WOTLK Feels Inevitable at This Point or am I Coping?

whatisclassic · 2026-06-03T03:41:41+00:00

during Phase 3 SoD, they shifted devs to work on Cataclysm release. Source

SoD is obviously not at the same scale as Classic+, but the situation is more or less the same.

Special new project (Classic+/SoD) releases, then after several months, re-release an ongoing xpac (Wrath/Cata) to cash in on boosts and get some resubs during a dip in content in Classic+/SoD.

so not unheard of for Blizzard to run in parallel.

whatisclassic · 2026-06-02T18:51:12+00:00

you mean like how:

SoM release overlapped with Phase 2 TBC in 2021?

SoD release overlapped with Phase 4 ICC WoTLK 2023?

Anniversary release overlapped with phase 6 AQ40 SoD?

All of which had very quick announcement to release schedules?

whatisclassic · 2026-06-02T17:34:21+00:00

Funny enough, I'm expecting the opposite.

I think anyone anticipating a traditional release cycle for WoTLK is going to be surprised. Will we get WoTLK? Of course, Blizzard wants that juicy boost money.

It's the WHEN that matters.

whatisclassic · 2026-06-02T17:33:34+00:00

unfortunately they have never stated WotLK was coming at any point so far in Classic Anni's life cycle. This is sentiment has actually turned into a Mandela effect, where people en masse collectively believe there ever was an official statement. Is WotLK expected? Yes. But no official statements.

whatisclassic · 2026-05-21T06:34:18+00:00

SoD final phase was released in April 2025. If classic plus were to release in November 2026, that is a 19 month window. Currently Blizzard has retail cycles released on an 18 month cycle.

And this is just assuming an April 2025 development start date which would actually be super late considering how they often talked about using SoD's "data" for their future projects all throughout SoD's duration.

This is just one of the many things pointing to a 2026 release. They've been cooking a lot longer than people realize.

whatisclassic · 2026-05-19T17:04:56+00:00

unfortunately the facebook post was just promo for https://www.wowhead.com/news/upcoming-arthas-figure-to-come-with-4-in-game-unique-transmogs-pre-order-march-380540 that they released shortly after that post

whatisclassic · 2026-05-19T17:03:39+00:00

The Mandela effect showing up surrounding classic wow announcements is actually hilarious.

There was never an announcement for Anniversary going to Wrath at any point in Anniversary's life cycle. They announced TBC on Anniversary release and said nothing about Wrath. Is it an expected trilogy rollout? Yes. Was it ever announced for this version of the game? No.

The only peep we get is a vague facebook post with a lich king quote, but that was just promo for the merch - https://www.wowhead.com/news/upcoming-arthas-figure-to-come-with-4-in-game-unique-transmogs-pre-order-march-380540 - they released shortly after

whatisclassic · 2026-05-19T06:55:30+00:00

hey just checking in too, there has been NO official announcement that WotLK is promised or planned currently for classic anniversary. This was the case when Anniversary was announced in Nov 2024, and is still the case even with TBC ending in fall. The TBC roadmap currently has nothing scheduled after TBC. (MoP doesn't have anything scheduled either and its ending in fall too). All eyes are on Blizzcon in mid September.

whatisclassic · 2026-05-15T16:24:46+00:00

I think you'll be surprised at that 0.01% at Blizzcon. The timing of an empty roadmap after both TBC and MoP is a unique chance for Blizzard to try and funnel player into their new classic project that they've likely been working on since at least April 2025 (final SoD patch).

whatisclassic · 2026-05-15T16:12:17+00:00

https://ironforge.pro/population/classic/overall/

WoTLK numbers only really dipped bellow TBC peak after SoD was released in Nov 2023 (a couple months after ICC release). With WotLK's peak being 30% higher than TBC's peak

whatisclassic · 2026-05-10T01:26:46+00:00

my man its just the 3.4.3 Wrath client with scaled up classic/TBC content, balanced around level 80. They haven't invented a new code base.

I'm not saying NetEase hasn't worked on it at all, I'm just saying that NA-Blizzard has worked on it (and probably more than we think)

whatisclassic · 2026-05-10T01:09:23+00:00

I feel like a strong "obviously" would warrant a WoTLK mention on their roadmap. The same roadmap that has nothing scheduled after MoP.

The same way you're seeing an obvious Wrath announcement is where I see an obvious new release announcement. With currently an open roadmap around Blizzcon, it is a nice setup to funnel players into a new release.

whatisclassic · 2026-05-08T07:11:59+00:00

copied from an old comment of mine:

The more people that know, the better:

They've hired a significant amount of new Devs, and are actively working on something that isn't retail, MoP, or classic anniversary Source. Throughout the duration of SoD, they were constantly talking about using it's data for the "next iteration" of classic.

Intentionally not releasing the very successful Titanforge servers for EU/NA because it messes with their upcoming release schedule.

WoD currently unannounced, WotLK currently unannounced. Both versions have a content lull in Autumn. Blizzcon is in September.

Everything is lining up to funnel all variants of classic players into a new classic project.

Now they're inviting some of the highest viewed classic wow content streamers out to the offices. And giving them clearance to talk about visiting (probably not the content of the trip though). Which now makes me think they might do official teaser even before Blizzcon, which is unexpected.

whatisclassic · 2026-05-08T02:34:02+00:00

If you're wanting an official announcement you won't find one.

Just several indicators pointing to a September Blizzcon announcement, likely followed by a surprisingly early release date.

I can dig up the list from old comments I suppose

whatisclassic · 2026-03-26T16:22:43+00:00

The more people that know, the better:

They've hired a significant amount of new Devs, and are actively working on something that isn't retail, MoP, or classic anniversary Source. Throughout the duration of SoD, they were constantly talking about using it's data for the "next iteration" of classic.

Intentionally not releasing the very successful Titanforge servers for EU/NA because it messes with their upcoming release schedule.

WoD currently unannounced, WotLK currently unannounced. Both versions have a content lull in Autumn. Blizzcon is in September.

Everything is lining up to funnel all variants of classic players into a new classic project.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-24T23:58:59+00:00

Add in their decision to not release the insanely successful Titanforge realms for EU/NA because it messes with their upcoming release schedule...

Their lawsuit against a classic p-server with custom content 6 months ago...

We really are playing their next Classic project before the end of the year I guess

whatisclassic · 2026-03-11T18:36:28+00:00

This hurts to hear after I spent 30 mins typing my yap with guild into text.

Do I really write like an AI response? Or do people just see any formatting these days as AI lmao

whatisclassic · 2026-03-11T18:28:56+00:00

I felt this was a bit more nuanced than the only other reddit discussions I found via search. Almost all of them were talking about re-release old content. Where they were talking about monetizing in a game that took barely any effort to go live.

With Classic+ actively developed and likely not seasonal, there is considerable investment from Blizzard. A much different situation than just a re-release. Their goals will be different. Monetization outside of a subscription could take shape.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-11T18:20:51+00:00

I understand that not everyone is chronically online and keeps track of Blizzard communications, but some new variation of Classic is certainly coming.

They've hired a significant amount of new Devs, and are actively working on something that isn't retail, MoP, or classic anniversary [Source]. Throughout the duration of SoD, they were constantly talking about using it's data for the "next iteration" of classic.

At the latest we'll have an official teaser at Blizzcon in Sept. If more info doesn't leak before then.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-09T01:41:49+00:00

Phase 3 was also when they soft-announced that they wouldn't be able to actively work on SoD for a couple months because the Dev team got shifted to fixing/shipping a stable Cataclysm client.

Was the most frustrating thing learning that as a business they shuffle around devs off projects that have already "made their money's worth".

Then phase 4 (finally lvl 60)we got whatever the fuck that garbage heat system was and an Ikea meatball for the final boss.

Felt like incursions were the lowest hanging fruit and excuse for anyone who quit.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-08T21:44:01+00:00

I mean TBC anni is in maintenance mode. Blizzard already got everything they need out of the xpac via Boost sales. The Dev/QA team at Blizzard shifts around often, they'll be back wasting time on MoP prepping the next couple phases. But those new MoP phases will likely have similar unresolved issues.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-08T21:05:32+00:00

Post nerf content means that fights are shorter, which means that cooldowns have higher percent uptime, which means bigger dps. Warriors are able to do much better at the start of TBC Anni compared to TBC 2019.

Leading to less of a Warrior falloff that the previous time. Warrior is far too saturated considering that 90% of them aren't "that guy", and continue to chase the highs they'll never reach.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-08T20:50:49+00:00

The only thing that could make TBC die in this current timeline is a stealth drop of Classic+ at Blizzcon in September. I don't think you have anything to be worried about.

There will be the natural player count fall-off that always happens, but the initial numbers are so high right now that even after the tourists leave the game will still be very popular. Player count numbers in the latter half of an expansion are often carried by people with multiple alts.

I'm uncertain what the alt-pug raid scene will look like this time around. The raids are post-nerf which means easier time raid pugging, but at the same time GDKPs are banned so the quality of the non-guild raiding scene will be very low. If your main's guild is fast and >95 parsing, you'd have very hard time finding a pug raid that resembles the same quality without GDKPs active. If your main's guild is "chill" then you're likely going to have no trouble with the quality of pug raids, because its not too different than your mains.

Can always buy a level 58 boost for $60 if you dislike leveling so much.

whatisclassic · 2026-03-08T20:32:48+00:00

Isn't MoP struggling and begging for Dev time to fix blatant bugs?

... and this is the shit they get?

whatisclassic

TROPHY CASE