Summary
- World of Warcraft Classic's Season of Discovery has officially ended, but the servers will stay open indefinitely.
- WoW Classic is moving away from Season of Discovery to focus on the next Classic project.
- The team hinted at a potential Classic+ revamp in the future.
World of Warcraft Classic Season of Discovery is officially done releasing new content, though the servers will remain open indefinitely. Despite rumors of a ninth phase, World of Warcraft is shifting development away from Season of Discovery in favor of its next Classic project.
Season of Discovery is World of Warcraft’s ongoing Classic experiment in which it adds new surprises to the old-school game, ranging from class-altering Runes and secret quests to completely original dungeons and raids. Phase 8 marked the first content update composed of of all-new content never seen in Classic before, but since the update, fans have been uncertain if WoW Classic Season of Discovery was finished, or if a Phase 9 was in development.
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Now, World of Warcraft has officially broken its silence on the subject – and the result is bittersweet. In a recent Blizzard forum post, World of Warcraft Classic game producer Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield confirmed that Season of Discovery will no longer be receiving new content. He explained that Phase 7 was supposed to be the end of WoW Classic Season of Discovery, but that they took a risk in order to create Phase 8 and the Scarlet Enclave raid. That said, Phase 8 was their last hurrah, with development power now being moved to other places in order to “make the most impact on the long-term future of WoW Classic.”
World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery is Over
Though Season of Discovery is essentially over, the servers won’t be going anywhere. Greenfield explained the realms themselves will be evergreen, and that he hopes to let players enjoy the Season of Discovery sandbox alongside other forms of Classic WoW indefinitely.
Greenfield also confirmed the team is working on their “next major project in the original WoW design space,” and hinted at “big plans and big ambitions for this type of ‘found photographs’ content” like Season of Discovery. This could mean Blizzard is working on a Season of Discovery-esque version of The Burning Crusade, or even a bolder "Classic+" revamp along the lines of TurtleWoW, a popular private server that makes significant changes to Classic WoW. Fans will have to wait as the Classic devs “take the time [they] need to get in the proverbial kitchen and ‘cook’, iterate on, and shape” what they learned from Season of Discovery before they reveal their next “truly exciting” project.
In the meantime, Season of Discovery is offering some exciting prospects of its own right now. Gamers who defeat Balnazzar, the first boss of the Scarlet Enclave, or who have already beaten him before June 30 will earn a free Level 85 Character Boost for WoW Classic’s progression realms ahead of Mists of Pandaria's launch. To help facilitate this, starting June 3, all players will receive a permanent 5% damage, health, and healing boost in the Scarlet Enclave, which will increase by 5% every two weeks to a maximum of 25%.
