Thirty years now since Warcraft: Orcs and Humans was released and one of the most iconic franchises in video game history began. If World of Warcraft is its flagship today and for 20 years, the Warcraft license has also brought us other games, from Warcraft 1, 2, 3 to Hearthstone which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, as well as Warcraft Rumble which celebrates its first candle.
For the occasion and to replace BlizzCon canceled this year, Blizzard has set up the Warcraft Directan online event celebrating the 30 years of the license to mark the occasion and announce the future of their games in the short or long term. And in this article, we make you a game-by-game recap of all the major announcements to remember!
World of Warcraft : The War Within
We start directly with the big piece of the conference, World of Warcraft. While season 1 of The War Within approaches the end, Ion Hazzikostas, the game director reveals more about the rest of the expansion, the imminent patch 11.0.7 of which we already know everything with the return of Plunderstorm among others, but above all 11.1 and lots of information on its content:
- The new area will be the underground capital of the goblins, Terremine (Undermine), at war between the 4 cartels!
- The new raid will be the Liberation of Terreminequite similar to the experience of Dazar’alor or the Siege of Orgrimmar, where Gallywix seems to be the final boss!
- And new dungeon, “Operation Open Valves” will be available and will be part of the Mythic+ rotation with 4 other TWW dungeons as well as the return of the Lore, the Battle for Azeroth dungeon,
- Of the new ultra-fast land vehicles and capable of drifting will appear: the DRIVE,
- Of new chasmswith a new companion,
- A new arena for PvP players!
For plans from 11.1.5 and beyond, no details apart from the roadmap above, where a few clues have been left, such as this logo at the end of the frieze which the community has already identified as was related to Northrend and perhaps also the other big surprise news regarding WoW: “housing” will come into play from the next expansion, Midnight ! A feature long awaited by players, which will allow you to have your own house in game, and to decorate it as you wish with numerous objects.
Finally, the green at the end of the frieze could suggest the arrival of Legion: Remix, a game mode like we had with Mists of Pandaria: Remix…
World of Warcraft : Classic
Concerning WoW Classic, no announcement of Classic + yet but some new things to remember:
- Mists of Pandaria : Classic will be on the program in 2025 once Cataclysm: Classic is finished,
- Of the new Vanilla Classic servers will appear on November 21 with PvE, Hardcore, PvP and JdR servers, and their progress will be extended until at least Burning Crusade Classic!
- The Season of Discovery continues its progress with Ahn’Qiraj which arrives this winter, then Naxxramas as well as new exclusive endgame content linked to the Scarlet Crusade and a dungeon which seems linked to the “secret” zone under Karazhan abandoned dozens of years ago years and which will finally be used.
Warcraft 3: Reforged (et Warcraft 2… et Warcraft 1 ?)
The Warcraft RTS that launched the saga are getting a facelift, starting with Warcraft 3: Reforged! After a launch considered very poor by the players, The version 2.0 of this remaster arrives in the version that players expected a few years ago. A new interface, a graphics upgrade of all game assets in HD, the possibility of customizing your graphics as much as you want, as well as many new features in terms of the quality of life of the gameplay.
But in addition to Warcraft 3, it is also Warcraft 1 and Warcraft 2 which have the right to their fully remastered versions! The opportunity to (re)discover the history of Warcraft since its very beginnings, with HD and improved versions of the two games of yesteryear.
And all this is available: right now!
Hearthstone
Lots of news regarding Hearthstone, the Warcraft card game! Which moreover will no longer be completely since the next mini-set which will complete the current expansion, The Darkness of the Beyond, will be a collaboration between Hearthstone and Starcraft! Scheduled for early 2025, the Zerg, Protoss and Terrans guided respectively by Kerrigan, Artanis and Jim Raynor will therefore arrive in the card game, for what will be “the largest mini-set to date” for Hearthstone.
We also had a glimpse of the 2025 roadmap and Hearthstone is giving us a World of Warcraft, automatically revealing its 3 next expansions planned for 2025:
- the Emerald Dream
- the veiled city
- the Heroes of Time
Three expansions right in the Warcraft universe, with the officialization of the year of the Raptora sign of the next rotation next April.
The arena will undergo big changes too! The “forgotten” game mode, which has been present since the very beginning of the game, will now have 2 modes: the “Normal” arena and the “Underground” arena. The first remains the current one that we know, and the Underground allows you to re-draft your deck and improve it after a defeat. Both modes will also have a ranked mode with a rank that will be displayed, like for Standard and Battlegrounds modes!
Warcraft Rumble
The new addition to the Warcraft family on mobile is celebrating its first birthday, and an in-game event is happening now to get new rewards, such as new portraits and skins!
In addition, the game director announced the arrival of Split Leadersthe most powerful units to have existed with Sylvanas as the first Leader of the Horde and the Undead! Next will be Malfurion Stormrage to represent the Alliance and the Cenarians, Orgrim Doomhammer for the Horde and the Blackrocks as well as Anub’Arak for the Beasts and the Undead!
Finally, last announcement and not the least which could help the success of the game; the Warcraft Rumble PC beta arrives on December 10, 2024with more details to be given very soon!
