In 2007, Blizzard Entertainment wowed the world with World of Warcraft's very first expansion, The Burning Crusade. Since then, Azeroth has changed dramatically. However, in 2019, Blizzard opened launched World of Warcraft Classic, and we were transported back to those “good old days” of Barrens chat,

So, would we want WoW Classic to now have expansions? What changes with the recent announcement of The Burning Crusade expansion coming to WoW Classic servers? What happens to players who don't want to leave the classic Classic?

The Burning Crusade Classic Announcement

Last week I discussed a little of the announcements made at BlizzConline for retail WoW (the current version of World of Warcraft with all the latest expansions). The team at Blizzard has been busy with Classic as well. While we don't have a release date yet, The Burning Crusade Classic is officially coming to a realm near you later this year.

Why Would We Want Expansions in WoW Classic?

The first question I am hearing when talking about this news is “Why?”.

Many feel that the entire point of WoW Classic was to be back in the original, vanilla version of the game. Why would players want Blizzard to start adding on expansions?

This was a decision that Blizzard struggled with as well. In March 2020 developers sent out a poll to many WoW Classic players to discover what the community thought of the idea. They even followed it up with a second poll in December. They wanted to make absolutely certain that the player base of Classic wanted the game to move forward like the retail version had over the years.

Yes, to some people the entire point of WoW Classic is to enjoy playing the game as it originally released in 2004. Before all the expansions. Yet for others, enjoying the leisurely progression through the history of Azeroth, which includes the gradual introduction of expansions, is the fun part.

Being able to take your time enjoying early content without the pressures of max level surrounding you as you try to complete Shadowlands content for the first time. For those players, expansions slowly introduce new content at a digestible pace. It allows them to take their time and to appreciate the story. To see the dungeons and raids without hurry. Or pressure. Or stress.

What if I Don't Want To Move On from WoW Classic to TBC?

If you don't want to move on to The Burning Crusade, never fear! Blizzard arranged for that as well with the introduction of Classic Era realms and Progression realms. When Blizzard sent out those polls in 2020, what they learned is that the community of WoW Classic players were split in wanting to move on to The Burning Crusade and wanting to stay put.

In response to this, they are creating separate realms for each type of play. This is an unprecedented move by Blizzard, as it's never fractured its community quite so much.

Each player will have a choice of which style of realm they want their character to be in. The current WoW Classic servers will transition to Progression servers. These will allow for progressing into The Burning Crusade and any future content will be added into these realms.

However, if one would prefer to be in a Classic Era realm, they can transfer to one of the non-Burning Crusade realms. The realms classified as Classic Era will stay the way they are, with no changes to content.

What Comes in The Burning Crusade Expansion?

Here's some of the content coming with this new expansion:

• The opening of the Dark Portal into a new zone: Outland.
• Max level of 70.
• New playable races: Blood Elves and Draenei.
• New dungeons and raids such as Tempest Keep, Sunwell Plateau, and fan-favorite Karazhan.
• Jewelcrafting!.
• Arena PvP battles and Netherstorm PvP Battleground.
• Players may purchase a boost to level 58 for any race other than Blood Elf or Draenei

What If I Can't Decide?

Once the decision to have a character stay on a Progression Realm is made, they will never be able to be transferred to a Classic Era realm. So choose carefully.

However, Blizzard announced a workaround for this as well, though it will cost you heard-earned, real-world moolah. Blizzard will offer new service where they will clone an existing character, so you can have them on both types of servers. This service is only available ONECE per character.

At the time of writing this article, Blizzard has not yet announced the cost for this service. However, if you are unsure of which realm type to choose, this is definitely something to consider.

That's a Lot of Choices

Blizzard is definitely giving the players plenty of choice with this announcement. Whether you want to remain on a Classic Era realm and continue what you are doing, or move on with Progression realms to The Burning Crusade, the choice is yours.

Or…don't make a choice at all and clone your character instead! It will be like the multiverse, where you can see what life could have been life elsewhere.

Or, you could just give up on Classic altogether, come over to Retail WoW and play in Shadowlands with us Geek to Geek folks.

No matter what you do, though, click play above and watch the March of the Murlocs. You'll get a good laugh regardless of which type of realm or expansion you play in.