World of Warcraft Classic is getting Burning Crusade servers this year

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Players will be able to venture into Outland as it existed in 2007.

When World of Warcraft Classic was first released in 2019, it caused WoW's subscription numbers to more than double. The opportunity to return to a much more challenging and mundane version of Azeroth, untouched by expansions and over 15 years of changes and improvements, was just too enticing. And now WoW's first-ever expansion, The Burning Crusade, is getting that same Classic treatment.

Announced during BlizzCon 2021, The Burning Crusade Classic is a set of servers that will let players explore beyond the Dark Portal into the apocalyptic Outlands almost exactly as it was in 2007. WoW Classic players will be able to level up to a new cap of 70 while exploring familiar zones like Hellfire Peninsula and Zangarmarsh. And Burning Crusade Classic will also unlock a ton of "new" features like flying mounts, jewelcrafting, the Draenei and Blood Elf races, and the ability to play as a shaman or paladin regardless of your faction.

Similar to WoW Classic, Burning Crusade Classic servers will mimic the live experience of the original expansion by rolling out new raids and dungeons over time. It will also be included as part of a normal WoW subscription, and players will have the choice of whether or not they want their Classic characters to progress into the Burning Crusade or stay at level 60 in vanilla WoW Classic.

Though Blizzard didn't announce a specific release date, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic is coming later this year. In a later BlizzCon panel, Blizzard said the beta will be starting very soon.

Steven Messner
Steven Messner

With over 7 years of experience with in-depth feature reporting, Steven's mission is to chronicle the fascinating ways that games intersect our lives. Whether it's colossal in-game wars in an MMO, or long-haul truckers who turn to games to protect them from the loneliness of the open road, Steven tries to unearth PC gaming's greatest untold stories. His love of PC gaming started extremely early. Without money to spend, he spent an entire day watching the progress bar on a 25mb download of the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 demo that he then played for at least a hundred hours. It was a good demo.