World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Classic coming in 2025

World of Warcraft Classic players will head to the continent of Pandaria next year with the release of Mists of Pandaria Classic, Blizzard Entertainment confirmed Wednesday during its Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct livestream. And a classic version of the fourth expansion for World of Warcraft isn’t the only thing coming to the 20-year-old MMO. Starting next week, players will be able to dive into World of Warcraft Classic “Classic.”

Mists of Pandaria Classic will reintroduce the Pandaren race, their home continent of Pandaria, and the pugilistic Monk class to WoW Classic. When the expansion was originally released in 2012, it introduced the pet battle system and boosted the game’s level cap from 85 to 90.

According to Blizzard’s roadmap for WoW Classic, Mists of Pandaria’s pre-patch will arrive sometime in summer 2025, bringing some of the expansion’s new features to the retro version of World of Warcraft. Raids, dungeons, and the expansion’s story campaign are scheduled for sometime in fall 2025.

Well ahead of Mists of Pandaria Classic’s launch, Blizzard will release World of Warcraft Classic 20th Anniversary Edition — aka World of Warcraft Classic “Classic” — which will give players access to all-new fresh realms. Basically, players will get to relive the World of Warcraft Classic experience from the start, as it was five years ago.

The 20th Anniversary Edition realms will go live on Nov. 21, said Clayton Stone, associate production director on World of Warcraft Classic, during Wednesday’s livestream. “But you won’t have rush to level 60,” Stone noted. “Classic is all about the journey, after all, as we’ve made a change and our first raid, Molten Core, won’t unlock for a few weeks after launch.”

Nora Valletta, lead software engineer for World of Warcraft Classic, explained how the 20th Anniversary Edition realms will roll out over six phases through late 2025.

“We’ll be launching realms of all flavors: PvP, normal PvE, and for the very first time, hardcore, which will progress through the phases in lockstep with the other two,” Valletta said. “This means a fresh start for everyone at the same time, together on a level playing field with fresh economies on very large realms.”

“If you missed out on jumping into WoW Classic’s initial launch in 2019, this is the perfect time to join our community,” Stone said. “These servers will also launch with the quality of life features that came later on, like the Chronoboon Displacer to save your world buffs and the improved PvP honor ranking systems.” Those realms will progress to The Burning Crusade Classic at the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026, according to Blizzard’s roadmap.

World of Warcraft Classic is available on Mac and Windows PC. The MMO’s first three expansions — Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm — are also playable in classic form.