Much-Anticipated World of Warcraft Classic Mode Gets Release Date

World of Warcraft Classic might seem like a relic to some who dismiss it as an “old version” of World of Warcraft, but the community that continues to play on its servers keeps innovating new ways to play WoW. One of the most popular over the last few years has been Hardcore Mode, which requires players to delete their character upon death. This stipulation (and all of the other rules surrounding it) was previously player-imposed because Blizzard Entertainment didn’t have an official implementation. Last month, the developer announced that it was finally bringing an official version of the fan mod to the game, and today it revealed the release date. Hardcore Mode is coming to World of Warcraft Classic on August 24.

The news was made official on Blizzard’s “This Week in WoW” blog post. There, they announced the release date for the mode is coming right after the 1.14.4 content update goes live, which is focused on fixing the current ranked PvP system. Of course, the full rules for Hardcore Mode were announced back in June, and there’s nothing new to report on that end. The basics remain the same in that if you die, your character is deleted. 

That’s not the only rule to keep in mind if you’re looking to make a Hardcore character though. You also won’t be able to enter any PvP Battlegrounds and will be restricted to a 24-hour lockout in dungeons until you hit level 60. Plus, the debuff and buff limits are gone and Paladins will no longer be able to use the popular “Bubble Hearth” skill to get away from certain death. There are several other restrictions and changes, but the last big one is that Blizzard has added a new Duel to the Death feature to WoW Classic that lets you put your character’s life on the line against an opponent.

All told this official update to World of Warcraft Classic is bringing over just about everything fans love about the original fan mod. With it implemented by Blizzard, it should make the process much smoother. If you want to try it out for yourself, you can log in after August 24 and jump into World of Warcraft Classic on your PC.