Season of Mastery release date: WoW Classic update brings changes
World of Warcraft’s Classic Season of Mastery gives players an opportunity to experience the game through a new lens.
World of Warcraft’s Classic Season of Mastery is finally here. For Warcraft video game fans, the excitement has been building for some time and now the wait is finally over.
Unlike new phases in the past, the latest World of Warcraft update has made it possible for players who love the original version of the game to get a fresh start and begin again at level one for a complete reset of WoW Classic’s content.
As with the first release of WoW Classic, Blizzard is planning six content release phases. However, this time, World of Warcraft fans will be thrilled to hear that phase unlocks are set to happen at a quicker pace - and unlock roughly every couple of months.
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Read on for everything you need to know about the WoW Classic Season of Mastery release date, changes and gameplay.
What is WoW Classic Season of Mastery?
Season of Mastery gives WoW Classic players a chance to start over and reset the game at level one on a new server.
The WoW Classic team will roll out the game’s original content over six phases over the span of the next year.
When is the WoW Classic Season of Mastery release date?
The WoW Classic Season of Mastery release date was Tuesday 16th November 2021 in North America.
The release time was set for 3pm PDT on Tuesday, which works out as 11pm BST and 12am on 17th November for those playing on European servers.
WoW Classic Season of Mastery beta
The open beta for the WoW Classic Season of Mastery began on Tuesday 5th October 2021.
To take part in the open beta, you will have needed to select “Classic Season of Mastery Beta” from your WoW launcher.
If you don’t have access to the server, then create a PTR account and you will gain access to all the PTR servers including any future beta tests.
To register for a PTR account, log in to your Battle.net account, go to the Games & Subscriptions page and select Starter Editions & Public Test Regions. Once you’ve done this, you can download each version from the Battle.net launcher.
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Now that the WoW Classic Season of Mastery is live, you will be able to create additional characters, and up to a maximum of 50 characters in each of the three games (World of Warcraft Classic, Burning Crusade Classic and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands).
However, it is worth noting that characters created for the Open Beta will not be available to use in WoW Classic Season of Mastery.
Can I pre-order WoW Classic Season of Mastery?
There's no need to pre-order WoW Classic Season of Mastery, because it's already live! You can find even more information on the official Blizzard site.
WoW Classic Season of Mastery gameplay
World of Warcraft fans know the drill by now when it comes to gameplay, so expect all the elements you love, but with some extra additions to shake things up a little.
Blizzard has confirmed there will be faster levelling and other improvements that weren’t in the first WoW Classic release.
Want to see what the game will look like in action? Here is a video that shows off the WoW Classic Season of Mastery gameplay!
WoW Classic Season of Mastery changes
The WoW Classic Season of Mastery will aim to imitate the launch of WoW Classic while still giving players a chance to experience the game through a new lens.
The updated version will also alter some of the game’s core mechanics, including faster experience rates and more challenging raids for players, as well as other tweaks.
A statement from Blizzard explains: “The original release of WoW Classic was made to re-create the difficulty and challenge of patch 1.12 from the original World of Warcraft release.
"While we strived to bring a faithful re-creation of that release, many raid encounters turned out to be easier than the first time around—players simply were more experienced and prepared, and patch updates greatly increased player power.
“These changes currently include (but are not limited to): World buffs (like Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer and others) disabled in Raid instances, Restoring mechanics that were removed early on to some Raid bosses, No boss debuff limit (up from 16 debuffs in WoW Classic), and Increased health on bosses, to offset player buffs and the removed debuff limit.”
The experience gains will imitate that of the Burning Crusade Classic levelling process, with a “bigger focus on quest XP increases”, according to Blizzard.
WoW Classic Season of Mastery trailer
In honour of the launch, developers have released an exciting trailer. Watch below.
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Authors
Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
