Event

For API events that can be handled by the UI or addons, see Events.

The Darkmoon Faire, one of the longest running events.

Events (also known as world events or seasonal events when appropriate) are happenings on Azeroth and beyond, only available in the game at certain times and not others, ranging from several times a day, to annually, to one-time historical happenings never to be seen again.

The contents of an event can vary from small yet ferocious free-for-all skirmishes for loot, to worldwide friendly celebrations, to ongoing military campaigns.

Types of environmental changes accompanying events include:

• Caravans, tents, or wagons being added to an area
• Decorations on buildings
• New fixed devices
• New mobs, quest givers, vendors, or other NPCs
• Special drink and food
• Holiday-specific quests and quest rewards
• Holiday-themed recipes

Ongoing events

The Gurubashi Arena Booty Run helped to consolidate the popularity of PvP within Stranglethorn.

Faction Assaults will only be available for a set period of time before they are gone, at least until the next one.

Over the course of Azeroth's troubled history, the times of celebration have fallen under the shadow of the conflicts that have shaped and scarred the world. Every day, as new challenges surface, new champions answer the call to arms, relishing the glory and the rewards of battles well fought. Below are details of some of the current disturbances warranting investigation - and participation - by the world's most adventurous heroes.

• PvP Brawls — Changing every week, a PvP brawl changes how to experience battleground or arena gameplay or re-introduces older content for current expansion play, such as Ashran brought back from during Warlords of Draenor as Classic Ashran.
• Bonus Events — Changing every week, a bonus event can provide quests for doing world quests, battlegrounds, dungeons, and other content.
  • Timewalking is available when its relevant bonus event is up.
• Argent Tournament — located at the Argent Tournament grounds in northern Icecrown.
• Gurubashi Arena Booty Run — Every 3 hours, at the arena in Stranglethorn Vale.
• Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza — Sundays from 2-4pm, in Stranglethorn Vale.
• Darkmoon Faire — First week of each month, in Mulgore and Elwynn Forest, and primarily on Darkmoon Island.
  • Darkmoon Deathmatch — Every 3 hours at the southern pavilion of the Darkmoon Faire, during Faire week.
• Wanderer's Festival — Sundays from 9-11 pm in Krasarang Wilds
• Legion Assaults — Introduced in patch 7.2.0, are recurring zone-wide invasions where players defend the four leveling Broken Isles zones (excluding Suramar) against the Burning Legion.
• Faction Assaults — Introduced in patch 8.1.0, these consist of invasions by the Horde or the Alliance forces in Kul Tiras and Zandalar, respectively.
• N'Zoth Assaults — Introduced in patch 8.3.0, are recurring events in Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms where players complete zone-wide objectives.
• Covenant Assaults — The various Covenants of the Shadowlands storm The Maw to push back The Jailer's influence.

This section concerns content related to Dragonflight.

These events take place on the Dragon Isles or the Emerald Dream.

• Primal Storms — Elemental forces invade across the Dragon Isles every few hours, challenging players to defeat empowered enemies and earn currency for rewards.
• Siege on Dragonbane Keep — Taking place in the Waking Shores, players join the Obsidian Outcasts to reclaim Dragonbane Keep from the Djaradin.
• Community Feast — Taking place at Iskaara in the Azure Span, players help the tuskarr prepare a massive meal by completing cooking tasks.
• Storm's Fury — Taking place in the Primalist Future, disable elemental portals and defeat a final boss while managing a freezing debuff to earn gear, pets, and a mount.
• Time Rifts — Every hour, Soridormi tasks adventurers to clean up the Tyrhold Reservoir of incursions from alternate timelines.
• Fyrakk Assaults — Repel Fyrakk's attempt to take hold of the Dragon Isles.
• Dreamsurge — Harness the naturally occurring powers of the Emerald Dream due to Amirdrassil.
• Superbloom — Help Sprucecrown and Clarelle encourage growth in Amirdrassil.
• The Big Dig: Traitor's Rest — Taking place in the Azure Span, players excavate dirt piles and battle a final boss for rewards.

This section concerns content related to The War Within.

These events take place on Khaz Algar, in Undermine, or on K'aresh.

• Awakening the Machine — Defend Speaker Kuldas in Gundargaz from waves of malfunctioning constructs to earn loot and reputation.
• Spreading the Light — Light Lesser Keyflames in Hallowfall using  [Radiant Remnants] to aid the lamplighters and push back the dark.
• Theater Troupe — Join the troupe on the Isle of Dorn to complete tasks and perform a play for audience approval and rewards.
• Worldsoul Memory — Use Radiant Echoes to enter Azeroth's memories and defeat manifested threats for upgrade currency.
• Surge Pricing — Hop into the D.R.I.V.E. vehicle in Undermine to complete fast-paced jobs during peak demand for tip chests and cartel reputation.
• Nightfall — Join Flame's Radiance in Hallowfall to repel Nerubian forces, complete objectives, and battle a final boss for catch-up gear.
• Horrific Visions Revisited — Return to corrupted Stormwind City and Orgrimmar to face N'Zoth's horrors, earn powerful rune enchants, catch-up gear, and unlock cosmetic rewards.
• Ecological Succession — Help Ve'nari restore life to The Oasis in K'aresh by collecting species, running experiments, and earn pets, mounts, and catch-up gear.

The subject of this section is unique to the World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery.

These events are unique to Season of Discovery.

• Battle for Ashenvale (PvP) — Faction-based PvP in Ashenvale where players defeat enemy lieutenants and generals to earn reputation and gear.
• Blood Moon (PvP) — Every three hours, Stranglethorn Vale becomes a free-for-all PvP zone with cross-faction combat and currency rewards for kills.
• Blackrock Eruption — In the Searing Gorge and Blackrock Mountain, players complete daily quests and battle elite enemies during eruptions to earn Firelands Embers and reputation.
• Nightmare Incursions — Players complete group-friendly quests for Emerald Wardens reputation and gear at Emerald Dream portals across Azeroth.

Seasonal events

The Feast of Winter Veil was the first seasonal event in World of Warcraft.

Main article: Holiday

Seasonal events (aka Holidays and micro-holidays) are recurring in-game events that introduce themed activities, limited-time rewards, and playful diversions. Major holidays often include quests, collectibles, and festive city transformations, while micro-holidays focus on short, lore-driven experiences without lasting progression.

Unique events

A Greedy Emissary

These events don't necessarily fit anywhere else, can vary from running once to multiple times, and have an infrequent schedule on their start times.

Reoccurring

These events have returned at some point and may return again, but there are no guarantees.

• Turbo Boost — An event that provides the dinar currency system for the remainder of a season.
• Turbulent Timeways — An event that runs for several weeks, switching each week to a new Timewalking event.
• WoW Remix — A PvE-focused game mode that lets players replay a full expansion with accelerated leveling, progression, and rewards.
• Plunderstorm — A PvP-focused pirate-themed game mode that throws 60 players into a Battle Royale-style event, taking place in a modified Arathi Highlands. It debuted in 2024 with patch 10.2.6 and returned for a second run at the start of 2025 with patch 11.0.7.
• A Greedy Emissary — An event that celebrates the Diablo franchise. It debuted with the launch of Diablo IV in 2023 and introduced new Diablo-themed items and brought back old items from Diablo's 20th Anniversary event.
• Skyriding Cups — A series of events that involve skyriding races throughout a specific continent.
• Brawler's Guild — A solo PvE event where players face off against increasingly difficult bosses in a gladiatorial arena. It returned in patch 11.2.7 with new Broker Gambit modifiers, achievements, and exclusive mount rewards.
• Welcome Back Weekend — A promotional event that grants inactive accounts temporary access to the full game without game time, providing access to content up to the previous expansion (excluding access to The War Within).

Event buffs

These events provide a buff that usually increases the gain of something (e.g. experience, reputation).

•  [Collector's Bounty] — An event focused on increased drop rates for past transmogs and mounts.
• [Winds of Mysterious Fortune] — An event that provides increased experience and reputation gains in addition to loot.
•  [Joyous Journeys] (Classic only) — An event that increases experience gains in Classic, usually available shortly before the next content drop.
•  [Discoverer's Delight] (Season of Discovery only) — An event that increases experience gains and gold earned from quests in Season of Discovery. The buff runs indefinitely but only applies to characters until they reach a certain level.

One-time

The opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj was one of the first unique events in World of Warcraft.

• Dastardly Duos — A six-week event set in the Demolition Dome, where players battle chaotic boss pairs for points and prizes. It features weekly quests, escalating challenges, and exclusive rewards like achievements, toys, pets, and the  [Tyrannotort's Treat] mount.
• World of Warcraft 20th Anniversary — This anniversary introduced a revamped Blackrock Depths raid, Classic Timewalking dungeons, and the Codex of Chromie scenario. Players also earned the exclusive [Bronze Celebration Token] currency to unlock HD versions of the Tier 2 transmog sets, pets, toys, titles, goodies in the style of the Service Awards, and the iconic  [Coldflame Tempest] mount, most of which are exclusive to only this event.
• Hearthstone's 10th Anniversary — Celebrates the 10th anniversary of Hearthstone.
• Secrets of Azeroth — Discover secrets across Azeroth and other planets. This event provides transmogs, mounts, and pets and mostly everything is still available even after the event has ended. Only the  [Arcane Influence] was unique to the event and can no longer be obtained.
• Welcome to Sanctuary — Followed after A Greedy Emissary event, it provided an event-long buff that increased reputation and experience.
• World of Warcraft 15th Anniversary — This anniversary was unique by introducing a special version of Alterac Valley (Korrak's Revenge, a tribute to its earlier versions) and a Deathwing-inspired mount ( [Obsidian Worldbreaker]), acquired by defeating previous expansions villains in  [Memories of Fel, Frost and Fire].
• Diablo's 20th Anniversary — Celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Diablo franchise.
• World of Warcraft 10th Anniversary — This anniversary featured Tarren Mill vs Southshore and Level 100 Molten Core.
• Battlefield: Barrens — Taking place in patch 5.3.0, this event transformed the Northern Barrens, introducing hundreds of new NPCs, new areas, and a number of dynamic events, along with a range of rewards for participation. Focusing on the building conflict between Garrosh Hellscream and his loyal Kor'kron and the rebelling forces of Vol'jin's Darkspear Rebellion, adventurers from both the Horde and the Alliance were able to assist the rebels in their preparations for the coming war against the warchief. Players secured supplies for the rebellion by defeating Kor'kron units and their powerful commanders, escorting their faction's supply caravans through the zone, and even stealing supplies from overturned Kor'kron caravans.
• Night Elf Mohawk — This mini event happened in patch 3.2.2: Night Elf Mohawk NPCs were added in the starting zones, offering players the  [Mohawk Grenade] (only those who believed in them).
• The Spirit of Competition — This event occurred simultaneously with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and simply rewarded players for completing battlegrounds during the event.
• Battle for Sun's Reach — Introduced in patch 2.4.0, this world event occurs once per server and requires the completion of a number of daily quests on the Isle of Quel'Danas in order to allow the Shattered Sun Offensive to take over and rebuild the town of Sun's Reach.
• Gates of Ahn'Qiraj — Introduced in patch 1.9.0, this two-part world event occurred once per server (until patch 3.2.0) resulted in the opening of Ahn'Qiraj. It was comprised of a quest chain completed by a single player to obtain the Scepter of the Shifting Sands to open the gates themselves, as well as a server-wide war effort to gather materials for the Horde and Alliance to battle the insectoid menace that issued forth from the opened gates.
• Elemental Invasions — Introduced in patch 1.4.0, this event was marked by random elemental invasions in Silithus, Winterspring, Un'goro Crater and Azshara. This was a recurrent event that happened approximately every 3 days, and it was only removed in patch 4.0.1.

Pre-patch events

The War of the Thorns in Battle for Azeroth was the first of the unique events to feature world quests.

A number of one-time-only World Events have occurred throughout the game's history. Most of these events have either directly resulted in changes to the game world or preceded the launch of a new expansion. They are distinguished from removed content by the fact that they were planned to last only a short time after release (at most one major patch) rather than being removed due to either considerations for new content or gameplay concerns, updates, and other fixes. Note that simply being introduced and removed quickly (e.g. a quest added in patch 3.3.5 and removed for The Shattering) does not qualify something as a One-Time Event or part of one - it must be related to a unique period or occasion.

• Radiant Echoes — Taking place with patch 11.0.0, this world event preceded the release of The War Within. The event had remembrance events in Searing Gorge, Dustwallow Marsh, and Dragonflight and fought previous bosses from the past, including Remembered Onyxia, Remembered Ragnaros, and Remembered Lich King.
• Tempest Unleashed — Taking place with patch 10.0.0, this world event preceded the release of Dragonflight. The event had invasions in Tirisfal Glades, Badlands, Northern Barrens, and Un'Goro Crater.
• Death Rising — Taking place with patch 9.0.1, this world event preceded the release of Shadowlands. The event, similar to the Scourge Invasion event, had rares in Icecrown, a world boss in Eastern Plaguelands, and the Zombie Infestation started once again.
• War of the Thorns - This was the Battle for Azeroth pre-expansion event. After the discovery of Azerite in Kalimdor, Sylvanas decides to assault the night elf territory, and eventually manages to burn down Teldrassil.
• Legion Invasions — Taking place with patch 7.0.3, this world event preceded the release of Legion. The event featured the invasion of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms by forces of the Burning Legion. It was also the first pre-launch event in which characters as low as level 10 could participate in defending affected zones, thanks to new tech allowing mob level to scale to the player's.
• Iron Horde Incursion — Taking place with patch 6.0.2, this unique world event preceded the release of Warlords of Draenor. The event featured orcs coming through the Dark Portal, ravaging the Blasted Lands and taking over Blackrock Mountain. An extensive quest line saw players battling the Iron Horde invaders in a phased, level-90 only version of the Blasted Lands.
• Elemental Unrest — Beginning on 11 November 2010, this event is the precursor to the devastating events of the Cataclysm expansion.

Zalazane's Fall in Wrath of the Lich King is an example of a unique pre-expansion event.

• Operation: Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall — Beginning on 7 September 2010, these world events were the first precursors to the Cataclysm expansion and allowed Alliance and Horde players to assist in the retaking of Gnomeregan's surface and the Echo Isles respectively.
• Zombie Infestation — Introduced in patch 3.0.2, this world event was a precursor to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and featured plagued crates that would transform players into zombies with the ability to pass the zombie plague onto others. It was followed by a reprise of the Scourge Invasion world event from patch 1.11.0.
• The Dark Portal Opens — Introduced in patch 2.0.3, this world event was a precursor to the The Burning Crusade expansion and featured the forces of the Horde, Alliance, and Argent Dawn fighting back against the demonic legions entering Azeroth through the Dark Portal.
• The Scourge Invasion — Originally introduced in patch 1.11.0, this world event involved an invasion of Scourge forces across the world to coincide with the release of the Naxxramas raid instance. During the invasion, several regions of Azeroth came under attack by Scourge forces. Members of the Argent Dawn organized a worldwide counter to the Scourge invasion, keeping an eye out for any necropolis sightings and passing on their information to all adventurers willing to aid them in their struggle.
• End of beta event — Took place at the end of the World of Warcraft beta.

External links

World of Warcraft Community Site In-Game Events page of the Official site.

World of Warcraft Europe In-Game Events page of the Official European site.