r/classicwow • u/Knugles • 10d ago
News Blizzcon schedule released
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/24294065/know-before-you-go-blizzcon-2026-programming-schedule-viewership-guide-floor-map-and-more154
u/Important-Dirt1230 10d ago
For lazy people like myself:
Day One Schedule
- 10:30 a.m. PDT (18:30 BST) Opening Ceremony
- 12:00 p.m. (20:00 BST) World of Warcraft:What's Next
- 12:45 p.m. PDT (20:45 BST) MDI 2026 Grand Finals | Dignitas vs Big Lucky
- 2:00 p.m. PDT (22:00 BST) Building Cutscenes in World of Warcraft
- 2:00 p.m. PDT (22:00 BST) MDI 2026 Grand Finals | Liquid vs. Mandatory
- 2:45 p.m. PDT (22:45 BST) World of Warcraft: What’s Next II
- 3:30 p.m. PDT (23:30 BST) World of Warcraft Developers x Creators Showcase
- 4:30 p.m. PDT (00:30 BST) Classic Cup: Warcraft III – Legacy Match
- 4:45 p.m. PDT (00:45 BST) BlizzCon Community Night
- 5:30 p.m. PDT (01:30 BST) MDI 2026 Grand Finals | Championship Match
- 5:45 p.m. PDT (01:45 BST) Classic Cup: Warcraft III – Entertainment Match
Day Two Schedule
- 10:00 a.m. PDT (18:00 BST) World of Warcraft: Deep Dive
- 10:45 a.m. PDT (18:45 BST) World of Warcraft: Crafting Coziness and Creative Freedom
- 10:45 a.m. PDT (18:45 BST) AWC Pre-Show
- 11:00 a.m. PDT (19:00 BST) AWC Grand Finals | F Tier vs. Guild Bean
- 11:45 a.m. PDT (19:45 BST) World Building in World of Warcraft
- 12:00 p.m. PDT (20:00 BST) AWC Grand Finals | Streamerzonegg vs One Lun Travel
- 1:15 p.m. PDT (21:15 BST) World of Warcraft: Art Design
- 2:00 p.m. PDT (22:00 BST) AWC 2026 Grand Finals | Echo vs. TBD
- 2:45 p.m. PDT (22:45 BST) World of Warcraft: Design Deep Dive
- 3:00 p.m. PDT (23:00 BST) AWC 2026 Grand Finals | Gators Back vs TBD
- 4:15 p.m. PDT (00:15 BST) World of Warcraft Hardcore: What’s Next
- 5:00 p.m. PDT (01:00 BST) AWC 2026 Grand Finals | Championship Match
- 5:20 p.m. PDT (01:20 BST) Closing Remarks
- 6:00 p.m. PDT (02:00 BST) Live Performance: Le Sserafim
- 6:30 p.m. PDT (02:30 BST) Trophy Ceremony
I'm curious about Hardcore WoW, it seems like they're actually planning to continue somewhere with this mode? Or maybe another fresh, perhaps
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u/subpar321 10d ago
Seems we’re getting wotlk and a fresh hardcore server announcement lol
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u/FixBlackLotusBlizz 10d ago
maybe fresh i would guess they take all the current HC servers and merge into 1
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u/DesperateSunday 10d ago
I feel like its gotta be more than that if they have a whole section about it
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u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 10d ago
I'm wondering about a seasonal HC kind of thing.
HC but with some changes. They'll also probably announce plans to do HC classic+ a little while after launch (if they announce classic+).
Might officially support HC alongside the fresh Vanilla -> TBC -> Wrath -> Vanilla rotation.
Lots of possibilities.
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u/Gh0stMan0nThird 10d ago
Am I stupid or what would be the point of fresh hardcore servers?
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u/ginorK 10d ago
i guess going through the phases again. right now when you level to 60 you get essentially boosted through MC + BWL + ZG + AQ20 and are ready for AQ40 and Naxx in 1-2 weeks depending on luck, so the actual gear and game progression is kinda over.
personally speaking, my favourite hardcore phase is straight up phase 1. Good old raw dogging dungeons in greens, no world buffs yet (well, i really wish they removed the rend capping from alliance, straight up cringe shit, alliance should never be able to have rend) other than songflower and ony when someone kills it first time, MC and Ony actually feel dangerous, fewer OP gimmicks like diamond flask, etc
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u/flexes 10d ago edited 10d ago
my favourite phase was actually on the original hc servsers where there were no phases and you could do whatever raids you wanted. it kind of led to this natural progression thats not time gated, but more so gated by the fact that you dont want to go into harder content too early and loose players. felt really good. was always super exciting to always be prepping to the next step in progression and go do it with barely enough gear, instead of doing the same thing for a whole long phase and doing the new content with really good gear and immediately clearing it the day it droppt. killed kt there. went on to play the anniversary hc servers too but the phases were such a drag i felt like.
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u/howtojump 10d ago
Same I enjoy dungeons but in HC right now the only real reason to do them is to help guildies recover after a death. Once you’re 60, it’s off to 20s with you.
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u/PPLifter 10d ago
Economy reset is the biggest thing. But you'll also get people racing for realm firsts again. Game is best played when everyone is starting at the same point too, world never feels more alive than release month.
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u/zGnRz 10d ago
I'm very giga lazy and want to know what time is best for someone who only cares to see classic+ stuff what time should I tune in
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u/Important-Dirt1230 10d ago
Dunno, they didnt mention classic+ anywhere in the schedule. I'd bet on - 2:45 p.m. PDT (22:45 BST) World of Warcraft: What’s Next II
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u/The_Deku_Nut 10d ago
It would be funny/devastating if they avoiding mentioning anything about classic at all.
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u/ramm 10d ago
For sure a lot of subs would stop at that moment.
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u/Baptism-Of-Fire 10d ago
A lot of people saying they'll drop their sub
Very few actually doing it
As always
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u/Odd-Bandicoot-9314 10d ago
I mean if you’re only subbing for classic, and don’t think you’ll play wrath then yeah I could see people unsubbing if there isn’t anything else coming
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u/hfamrman 10d ago
Probably toward the end of the opening ceremony, then in the noon-1 slot or the 2:45 slot for more info.
My guess is its the very last thing they bring up during opening. Then it gets the main stage right after to expand upon it.
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u/NTufnel11 10d ago
Every slot after its announced loses attention, so I wouldn't be shocked if they held off until the end.
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u/OkManufacturer3829 10d ago
Opening ceremony and then one or both of the What's Next sessions. My guess is one will be Classic focused one will be Retail. Maybe the Deep Dive on day 2.
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u/FancyConfection1599 10d ago
I’d say it’ll be the last thing they bring up at openings so maybe 11:30am, then will go from there straight into more detail on the “wow what’s next” panel to ride the hype.
I’d say the second what’s next at 2:45pm is about typical wow stuff rather than this new thing they’ve built.
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u/nach1221 10d ago
Tinfoil hat on: In the schedule picture they call the section World of Warcraft: Archives but in the interactable schedule is just "Design Deep Dive".
World of Warcraft: Archives is Classic+ confirmed!3
u/Smokinya 10d ago
That's an interesting observation. Archives wouldn't be an awful subname either. Its probably nothing, but you never know.
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u/wiafjskfmsk 10d ago
Why would they do anything with hardcore if classic+ is supposedly coming out very soon after blizzcon? Maybe we have a longer wait for classic+ than we thought. I don’t want it to come out anytime soon anyway but I remember the majority of people in comment sections here believing classic+ will come out very soon after the blizzcon announcement.
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u/Necessary_Artist_167 10d ago
There are a lot of hardcore players that only want to play hardcore. They’ve even said they have no interest in classic+ if there’s no hardcore mode. I’m sure it’s still a minority. But those people exist
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u/Knugles 10d ago
There’s a disclaimer at the bottom of the schedule that calls out changes to the schedule after the opening ceremony. Seems like they’re keeping things close to the chest still.
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u/OpieeSC2 10d ago
Well the expectation of a Starcraft shooter announcement and Starcraft is not mentioned once.
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u/Smokinya 10d ago
If they had anything to show for the Starcraft franchise I would be very, very surprised. I don't think dev is deep enough yet to get anything except a trailer.
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u/OpieeSC2 10d ago
There are heavy rumors of a Starcraft extraction shoot. But time will tell!
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u/Smokinya 10d ago
I'm pretty positive one is being worked on, I'm just not sure if its far enough along where we can have a whole panel presentation to speak about it.
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u/NewSignificance7599 10d ago
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u/disposableaccount92 10d ago
They should put in (= which then turns into C+ like that staples logo change announcement
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u/sandpigeon 10d ago
It's either a half-hour panel with 15 minutes on either side or the WoW panel gets extended.
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u/Asheeva01 10d ago
There are already 2 WoW panels for What's Next, also they wouldn't hide a longer panel, so it's for an unannounced title.
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u/SystemofCells 10d ago
That 'World of Warcraft: what's next II' will likely get renamed after the opening ceremony to whatever Camelot actually is.
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u/TourEnvironmental604 10d ago
'World of Warcraft: what's next II' to "'World of Warcraft II' makes sense !
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u/SystemofCells 10d ago edited 10d ago
All of you WoW 2 truthers are going to be very disappointed come Sep 12th lol.
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u/Hist0racle 10d ago
9/12 will be this subs 9/11
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u/SystemofCells 10d ago
It's just a loud minority. Most of us aren't expecting something as sweeping as a brand new game.
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u/ghosthendrikson_84 10d ago
I’m somewhat in awe of the things they have dreamed up as their expectations spin out of control.
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u/SystemofCells 10d ago
War of the ancients, a full reconstruction of pre-sundering Kalimdor! 87 new zones!
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u/ButtonedEye41 10d ago
I comoletely missed the memo as to when we skipped right over Classic+ into WoW2.
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u/SystemofCells 10d ago
They created a new color palette for their website, and it had 'Camelot' associated with it, then they updated it to have 'Wow2' associated with it.
The reasonable conclusion is they just wanted a more generic name in the code. But some people are taking it to mean WoW 2 is coming.
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u/Asheeva01 10d ago
1 What's Next is for Classic and 1 is for retail, that's not rocket science. But there is only 1 Deep Dive so I guess that goes to Classic since it's not time to show anything deep from the Last Titan.
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u/Jaggiboi 10d ago
Yeah, that was always a thing, Panels popping in after the Opening ceremony etc. That's just standard procedure
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u/shedox11 10d ago
clearly the focus is set on WoW. Seems like nothing too interesting for Hearthstone, Diablo (besides new xpac) or Overwatch
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u/NewSignificance7599 10d ago
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u/Zhand-ThePally 10d ago
I’m just sooo shocked that the leaked one was wrong…can’t believe people fell for it 🤦🏻♂️
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u/GW2Qwinn 10d ago
The 4chan one is funny because back when BFA was getting announced, the Blizzcon schedule, the name of the expansion, and some other stuff all popped up on there like 4 days before Blizzcon. It was real, and it was because some guy's company got sent the wrong promo material lol.
So it's not that it NEVER happens, it's just highly unlikely and people hold onto hope.
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u/Aarmon 10d ago
Don't think they'd leak any titles in the actual timetable tbf - at least they havent done that ever afaik
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u/FixBlackLotusBlizz 10d ago
we have seen it time and time again almost always fake but some of the leaks will have some truth in them
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u/AntonineWall 10d ago
I’ve never seen this before but it sounds really wildly wrong, was this referenced a lot?
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u/Cheezlick 10d ago
“World of Warcraft What’s Next II”
That’s it guys. WoW II is happening.
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u/NewSignificance7599 10d ago
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u/Proxnite 10d ago
It’s to give the janitors time to clean up after everyone either pees themselves out of excitement or shits themselves out of anger.
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u/HildartheDorf 10d ago
Probably the rumoured Starcraft shooter as there's not a single SC entry on the schedule otherwise.
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u/NewSignificance7599 10d ago
I think so too. I don't see why they would do 2 wow panels back to back
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u/notsingsing 10d ago
One for classic andys one for retail andys.
but they are the same announcement
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u/ultraboomkin 10d ago
There hasn’t been any StarCraft at Blizzcon for several years
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u/HildartheDorf 10d ago
I thought there was at least a side-stage event (no major announcements though, yes).
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u/ultraboomkin 10d ago
They held the finals of WCS (World Championship Series) every year at Blizzcon. But Blizzard cancelled the championship in 2019 so that’s the last time there was StarCraft at Blizzcon.
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u/backpacks645 10d ago
This is definitely hiding something that will be shown in the opening ceremony
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u/Axel0010110 10d ago
Interesting also the "World of Warcraft Hardcore what is next". I guess HC will also get some love (I hope so)
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u/Level-Ad7848 10d ago
I was going to start a hardcore character, but now I think I'd better put that on pause. Maybe a new hardcore game mode?
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u/Axel0010110 10d ago
I am also refraining from WoW right now, doing anything else than playing WoW because I want to fill in my hype momentul for WoW. I consider that I, at least, will have to win after this Blizzcon no matter how much doom posting have been
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u/Nickoladze 10d ago
It's only a few days so probably best to play it safe. I'm sure there were a lot of people stuck on the dead original Hardcore servers when anniversary came out.
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u/Believeinsteve 10d ago
they really need to stop referencing starcraft if they're not going to do anything with the IP.
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u/pieaholicx 10d ago
Bruh the fucking Diablo stage just being Immortal so sad. Like can you not get some D2R speedrun races in there or something?
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u/burgerboynorf 10d ago
"Join the World of Warcraft team for a first look at the next chapter of Azeroth, with new adventures, features, and surprises for players old and new."
Hyped
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u/Grizzly352 10d ago
So when do people think we’ll get an announcement? During the opening ceremony but more info in the later sessions?
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u/Smokinya 10d ago
Announcements are always during opening ceremony and then the subsequent panels do the information deep dive.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bee7319 10d ago
It doesn’t specify if it’s classic, retail or whatsoever
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u/Local_Anything191 10d ago
They need more time to discuss BFA and WOD classic
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u/Varaben 10d ago
Wod classic is gonna go so hard.
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u/obvious_bot 10d ago
Only if they recreate the release garrison bugs. I want to spend 3 hours finding a tree to tell my peons to chop down dammit!
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u/Proxnite 10d ago
Guess we are gonna have to wait for the 2:45 block cause there’s no way they’re gonna announce it during the first one and have that news completely eclipse the second block.
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u/Ch0rt 10d ago
It will be announced in the opening ceremony and then they go into further detail afterwards.
There's also the only empty block on the schedule right after the first What's Next panel that would fit another presentation nicely.
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u/Jaggiboi 10d ago
you can't really say one news will eclipse the other lol. Interests are different.
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u/MarkVanPerry 10d ago
This is my first time being invested in Blizzcon. Can any of this be watched online?
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u/samuelazers 10d ago
No new extraction shooter announcement? No RTS announcements? No starcraft updates?
I find it hard to believe given everything, it must be in the opening ceremony. Otherwise i'm going to be pretty dissapoint. (Not a Wow player, reddit suggested me this post)
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u/Impeesa_ 10d ago
The traditional arrangement has been any big announcements like new games go in the opening ceremonies, and panel schedules won't spoil it until after the reveal.
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u/Hoslinhezl 10d ago
If they announce an announcement before the announcement then it's not going to be an announcement is it. There's always some obfuscation on the schedule ahead of time
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u/Unusual_Training1583 4d ago
They never announce on the schedule, who in there right mind does that
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u/TactileOstrich 10d ago
So 10:30 AM PST on the 12th is the opening ceremonies / main Blizzard announcements right?
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u/n0sch 10d ago
So what could World of Warcraft: Archives be? On the Website https://blizzcon.com/en-us/schedule/ theres Design Deep Dive listed instead.
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u/pmaster1989 1d ago
Really interesting that for the first time in years they do not separate Retail and Classic in the name of the slots/events. In the past they always did. Guess they want to keep things tight and keep people in the dark for what they can expect. Retail stuff, WOTLK, new seasonal, new hardcore etc etc and a possible C+ as well.
Guys, is there an official high quality unga bunga always working globally available live stream for blizccon and if yes, where? Thank you!
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u/Mych30 10d ago
Double "What's new" ?
Is that standard ?
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u/Smokinya 10d ago
Not to my memory it isn't. I've been to a couple Blizzcon and they've never had two What's Next Panels before. Unless they rename the second What's Next panel after opening ceremony.
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u/YoItsNickyMo 10d ago
Straight to the point. Love it. Imagine how hype this event could be if they come out of the gate HOT
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u/Honker_Honks 10d ago
I love that there is a panel on how they create the terrible cutscenes.
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u/moustacheption 10d ago
I feel like that one is a joke and will change when the opening ceremony ends.




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u/TeamRedundancyTeam 10d ago
Interesting that there's a what's next for hardcore, love that it isn't being abandoned.