World of Warcraft Classicmade some big announcements at the Warcraft 30th Direct today, including adding fresh 20th Anniversary Edition Realms servers toClassicand announcing theMists of Pandaria Classicexpansion that will be coming soon to the game. Both of these have been highly requested features, particularly the restart of classicClassicservers, as many in the community have been wishing for a way to playWoWfrom a pre-Cataclysmperiod. Both of these exciting steps will add new experiences for players.
As part of the 30th anniversary ofWarcraft, Blizzard held a special Warcraft Direct with announcements from all games in theWarcraftuniverse (via theWorld of WarcraftYouTube channel). Among the lineup was some big news fromWoW Classic. The newly announced 20th Anniversary Edition Realms forWorld of Warcraft Classicwill provide afresh start to Classic Era with a return to vanillaWoWcontent beginning next week on June 27, 2025. The upcomingMists of Pandaria Classicexpansion forWoW Classic’s progression servers will be coming to the game in the summer of 2025.
World Of Warcraft Classic Brings Back MoP And Vanilla Classic Servers
MoP Classic Expansion And Return To Vanilla WoW Classic, With Hardcore
Continuing with the traditional lineup of expansions on theWoW Classicservers, next up is the announcement ofMists of Pandaria Classic. Like otherClassicexpansions,this journey will include some surprises and changes from the original 2012 release ofMoP, which have yet to be announced at this point. This expansion will come next summer.
Meanwhile, players have long been requesting a return to the originalClassicexperience from beforeCataclysmchanged the very landscape of Azeroth. New servers known as20th Anniversary Edition Realms will provide that answer with a return to the original experience and moving intoBurning Crusade Classicat some point in the future. These new realms will includehardcore server optionsin addition to the PvP and PvE versions for players to choose from, although hardcore options are not expected to progress toBurning Crusade.
Screen Rant’s Take: Vanilla WoW And Pandaria Are Favorites
Exciting To See Classic Classic Return, And The Return Of Pandas
Both of theseClassicannouncements offer exciting potential. Personally,I have felt thatClassicservers should have remained at a point before Deathwing’s destructioninCataclysm, allowing players like myself to return to Azeroth as it was when we began our adventures. Naturally, it is fun to once again experience each move into new expansions on these progression servers, but there is something to be said for the classic feeling of the originalWoW.
Additionally,Mists of Pandariamay not have been everyone’s favorite expansion, but it was mine. Therefore, I am excited to see what changes developers will bring for players as we travel to this new continent next summer. Both of these updates have the potential to further revitalize theWorld of Warcraft Classicexperience.
Source:World of Warcraft/YouTube
World of Warcraft
Created and published by Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft is a long-running massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) that features the lush and expanding lands of Azeroth. Released in 2004, the game has seen a multitude of DLC updates and still sees tons of players logging in each day.
