World of Warcraft is approaching its 20th anniversary, which means players can expect a massive mid-season update that brings back many of the game’s most legendary armor sets, dungeons, and bosses for a limited time. On top of that, a whole festival celebrating the game is about to take place in Tenalis, where players will compete in mount races, costume contests, and earn valuable rewards.
Last night, a roundtable video was released on the official World of Warcraft platform, in which Executive Producer and Vice President Holly Longdale, Assistant Game Designer Leah Hwang, and Senior Game Designer Bret Cocking detailed everything. This is a pretty big update, bigger than previous anniversary events. Here’s everything that’s coming!
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Let’s start with the festivals, which, according to the developers, are the main part of the update. All of the anniversary vendors will be here, along with a host of more fun community events. Fashion shows, costume parties, mount contests, new battle pets, and new mounts can all be found here. Add to that these updated Timewalking vendors, and it’s safe to say you’ll be spending a lot of time in Tanaris.
Speaking of Timewalking, it’s back. Classic dungeons including the Deadmines, Zul’Farrak, Dire Maul, and Stratholme (the latter two with two wings each) are back and accessible to characters above level 10. Timewalking vendors have been around for a while, so expect inventory updates.
This isn’t the only beloved classic dungeon to return. Blackrock Depths is returning as a limited-time raid, a 10-15 player raid. Eight major bosses and five minor bosses will appear across three difficulty levels. This is a complete refresh of the instance, making it a cut above the game’s 10th anniversary raid.
In terms of raid bosses, new bad guys from the old world are also about to appear. I couldn’t believe that we had to defeat Kel’Thuzad again, but it turns out that we do, as he will appear along with Tichondrius and Ossirian the Unscarred. In terms of world bosses, the three classic-era Emerald Drake world bosses are back, and Azulgoth, Sha of Wrath, Kazzak, and finally Archiven the Stone Warden will appear in this world eager for a fight.
But perhaps the most important addition for the 20th anniversary is the updated Tier 2 sets, which will see some of World of Warcraft’s most popular raid sets get a visual update. Classes that didn’t exist when the Tier 2 sets launched will get new sets tailored for important roles (for example, Death Knights will get the Lich King set). They look amazing.
The event will run for a little over two months, but there’s no official date for patch 11.05 yet. World of Warcraft launched on November 23, so who knows? Maybe it’ll be on the same day this year? Regardless, it’ll certainly get you through Christmas. Plenty of time to get all those rewards.
Are you coming back? Let us know below!
