World of Warcraft: Classic is characterized as a 'Vanilla' version of World of Warcraft currently in development by Blizzard Entertainment. It was announced at BlizzCon 2017. This version will feature original vanilla-like gameplay. On Jun 15, 2018, it was announced that development was underway.[2] It was decided that the basis of World of Warcraft: Classic would be Patch 1.12: Drums of War.[2] A BlizzCon 2018 panel will cover the philosophies guiding the recreation of a "Classic" experience, some of the technical challenges, and a full status update.[3]
Its release date was announced to be Summer 2019 at the BlizzCon 2018 opening ceremony.[4] On May 14, 2019, the global release date was announced as August 27, 2019 (Americas a day earlier), while the closed and open Betas were to begin on May 15, 2019 as a closed beta for select players and a series of 3 open Beta "stress tests" (dates subject to change).[1]
Playable demo at BlizzCon 2018
A playable demo version of World of Warcraft: Classic was playable at BlizzCon 2018 as part of the floor demo[3] and for Virtual Ticket buyers for a limited time (starting after opening ceremony Nov 2, 2018[3] until Nov 8, 2018).[5] Build 28211 was released via Blizzard desktop app on November 2, 2018.
Beta schedules
The closed beta began on May 15, 2019.[1]
- STRESS TEST SCHEDULE*[1]
- These are effectively open beta periods.
- Stress Test 1: Wed May 22 â Thu May 23
- Stress Test 2: Wed Jun 19 â Thu Jun 20
- Stress Test 3:
Thu Jul 25 â Fri July 26[6][7]
- * Dates of each stress test are subject to change.
August 8 Pre-Launch Test
A global pre-launch test of WoW Classic began on Thursday, August 8 at 11:00 AM PDT and ended on Friday, August 9 (also 11 AM?). The test was available to all World of Warcraft players with a current subscription or active game time in all regions. The maximum character level was 15.[8]
Active monitoring occurred during the first 2 hours of the test (11 AM to 1 PM), so players were asked to do most of their activity during that time.[8]
- Minimum Specs
The minimum specifications required to play WoW Classic on PC or Mac are much lower than the minimum specs required to play 
Battle for Azeroth. Recommended specs are the same for both.
From Blizzard testing, they were able to successfully run WoW Classic on systems manufactured and released in the 2007-2009 timeframe, and due to improvements in how game data is built and distributed, the hard drive space requirements are actually smaller than they were in version 1.12 of vanilla WoW.
| PC MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS | |
| OPERATING SYSTEM | Windows® 7 64-bit (with latest Service Packs) |
| PROCESSOR | Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom™ X3 8750 |
| VIDEO | NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 GT 512 MB or AMD Radeon™ HD 4850 512 MB or Intel® HD Graphics 4000 |
| MEMORY | 2 GB RAM (4 GB for integrated graphics such as Intel HD Graphics series) |
| STORAGE | 5 GB available space |
| INTERNET | Broadband internet connection |
| INPUT | Keyboard and mouse required. Other input devices are not supported. |
| RESOLUTION | 1024 x 768 minimum display resolution |
| MAC MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS | |
| OPERATING SYSTEM | MacOS® 10.12 (latest version) |
| PROCESSOR | Intel® Core™ i5, 2.0 GHz or better |
| VIDEO | Metal capable GPU with 1 GB VRAM |
| MEMORY | 2 GB RAM (4GB for integrated graphics such as Intel HD Graphics series) |
| INTERNET | Broadband internet connection |
| INPUT | Keyboard and mouse required. Other input devices are not supported. |
| RESOLUTION | 1024 x 768 minimum display resolution |
Release schedule
- GLOBAL RELEASE TIMES[1]
| Americas (PDT) | Europe (CEST) | Taiwan (CST) | Korea (KST) | ANZ (AEST) | UTC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3:00 p.m. | 12:00 a.m. | 6:00 a.m. | 7:00 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. | 10:00 p.m. |
| August 26* | August 27 | August 27 | August 27 | August 27 | August 26 |
- Early Character Creation[1]
In order to be ready for launch, character creation was enabled on Tuesday, August 13.** Players with an active subscription or game time on their account will be able to create up to three characters per World of Warcraft account.
- * To align with other regions, the Americas will launch slightly ahead of August 27 in local time.
- ** To align with other regions, the Americas character creation will occur slightly ahead of August 13.
Content release phases
The Content release phases was proposed initially at BlizzCon 2018 in four phases. It was revised into six phases on March 11, 2019:[9]
- Phase 1 (Classic Launch) -- Released on August 27, 2019
Molten Core- Onyxia
- Maraudon
- Phase 2 -- Released on November 14, 2019
- Dire Maul-- Released early on October 15, 2019
- Azuregos
- Kazzak
- PVP Honor System
- Phase 3 -- Released on February
- Blackwing Lair
- Darkmoon Faire
- Darkmoon deck drops begin
- Warsong Gulch & Alterac Valley Battlegrounds -- Releasing on December 10, 2019
- Phase 4 Proposed April
- Zul'Gurub
- Green Dragons
- Phase 5
- Ahn'Qiraj War Effort begins
- Ahn'Qiraj raids open when the war effort dictates
- Dungeon loot reconfiguration: Tier 0.5 Dungeon gear, Relics, drop rates and location changes
- Phase 6
- Naxxramas
- Scourge Invasion
Differences from Vanilla
- Soulbound loot trading in raids with raid lock (borrowed from ),[10] starting after UBRS (which won't have raid lock).[11]
Media
Images
Videos
References
- ^ a b c d e f Blizzard Entertainment 2019-05-14. Mark Your Calendars: WoW Classic Launch and Testing Schedule. World of Warcraft official game site (US).
- ^ a b Blizzard Entertainment 2018-06-15. Dev Watercooler: World of Warcraft Classic. World of Warcraft official game site.
- ^ a b c File:World of Warcraft - BlizzCon 2018 Preview
- ^
- ^ Dan O'Halloran 2018-09-26. WoW Classic demo will be playable at BlizzCon and at home. Blizzard Watch.
- ^ https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/wow-classic-beta-update/216084
- ^ https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/wow-classic-stress-test-date/227573
- ^ a b Kaivax 2019-08-01. WOW CLASSIC PRE-LAUNCH TEST 11:00 A.M. PDT AUGUST 8 AND MINIMUM SPECS. Official WoW Classic General Discussion forum (US).
- ^ https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/classic-content-plan/120346
- ^ {{ref web|work=Official World of Warcraft Classic Discussion forum (US)|url=https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/loot-trading-in-classic/131586%7Ctitle=LOOT TRADING IN CLASSIC|author= Kaivax|date=22-Mar-2018 8:58 am
- ^ {{ref web|work=Official World of Warcraft Classic Discussion forum (US)|url=https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/loot-trading-in-classic/131586/111%7Ctitle=#111 LOOT TRADING IN CLASSIC (part 2)|author= Kaivax|date=22-Mar-2018 10:11 am
See also
- Restoring History: Creating WoW Classic section of Pinkachu's BlizzCon 2018 blog
- Public client builds
- World of Warcraft
- Barrens Chat - a WoW Classic forum community (2019)
External links
Edit to the right of the section title.- Social
- News
Official WoW Site (US) WoW Classic Name Reservations Now Open! by Blizzard Entertainment August 12th, 2019
Official WoW Site (US) Mark Your Calendars: WoW Classic Launch and Testing Schedule by Blizzard Entertainment May 14th, 2019
PCGamer.com Turns out some of World of Warcraft: Classic's demo 'bugs' are not bugs after all By Vikki Blake Mar 2, 2019
MMORPG.com Get Ready for World of Warcraft Classic by Reconnecting with Old Pals Through VanillaFriends by Suzie Ford on Feb 28, 2019
BlizzardWatch WoW Classic demo will be playable at BlizzCon and at home By Dan O'Halloran Sep 26, 2018 1:26 pm CT Official WoW Site (US) Dev Watercooler: World of Warcraft Classic by Blizzard Entertainment June 15th, 2018
