On the night of February 5th to 6th, 2026, the first expansion of World of Warcraft – once again – starts on the anniversary servers of WoW Classic with The Burning Crusade. To celebrate, Blizzard has released a new trailer.
Originally, The Burning Crusade was released over 19 years ago, on January 16, 2007. Now, almost exactly 19 years later, the Dark Portal opens again on the servers that Blizzard has set up anew for the anniversary of WoW 2024.
During the first second release (yes, sorry…) of TBC in February 2021, Blizzard showcased a new trailer back then, but in in-game graphics featuring the “new” features of the expansion.
The Burning Crusade Classic laid the foundation for the entire development of the Classic project, which fans had demanded for years and turned out to be a massive success with great popularity, with a surprisingly stable launch. Now Blizzard is raising the stakes even higher.
The Burning Crusade was ranked 3rd in our survey in 2022 for the most popular expansions of World of Warcraft
This is the new trailer: A few hours before the opening of the Dark Portal, Blizzard has released a new trailer, this time as a cinematic in modern and familiar Blizzard quality – with a lot of winking and a kudos to the community.
The trailer skips Illidan and his famous: “You have no idea what is waiting for you!” and instead shows hundreds of player characters patiently waiting in the Blasted Lands to pass through the portal.
With a moderate rush, the characters step through the gate into the shattered world. A Thunderfury (did someone say “Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker”?) flies past the protagonist, who rushes directly into battle and – completely unrealistically – tags some of the important quest mobs before being surprised by a Felhunter.
The Burning Crusade brings back some of WoW’s best content – once again
The trailer showcases more iconic moments from the expansion, such as the city of Shattrath and other areas or dungeons. Also, the flying mounts that were newly introduced at the time and the hard-to-get Nether Drakes get their own scene.
For many, however, the highlight of the expansion lies in the return of the raids. The trailer not only features Gruul’s Lair and the Pit Lord Magtheridon, but also presumably well-known scenes from Karazhan, by far the best raid in the entire game. Surely, every veteran has experienced Butler Moroes politely eliminating the intruders.
The release of The Burning Crusade today marks the third time the expansion is being released. Whether the anniversary servers will develop like the classic servers and go through the entire cycle once again remains to be seen.
Blizzard recently spoke about the future of World of Warcraft but remained tight-lipped about WoW Classic – no information on Classic+ or other ideas. However, I already know that I will be occupied with TBC Classic Anniversary (this name…) for some time, as it has worked twice before: Damn! WoW BC Classic is much more fun than it should be
