World of Warcraft Classic is expanding. The developers have introduced “Classic+” – new skills, new content and new raids.
Even though the big announcement for World of Warcraft Classic will be the (re)release of the Cataclysm expansion, another announcement went a little “under the radar”. Because with the “Season of Discovery” WoW Classic has basically announced what fans have wanted for years: Classic+. There’s new content in Classic and an interesting, creative way to play the game.
The Season of Discovery brings several new content into the game.
New abilities for all classes
A particularly exciting concept are the new glyphs that can be used in equipment. These glyphs change your class and give it new abilities. These abilities are sure to inspire fans’ wildest “what if…” fantasies, as they allow for completely new styles of play that have never been possible before. Some examples:
However, many of the glyph abilities have already been in the game at some point in World of Warcraft. They tried to only choose skills that fit the game thematically and visually and made changes if the skills were too complex.
Secrets and hiding places everywhere
A core part of the gameplay in the Season of Discovery should be the “outdoor content”, i.e. the game content in the open world. Small puzzles, new NPCs or treasures should be hidden everywhere. This is how you can find the new glyphs.
Although this content is new, it is intended to feel like it has always been part of the old world. You should ask yourself: “Was this NPC already here in 2004?”
What’s also exciting is that there will be no beta phase. You don’t want the community to know everything in advance and have to exchange ideas to find the hidden glyphs and other innovations. Simply “Google a guide” won’t be possible, at least in the first few days.
You can see the whole performance here – it starts at around 11:00 minutes:
Level cap and level raids
Another special feature is that the level cap is 25 at the beginning of the season and then increases in further phases. This goes hand in hand with a new endgame feature: level-up raids.
The first raid is the “Blackfathom Deeps”. The former dungeon is converted into a 10-player raid. It’s not just the bosses that scale, but all the bosses have been redesigned from the ground up. They have new abilities, need new strategies and drop new loot. They should feel like a real raid at maximum level – only at level 25.
World PvP and the Battle of Ashenvale
Since level 25 is the maximum in the first phase and the raid is located in Ashenvale, the area will also be expanded with a new PvP event. Similar to Alterac Valley, there is a big NPC boss for both factions. A Priestess of Elune in the Alliance and an Orc Farseer in the Horde. Both are reinforced by additional mini-bosses in smaller camps.
Those who manage to take out the enemy boss will earn reputation at Warsong Gorge, where some of the best rewards for level 25 can be found. There is also a mount that can be used at level 25 – but only in Ashenvale – to travel through the area faster.
Even more raids and new areas
If the level cap increases, Blizzard will also bring additional content and even more dungeons that will be expanded into raids. At the end of the presentation we had a little cracker ready. Because on screenshots that were jokingly marked “Do not show to the public” there was a picture of the catacombs under Karazhan. These already existed in the game in Classic, but there was nothing special there. It seems as if the developers wanted to build a “completely new” raid there too – or at least PvE activities in the open world.
When does this go live? The Season of Discovery starts on November 30th, later this month!
Is there more to come? Whether this is a one-off experiment remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that Blizzard is obviously spending significantly more resources on Classic than it was a few years ago. Designing new bosses with fresh mechanics and even turning previously unused locations into dungeons should bring a lot of fresh air to Classic and make the Season of Discovery one of the boldest and most creative innovations in Classic.
No matter how you twist it, the Season of Discovery is essentially “Classic+”. And if Blizzard is successful with this, then it is likely that this concept will be expanded even further.
How do you like what was announced?