WoW’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, Going Solo, New Dracthyr Classes, Season 1, and More!

This Week in WoW (TWiW), catch up on the latest World of Warcraft® news from the last week!

Going Solo in World of Warcraft: A Hero’s Journey

With the release of The War Within there are more ways than ever to carve your own path through the challenges and tales of World of Warcraft— and you can choose to take them on as a solo player. Whether you jump into Follower Dungeons or take on bite-sized challenges in Delves, you can experience more of World of Warcraft your own way.

Whatever your reason for going solo, the opportunity for adventure is yours to take. New or returning to Azeroth, there’s no better time to jump in and get started.

WoWCast: World of Warcraft 20th Anniversary Celebration Preview

Join Executive Producer & Vice President Holly Longdale, Senior Game Designer Bret Cocking, Associate Game Designer Leah Hwang, and host Community Manager Bethany Stout as they reveal a myriad of games and activities players can look forward to in the WoW 20th Anniversary Celebration in-game event—including some unique rewards, plus a look ahead at incoming Shaman Ascendance forms, the new Blackrock Depths Raid, new Timewalking dungeons, and more!

The WoW 20th Anniversary in-game event content will be available for testing on the PTR very soon; keep an eye on the official forums to learn more.

Celebrate World of Warcraft During the 20th Anniversary!

The 20th Anniversary Celebration of World of Warcraft is almost here, and we have many exciting activities and rewards to share with you as we look ahead to what’s in the works. It’s a big year for World of Warcraft, so we’ve created a variety of events and rewards spanning over a couple of months. Here’s an overview of what we have planned.

Here’s what you can look forward to during the 20th Anniversary Celebration:

• Look for the 20th Anniversary Celebration event all through the months of November and December.
• Earn and spend a new currency— Bronze Celebration Tokens— to spend on new items for your collection.
• Engage in the Blackrock Depths Raid dungeon
• Collect Iconic Tier 2 transmog appearance sets
• Go Timewalking through Classic World of Warcraft Dungeons
• Earn a New Mount, Blizzard Employee Service Award cosmetics, and More
• Celebrate with an expanded event at the Caverns of Time
• Join Chromie on a new time-bending adventure with the Codex of Chromie
• Discover new secrets and solve them with Guest Relations
• Defeat Party-Crashing World Bosses, including the Sha of Anger and Archavon the Stonewatcher
• Go back for some PvP revenge during Korrak’s Revenge in Alterac Valley
• Celebrate 30 Years of Warcraft with Warcraft III-themed back appearances on the Trading Post

Read our article to learn more about how you can celebrate World of Warcraft® during the 20th Anniversary!

The Dracthyr Spread their Wings to New Classes

The exposure to new races and their abilities in the Dragon Isles has expanded opportunities for growth among the dracthyr. In the 20th Anniversary Celebration content update, players will be able to create new Dracthyr as a Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Mage, Warrior, or Warlock.

In addition, Shaman will get a new Ascendance form for each specialization—Restoration Shaman will get a new Water form, Elemental will get a new Fire form, and Enhancement will get a new Wind form—to express their elemental mastery with the release of the update! We’ll have additional adjustments you can look forward to for Ascendance, just keep an eye out for the PTR update notes in the days ahead.

We can’t wait to see what paths your new Dracthyr takes when the update goes live—read through our previously published article for all the details.

Take the Fight to Nerub-ar Palace Beginning 10 September

Gather your allies and traverse into the dark depths of Azj'Kahet into Nerub-ar Palace to take the fight to eight new bosses, ending in a face-off against Queen Ansurek, but beware of the tangled web she weaves…or you may be her next meal.

Raid Bosses: 8
Difficulties: Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic, Mythic, Story Mode
Level: 80
Raid Finder Minimum Item Level: 567
Raid Unlock Schedule:

• Week of 10 September – Raid Finder Wing 1: The Skittering Battlements (Ulgrax the Devourer | The Bloodbound Horror | Sikran, Captain of the Sureki), Normal, Heroic
• Week of 17 September – Raid Finder Wing 2: Secrets of Nerub-ar Palace (Rasha'nan | Nexus-Princess Ky'veza | Broodtwister Ovi'nax), Mythic, Story Mode
• Week of 24 September – Raid Finder Wing 3: A Queen's Fall (The Silken Court | Queen Ansurek)

Learn more details about bosses, achievements, and rewards from our Raid overview.

The War Within Season 1 Begins 10 September

Enter Nerub-ar Palace in Azj-Kahet, undertake Mythic dungeons, face new World bosses, engage in player-vs-player competition, and more in the first season of The War Within.

Week of 10 September

• Nerub-ar Palace Normal and Heroic difficulty, Raid Finder Wing 1
• Mythic 0 dungeons
• Heroic Seasonal Dungeons
• Face New World Bosses
  • Kordac, the Dormant Protector
  • Aggregation of Horrors
  • Shurrai, Atrocity of the Undersea
  • Orta, the Broken Mountain
• PvP season begins

Week of 17 September

• Nerub-ar Palace Mythic Difficulty and Raid Finder Wing 2
• Mythic + dungeons
• Nerub-ar Palace raid Story Mode becomes available

Week of 24 September

• Raid Finder Wing 3

There are also seasonal rewards for your efforts in Delves, and you'll want to obtain them before the start of Season 2:

• Nemesis: Defeat Zekvir in his lair before the release of the next season of Delves.
  • Reward: Zekvir's Raptorial Spine
• Hunting the Hunter: Defeat Zekvir in his lair on Tier 5 before the release of the next season of delves.
  • Reward: "Ascension Breaker" Title
• Let Me Solo Him: Defeat Zekvir in his lair on Tier 5 without any other players in your party before the release of the next season of delves.
  • Reward: Delver's Dirigible Schematic: Void mount customization

For a detailed look at what's in store for Season 1, read through our Season 1 overview. Good luck in the season ahead, champions!

AWC and MDI Plans Revealed for The War Within!

The War Within is here, and with it, the Arena World Championship (AWC) & Mythic Dungeon International (MDI) return in Season 1.

The quest for Arena immortality begins later this month, with Cup 1 starting on 27 September. Meanwhile, Dungeoneers will have two opportunities to participate in both Mythic Dungeon International (MDI) and The Great Push (TGP) formats running in Season 1!

Registration is now open for each program, which will all be broadcast live on Twitch and YouTube!

Arena World Championship

The AWC will begin on 27 September, with four online qualifier Cups leading into an epic Season Grand Finals boasting a $300,000 (USD) prize pool and the chance to be crowned The War Within's first Champions.

Teams in Europe and North America can sign up on Raider.IO for The War Within Season 1 Cups, where they'll earn the new in-game Forged Banner of the Algari as they battle for their chance at advancing to the Grand Finals. This banner will be exclusively available via the Arena World Championship program for the first time. There will be four open Cups per region, where teams will compete for points and $20,000 (USD) prize money per Cup. After all the Cups and the AWC Gauntlet, the remaining four teams in each region will face off in the Season 1 Grand Finals for their share of the combined $300,000 (USD) prize pool!

Mythic Dungeon International

The Mythic Dungeon International begins with Time Trials starting 16 October.

Registration is now open on Raider.IO to all eligible teams, where the top 16 teams globally will advance to the MDI Groups. In each MDI Group, teams of eight will compete for a share of $30,000 (USD) prizing, as well as to be one of the top teams qualifying for the MDI Global Finals. The top six teams from Group Stage will join two teams from the re-introduced China region to battle it out at the Global Finals for their share of the $200,000 (USD) prize pool and the MDI Global Champion for The War Within title! The first MDI season begins on October 16, and sign-ups are now open, so head over to Raider.IO to register!

For more information on AWC and MDI plans in The War Within, read through our previously published article.

Follow along on the official World of Warcraft news site for all the latest developments as we journey through the week together.