a Syndicate-affiliated mage, but actually a Shadow Council warlock. Caius contracted various mundane criminals to gather unholy artifacts such as the Eye of Bhossca, which attracted the attention of Ravenholdt Manor.
- A warlock storyline about investigating several Dark Ritual Stones and slaying the dreadlord Des'Altek in order to create the powerful Scythe of Chaos.
Among the other new NPCs of interest are:
- Alonso, a gnomish knight on a dragon-slaying quest.
- Criminals living in the seediest parts of Orgrimmar, Ironforge or Stormwind City.
- A Dalaran Agent leading you to hunt and fight the Dark Riders of Karazhan.
- Ardelle Dralta, an Argent Dawn operative investigating a Shard of Pure Light. Believing the shard to be a tear from An'she, the tauren sent Brave Stonetorch to find it. A Shadowy Figure appeared after the destruction of a mysterious box.
- Illari Duskfeather, a night elf hostile to her people joining the Alliance.
- Gurgthock, before his original The Burning Crusade appearance.
- Magister Falath, an emissary from Quel'Danil Lodge asking for paladin help.
- Mitchells mentioned early before his original Wrath of the Lich King appearance.
- Boarton Shadetotem, attempting (and failing) to train rogues before his original Dragonflight appearance.
- Kajind, an orcish blademaster giving several warrior quests.
- Procrastimond, a bronze dragonspawn living in Elsewhen.
- A Ragged and Rugged Travelers together in Blackrock Depths, saying something about a third faction.
- The Shadowtooth Emissary, a representative of the elusive dark trolls.
- More presence of the Undermarket.
- The Vodyanoi, a giant frog spirit in the Wetlands.
- An unnamed Wandering Swordsman, exploring the world to find a match to his skills.
- A number of unnamed Wild Gods and loa, including a Bat Loa, a Serpent Loa, and several Delirious Ancients of various species.
The new world events are the following:
- The Battle for Ashenvale, a PvP event in Ashenvale re-introducing many random Warcraft III heroes.
- Blood Moon, a world PvP event in Stranglethorn Vale. Kha'damu, a chosen of Hakkar the Soulflayer, appears during the event.
- Nightmare Incursions, PvE events during which the forces of the Emerald Nightmare periodically invade Azeroth. Four zones see new Nightmare dragons as well as corrupted versions of existing mobs appear. The Emerald Wardens are a new faction working against the invaders.
- Blackrock Eruption, PvP-PvE event during which the Blackrock Mountain volcano erupts, leading to new Flamebringer members of the Twilight's Hammer temporarily taking control over their local brethren. This also reveals that Twilight Lord Kelris survived his encounter at Blackfathom Deeps, taking up the moniker of Flamebringer Kelris and sending shadowy stalkers to attack the Thorium Brotherhood in their sleep.[11]
- Demon Fall Canyon is an entirely new dungeon dealing with the heritage of Grommash Hellscream drinking the Blood of Mannoroth again during the Third War.
New lore about old characters is also sometimes added:
- Gelihast in Blackfathom Deeps is being touched by the Void.
- Due to his new loot, Lorgus Jett is implied to be a former paladin.
- Thane Korth'azz is revealed to have once been a dwarf thane called Orthas who became a Slack-Jawed Ghoul, got his spirit freed, possessed a dwarven corpse and then returned to the Four Horsemen.
There are also other sources of world lore, such as the 
[Apocryphal Epiphany] questline which adds lore to the Scarlet Monastery and Kyross, or 
[Spell Notes: Hot Streak] that tells that a fire elemental was once bound to the forge of Strahnbrad.
Trivia
- Guzu's corpse can be found in the Pit of Refuse of the Temple of Atal'Hakkar (Sunken Temple).
References
- ^ World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery Announced at BlizzCon. Blizzard Entertainment (2023-11-03).
- ^ Season of Discovery Phase 2 is Now Live!
- ^ a b c Season of Discovery Developer Update - Feb 27, 2024
- ^ Season of Discovery Phase 3 Goes Live April 4!
- ^ In Development: Season of Discovery Phase 4. Blizzard Entertainment (2024-06-12).
- ^ Season of Discovery BWL/ZG PTR Coming Soon
- ^ World of Warcraft in 2024 —The Road Ahead. Blizzard Entertainment (2023-12-19).
- ^ Rally Your Forces for Season of Discovery Phase 6 on November 21
- ^ Forum:BlizzCon 2023 Q&A § Warcraft Classic Q&A
- ^ WoW Community Council Live Chat - December 8
- ^
[58 Daily] Sleepless Nights
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