The Season of Mastery begins in World of Warcraft Classic. We will tell you what to expect and how the game experience will differ.
For many players, World of Warcraft Classic was a welcome change, but the joy quickly faded. Too monotonous, too restrictive, or simply boring was the gameplay for many who longed for innovations or tougher challenges.
Blizzard has listened to these players and is now launching the “Season of Mastery.” These are basically “fresh” realms for WoW Classic, which come with a whole host of adjustments.
When exactly does it start? The start for the Season of Mastery is set for 12:00 AM on the night of November 16th to 17th – so already tomorrow night. Anyone planning to jump in right at the beginning might want to chill some energy drinks.
What do you need to play? Basically nothing but an active WoW subscription. The Season of Mastery and access to these realms are included in the regular WoW subscription.
How will the phases’ release proceed? Basically quite similar to the normal Classic launch – but significantly accelerated. A new phase is supposed to begin roughly every 2 months, so that all content will be available after one year. However, some phases will run a little differently, with PvP battlegrounds being available right from the start. The sequence is as follows.
- Phase 1: Molten Core, Onyxia, Maraudon, PvP Honor System and Battlegrounds
- Phase 2: World Bosses Azuregos and Kazzak
- Phase 3: Blackwing Lair, Darkmoon Faire (and thus the card sets)
- Phase 4: Zul’Gurub, Nightmare Dragons (World Bosses)
- Phase 5: Ahn’Qiraj and the War Efforts
- Phase 6: Scourge Invasions and Naxxramas
There are no specific dates yet for the start of the phases.
All changes in the “Season of Mastery”
In addition to the accelerated release of content, there are also numerous adjustments to the game. Many innovations from the “modern” World of Warcraft have been adopted, annoying quirks removed, and bosses made tougher. Here are the most important key points.
Summoning Stones: In front of dungeons and raids, you will find summoning stones that have been enhanced in functionality. They can now be used to summon other group members, thereby shortening their travel time.
More experience points: A buff ensures that dungeon and elite quests provide 40% more experience points, making them significantly more lucrative.
More honor: The calculation of weekly honor points has been adjusted. Players collect honor at almost double the speed, allowing targeted goals to be achieved more quickly.
More crafting materials: Some particularly sought-after crafting materials drop more frequently during the Season of Mastery. For instance, black lotus can be found as a bonus drop in almost all high-level herbs. Plaguebloom has more spawn points, and important resources like Elemental Fire, Elemental Earth, and Elemental Air can be farmed more easily and reliably.
Boss reworks: Many bosses in Molten Core (and probably other content) have become tougher or gained additional abilities. All known changes to the first raid “Molten Core” are presented here. This is intended to make fights more exciting and require coordinated teams.
No debuff limit anymore: In WoW Classic, there was a debuff limit of 16 slots. More negative effects could not be active on an enemy. This is removed in the Season of Mastery. Therefore, some specializations, like Shadow Priests or Affliction Warlocks, can unleash their full potential and no longer deprive other classes of their debuff slots.
World buffs are weaker: The especially popular world buffs, such as the “Battle Standard of the Dragon Slayer” and all similar effects, can no longer be used in raids and are disabled there. The effects vary by class, but especially Warriors and Rogues are affected and thus come closer to other DPS classes.
Pickpocketing is nerfed: For Rogues, it was very lucrative to constantly roam the Blackrock Depths and accumulate a lot of items through pickpocketing. This will no longer be necessary, as after too much theft, the Rogue receives a debuff that causes future pickpocketing to yield only “fluff” for 30 minutes.
Mages have it harder when trying to boost: The “Mage boosting” was a significant issue in Classic, especially in certain dungeons. In the Season of Mastery, this is made harder as many creatures can become immune to slow effects and blow away Solo Mages’ life lights very quickly.
Hardcore mode for particularly ambitious players
Even though there is no “perma-death” in the Season of Mastery – just as in the entire World of Warcraft – the developers have nevertheless included an NPC available to those players who want to achieve such a feat.
In hardcore mode, it’s about playing WoW without your character ever dying. If your character has never died, you can visit an NPC (Undercity, Apothecary or Ironforge, Hall of Explorers). This grants you the buff “Soul of Iron” (Eiserne Seele). A sign that you have not died yet.
If you die – no matter how and why – you lose this buff forever and cannot obtain it again with this character. Instead, you then have a debuff, the “Tarnished Soul” (Tarnished Soul), which reduces your character’s stats by 1%.
However, you can choose to remove or reactivate this debuff (e.g., as a recognition feature that you tried), when you visit the NPC again.
Will you give WoW Classic a chance in the Season of Mastery? Or is that not for you?
