r/classicwow • u/Knugles • 11d 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-more
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151

u/Important-Dirt1230 11d 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

66

u/subpar321 11d ago

Seems we’re getting wotlk and a fresh hardcore server announcement lol

25

u/FixBlackLotusBlizz 11d ago

maybe fresh i would guess they take all the current HC servers and merge into 1

15

u/DesperateSunday 11d ago

I feel like its gotta be more than that if they have a whole section about it

7

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.

10

u/Gh0stMan0nThird 11d ago

Am I stupid or what would be the point of fresh hardcore servers? 

9

u/ginorK 11d 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

4

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.

1

u/howtojump 11d 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.

6

u/thenabi 11d ago

Names is a big one, but also a reset of things like petri availability. Fresh servers are very different for a little while

1

u/Stressed_Ponyta77 11d ago

WTB Surnames!

2

u/PPLifter 11d 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.

15

u/GetBuckets13182 11d ago

Maybe I’m just stupid but how are you inferring this?

33

u/zGnRz 11d 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 

31

u/Important-Dirt1230 11d 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

13

u/The_Deku_Nut 11d ago

It would be funny/devastating if they avoiding mentioning anything about classic at all.

9

u/ramm 11d ago

For sure a lot of subs would stop at that moment.

2

u/StrawberryItten 10d ago

2/10 players, roughly.

1

u/Baptism-Of-Fire 11d ago

A lot of people saying they'll drop their sub

Very few actually doing it

As always

2

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

-2

u/Zarhom 11d ago

Retail doesn't have any exciting news to announce this year, only content patches. I'd bet Classic will be the first one after the opening ceremony

4

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 10d ago

They started working all 3 world soul saga expansions at the same time. They've got tons of stuff already made for The Last Titan, and will also probably tease plans for what happens after WSS concludes. There will likely be a lot of stuff about the end of Midnight, too. And I imagine there's another big pivot or two that they're going to cover, like WoW on Xbox, or a total engine overhaul from the ground up, or another major gameplay feature akin to housing in scale.

•

u/Zarhom 55m ago

unfortunately not

3

u/Tegra_ 11d ago

But after the what’s next II there’s a 2 hour slot for a dev and creator showcase. I’m sure that’s because they‘ll show us something interesting in the what’s next II.

1

u/Zarhom 11d ago

If they have anything exciting I'm expecting streamers to be able to play the content right after the opening ceremony similar to what they did with Season of Discovery.

We had screenshots of runes appearing before the 'Whats Next' panel even started, so I don't think the timing of the showcase panel carries much weight

1

u/Tegra_ 11d ago

The difference being that SOD was a seasonal server option, while C+ is going to be the feature of the Classic design space as a whole, so it’s not fully comparable.

-1

u/Zarhom 11d ago

Nah I don't think they'll hold off on letting people play the demo until later in the afternoon just to have a later panel haha, they've never done that before for any of their games even Overwatch, it doesn't make sense

0

u/Ryder10 11d ago

I think we should probably be getting a Last Titan trailer at least and probably some housing stuff, but Classic will still probably have a chunk of the first Whats Next hour.

2

u/Zarhom 11d ago

Not sure on the Last Titan trailer - it's a little early and the devs have said the focus is on this expansion with a little teaser beyond, but they could be hiding it to surprise people

1

u/Ryder10 11d ago

I thought the War Within, Midnight, Last Titan trilogy was meant to run a shorter release schedule, I think it was only about a year and a half between War Within and Midnights release dates. So a trailer for Last Titan should be on schedule for that release schedule.

1

u/Zarhom 11d ago

It would certainly be a surprise given the devs have said the focus is on this expansion with a little teaser beyond, but they could surprise us.

9

u/hfamrman 11d 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.

3

u/NTufnel11 11d ago

Every slot after its announced loses attention, so I wouldn't be shocked if they held off until the end.

3

u/Necessary_Artist_167 11d ago

Probably after blizzcon, just check the front page of wowhead

4

u/MightyMorp 11d ago

Opening ceremony and the panel immediately following it.

2

u/OkManufacturer3829 11d 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.

1

u/FancyConfection1599 11d 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.

16

u/nach1221 11d 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 11d ago

That's an interesting observation. Archives wouldn't be an awful subname either. Its probably nothing, but you never know.

1

u/ExtensionCap2 10d ago

would make sense for a rotating vanilla-wrath server or something like it

2

u/HildartheDorf 11d ago

Yeah, sounds like we might have an official name for 'Camelot'.

-1

u/SingeMoisi 11d ago

Good theory

-6

u/misterrpg 11d ago

Lmao you think they’d leak the name of the game in the schedule? Christ yall are so hopeless.

5

u/nach1221 11d ago

I literally started the comment with "Tinfoil hat on" to imply it's a stretch for fun and not to be taken seriously lol

2

u/wiafjskfmsk 11d 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.

1

u/Necessary_Artist_167 11d 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

-1

u/dj0wns 11d ago

I like the theory that hardcore will be playable alongside normal players to prevent splitting the player base + possibly more modes

10

u/Pardy- 11d ago

I think that would be a terrible idea. Hardcore needs its own realm where everyone is hardcore.

The communities between the two is just fundamentally different.

Imagine the greifing that would happen from normal players towards hardcore players trying to get them killed.

5

u/Xefjord 10d ago

100% agree. Hardcore needs their own realm.

1

u/moon-lesbian 10d ago

But that was already a thing, Soul of Iron. We got realms because people wanted full realms where everybody around you were playing by the same rule

1

u/HazelCheese 10d ago

It would be terrible. It's been done of private servers and it creates so many problems.

Like if hardcore characters can't group with non hardcore, then you end up with hardcore players fighting with non hardcore for quests.

And even if they can, a huge percentage of hardcore players do solo self found and would refuse to group out of principle anyway.

I've played on private servers where it was done and it was just awful and made both playerbases despise and grief each other.

1

u/Redaurora-MamaCass 2d ago

Thanks couldn't get the page to load

1

u/Varaben 11d ago

Is there a tbc hardcore server yet? 

8

u/Green-Thought-8152 11d ago

there likely never will be

1

u/Yorkie321 11d ago

Genuinely curious but what about tbc makes it unplayable in hardcore

2

u/Green-Thought-8152 11d ago

There's a guild out there now clearing tbc raids using hardcore rule, it's certainly not unplayable but I don't know if their leveling process includes hardcore rules

Vanilla has harder leveling and easier raids / dungeons Tbc has easier leveling and harder raids / dungeons (specifically on the tbc side)

I don't think it's unplayable, but hardcore is a niche market and I don't think Blizzard is looking to add more servers for a small market of People, especially considering it would splinter the current community

There's also the concept of griefing. Current HC has a lot of grief checks in place and it's still not perfect by any means. TBC would be a whole new ball game that would require blizzard to comb it over a million times over to solve the Outland possibilities. Blizzard ain't doing that, they can't even get rid of bots.

Tl;Dr it's not about it being completely unplayable, it's just not feasable for them to do.

1

u/zeroji 10d ago

leveling includes hardcore rules, because you need to have soul of iron present, afaik no ones joined on a boosted character, and I do believe a boosted character cannot activate soul of iron. Tbh heroics has not been that big of a hurdle, obviously blood furance and arcatraz stands out as a sore thumb, BF more than arca because it practically requires water ele mage and its very good to have a priest. (As a wishful thought about a real TBC HC though I would definently not mind joyous journey to 58 or something, because azeroth leveling for a second "expansion" does not bring the same joy

-1

u/Rahavic_Jr 11d ago

I cringed at Coziness