WoW Classic continues on its journey to revisit the MMO's 20-year history by introducing Mists of Pandaria Classic servers next year, and Blizzard promises they'll be pretty dang faithful to the original.
That comes from Blizzard's chunky Warcraft Direct, which dips into what's next for WoW Classic among other things. A few tidbits are coming that we'll get into later, though the standout reveal was Mists of Pandaria Classic itself. Blizzard hasn't revealed much aside from the fact you'll get to explore the expansion as it was when it was released in 2012, with some minor changes likely to be included.
Those minor changes are a bit of a theme to WoW Classic expansions, though how sweeping they are depends on the expansion itself. For example, Wrath of the Lich King Classic initially said goodbye to Dungeon Finder on launch before bringing it back – you also had more inclusive character options. Given the chance to speak to Blizzard before the Warcraft Direct, I ask what we can expect from Mists of Pandaria Classic.
Software engineer Kevin Vigue tells us Blizzard's approach to WoW Classic balances what players want to see and where the devs think the game is going, though some lessons have been taken from Wrath of the Lich King Classic.
"With Mists of Pandaria, I don't know if there are really any of those decision points that we're making right now in the same way that we were for Wrath of the Lich King," he says. "I think that, when we proceeded through Wrath of Lich King and then listened to player feedback about 'we actually do want LFD for this version of World of Warcraft,' brought that in, then proceeded on to Cataclysm.
"That set a pretty clear course for what we're going to be doing with Mists of Pandaria, and that'll be staying true to what was in the original Mists of Pandaria, pretty much across the board. I can't think of any real diversion points that we've talked about or made a decision on."
As a result of that, Vigue says you can look forward to the full set of queuing for dungeons and scenarios alongside all the other good stuff like challenge modes and raids.
Initially released in 2012, the Asian folklore-inspired expansion comes with more story content and raids, though the show's star is the Pandaren race, which started off as an April Fool's joke. Alongside the joy of playing as a big ol' panda, the Pandaren are unique in Warcraft as they're truly neutral – no Horde or Alliance affiliation here unless you want it. That fact also spawned a community legend who has yet to leave the Pandaren's home isle to stay truly neutral.
While Blizzard has dabbled with Mists of Pandaria's content just earlier this year in World of Warcraft: Remix, it looks like WoW Classic's take will be less experimental and more faithful.
Back to the Warcraft Direct, that's not all you're getting for WoW Classic. Following fan feedback, Blizzard has revealed that 20th Anniversary Edition Realms will offer Classic era fans a fresh start to WoW, including hardcore server options – both of which will continue through content updates simultaneously. After that, non-hardcore servers will eventually progress from vanilla to Burning Crusade, the MMO's first expansion.
Thankfully, while you'll have to wait for Mists of Pandaria Classic, you've got the new Anniversary servers to enjoy until then.
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