World of Warcraft: Classic launches, servers now live

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It's time to return to Azeroth circa 2006.

What you need to know

  • World of Warcraft: Classic is now live.
  • The game is time machine back to 2006, allowing players to experience a much older Azeroth.
  • You'll need an active World of Warcraft subscription to play, and time cards are available on Amazon (opens in new tab).

After months of waiting, World of Warcraft: Classic launched today, bringing a wave of nostalgia for anyone who stepped foot in the world of Azeroth as it existed in 2006. Classic servers are now live, only requiring an active subscription to World of Warcraft for players to get started.

World of Warcraft: Classic is built upon the foundations of patch 1.12, dubbed "Drums of War," which released in 2006. At launch, players will be able to jump back in and take on the perils of the adventures and trials available across classic World of Warcraft, including all of the difficulty that comes with it. Once at max level, you'll be able to take on the Molten Core and Onyxia raids.

Further raids, dungeons, and world bosses, are expected to launch are part of a phased content rollout plan over the coming months. Here's a quick look at Blizzard's plan:

  • Phase 1 (Classic Launch): Molten Core, Onyxia, Maraudon
  • Phase 2: Dire Maul, Azuregos, Kazzak
  • Phase 3: Blackwing Lair, Darkmoon Faire, Darkmoon deck drops begin
  • Phase 4: Zul'Gurub, Green Dragons
  • Phase 5: Ahn'Qiraj War Effort begins, Ahn'Qiraj raids open when the war effort dictates, Dungeon loot reconfiguration: Tier 0.5 Dungeon gear, Relics, drop rates and location changes
  • Phase 6: Naxxramas, Scourge Invasion

World of Warcraft: Classic marks the launch of something nostalgic players have been asking for for ages. Now that Blizzard has done a lot of the hard work of figuring out how to get its older content running on its current game engine, it's possible we could see further servers launched for various past expansions going forward as well.

World of Warcraft Classic: Four things that were good, four things that were bad

To get started with World of Warcraft: Classic, you can select and download the client now via the Battle.net launcher. Playing the game requires you to have an active subscription to the modern game to get started.

Get in the game

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World of Warcraft 60-Day Time Card

Experience the phenomenon

With the World of Warcraft Time Card, you can continue your epic quest for 60 days without a credit card. Follow the instructions at Battle.net and be up and running in minutes.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the Editor in Chief for Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. Got a hot tip? Send it to daniel.thorp-lancaster@futurenet.com.
1 Comment
  • Played last night and remembered what was both great and frustrating about the original WoW. On the great side you had much more player interaction, more exploration of the areas as the quest givers are spread out, and a more challenging time finishing the quests. Mobs will kill you if you don't keep aware of your surroundings. Talents and abilities mean something and each level up gives you a noticeable improvement. Gold is very limited. Basically you have to work for your success and I like it. On the other hand there are a couple of things that Blizzard did right later on. Particularly the ability to multi-tag mobs. With literally hundreds of other players at the same level as you it is very frustrating to complete the kill quests when only the first person to get a hit gets credit for the kill. Oh well, that's the way it was and that's the way it is again. Looking forward to progressing through the content like I did 15 years ago.