Blizzard has announced that a coming update to World of Warcraft: Classic re-introducing the fiery Cataclysm expansion will land on May 20.
Officially, Classic will heat up a little before that on April 30 with the pre-patch event. Cataclysm’s pre-patch back in the day was one doozy of a change, too. It introduced playable Worgen and Goblins, set the dragon Deathwing loose on Azeroth, and because of Deathwing’s escapades, transformed the entire landscape of Azeroth’s main continents.
The full expansion on May 20 will include seven new (to Classic) zones, nine new dungeons, three new raid dungeons, the Archeologu profession. Flying will be introduced to Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. Additionally, with the transformation of the main continents’ landscapes, numerous new quests will be introduces, while old ones will disappear forever. It’s a pretty drastic change to what the current map looks like: the Barrens splits in half, Thousand Needles goes underwater, and a chunk of Darkshore’s coastline is washed away.
Also, Deathwing is flying around and can randomly set entire zones on fire. Cool!
WoW Classic marches on
All of this reflects the changes to World of Warcraft initially introduced when Cataclysm was first released back in 2010, with very few exceptions. When Classic was first released, Blizzard’s goal was to give players an opportunity to experience World of Warcraft as it was when it first launched, rather than being forced to flock to player-run servers.
Experience your favorite Cataclysm moments faster than ever before!
📜 Pre-Patch – April 30
🌋 Launch – May 20
🌴 Rise of the Zandalari – July 2024
🔥 Rage of the Firelands – October 2024
🌙 Hour of Twilight – January 2025Stand in the fire: https://t.co/ERuEh0ItOr pic.twitter.com/eYfkAtq47E
— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) April 9, 2024
But with Cataclysm, the world of Azeroth begins to more closely resemble what the game looks like now — minus several expansion-specific zones. The original World of Warcraft, as it was prior to all expansions, is still available as a Classic option, and Blizzard has introduced a number of special rules servers to spice it up such as Hard Mode and Season of Discovery.
World of Warcraft: Classic is available to anyone with a World of Warcraft subscription. Currently, Classic’s main servers are in the final days of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, with all raids and dungeons from that time available, including Icecrown Citadel.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
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