Catch up on the Future of Warcraft with the Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct! — World of Warcraft — Blizzard News
It’s a big year for the Warcraft universe, and whether you’re a Hearthstone fan, you’ve joined the chaos in Warcraft Rumble, ventured into the world of Azeroth for the first time in Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, or you’re a World of Warcraft player, there’s something for everyone in our Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct stream. Join us for a celebration as we dip into the mana pool of nostalgia and cast far sight on the future of all things Warcraft.
Get the Drop on New Rewards During the Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct
Watch the Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct on Twitch, YouTube, or TikTok to earn new in-game viewership rewards for Hearthstone, Warcraft Rumble, and World of Warcraft.
In addition to watching the official YouTube channels for World of Warcraft, Warcraft Rumble, and Hearthstone, viewers can watch on any Warcraft, Hearthstone, or Warcraft Rumble stream on Twitch or TikTok to earn rewards during the giveaway period from November 13 at 10:00 am PST through December 11 at 10:00 am PST. Learn more in our previously published article.
Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct News Round-Up
We’ve rounded up everything you need to know from the Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct here. Jump directly to each section to learn more: Warcraft RTS, Hearthstone, Warcraft Rumble, World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft Classic, World of Warcraft: The War Within.
Rediscover 30 Years of the Warcraft RTS
It’s been 30 years since Warcraft: Orcs and Humans made its debut, setting the path for so many stories and adventures that have come after. To continue these adventures in the Warcraft series, we’ve released Patch 2.0— now available for all Warcraft III: Reforged players.
The patch overhauls environments, lighting, and the user interface. It also introduces uprezzed classic Warcraft III assets to HD, allowing players to choose and customize their graphical experience. Mix and match assets as you wish. There are also new quality-of-life improvements such as in-game hotkey customization, updated ladder, and much much more.
Beyond the update for Warcraft III: Reforged, we’re happy to announce the release of fully remastered versions of Warcraft I and Warcraft II, taking you beyond Orcs and Humans, the Tides of Darkness, and the Dark Portal for the first time, again. Players will be able to switch between the original graphics and the remastered versions in real time. We’ve also added more modern controls to Warcraft I, such as right-click move, band box select, and faster game speed.
Both Warcraft I and II also have UI and UX improvements, such as tooltips and health bars, a mission select screen, and increased unit selection.
Warcraft II will continue to have multiplayer functionality, and all legacy custom maps will remain fully compatible and playable.
Travel back in time to experience each of these titles once more or— for the very first time— by visiting the shop: Warcraft I: Remastered, Warcraft II: Remastered, Warcraft III: Reforged.
You’ll never forget the first time you hear “zug zug.”
Introducing the Warcraft Battle Chest
We’ve also brought back the Battle Chest, allowing players to purchase all three games in one bundle. For those who already purchased Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft®: II Battle.net® edition, or Warcraft III: Reforged from the Battle.net shop, the bundle will be available at a discount.
Add the Battle Chest to your Collection Now
Hearthstone
Hearthstone: Heroes of StarCraft – The Great Dark Beyond Mini-Set
Early next year, Hearthstone is going beyond Warcraft and into… Heroes of StarCraft! This special Mini-Set will have a whopping 49 new cards across three themed factions, which show what the StarCraft universe would look like in the Hearthstone Tavern. Each faction is made up of cards that can be used across multiple classes, including an iconic Hero card.
Zerg
Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Hunter, and Warlock have joined the Zerg! Led by the formidable Sarah Kerrigan, they will have aggressive cards that win the game by swarming the board.
Protoss
Druid, Mage, Priest, and Rogue fight for the Protoss Empire. Led by the High Templar Artanis, they will have powerful, high-cost cards that are made cheaper throughout the game.
Terran
Paladin, Shaman, and Warrior make up the Terran forces, lead by the one and only Jim Raynor. They will command Battlecruisers—a special take on the Starship mechanic from The Great Dark Beyond.
The Mini-Set will feature a slew of StarCraft units which are sure to invoke nostalgia, as well as the Terran-armored Murloc, Grunty, and new, thematic music. You can chart a course for the Heroes of StarCraft Mini-Set, launching in January 2025! More announcements, details, and card reveals are coming closer to launch.
Major Arena Updates
Then, for the first time in 10 years, Arena Mode is getting a major overhaul. With that update, there will be two kinds of Arena to choose from. Normal Arena will be shorter form, allowing you to complete your runs more quickly. Competitive Arena players will be able to play in the higher-stakes Underground Arena, with longer runs and a new feature: Re-Draft on Loss. Re-Draft on Loss means that, after you lose, you’ll have the option to re-draft cards, edit your deck, and keep your run alive.
Ratings will also be added to both Normal and Underground Arena. Normal, skill-based matchmaking will be used for Normal Arena. Underground Arena throws caution to the wind and lets you face off against opponents of all skill levels.
This major Arena revamp is coming in the first half of next year. Look out for more details about this update closer to when it goes live.
A Preview of the Year Ahead: The Year of the Raptor!
On top of those updates, Hearthstone has an exciting year of expansions ahead, with much-requested themes, locations, and familiar faces across Azeroth.
In the first expansion of the year, enter the Emerald Dream and join the battle between the Old Gods and the Druids of the Emerald Dream for the fate of the World Tree. Things will heat up even more when the Druids of the Flame light up the Mini-Set (releasing earlier than normal this year, during the 32.2 Patch).
The second expansion of the year will be Hearthstone’s first-ever sequel: the return to Un’Goro Crater! Join Elise on a hunt for a mythical, lost Tortollan city. When you find it, join the Tortollans in a festival to celebrate the mighty dinosaurs of the crater in the 33.4 Mini-Set.
In the third expansion of the year, travel with Chromie through alternate realities to recruit Legendary Warcraft heroes like you’ve never seen them before. Leading to the 34.4 Mini-Set: an epic showdown against Murozond at the end of time!
Celebrate One-Year of Warcraft Rumble
It’s been one year since Warcraft Rumble went live. To celebrate, players can log in to Warcraft Rumble today and join the one-year anniversary celebration in game. Players can collect daily rewards, including new avatars and cosmetics!
Introducing Split Leaders
The Warcraft universe is built on rich and diverse characters that may not fit into any singular family, and because of this, we’re introducing split Leaders! In Season 10, we reintroduce Sylvanas Windrunner as the first playable split Leader, honoring her allegiance to both the Horde and Undead families. Later, we will introduce Malfurion Stormrage as Alliance and Cenarion, Orgrim Doomhammer as Horde and Blackrock, and last but not least, Anub’arak as Undead and Beast.
Get Ready to Rumble from Your PC
Warcraft Rumble is coming to PC! The PC beta will launch on December 10, 2024; stay tuned for more information!
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft celebrates 20 years of adventure in Azeroth, bringing together players of all ages and abilities from all over the world, making connections both in the game and out.
Inspired by the incredible story captured in “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” documentary about Mats “Ibelin” Steen—now live on Netflix— a Norwegian WoW® player who suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, you can add the Reven Pack to your collection and support CureDuchenne, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving and extending the lives of those affected by this disease.
Live now in modern World of Warcraft, players can join the World of Warcraft 20th Anniversary Celebration to collect updated Tier 2 armor appearance sets, undertake Classic Timewalking, engage with others to defeat iconic world bosses, head to the Trading post, and earn iconic new rewards, and more.
The War Within has taken the leap into the first chapter of the Worldsoul Saga and adventures continue in WoW Classic, but this is only the beginning of what we have planned.
Season of Discovery
Currently, in Season of Discovery, players are exploring new adventures with new class abilities, all-new level-up raids, finding secrets, and teaming up to defeat Ragnaros and Nefarian. It won’t be long until everyone can join the War Effort and open the gates to Ahn’Qiraj, where they’ll get to plunder the depths for new rewards and face new challenges.
After Ahn’Qiraj, players in Season of Discovery can look forward to one more phase, in which they’ll face the dangers of Naxxramas, along with new instanced content featuring the Scarlet Crusade as well as adventures in Deadwind Pass!
Cataclysm Classic
In Cataclysm Classic, Ragnaros has risen in the Firelands once more, and players are working toward adding the Dragonwrath Staff to their collection. In the final phase of Cataclysm Classic, players will experience the Hour of Twilight patch and Dragon Soul raid dungeon early next year.
And that’s not all we have in store for Classic World of Warcraft.
Revisit the Mists of Pandaria
We’re pleased to announce that Mists of Pandaria Classic will be arriving in the summer of 2025, taking players back to the shores of Pandaria and bringing its legendary class design, incredible raids and dungeons, stunning environments, and (of course) an unforgettable soundtrack.
WoW Classic 20th Anniversary Edition
Relive the World of Warcraft Classic experience with all-new fresh realms in the WoW Classic 20th Anniversary Edition arriving November 21. Join players on a whole new journey to level 60, with the first raid dungeon, Molten Core, becoming available a few weeks after launch. Choose to play on a PvP realm, a Normal PvE realm, or (for the very first time) a Hardcore realm progressing through content with the other realms — all from the beginning, with fresh economies, on very large realms.
These realms will launch with some of the quality-of-life features that came later in the WoW Classic cycle, such as the Chronoboon Displacer to save your world buffs and the improved PvP Honor Ranking system. The PvP and Normal PvE realms will also progress into Burning Crusade Classic!
It’s never too late to go back and re-experience World of Warcraft anew—just in time to celebrate 20 years of adventures in Azeroth!
World of Warcraft: The War Within
The first chapter of the Worldsoul Saga kicked off in August with the launch of The War Within, bringing with it myriad new experiences with a new raid, dungeons, delves, PvP, new appearances and rewards, pets, mounts and much more.
Siren Isle
On the horizon, our next content update, Siren Isle, is currently available on the Public Test Realms (PTR), and the update will go live next month with a little something for everyone. This update also includes the epilogue questline for Dalaran and the Kirin Tor. No spoilers, but the storyline will feature the mysterious haranir, who also starred in the expansion release cinematic.
The Siren Isle introduces a new outdoor environment to explore, full of mysteries to uncover and rewards to help catch your alternate characters up and prepare for the next War Within season ahead.
Plunderstorm Returns
Plunderstorm is returning with a new Plunderstore to provide more flexibility for earning rewards instead of a linear Renown track. There are also some quality-of-life changes to spell interactions, the UI and more ahead.
The Siren Isle content update also brings with it Turbulent Timeways once more and additional updates to the Feast of Winter Veil in-game holiday event.
New The War Within Novella: Heartlands
We’re introducing a new novella that explores more of the story behind the scenes. Find out what happened with Jaina and Thrall after the Fall of Dalaran as they seek out reinforcements in this five-chapter special— available today and as read by Chris Metzen!
Listen and read here.
Up Next— Undermined!
Xal’atath’s trail leads adventurers to a location in our next major content update that has long been known about but, as yet, remained unexplored—the Undermine.
Players will travel deep into the goblin city of Undermine, the capital of the goblin’s trade empire! It is a city like none other seen before in World of Warcraft and stands as a testament to goblin intelligence and creativity as experts in both technology and alchemy. As our adventures continue, we’ll learn more about goblin culture and society that we have never been able to see before. We’ll learn what’s important to them, the problems they are trying to solve —everything that makes them truly unique, and what they’re capable of as a society. We’ll dig a bit deeper beyond just their humor and explosions, though there will still be explosions and a LOT of mayhem to be found.
You’ll arrive in an Undermine that’s in conflict between the four major goblin cartels: Steamwheedle, Blackwater, Bilgewater, and the Venture Company. Each cartel is run by notorious goblins like Monte Gazlowe, Renzik “The Shiv,” Baron Revilgaz, Marin Noggenfogger, and more. Which one you align yourself with is up to you.
You’ll want to make sure you have a sweet ride to roll around town in— players can earn a customizable vehicle early on that’s designed just for use in Undermine. You’ll push the boundaries of locomotion on the roads of Undermine and speed through its causeways and byways at a higher rate than a ground mount can.
Players can adjust the car’s driving characteristics by adding a little extra grip to hug the roads or adjust to slide and glide as they drift around corners. Want to accelerate faster? Then, you may have to sacrifice a little speed. How you customize your car’s characteristics is up to you.
New Dungeon- Operation: Floodgate
The new dungeon, Operation: Floodgate, builds on the narrative of Undermine as players race to stop a group of goblins from blowing a dam that will bring ruin to the Ringing Deeps.
This new dungeon will be available immediately as a part of the new The War Within Season 2 dungeon pool on Heroic, Mythic, and Mythic+, alongside the four other launch dungeons and three legacy dungeons. We’ll share more information on the full slate of dungeons at a later point, but we would be remiss if we didn’t include MOTHERLODE from Battle for Azeroth in the rotation.
Players will also experience two new Delves and variations of existing Delves in the content update. Seasonal updates are also being introduced to Brann Bronzebeard, a new adversary to follow, Zek’vir, and a new set of goblin-inspired Curios.
New Raid- Liberation of Undermine
Experience a new 8-boss raid dungeon that takes you through the city streets and into the magnificent Gallagio— brimming with color and extravagance, it houses the dark secrets of its owner— Gallywix.
There’s more at play here than it first seems, and goblin politics are treacherous and fraught with the underpinnings of something more where Xal’atath is concerned.
There’s even more ahead in 2025, and we have the roadmaps to help guide you on what you can look forward to in World of Warcraft and WoW Classic.
Thank you for making Azeroth your home over these last two decades. Speaking of home, the World of Warcraft team has one last thing to share with you…
And yes, in World of Warcraft: Midnight, your next adventure begins at home. A house to call your very own. Stay tuned!
Wherever your gaming experience takes you, we can’t wait to continue on this journey with you all.
Lok’tar ogar! We’ll see you at the Inn, in Azeroth, and wherever the road takes us all next!
