About a month ago, Wrath of the Lich King Classic launched, and it is already clear: There are more active players now than at any other time in WoW Classic or The Burning Crusade Classic during WotLK. Wrath of the Lich King is already extremely successful, even though the real highlights of the expansion are still months away.
What happened? Wrath of the Lich King Classic launched on September 27, 2022. For many players, this was apparently enough time to reach the maximum level 80. Some have already attended a raid. This is also evidenced by the figures released by the portal ironforge.pro. More than 540,000 unique characters have been active in one of the 3 current raids in the past week.
This number is far above the average value determined over the entire duration of WoW Classic. Only in April 2020 was a similarly high value recorded. At that time, the troll raid “Zul’Gurub” opened its gates, and nearly 480,000 players set out to defeat the blood god “Hakkar the Soulflayer.”
In our WoW guide with 5 tips for level 80, you can find out how to optimally prepare for the raids in WotLK.
In the video, you can see how crowded the ships were that set sail for the icy north at midnight on release day.
Since Blizzard does not provide official information, the community must rely on its own tools
Are these numbers reliable? The portal ironforge.pro uses data from in-game addons and cross-references this with data from Warcraftlogs and PvP leaderboards. This way, the number of unique characters is determined, who have participated in ranked arena matches or raids within a specific period – usually within a week.
However, these numbers do not represent the total number of all players playing WoW Classic. But it can still be reasonably assumed that there is a direct correlation between the two values: the larger the number of players actively participating in raids or PvP, the greater the total number of all players playing WoW Classic is likely to be.
That’s why the numbers are a good sign: At no point have more players attended a raid than at the start of WotLK. Currently, more people are playing than at the beginning of TBC Classic and during Classic. The hype for WotLK remains unbroken even nearly a month after release. However, the coming weeks will have to show whether this trend continues.
Unlike in Burning Crusade Classic, the achievement system may ensure that players in WotLK stay engaged longer and continue to attend raids, even after collecting all relevant items. Many achievements in WoW are quite tricky, and players with all achievements are more the exception than the rule.
More about WotLK Classic on MeinMMO:
Highlights like Ulduar are yet to come
What’s next for WotLK? It will be really exciting when the release of Ulduar or the Icecrown Citadel is around the corner. Ulduar is regarded by large parts of the community as one of the best raids ever created for World of Warcraft. The same goes for the Icecrown Citadel. There, we finally face Arthas, one of the greatest villains Warcraft has ever produced. For many fans, the fight against the Lich King is the absolute highlight of the expansion.
It is therefore quite possible that over the course of WotLK Classic, more and more players will find their way to Northrend. After all, WotLK is among the most popular expansions for WoW. The result of our poll was clear: 45 percent of you favor Wrath of the Lich King.
However, it will still be a while before we can face Arthas Menethil. Currently, another villain is wreaking havoc in Azeroth: The Headless Horseman. A player has been trying for years to get a rare mount from this boss – finally finds it, but in the wrong game.
