If you missed out on joining WoW Classic's nostalgic launch in 2019, relive the experience in the game that sparked it all with the World of Warcraft® Classic: 20th Anniversary Edition.

The Anniversary Edition realm experience wouldn't be complete without a bit of in-game engagement from us. Over the next few days, Blizzard Game Masters (GMs) will be present and available on the Anniversary Edition realms, helping you to celebrate a fresh launch.

It's never too late to go back and re-experience World of Warcraft anew and gain the edge with a clean start on a level playing field, with fresh economies, on large realms, and just in time to celebrate 20 years of adventures in Azeroth!

And the journey doesn't stop there—for our PvP and PvE realms, conquer the heat of Outland when these realms progress to the Burning Crusade Classic!

Adventure Throughout Azeroth and Level Up Together As One!

PvE and faction-balanced PvP will be ready for those seeking a new nostalgic journey to level 60, and challenge-seeking defenders of Azeroth can progress through the Classic Era phases of content on fresh Hardcore realms.

Join other players and strike out on a new adventure to level 60, but there's no need to rush—you'll have plenty of time to enjoy; the Molten Core and Onyxia raids open on 12 December.

Quality-of-Life Features Out the Gate

Access quality-of-life features that arrived later in the WoW Classic cycle, right from the start—such as the Chronoboon Displacer to save your world buffs and the improved PvP Honor Ranking system.

For those who enjoy the look and feel of the Classic Guild UI, we've implemented an option for players to choose between using the original Classic Guild UI or the newer Guild UI.

Getting a group is now easier with a Looking for Group (LFG) tool, allowing players to manually create, join, and browse parties. Additionally, we're adding a Services chat channel that players can enable, specifically for advertising services such as portals, summons, and tribute buffs.

Also, the option of creating "Self-Found" characters will be available right from the start on Hardcore realms—should you wish to take on the challenging wilds of Azeroth with the inability to trade with other players, send and receive most mail, or use the auction house.

Do you have what it takes to go Hardcore?

For the new Anniversary realms, Hardcore realms will progress through the Classic Era phases of content. This means that when the Molten Core unlocks in Normal PvE and PvP realms, it will also unlock in Hardcore realms. The only caveat is that, similar to the previous Hardcore realms, PvP Battlegrounds and Battlemasters are disabled and will not unlock when non-Hardcore realms reach their Battleground phases.

While the ability to transfer characters between realms of different rulesets isn't available for PvE and PvP realms, Hardcore characters can transfer to non-Hardcore Normal PvE Anniversary realms, so feel free to revive your un-alived characters on Normal PvE Anniversary realms after your transfer.

For more information on the rules of Hardcore, visit our previously published article.

Get Ready for the Ultimate Adventure

To get to the WoW® Classic: 20th Anniversary Edition realms, launch World of Warcraft Classic, click Change Realm, click the Anniversary Edition tab, and choose an available Anniversary realm for your preferred play style—PvE, PvP, or Hardcore. Remember that Hardcore realms do not progress into Burning Crusade Classic.

On the new Anniversary realms, Normal PvE realm characters must remain on Normal PvE realms, and PvP realm characters will be locked in PvP realms. However, just like our previous, existing Hardcore realms, should players wish to transfer characters off of Hardcore realms, they can do so.

We look forward to celebrating this epic anniversary with you, so keep your eyes peeled for GM tags in and around Azeroth, helping you to celebrate a milestone launch.

Lok'tar ogar!