We’re just a few days away from the full launch of Cataclysm Classic, and Blizzard has provided some more information about what we can expect on launch day and in the first few weeks of the new expansion.
The expansion launches on Monday, May 20th at 3:00 p.m. PDT. It will include all of the new level 80-85 zones and dungeons as well as the Tol Barad battleground.
Just over a week later on Tuesday, May 28th, PvP Season 9 will begin. Then on Thursday, May 30th, the three new raids will open.
With the following weekly reset on Tuesday, June 4th, all of the new world bosses will begin spawning and the Baradin Hold raid will become available with its first boss (the others will be unlocked with later raid tiers akin to what we saw in Vault of Archavon).
The launch notes also mention that unlike in the original version of Cataclysm, you will not have to complete raids on Normal difficulty before you can complete them on Heroic. So players will be able to clear Heroic raids the first week they release.
The Cataclysm Classic pre-patch is coming to an end with the launch of Cataclysm Classic on Monday, May 20 at 3:00 p.m. PDT, and we’d like to share some notes on aspects of the expansion that players will want to know.
World Bosses
Poseidus, Mobus, Garr, Xariona, Akma’hat, and Julak-Doom will first begin spawning with the weekly reset the week of June 4. They’ll begin to appear alongside the Baradin Hold raid and its first boss, Argaloth.
Except Poseidus, who drops a mount, world bosses will drop item-level 346 pieces of unique gear alongside a recipe and a random iLvl 359 bind-on-equip epic. These bosses will eventually drop their item-level 359 unique gear when Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman unlock.
Chaos Orbs
In the Cataclysm Classic Beta, Chaos Orbs were Bind on Equip. They will be Bind on Pickup in Cataclysm Classic, just as they were in original Cataclysm.
Heroic Raids
In original Cataclysm, access to attempt Heroic Raids required first completing them on Normal difficulty. This is not the case in Cataclysm Classic – you can go straight into Heroic raiding.
PvP Availability and Rewards
In Cataclysm Classic PvP, the weekly caps for Valor and the seasonal cap for Conquest have been increased by roughly 60%. The rewards granted for certain activities have been adjusted:
- The weekly cap for Valor is now 1600.
- The initial cap for Conquest Points is now 4000 and increases by 4000 every week throughout the season.
- The Random Cataclysm Heroic reward is 240 Valor Points.
Please note: Valor will not be earnable between the launch of Cataclysm and the first weekly reset in each region. Conquest will become available starting with the second weekly reset on May 28, with the launch of the first Cataclysm PvP season.
In Cataclysm Classic, 2v2 and 5v5 will no longer be eligible brackets for earning Gladiator titles or rewards. In the 2v2 and 5v5 brackets, you will be able to earn non-Gladiator titles and Conquest.
PvP Item Transmogs
Rather than utilize the Replica PvP Vendors that were originally added in patch 4.3.0, we’re changing all of the original WoW Classic (Era) PvP gear to be usable as transmog appearances.
All of these pieces of armor have been and will continue to be available from the Legacy Armor and Legacy Weapon Quartermasters in both the Champion’s Hall in Stormwind and the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar.
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