Blizzard Shares 2024 Development Roadmap For World Of Warcraft Retail And Classic

Blizzard Entertainment is capping off the year with its 2024 development roadmap for both the retail and classic versions of World of Warcraft. Next year’s highlights, of course, include The War Within, the first expansion of the new Worldsoul Saga trilogy, and Cataclysm Classic.

Both releases are at least six months away, but players can look forward to three more Dragonflight updates for retail and the start of beta testing for Cataclysm Classic between now and then.

“In modern World of Warcraft, you’re going to see three more content updates for Dragonflight arriving before World of Warcraft: The War Within releases next year,” said executive producer Holly Longdale. “In these updates, we’ll be wrapping up the story for this expansion and laying the foundation for our next one.”

“Dragonflight Season 4 will revisit Dragonflight's dungeons and raids, along with outdoor content, featuring updated rewards, and a few new twists,” she added. “Then, in the Spring/Summer, we’ll ask for your feedback when the War Within expansion alpha and beta tests drop.”

As for Cataclysm Classic, beta testing is set to kick off sometime this winter and it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. The Cataclysm expansion marked a major turning point in World of Warcraft retail when it came out in 2010, changing the face of the game world and some major gameplay mechanics with it. It’s one of the reasons why WoW Classic came to be, as it allowed players to experience the long-running MMORPG as it was prior to the game-changing expansion’s release.

While there was a slight pushback following Cataclysm Classic’s official announcement, Blizzard claims that surveyed players aren’t entirely opposed to it. The upcoming beta test should give us a good idea of how the community really feels. You can sign-up on the World of Warcraft Classic official site for a chance to get an invite.