World of Warcraft: Classic
- For the term and the experience as a whole, see Classic.
 World of Warcraft: Classic | ||||
| Developer(s) |
Blizzard Entertainment Portion of Team 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Blizzard Entertainment | |||
| Platforms | Microsoft Windows, macOS | |||
| Release |
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| Latest release | 1.15.8 | |||
| Genre(s) | MMORPG | |||
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer | |||
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World of Warcraft: Classic (aka WoW Classic or just Classic) is a server option for World of Warcraft that recreates the original "vanilla" experience as it existed prior to The Burning Crusade. Announced at BlizzCon 2017 and launched on 26 August 2019, WoW Classic allows players to relive the game's early design and progression.
Following the release of Burning Crusade Classic, WoW Classic was split into two branches: Classic Era, which are the 2019 realms that remain locked to the original content, and Classic progression branch, which continues through expansions. The now-retired Activate Clone service briefly allowed players to clone their character to the progression branch thus allowing the character to choose to continue into the expansion or to not do anything and instead remain in WoW Classic Era. Choosing the expansion will then offer a $15 USD cloning service on the character to clone it so it would remain on the Classic Era realms in addition to being copied over to the Burning Crusade Classic realms, rather than moving the character over.
Branches
- Main article: Classic § Branches
WoW Classic is structured into multiple branches that define how realm sets evolve and what experiences they preserve. The original 2019 launch was split into two tracks: the 2019 set of realms were given the Classic Era name which are permanently locked to the original version, while duplicate realms continued forward as Classic progression,[2] advancing through expansions. Alongside these, Blizzard has introduced additional branches and special realm sets that experiment with seasonal rules or regional exclusives, creating a diverse ecosystem where each branch represents a distinct way to experience the game's history and introducing new content and mechanics in an older version of World of Warcraft.
Release
Classic launched globally on 27 August 2019 at midnight in Central European Summer Time,[3] following an early-access period when players could download the client and create toons (to reserve the name) but not play them.[4] High volumes were partly mitigated by larger server sizes than the original, and Blizzard introduced temporary layering technology that was similar to sharding but not cross realm.[5] Nevertheless, some servers experienced extreme login queues forcing the rapid creation of additional servers in all regions.[6]
The success of Classic caught Blizzard offguard; there was a belief in Team 2 that most players would log-in, log-off, and never return, but instead the opposite held true.[7]
In order to reproduce the original Classic experience, content was added via multiple stages mimicking selected major content patches back in the day:
- Phase 1 (Classic Launch): Molten Core, Onyxia, Maraudon
- Phase 2 (released November 12th, 2019): Dire Maul, Azuregos, Kazzak, Honor system (including dishonorable kills), PvP Rank Rewards
- Phase 3 (released February 12th, 2020): Blackwing Lair, Darkmoon Faire, Darkmoon deck drops begin, Alterac Valley, Warsong Gulch
- Phase 4 (released March 10th, 2020): Zul'Gurub, Green Dragons, Arathi Basin
- Phase 5 (released July 7, 2020): Ahn'Qiraj War Effort begins, Ahn'Qiraj raids (Ruins and Temple of Ahn'Qiraj) open when the war effort dictates, Dungeon loot reconfiguration: Tier 0.5 Dungeon gear, Relics, drop rates and location changes
- Phase 6 (released December 1, 2020): Naxxramas, Scourge Invasion, World PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands
Additionally, some content such as updated Blackrock Depths loot, Sunken Temple class quests, high-end Timbermaw Hold, Thorium Brotherhood and Argent Dawn reputation rewards came later than Phase 1. Finally, the temporary layering at launch was to be discontinued or replaced no later than the release of world bosses with Phase 2.[8]
Following the successful launch, Blizzard CEO J. Allen Brack teased his own earlier statements that Classic would be a bad idea by recalling an ice cream metaphor:
“For some of you, your favourite flavor [of ice cream] is vanilla. [...] You think that you want this, and I think maybe that you do.”
- — J. Allen Brack, CEO, Blizzard Entertainment on Classic's popularity at BlizzCon 2019
Server fork
With the release of the Burning Crusade Classic pre-patch on 18 May 2021, characters that had been on 2019 Classic servers were given the choice between continuing with the Burning Crusade content or remaining in the pre-expansion era. New Classic Era servers were launched for the latter option, while the Classic progression branch was dedicated to progressing through subsequent expansions. Players could also use the Character Clone service for a fee to bring their classic characters to both modes.[9]
For about a year after the mode split, players had the option to move their original Classic characters to either server, or to use the paid Character Clone service to get separate copies of a character for each mode. After this period, all remaining characters were deleted from Classic Era servers and automatically moved to the Classic progression mode.
Classic Era servers only exist for the original Classic release. There are no plans to use this concept for any of the expansions.
Expansion choice
Confirmation to stay in Classic
Development
Before work began on World of Warcraft: Classic, it was only possible for players to experience the original World of Warcraft by using emulated servers, which are illegal, often have stability problems, and are generally imperfect recreations of the authentic World of Warcraft experience. As much as Blizzard had been aware of the desires of their community, until recently it seemed impossible for them to emulate Classic servers due to the technical hurdles of essentially having to run two massively multiplayer online games side-by-side. A breakthrough was then achieved that made it possible to run Classic servers on the modern architecture of current World of Warcraft servers.[10]
Blizzard had begun conceptualizing Classic by early 2017.[11] Work began the same year and lasted two years, carried out by a small engineering team led by Brian Birmingham.[7]
Even though a modern server architecture is used, Classic servers won't have the same features that current World of Warcraft does. There won't be cross-realm servers or Looking For Raid and Dungeon Finder automatic party matchmaking. There are still a lot of questions about how the team will tackle it. This endeavor is being undertaken by an entirely separate team at Blizzard from the one working on World of Warcraft and its next expansion.[10]
In June 2018, the team settled on using patch 1.12 as a foundation for Classic. They managed to have a locally rebuilt version of patch 1.12 running internally, using modern code and data architecture.[12]
A demo of the game was available at BlizzCon 2018, and was downloadable on home computers (64-bit client only) for anyone who purchased a BlizzCon ticket or virtual ticket. The servers became available when Opening Ceremony started at BlizzCon 2018 and was set to end on November 8, but was extended until November 12.[13] Player levels ranged from 15 to 19, and the only available zones were Westfall and the Barrens without access to dungeons such as Deadmines and Wailing Caverns.[14] It was based on patch 1.12.0, ported to a modern infrastructure as patch 1.13.0. The first day of the demo, there was a playtime limit of a cumulative 60 minutes with a cooldown of 90 minutes, applied through the 
[BlizzCon Exhaustion] debuff.[15] The debuff was removed on the second day of BlizzCon 2018.[16]
NoChanges controversy
During development until launch, many players disagreed quite vocally on Blizzard's forums and social media about the direction Blizzard should take with World of Warcraft: Classic. #NoChanges became a popular slogan for the assertion Blizzard should reproduce as authentic a Vanilla experience as possible. Critics argued Blizzard should apply 15 years of hindsight to consider limited changes.
Gameplay
#NoChanges proponents asserted gameplay should remain as authentic as possible, contrasting any suggestions for balance tuning or using modern technology to remove former limitations. For example, Classic could have removed the former limit on buffs and debuffs or given protection paladins a taunt ability to substantively improve their raid-tanking viability.
In general, Blizzard developed Classic without any such changes. Not only were classes and combat mechanics largely retained from Vanilla, but Blizzard deliberately introduced 400ms spell batching (until patch 1.13.7) to simulate technical limitations that modern architectures could have avoided completely.[17]
AddOns
#NoChanges were often cited by both proponents and critics of including AddOns in Classic. Arguments against including AddOns asserted that they took away the authenticity of the Vanilla UI or altered the community's behavior (ie, becoming "mandatory" for high-end performance because peers would use them and deny the right for others to join without using them also).[18] Conversely, arguments in favor of AddOns asserted that they were very much part of Vanilla. Indeed, addons introduced many features that were later absorbed into the native UI.
This dispute also extended to how the API was modified to fit Classic. Blizzard removed functions that did not exist in Classic, but this actually reduced some capability versus what was possible in Vanilla. This reduction was because the API evolved in patch 2.0.1 to prevent automation and improve security, but these changes were accompanied by new functions so AddOns could reproduce their Vanilla capabilities within acceptable boundaries. Classic did not keep all of these new functions; for example, the focus frame and corresponding /focus command were removed despite AddOns introducing this feature in Vanilla.[19] In patch 1.13.3, Blizzard further modified the API to remove some convenience functions that were entirely possible to duplicate using longer, more inefficient code snippets. However, some of these were restored in patch 1.13.4.[20]
Patch 1.15.3
Patch 1.15.3 on 9 July 2024 brought some changes to the Classic experience.
- Implemented permanently [21]
- Modern Guild interface, using the retail Guild & Communities UI in the Classic setting.
[Might of Stormwind] buff- 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.
Notes and trivia
- The original idea was to have the content unlock in 4 phases. This was increased to 6 phases in March 2019.[24]
- The Classic beta started on 15 May 2019, with the level cap limited to 30. The level cap was later raised to 40. The Classic beta ended on 12 July 2019.
- World of Warcraft: Classic won the 2019 Golden Joystick Award for "PC Game of the Year".[25][26]
- When choosing to keep a character in Classic instead of moving on to Burning Crusade Classic, Nefarian's voice plays, saying "Let the games begin!".
- As of 2024, the playerbases of Classic and Retail are roughly equal.[7]
Gallery
Welcome back
The logo from the announcement video
Logo animation
Global Release Times - August 27
- Promotional artwork
Assault on Blackwing Lair update
Ruins of the Dire Maul update
Rise of the Blood God update
Gates of Ahn'Qiraj update
Shadow of the Necropolis update
- Promotional screenshots
Videos
Notes
The term "Classic Era" has been applied in two different ways, sometimes leading to confusion. In its primary usage, it designates the original 2019 realms that remain permanently locked to the vanilla experience without expansions. In other contexts, however, "WoW Classic Era" has been used more broadly to encompass all realms tied to the original experience, including realm sets like Hardcore and Season of Discovery.[2][27][28]
See also
- World of Warcraft: Game Manual
- World of Warcraft: Classic Press Kit
- World of Warcraft evolution guide
- Porting addons to Classic
- Classic realms list
References
- ^ Mark Your Calendars: WoW Classic Launch and Testing Schedule. Blizzard Entertainment (2019-05-14). Retrieved on 2019-05-14.
- ^ a b Save Up to 33% on Select WoW Classic Progression Game Services. Blizzard Entertainment (2025-09-23).
- ^ Austen Goslin. Here’s when World of Warcraft Classic launches in every region. Polygon.
- ^
Blizzard Entertainment 2019-08-26. WoW Classic Name Reservations Now Open!.
- ^ Anshlun 2019-05-14. Layering in Classic WoW. Wowhead. Retrieved on 2019-05-15.
- ^ Jordan Gerblick 2019-08-27. Blizzard is frantically opening new WoW Classic servers to keep up with demand. GamesRadar.
- ^ a b c Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment, pg. 277
- ^ Stoy 2019-05-15. WoW Classic Summit Fan Site Interviews. MMO-Champion. Retrieved on 2019-05-15.
- ^ The WoW: Burning Crusade Classic Character Clone Service is Retiring Soon. Blizzard Entertainment (2022-05-13).
- ^ a b PC Gamer - This is how Blizzard plans to finally bring back Vanilla WoW servers
- ^ Blizzard's President On Making Sure Nothing Changes
- ^ Dev Watercooler: World of Warcraft Classic
- ^ Archimtiros 2018-11-08. World of Warcraft: Classic Demo Extended to 12 November. Wowhead. Retrieved on 2018-11-08.
- ^ Bring Home the BlizzCon WoW Classic Demo With The Virtual Ticket. Blizzard Entertainment (2018-09-27). Retrieved on 2018-09-27.
- ^ Ythisens 2018-11-01. Playing the Classic Demo. Retrieved on 2018-11-03.
- ^ WarcraftDevs on Twitter - "The playtime limits on the WoW Classic demo have now been removed. Enjoy!" (archived)
- ^ Kaivax 2019-03-28. Spell Batching in Classic.
- ^ Error on call to Template:ref web: Parameters url and title must be specifiedEnabrann et al 2019-04-12. .
- ^ Eloraell et al 2019-05-31. Focus was in Vanilla: Please Fix the API.
- ^ LibTotemInfo AddOn. Curse. Retrieved on 2020-05-13.
- ^ Kaivax 2024-07-09. WoW Classic Era and Hardcore Patch Notes - Version 1.15.3. Blizzard Entertainment.
- ^ Populartopular 2024-07-17. Blizzard Reverses Changes Made to Classic Era - Might of Stormwind World Buff & Druid Polearms Removed. Wowhead.
- ^ Kaivax 2024-07-17. Classic Era Patch Updates. Blizzard Entertainment.
- ^ Kaivax 2019-03-11. Classic Content Plan. Blizzard Entertainment. Retrieved on 2019-03-11.
- ^ Winners Announced at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards. Gamasutra (2019-11-15). Archived from the original on 2019-11-15.
- ^ Here's every winner from this year's Golden Joystick Awards, including the Ultimate Game of the Year. GamesRadar (2019-11-15). Archived from the original on 2019-11-16.
- ^ Patch 1.14.4
- ^ Patch 1.15.0
External links
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