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by Published on 2021-02-21 12:31 AM

BlizzConline 2021 - World of Warcraft Q&A Panel

BlizzConline 2021 - World of Warcraft Interview Recaps
Several places were able to interview WoW devs this week on the information revealed during BlizzConline. Here are links to each of them with highlights and new information!

Blizzard Watch Interview - No Gold Cap for Classic Characters Moving to BC
Blizzard Watch interviews Lead Software Engineer Brian Birmingham and Executive Producer John Hight for more information on characters progressing into Burning Crusade Classic.

  • Progression servers will take all of your gold, your guild, your auction houses, mail, and go directly to the Burning Crusade if that is what you choose to do.
  • The team did not want to take away time and effort from people who have worked and planned ahead.


Eurogamer Interview - What to Expect in Chains of Domination
Eurogamer interviewed game director Ion Hazzikostas and art director Ely Cannon about what to expect in Shadowlands first content patch later this year.

  • Taking the fight to the jailer will allow us to explore a range of epic environments that are unlike anything we've seen or done before in World of Warcraft.
  • We will learn much more about the nature of death, the nature of the jailer and the foe that awaits us.
  • Korthia, the City of Secrets, will be more relaxed than the rest of the Maw has been since launch. It will blend some of the Maw elements with traditional outdoor gameplay.
  • The four covenant campaigns will continue in this patch.
  • Ion describes Tazavesh, the new Broker city mega dungeon, as "the Harry Potter, Gringotts heist inspired dungeon."
  • Flying will be unlocked solely by completing the campaign's main story.
  • System changes in WoW are much more reactive than other content. They are a conversation between the team and the community.
  • Evolution of class and covenant balance, loot systems, and Torghast will play out on the PTR with direct feedback from players.
  • The team wants to address the sense of achievement in Torghast so that success of failure still leads to being satisfied and rewarded for your efforts.
  • Ion said Battle for Azeroth's systems became "system soup". They were not launched in an extensible way and needed retrofitting with each patch.


Polygon Interview - The Maw in Chains of Domination
Polygon interviewed Jeremy Feasel and Frank Kowalkowski about the new features of the Maw in patch 9.1

  • The Maw becomes a war zone in this patch, and so it will be a little less punishing to players.
  • Korthia is dragged into the Maw, but it will not be a separate zone. it will exist seamlessly with the current Maw areas.
  • There will be a pre-Korthia instance of the Maw for new characters.
  • The covenants will establish safe-zone bases in the Maw.
  • The presence of the covenants and having a home base there is going to ease up the effects of the Eye of the Jailer. This will allow you to spend a lot more time in the Maw.
  • There will be a side-quest to teach players why the Eye of the Jailer debuff exists, and will allow them to cleanse themselves of the debuff over time.
  • Players will also be able to summon their ground mounts in the Maw now.
  • Flying will never be coming to the Maw.
  • The goal was to have players feel liberated in the Maw now that the war is pushing into it, and this wouldn't have been possible without things feeling a little bit hard to deal with before this next patch.


PCGamer Interview - No Release Date for Chains of Domination Yet
PCGamer interviewed Steve Danuser on Chains of Domination.

  • There is no date for Patch 9.1 yet.
  • The Jailer is frantically looking for something within Korthia.
  • They intend for Chains of Domination to really be a substantial furtherance of the Shadowlands' storyline. We will see the Jailer's plans evolve, and learn more about Sylvanas. This is an important chapter to further the story.
  • The story of Chains of Domination is pretty heavy and dark.
  • Tazavesh, the mega dungeon, will have not only not fighting a pirate dragon during an interdimensional heist at one point, but also have us try to fix a dysfunctional mailroom so that Shadowlands' citizens can get their parcels on time.
  • There are encounters in Tazavesh that are different from what wee might have seen before.
  • The first 5 bosses are in the city itself while the last 3 take place during an interdimensional chase scene across familiar locales of Azeroth.


SoulSoBreezy Interview - Story Campaign and Potential Empowered Conduits
SoulSoBreezy interviewed Johnny Cash and Kevin Martens about Chains of Domination.


  • The campaign in Patch 9.1 will be largely the same experience regardless of which Covenant you chose because it revolves around the covenants coming together to assault the Maw.
  • There will be special bits of content spread throughout the campaign based on covenant choice such as extra moments and custom dialogue where it makes sense.
  • Accessing Korthia will be a quick process after getting baseline establishments such as your covenant ability and reaching max level.
  • The team refers to some of the Maw content as "reverse assaults" as we are the ones assaulting an area now instead of defending.
  • Unique gameplay elements, such as the Necrolords bringing an entire necropolis into the Maw, will be some of the cool additions with this patch.
  • Flying is unlocked once the covenant campaign is finished, but this will probably not be on day 1. It will be account-wide once unlocked.
  • They will likely expand the amount of legendaries and add new levels of conduits.
  • They are playing around with empowered conduits right now, allowing players to take individual conduit slots to uncover more power or new abilities.
  • Tazavesh is a Broker holding area, not necessarily where they are from.
  • There will be an intro quest for context to unlock Tazavesh, but no attunement process.
  • They will likely add more renown levels in the future.
  • There is nothing to announce right now about more customization or new heritage armor, but they will definitely add it when the time is right.


MrGM Interview - BC Classic Experience and Leatherworking Drums
MrGM interviewed John Hight and Brian Birmingham on Burning Crusade.


  • Burning Crusade Classic will utilize Patch 2.4.3 data.
  • This patch included the adjusted experience curve to help players level to Burning Crusade faster, and so BC Classic will likely include this adjustment.
  • This patch also included the change to allow your first mount at level 30 instead of 40, and so this will also likely be included.
  • Players who have a collector's edition for Burning Crusade linked to their account will receive the collector's edition Netherwhelp pet in BC Classic much like the collector's edition pets for vanilla WoW were given to WoW Classic players who had a collector's edition linked to their account.
  • The team is aware of the problem Leatherworking drums might play into BC Classic, and will likely be making minor adjustments so that they don't feel compulsory. The drums will still be a powerful advantage for leatherworkers, however.


The Starting Zone Interview - Stygia not Used in 9.1 Content, Dreadlords Return
The Starting Zone interviewed Jeremy Feasel and Frank Kowalkowski about Patch 9.1

  • The story of 9.1 will start off in the aftermath of the events in the trailer.
  • From Bastion, the Jailer will next turn to Ardenweald and we will have to protect it.
  • Ve'nari
    • There will be brand new Ve'nari content as well.
    • Stygia will not be used past season 1. Feel free to use it now and not save it up.
    • There will be a new currency that Ve'nari will utilize in Patch 9.1 with new things to purchase.
  • Korthia
    • A new event will involve a bunch of players fighting back the Jailer's forces.
    • The central hub the covenants establish in the Maw is located in Korthia.
    • The Mechagon visitor system (where new and random allies would show up with dailies) is being utilized in Korthia.
    • You'll unlock new repeatable activities as you progress in the campaign.
    • There is a new reputation to earn rewards with in the Korthia hub.
    • There will also be new callings in Korthia.
    • Korthia will dive into the keepers from Oribos and what secrets they have been protecting for eternity.
  • The dreadlords will be returning in this patch and we will learn more about them.
  • You will do quests for all covenants in the story. You will be caught up on the story of other covenants.


Launcher Interview - Vicarious Visions Team Working on Diablo II Resurrected
Launcher did a quick interview with J. Allen Brack and Allen Adham about the announcements.


  • Vicaious Visions is officially confirmed as the team working on Diablo II Resurrected. They were the game developer that recently merged into Blizzard after remastering Tony Hawk games.
  • Diablo II Resurrected will release before Diablo IV.
by Published on 2021-02-20 07:56 PM

BlizzConline 2021 - World of Warcraft Q&A Panel
The WoW team is answering questions on World of Warcraft!


  • The Story in Chains of Domination
    • The relationship between the Jailer, Sylvanas, and Anduin is the core of Shadowlands' story.
    • The Jailer was looking for Anduin because they needed a hero with his qualities to get an audience with the Archon in Bastion.
    • Uther recognized the power of the Maw on some level when Anduin passed by him, which is why he touches his wound in the trailer.
    • The confrontation with Sylvanas at the end of Sanctum of Domination will be one of the most epic raid moments in raiding history.
    • The Archon survives her wound. They tried to show this by having her hand move after the event in the trailer.
    • Sire Denathrius
      • The voice actor's performance for Sire Denathrius caused Steve to want to keep him alive. This is why he is trapped at the end of the raid instead of killed.
      • He might have allies that want to liberate him from that sword.
    • Time doesn't really mean anything in the realm of death as it's eternity.
    • Bolvar will still be front and center in Chains of Domination. He is a pillar to rally around in Shadowlands.
    • The story of those lost at Teldrassil is not yet done. Tyrande is still out for vengeance for her people.
  • Burning Crusade Classic
    • You will decide if your character moves to Burning Crusade upon logging in on pre-patch.
    • If you choose to stay in Classic Era, your character will look inactive until you install Classic Era, which will then give you access to your character on the Classic Era version of your server.
    • You also have a paid option to make a copy of your character to keep in Classic Era while also moving on to Burning Crusade.
    • Your name will be saved for both server options. If there are server connections they will likely play out like in modern wow having names with servers attached.
    • The team wants to address faction imbalance in BC Classic with small changes such as Paladin seals being available to both factions.
    • Summoning Stones will be introduced with BC Classic as they were added originally in the expansion.
    • PvP titles will be awarded to only a top percentage of players per region.
    • They will not be added any fresh start servers for their timeline of Burning Crusade Classic, but it is something they have been talking about once the launch is successful.
    • Layering will be used much in the same way for Classic's launch.
  • Customization in Shadowlands
    • There are no plans right now to add more race/class combinations in Shadowlands, but never say never.
    • The team will add more customization options in the future for races that didn't get as much in Shadowlands.
    • More heritage armor will be added in the near future while some might still be further off.
  • The Pandemic
    • While it took some time to implement working from home, the team is happy to be able to continue to bring people together through the game during times of isolation.
  • Faction Imbalance
    • The faction imbalance has become a social issue that will likely require a social solution and it is a top priority for the team.
    • They don't quite have a way to address it yet, but recognize it is a problem that needs to be addressed.
    • The faction balance is actually pretty even when it comes to amount of players. It is only for participation in high-end activities that skews majorly to Horde.
    • Ion says "never say never" in regards to the option of letting Horde and Alliance play together eventually.
    • There is still faction identity when selecting which faction you identify with and not having to worry about cutting yourself off from your friends.
  • Server Connections in Modern WoW
    • The team paused the process when Shadowlands launched because the expansion had a huge effect on server populations.
    • The team will continue to use server connections once server populations become a notable issue.
  • Anima
    • There will be new sources of anima added in Chains of Domination.
    • The anima system cosmetic rewards are designed to be an expansion-wide reward system.
    • The team will always address reward amounts if they feel it needs to be altered.
  • Auction House
    • There won't be a return of the entire mobile auction house app, but they are thinking of creating a way to get resources for raiding and such prior to raid from mobile.
  • Flying in Shadowlands
    • You cannot fly directly from zone to zone. You will still need to use the a flight path to enter a zone.
    • Pathfinder is account-wide and your alts will be able to fly at level 50 once unlocked.
  • Torghast
    • The team will continue to add Anima Powers and new content to Torghast.
    • They also plan to address any classes that still struggle with Torghast.
  • 10-Man Content
    • 10-player raiding exists outside of mythic difficulty.
    • Megadungeons are supposed to fill the roll of challenging small group content.
  • Wandering Ancient Mount
    • The Wandering Ancient will be available with Patch 9.0.5.
    • You will receive the mount simply for owning Shadowlands.
by Published on 2021-02-19 11:37 PM

BlizzConline 2021 - Behind the Scenes of Overwatch 2 Panel

BlizzConline 2021 - The Opening Ceremony Is Now Live!

BlizzConline 2021 - World of Warcraft: Shadowlands What's Next Panel
The WoW team reveals what to expect next from World of Warcraft: Shadowlands!


Systems
  • The team isn't sharing much about system changes right now.
  • Unlike some previous expansions at this point, the team isn't seeing anything that needs to be completely overhauled or replaced.
  • Systems have a solid foundation that will be built upon and they will share more once PTRs are live.

Story
  • Chains of Domination will explore the Maw and the Jailer's plans.
  • The Jailer will make his first attacks, showing his hand, and forcing us to defend our new allies.
  • The 4 Covenants will come together to take the fight to the Jailer.

Patch 9.1 Features
  • New areas and enemies in the Maw with Maw theme rewards.
  • Mounts will work in the Maw

Korthia
  • Largest new section of the Maw
  • Ancient space, lost in the in-between. Unique strange creatures and wildlife.
  • Filled with mysteries and a lot of denizens seen in Oribos
  • City of Secrets
  • We'll learn more about the First Ones
  • New mounts and pets, including the Hand Mount and Undead Horse

New Raid - Sanctum of Domination
  • Taking the attack to the Jailer's doorstep
  • 10 Bosses
  • Boss that is the literal Eye of the Jailer, utilizes the eye of Odin
  • Tarragrue is a boss
  • Kel'thuzad is a boss
  • Sylvanas is also a fight - the finale will change the future of the Shadowlands

Torgahst
  • New wings, with new art and floors
  • New foes and traps
  • New game-changing powers

New Mega Dungeon - Broker Trading City
  • New Brokers group that we met in Oribos
  • Mythic only (for now)
  • 8 bosses
  • Large Broker trading city, with portals, an auction house, and various cartels
  • Broker assassins and four armed guards
  • Heist section is second - chase a broker who stole an artifact through portals that take us to varied locations with multiple bosses
  • Infinite Pirate Dragon Boss
  • Rewards include Broker pets and mounts - worm pet used by brokers as a currency
  • Broker disc mount
  • Broker themed weapons

Covenants
  • New Conduits
  • Expanding the Soulbind system
  • They are very early into ideation, and will ask for feedback on the forums
  • New Covenant-themed transmogs can be worn by any armor type and mixed and matched with other outfits

Flying
  • No Rep grind
  • Unlocked through Covenant story
  • Unlocking Flying grants a Covenant-themed flying mount.

Season 2
  • Domination themed Affix
  • Item level increase across the board
  • Honor talent refresh - Talents that aren't often selected will get a second look and some changes
  • Season rewards - brand new colors of the gladiator and Mythic + mount
  • Vicious Gorn mount for season 2




Shape the Fate of the Shadowlands in Chains of Domination
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The next content update, Chains of Domination, has been announced at BlizzConline! Watch the panel now or read on to discover what's coming up for World of Warcraft.

The traitorous Sire Denathrius has been defeated, but the power of the Maw still grows. In Chains of Domination, the upcoming major content update for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, players will delve into new depths of the Jailer’s hopeless domain, seeking to understand the true nature of his malignant plans. Backed by the renewed might of the four Covenants, the champions of the Horde and the Alliance will take the fight for the Shadowlands to the seat of the Jailer’s power. But the Banished One has a terrible new champion in his service—a cruel instrument of despair conscripted by Sylvanas Windrunner, capable of instilling dread into the hearts of Azeroth’s heroes like no creature of the Shadowlands.

The Covenants Strike Back
Return to the Maw with the restored strength of the kyrian, night fae, necrolords, and venthyr and together fight back to reclaim the Shadowlands from the Jailer’s sinister encroachment. As you unravel the Jailer’s dark designs you’ll be able to fight back with newfound inner-strength, even allowing your mounts to once again be rideable in this ominous realm.

Discover the Mysteries of Korthia
The Jailer is searching for the key to fulfill his twisted vision for the afterlives, and he has pulled a fragment of a long-lost domain into the Maw itself to find it: Korthia, City of Secrets. Dragged from the hidden byways of the In-Between, this landmass has its own strange creatures and brims with mysteries the likes of which the Shadowlands has never seen. It is these obscurities that the Jailer is truly after, the secrets of an enigmatic group known as the First Ones.


During your adventures in the Maw and Korthia, you’ll be able to earn new rewards including a spectral steed bound in spiked barding and a severed hand mount that will fearlessly crawl wherever you command.


Raid the Sanctum of Domination
Found beyond the labyrinthine halls of Torghast, the Sanctum of Domination is a new 10-boss raid. Encounter the true Eye of the Jailer, turn the tide against the Tarragrue, square off against Kel’Thuzad, and come face-to-face with the Banshee Queen herself in a fateful confrontation.


New Mega-Dungeon: Tazavesh, the Veiled Market
Gather your party and discover exotic wares and strange creatures in the new eight-boss Mythic mega-dungeon; Tazavesh: the Veiled Market. Set in a bazaar of the mysterious brokers, you’ll face off against dastardly assassins, four-armed broker guards, an infinite pirate dragon, and other enemies as you chase down a wayward broker before she can unleash the might of a stolen artifact to realize her own designs.

This Mythic-only instance can reward players with loot coveted by broker society—including a dazzling assortment of weaponry, otherworldly pets, and a mount.


Explore New Layers in Torghast, Tower of the Damned
As we bring the fight to the Jailer’s home domain, we’ll be able to advance further inside his lair—Torghast, Tower of the Damned. Scour a never-before-seen wing of Torghast as you fight new enemies and evade deadly traps with a variety of game-changing powers.


Take to the Skies
If you’ve got your eye on the skies above the afterlives of the Shadowlands, you’ll be able to unlock flying by completing covenant activities and campaign chapters. Players who do unlock flying will then receive a specialized mount representing their covenant. Kyrian players will glide over gleaming fields on the backs of centurians, night fae will ride upon Ardenweald’s powerful wolf serpents, necrolords will charge into battle upon corpseflies, and venthyr will take to the skies on newly awakened stoneborn.


New Covenant Cosmetic Armor Sets
As you further support your covenant and earn renown, you’ll be rewarded with a new covenant cosmetic armor set. This cosmetic armor set comes in four different colors and can be worn by any armor type—cloth, leather, mail, and plate. Each armor set’s tints can be mix and matched with the others to provide a variety of different looks to suit your desired appearance.


Join the Fray in Shadowlands Season 2
Chains of Domination will also herald the beginning of Shadowlands Season 2. You’ll see the addition of a brand-new domination-themed affix in Mythic Keystone Dungeons and increased item levels for rewards. PvP Honor Talents will undergo a refresh, revitalizing lesser used talents for more options to unleash your full potential. New seasonal rewards for PvP include new colorations of the Gladiator and Mythic keystone mounts, and new Vicious mounts—Alliance and Horde-themed Gorm.


We hope you enjoyed this preview of Chains of Domination and Season 2, which will become available at a later date. The content update's features are still in development and subject to change, so be sure to check back for periodic updates on worldofwarcraft.com.
by Published on 2021-02-19 11:02 PM

BlizzConline 2021 - The Opening Ceremony Is Now Live!

BlizzConline 2021 - World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic What's Next Panel
The WoW team reveals what to expect next from World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic!



Burning Crusade Classic
  • Released in 2021 and Beta will be soon.
  • Burning Crusade will run just like Classic, the old data on modern code.
  • Addition of Draenei and Blood Elves.
  • Paladins for Horde and Shaman for Alliance.
  • Addition of Jewelcrafting profession.
  • Addition of flying in Outland.

Bugs in First Working Build
  • The first playtest of a working Burning Crusade Classic had a bug in which the character creator had naked characters.
  • Draenei character creator bug had the gnome character background with the camera focus on their waist.

Additions and Changes
  • Spell batching is removed.
  • Raid bosses will be released in their original state with only the most crucial nerfs from the past included.
  • Paladins Seal of Blood and Seal of Vengeance will be available to both factions.
  • Arena teams will be able to have more members than bracket size. This way you can have a roster to play with instead of just specific people.
  • Draenei and Blood Elves will be added in prepatch so you can level before Burning Crusade.

Phases
  • Phase 1 - Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and Magtheridon's Lair
  • Phase 2 - Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep
  • Phase 3 - Hyjal, Black Temple
  • Phase 4- Zul'Aman
  • Phase 5 - Sunwell

Servers
  • Current Classic Servers become Progression Servers
  • Classic Era realms will launch with the release of Burning Crusade. These will be Classic until the end of time.
  • You can choose on a character by character basis to progress with the server or move the character to an Classic Era server.
  • There will be a paid option to make a copy of your character so you can keep it in Classic and move on to Burning Crusade.

Paid Boost
  • There will be a Level 58 boost
  • One per account
  • Classic Era realms only
  • Level 40 mount and skill to go with it
  • No professions
  • Geared in Dungeon blues
  • Unavailable to new races



World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic Deep Dive
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Join WoW Classic lead producer Holly Longdale, production director Patrick Dawson, and lead software engineer Brian Birmingham for a deeper look into the Burning Crusade Classic in this BlizzConline panel.

Burning Crusade Classic Features
As with any expansion, Burning Crusade Classic brings with it a variety of content for players to explore. Through the launch and over the course of content updates to follow, players will discover:

  • New Lands to Explore: Step through the Dark Portal and into Outland.
  • Two New Playable Races: Fight for the Horde as the blood elves, seeking a new source of arcane power or join the Alliance as the draenei, exiles from Outland in search of a new home.
  • Arenas: Assemble allies and prove your PvP prowess in 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 combat in Arenas such as the Ring of Trials and the Circle of Blood.
  • Flying Mounts: Take flight in the chaotic skies of Netherstorm and soar over fel-touched Shadowmoon Valley with the introduction of flying mounts in Outland.
  • Master Challenging Raids and Dungeons: Conquer 5-player dungeons and Heroic dungeons set in the crystalline fortress of Tempest Keep, or raid the haunted halls of 10-player Karazhan as you gear up over time for a climactic confrontation against Kil’jaeden in 25-player Sunwell Plateau.
  • Jewelcrafting: Carve gems of power to socket into players’ gear with the Jewelcrafting profession.
  • Aldor and Scryer Factions: Choose between the Aldor or Scryer factions in Shattrath and earn their unique rewards
  • Create a paladin on the Horde or a shaman on the Alliance.
  • Level to 70 and gain new class abilities and more.

Bringing Burning Crusade Classic to Life
Much like WoW Classic, we faced a lot of challenges in bringing Burning Crusade 13 years forward to today. One of these challenges was translating all of the expansion data—the content, the gameplay rules, how enemies behave, and so on—into the modern code, with all of the under-the-hood technical improvements, performance enhancements, and bug fixes we’ve made over the years.

To do this, we need to convert over 750,000 rows of data from the format we used around 2007 to the format we use today. Thankfully, we have dedicated and talented engineers who can utilize scripts that help make these conversions go a bit easier—but that doesn’t mean that we can solely rely on those automated conversions. Running the old client, we look at how things actually worked in the original Burning Crusade and compare it against the conversion in Burning Crusade Classic to verify it’s all working as intended.

We also wanted to make sure that as we made these conversions, we retained any bug fixes that we had made previously so to provide a cohesive experience between WoW Classic and Burning Crusade Classic.

We spend a lot of time looking at the old reference code to make sure we get things right and bug fixes are retained. Because it’s been 13 years since the launch of Burning Crusade, we also have to take the time to make sure that what we remember matches up with how things really were. It’s easy for time to change perceptions and what we might have thought of as a bug, might actually be how it played originally in Burning Crusade. Having a reliable resource to check makes a big difference.

Our modern code also provides additional stability for the client. Servers used to be much more siloed, but now have the ability to harness the benefits of cloud infrastructure. This allows us to avoid issues like “instance not found” errors when players are trying to access things like dungeons or raids.

Sometimes bringing this data over results in unintended consequences. When doing early tests, we found things like the blood elf male missing his clothes, despite the client believing he had some on. We soon figured out that textures weren’t assigned properly, even though the geometry from his clothes was still apparent.

With the Draenei, they initially appeared that they were too tall on the character creation screen—but the real problem was that Draenei were being shown in the Dun Morogh character creation screen, which has a camera height appropriate for dwarves and gnomes.

We also ended up with water showing up in Hellfire Peninsula where no water was meant to be. Outland doesn’t have oceans like Azeroth does, but this was something we were able to address.


Some Changes Ahead
Our guiding principle in WoW Classic was to keep the game as true to the original as we could. With Burning Crusade Classic, we still want to make sure we’re providing an experience true to the Burning Crusade, maintaining the essential elements of the expansion that players expect. We also have some changes that we are making to maintain good experiences for players when they arrive in Outland.

With WoW Classic, we purposefully recreated the “spell batching” behavior from the original game. Though it was largely a relic of old technology, the idea of having this again in WoW Classic was popular with players, and seemed like something we should include in the name of authenticity. However, there is an inherent issue with spell-batching creating latency for players. We’d end up with players reporting bugs with spells and abilities like Blink or Pyroblast not working properly when it was actually a result of latency causing those abilities not to cast as expected. For Burning Crusade Classic, it’s being removed to improve that overall experience.

The raiding community is also more experienced now, and we want to provide the challenges players expect when stepping back into their favorite raids. To do this, we want to provide more challenging versions of the bosses in dungeons and raids by removing the changes that were made to them later in the expansion cycle. However, there are some changes we are likely to keep when original boss designs proved far more frustrating than challenging. As an example: M’uru initially had a lot of spell pushback, which was causing players to exclude spellcasters from their groups. We fixed this issue pretty quickly, and it’s something we’ll still include as a change when this boss becomes available in Sunwell Plateau—but the decrease to his health will likely revert to its original state. Players have asked to engage with the initial versions of bosses so they can see if the benefit of experience allows them to defeat bosses they previously struggled with, and we want to provide them with that opportunity.

PvP and Faction Balance
We want to make sure we maintain faction identity, but also realize that there’s an imbalance between the Horde and Alliance paladin Seals, as Seal of Blood for the Horde is very powerful when compared to the Seal of Vengeance for the Alliance. To address this, the Horde and Alliance will still get their faction-specific Seals at level 64, but when they reach level 70, they’ll also be able to get the opposite faction Seal as well.

Another change we’re making is to the way players can fill out their Arena rosters. With the original release of Arena in Burning Crusade, players were only allowed to have the same number of players as the bracket they were in. If they were taking part in 3v3 Arena, they could only have three players in their list. That meant if someone couldn’t play for a while, then no one on the team was able to play either. With Burning Crusade Classic, we’ve expanded this to allow for rosters to contain twice the number of players for the bracket. This will allow teams to sub in players as they need to and continue taking part in Arenas.

We’re also planning to use the modern matchmaking algorithms to more quickly match players with equally skilled opponents, while still keeping the rating requirements on purchased arena gear in later seasons.

Blood Elf and Draenei Access
With the release of the Burning Crusade Classic pre-expansion patch, players will also get access to the Blood Elf and Draenei races early before the Dark Portal opens. This will allow players to get a jump on leveling so they can join their friends in Outland.


Content Phases
To allow players to stay on top of the latest content and gear up with their friends, we’ve set up a potential plan for additional content releases for Burning Crusade Classic to occur over 5 phases. As with anything in early development, these plans are subject to change and we look forward to player feedback.

Phase 1: Karazhan, Gruul’s Lair, and Magtheridon’s Lair Raids will open
Phase 2: Serpentshrine Cavern, Tempest Keep, and Arena Season 1
Phase 3: Hyjal, Black Temple, Arena Season 2
Phase 4 : Zul’Aman and Arena Season 3
Phase 5: The Sunwell and Arena Season 4

Meeting the Diverse Needs of Players
We want to make sure that we serve the needs of a variety of WoW Classic players. Whether it’s those who choose to move on into the Burning Crusade Classic content, or those who choose to remain in WoW Classic as it is, we want to provide players with a choice when the pre-expansion patch goes live for Burning Crusade Classic.

Going forward, current WoW Classic live servers will become progression servers with access to Burning Crusade Classic and its content updates. On patch day, players will be presented with a choice of where they want to play their characters. Do you want to continue into the content of Burning Crusade Classic? Or do you want to continue to experience WoW Classic?

You’ll be able to make a choice for each of your individual characters. This provides players a way to pick and choose the experiences they want to have, whether it’s with journeying into the next expansion with a max-level character that’s ready to go through the Dark Portal or creating a new draenei or blood elf to experience the new starting areas, or if it’s a mid-level character staying with the Classic Era realm to continue their progress and play with friends there.

For those who haven’t had the opportunity to play through WoW Classic or who are Burning Crusade fans looking to experience Outland right away, we’ll also be offering a way to boost to level 58. These boosts will be limited to one per account, won’t be usable on Classic Era realms, and won’t be usable on the new blood elf or draenei races. Boosted characters will be equipped with some basic dungeon blues, the level-40 mount skill, and a mount. Freshly boosted characters will not include any professions while existing characters will retain their chosen profession as it is.

If you decide to continue playing WoW Classic, you’ll be able to play on Classic Era realms, which will launch at the same time as the pre-expansion patch for Burning Crusade Classic.

We want to make sure that your choice is meaningful and know that some players may want to play a specific character on both WoW Classic and Burning Crusade Classic. We’ll be introducing an optional paid service to unlock a clone of your character in both clients so that you can continue your adventures in both eras. Read more in our World of Warcraft: Classic and Burning Crusade Classic Characters and Realms article.

Burning Crusade Classic Launching This Year
We know that the most burning question players have is when will Burning Crusade Classic launch? This year, 2021. We’ll be holding a beta test before long, where players will be able to head back to Outland and provide feedback on how it feels. We want to make sure we give plenty of time for the beta test so we can make the most of that feedback. We also want to make sure that those who are still progressing through Naxxramas or other content have time.

Final Words
The community has been instrumental in making WoW Classic a success, we look forward to players joining the Burning Crusade Classic beta and helping us make it the best it can be too. We love working on WoW Classic and want to thank you all for helping us bring Azeroth to life. Stay classic and stay tuned for more information here on the official site!

World of Warcraft: Classic and Burning Crusade Classic Characters and Realms
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
With Burning Crusade Classic, players will be provided a choice of taking their characters beyond Azeroth and through the Dark Portal into Outland or staying in Azeroth—for all time. During the World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic Deep Dive panel at BlizzConline, lead producer Holly Longdale, production director Patrick Dawson, and lead software engineer Brian Birmingham discussed what players could expect when the Burning Crusade Classic releases in 2021.

Where Will Your Adventures Take you?
With the release of the Burning Crusade Classic pre-expansion patch, players will be presented with a choice for each of their existing WoW Classic characters: to progress to the Burning Crusade era along with the rest of the Horde and Alliance heroes on their realm, or to continue adventuring in the original WoW Classic content on all-new “Classic Era” servers.

Once the pre-expansion patch has gone live, players will see a choice of WoW Classic or Burning Crusade Classic within the Battle.net desktop app. WoW Classic will direct you to the new Classic Era realms which will have the latest phase of WoW Classic content in it and will not progress into any WoW expansion content. Burning Crusade Classic realms will contain all the new Burning Crusade game systems including the blood elf and draenei races which will become available with the pre-expansion patch release.

You’ll need to make a choice of which game type you’d like to play each of your available characters on. The first time a player tries to log in with a character in either client, they will be asked to confirm that they want to activate the character in that game. Once players choose where they want to play, the clone of that character on the other client will be unavailable for play unless the player chooses to “clone” their character with an optional paid service.

Players who want to experience the best of both worlds will have the option to unlock both “clones” of each WoW Classic character as an optional paid service, allowing each hero to venture forth into Burning Crusade Classic while their Classic Era character continues their original adventure. Clones are created from a snapshot just prior to the Burning Crusade Classic pre-expansion patch and will not include any additional progress from that point on. This means that if you continue to play your WoW Classic character for some months after and unlock the clone at a later date, it will not include any additional progress past the point of the original capture of your character.

What Happens with Realms?
Here’s how it works…. Existing realms will patch with the new Burning Crusade Classic content. If you choose to experience all of the new content, everything for your character remains the same including your realm, guild, and more — but you’ll have access to the Burning Crusade Classic and all the updates that come with it.

If you choose to have a character remain in WoW Classic, it will be available to play on a new Classic Era realm. These new realms are available as a new game client in the Battle.net desktop app. Friends from your original realm who also choose to play on the Classic Era realm will join you on the same realm. Your friends list will continue to be available no matter where you end up.

Realm names will remain the same for both Burning Crusade Classic and Classic Era realms and player characters will exist as they are before the pre-expansion patch on both era types.

Breaking it all Down
To simplify the process, here’s a quick rundown of everything you need to know:

  • On patch day, you’ll be able to open the Battle.net desktop app and choose which game you want to play—Burning Crusade Classic or WoW Classic.
  • Your existing characters will show on both game types under your old realm name/s.
  • Once you’ve chosen a game to play, you’ll select a character to play and confirm your choice.
  • If you decide you’d like to play your character in both game types, you’ll be able to use an optional paid service to gain access to the cloned character in both game types.
  • Then all you need to do is log in as you normally would and play.

More to Come…
Further details on each realm type and the available options for characters will be provided at a later date as we move closer to the Burning Crusade Classic launch. Stay tuned here, on the official World of Warcraft site to learn more.
by Published on 2021-02-19 10:00 PM

BlizzConline 2021 - The Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony is here!

  • The Blizzard Arcade Collection has been announced!
    • It will be free for anyone who purchased a BlizzConline bundle!
    • It includes Lost Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing and Blackthorne.
    • $20 without purchasing a bundle.


  • World of Warcraft
    • Shadowlands Patch 9.1: Chains of Domination has been announced!



  • New Charity pets! Return of the chance to get Bananas the monkey and an extra Daisy the Sloth pet if a goal is met!



  • Burning Crusade Classic
    • You have the option to bring your WoW classic character into BC or keep it in Classic.



  • Hearthstone
    • Core Set will be added later this year for free. 250 of the best cards from all past sets.
    • Hearthstone Classic format will be added, a mode that uses the original set of cards and rulesets.
    • New Hearthstone Expansion - Forged in the Barrens!
      • Shadowhunter Vol'jin card and 30 year anniversary card back available for free!
      • Hearthstone Mercenaries mode allows you to create a team of Warcraft heroes in a rogue-like challenge mode.



  • Diablo IV
    • New Class Revealed - Rogue



  • Diablo II: Resurrected
    • Full HD Remaster of Diablo II and Expansion in 3D.
    • Available on PC and Consoles.
    • All cinematics modernized and recreated shot for shot. Original graphics option available.



  • New Games
    • J. Allen Brack says there are new games being worked on that will be announced when the time is right.



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