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World of Warcraft Classic is steadily embarking on its time-travelling trip through WoW of old. The next stop is apocalyptic 2010 expansion Cataclysm, which we now know is due to, uh, re-shatter Azeroth at the end of next month.
Cataclysm Classic brings the almost 14-year-old arc back to WoW Classic on May 20th, following previous expansion Wrath of the Lich King’s resurrection in 2022. Cataclysm follows on from Lich King, taking place in the wake of big ol’ dragon Deathwing, The Worldbreaker emerging from the Maelstrom, which causes all kinds of not-great things to occur across Azeroth.
The shaking-up of the world will see changes to the existing lands of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms – which you’ll at least be able to navigate by flying now – as well the introduction of seven new regions to explore in Mount Hyjal, Vash’jir, Twilight Highlands, Uldum, Deepholm, Kezan and Gilneas. Separately, the mysterious island of Darkmoon will offer the chance to hang with enigmatic NPC Silas Darkmoon and you can pit your character against fellow players in PvP zone Tol Barad.
There and elsewhere you’ll find nine dungeons to go a-delving: Blackrock Caverns, Throne of the Tides, Vortex Pinnacle, The Stonecore, The Lost City of Tol’vir, The Halls of Origination, Grim Batol, Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep, with a further three raid dungeons in Throne of the Four Winds, Blackwing Descent and Bastion of Twilight. Two more raids will follow in future updates.
Before the expansion hits, a pre-expansion patch will introduce Goblin and Worgen as playable races, along with new options for various classes and the new Archaeology profession. The patch will also add transmog and reforging features for altering and upgrading your gear.
Cataclysm Classic will make further quality-of-life tweaks, speeding up levelling (as well as upping the cap to 85), adding content on a faster frequency, smoothing out the auction house, expanding guild options and adding heroic dungeons.
The move on from Lich King means that some mounts and pets will no longer be available, as detailed in Blizzard’s rundown – you’ll have until the pre-launch patch hits on April 30th to grab those, or can stick with Classic Era servers if you need a while longer.
World of Warcraft Classic’s devs recently spoke about the decision not to have player-test servers for its Season of Discovery, reinjecting some of the janky, broken fun back into the nostalgic time capsule. Meanwhile, modern WoW is preparing for next big arc The War Within this summer, kicking off new trilogy The Worldsoul Saga. As the MMO approaches its 20th anniversary – good lord – there’s still plenty of life in the old dwarf yet.