Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct was a nearly hour-long presentation featuring numerous updates from across the Warcraft franchise. It includes news related to retail World of Warcraft‘s next major patch, a tease for its next expansion, new classic World of Warcraft updates, and new stuff coming to Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble.
World of Warcraft: The War Within next major update
World of Warcraft is currently wrapping up its first major story arc for the expansion The War Within. The first major patch to the expansion, entitled “Undermine(d)”, will take players into the underground goblin capital of Undermine for the very first time.
The patch is currently planned to release early next year, and will include a new customizable vehicle, a new story, a new arena map, a new dungeon, two new delves, a new raid, and several other updates.
World of Warcraft: Midnight will feature player housing
World of Warcraft: Midnight is the next expansion planned to release after The War Within, and at the very end of the 30th Anniversary Direct presentation, Blizzard gave fans an exciting “one more thing” tease. One of the MMO’s longest-requested features, player housing, was confirmed to be included with Midnight. While no details were provided during this presentation, fans can expect to hear more late next summer when Blizzard fully unveils Midnight.
World of Warcraft: Classic is moving to Pandaria
World of Warcraft Classic continues to progress through old expansions, and Blizzard announced that the game will be moving to Mists of Pandaria in 2025. Read this article if you need a refresh on the history of WoW expansions.
For those who may be frustrated with Classic attempting to race to catch up with retail through the history of the expansions, Blizzard is also releasing new “vanilla” Classic realms on November 21. These realms will include fresh servers for PvE, PvP, and Hardcore, and each will slowly progress through Classic’s cadence of updates. The Molten Core raid will open just weeks after launch.
What’s more, the PvE and PvP realms will eventually migrate to The Burning Crusade Classic, which will reset the expansion progression.
Warcraft I and Warcraft II Remasters Confirmed
Blizzard literally shadow-dropped remasters for Warcraft I and Warcraft II on the same day of the presentation. Note that they are remasters and not remakes, and will include modern graphical updates as well as some quality of life features. In particular, Warcraft II will receive multiplayer, and all the legacy custom maps will be playable and compatible.
What’s more, Blizzard will be releasing a new patch for Warcraft III: Reforged, including a graphical overhaul and other updates designed to improve the experience. All three games will be made available via a Battle Chest, with flexible pricing based on which titles you already have in your library.
Hearthstone Is Getting A Starcraft Crossover
Hearthstone will be starting 2025 with a crossover featuring another popular Blizzard franchise: Starcraft.
2025 will start with Starcraft-themed mini set, and include powers and themes unique to the three factions: Protoss, Zerg, and Terran. These will be followed by the first 2025 expansion, themed around the Emerald Dream, in addition to a return to the Un’Goro Crater for The Shrouded City expansion. Hearthstone will also wrap up the year with a time-themed expansion called The Heroes of Time, featuring Chromie.
Warcraft Rumble Is Coming to PC
Warcraft Rumble, which originally released as a mobile-exclusive game, will be celebrating its one-year anniversary by coming to PC, with a beta that’s set to begin on December 10. In addition, the game will soon introduce new split faction leaders, belonging to two families at the same time, rather than simply one.
New split-faction leaders include Orgrim Doomhammer, Malfurion Stormrage, and Anub-arak, while other characters like Sylvanas will gain a section faction in addition to the current one.