Friends, today is not-BlizzCon, which is to say that Blizzard decided not to hold a BlizzCon event in the year when World of Warcraft is turning 20 years old and the Warcraft franchise turns 30. It was certainly a choice! But now here we are with the next best thing: The airing of Warcraft Direct today, as Blizzard takes the wraps off what it has brewing for the Warcraft IP.
The 45-minute show promises info on what’s coming for WoW Retail and WoW Classic, Warcraft III Reforged, Hearthstone, and even Warcraft Rumble, and we’ve already gotten leaks about whatever Dark Realm is, the Warcraft II remaster, and the WC3R 2.0 update. Here’s hoping there’s much more than that in store.
We’ll be updating this article with the important announcements as we go.
Brad Chan kicks things off by formally announcing patch 2.0 for Warcraft III Reforged – updating to HD graphics, improving the UI and lighting, adding hotkey customization, and gobs more. Chan also confirms that Blizzard is fully remastering both Warcraft I and Warcraft II; players will be able to swap between HD graphics and old ones, with modern UI/UX upgrades. The Warcraft Battlechest with all three games will be available… today. Yeah, all of this is available right now (the price flexes depending on what you have already purchased).
Hearthstone is announcing Heroes of StarCraft – yes, it’s bringing StarCraft in as a mini-set; the studio says it’s adding as many characters from SC as possible. It’s also the biggest mini-set the game has ever had. It’s launching in January.
Blizzard also says it’s giving arenas a glow-up with two different formats: normal and underground. Underground has longer runs and redraft-on-loss option. Arena ratings will be available for both, but underground will pit you against players of all ranks. It’s coming in the first half of 2025.
Finally, the team unveils the 2025 roadmap with some very classic themes – Emerald Dream, the Shrouded City of Un’goro Crater, and Heroes of Time (Chromie’s back!).
Warcraft Rumble is celebrating its first anniversary with rewards for players logging in today; it also teases its next season, which will include new split leaders. That means characters like Sylvanas as both an Undead and Horde leader. But the most important announcement is that Rumble is finally coming to PC, with a beta starting December 10th.
Holly Longdale takes a moment to highlight a new documentary called The Remarkable Life of Ibelin on Netflix, which is watchable right now.
WoW Classic devs recap the impending AQ raid unlock and another Season of Discovery phase – the seventh and final phase with Naxx as the final endgame raid, though there’s apparently a new instance coming too (and maybe something related to Karazhan)?
The big news here is that WoW Classic is most definitely going to Pandaria, so yep, we’re getting Pandaria Classic – in summer 2025, after the conclusion of the Hour of Twilight phase for Cataclysm Classic.
Finally, Blizzard has announced WoW Classic Classic, and we are not even making that up. Essentially, these will be fresh Classic servers – including hardcore servers – with a delayed Molten Core rollout, the non-suck PvP honor system, and other QOL perks. Expect the launch November 21st, with over a full year in vanilla before Burning Crusade unlocks in early 2026.
“A highly requested feature from WoW Classic players, the 20th Anniversary Edition Realms will give Classic Era players a fresh start to World of Warcraft and will also include Hardcore server options both of which will progress through the content updates simultaneously. Additionally, non-Hardcore servers will progress to Burning Crusade Classic.”
Holy crap, WoW is getting real housing y’all. It’s coming in the Midnight expansion. More details in 2025. In the interim…
“The first major content update for The War Within, Undermine(d) (11.1), launches early next year and will take players to the subterranean goblin capital of Undermine as players continue to chase the mysterious Xal’atath to thwart her plans. With Undermine(d), Season 2 for The War Within will include: 2 New Delves, with the current ones receiving thematic updates; 1 New Dungeon, which will also be available in the Season 2 Mythic+ pool, along with the remaining four launch dungeons and 3 legacy dungeons; a new ground mount specially engineered for high-speed traversal within the Goblin city; and of course, a new 8-boss raid where players will face off against Gallywix and his allies throughout the city of Undermine.”
Say it with me, folks… it’s about dang time! But better late (really late!) than never, right?
