World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic is coming on September 26

Blizzard has confirmed that last week's leak was accurate: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic will be out on September 26.

Wrath of the Lich King, detailing the battle against Arthas Menethil in the frozen realm of Northrend, is arguably the best expansion in World of Warcraft's history, and the Classic edition promises a few key changes to make it more immediately accessible for newcomers. First and foremost, players will be able to jump into the Death Knight class right from the start rather than have to reach level 55 as they did in the original version.

The expansion will also add a new Inscryption profession that enables players to inscribe glyphs that alter the properties of spells and abilities, bring back fan-favorite dungeons and raids including Azjol-Nerub and the Culling of Stratholme, and add achievements and new rewards to WoW Classic.

Ahead of the Wrath of the Lich King Classic launch, Blizzard has also added an optional buff for players in Burning Crusade Classic called Joyous Journeys that will boost their experience gains by 50%. The buff will be available until Wrath of the Lich King Class goes live, and for players who'd rather keep rolling with the standard XP rates it can be switched on and off by any innkeeper in the capital city. (But why would you want to do that?)

If you'd like to get in on the Lich King action a little early, the Wrath of the Lich King Classic beta is still running too—you can sign up for a shot at access at worldofwarcraft.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.