- Author: Luxrah
- Date: March 25, 2024
- Updated: April 7, 2025
- Expansion: WoW Classic
Season of Discovery is the current seasonal version of Classic WoW. This season features phased content releases that overhaul all of Vanilla WoW’s content, with a little bit of new content added to the mix.
Season of Discovery Phase 3 raises the level cap to 50 and brings more reimagined and retuned Vanilla content into the game.
The phase adds a new 20-player raid version of Sunken Temple as well as a new repeatable PvE activity, Nightmare Incursions. Professions can now be leveled to their max skill of 300 and crafting specializations can be learned. There are also new runes for every class, more talents and abilities, and the much-anticipated addition of Dual Talent Specialization.
This guide will cover everything you can expect to see at level 50 in World of Warcraft, as well as all of the new content that has been added for Phase 3 of Season of Discovery.
Leveling
Phase 2 brought us the Discoverer’s Delight buff, and a version of this buff will continue to be available through level 49. Characters below level 40 will continue to receive 100% increased experience from Discoverer’s Delight while you’ll get a reduced 75% version of the buff from level 40 to 49.
Gnomeregan joins Blackfathom Deeps as a leveling raid, offering a significant amount of experience on a three-day lockout. As far as world buffs go, Boon of Blackfathom remains usable through level 39, and Spark of Inspiration is usable through level 49.
The new Nightmare Incursions are available from level 25 on, providing yet another possible method for leveling up if you’re bored with dungeons, raids, and questing.
The Cozy Sleeping Bag will still provide rested experience through level 50, and any Student Fodder you haven’t used should also work. If you haven’t picked these up yet, check out our Cozy Sleeping Bag Guide and our Student Fodder Guide.
Note that Blizzard is taking steps to prevent players from hoarding items for a head start on leveling. You won’t be able to use Warsong Gulch Mark of Honor, Arathi Basin Mark of Honor, Wastewander Water Pouch, or Troll Tribal Necklace to level from 40-49. “Pre-questing” will only be possible to the extent that you have room in your quest log.
Inventory & Travel
Most of the bags in Vanilla WoW should now be accessible, including the world drop Traveler’s Backpack and most bags from Tailoring, with Mooncloth Bag being the largest until Bottomless Bag can be crafted after the release of the Molten Core raid.
The level 40 mounts that became obtainable in Phase 2 will continue to be the primary means of getting around until epic mounts become obtainable at level 60. All of the mounts that you can get by level 50 can be found in our Mount Guide along with information about how to get them.
At level 50, mages acquire their last portal spells. 
Portal: Darnassus and 
Portal: Thunder Bluff will make it easy to get to any of your faction’s major cities.
Dual Talent Specialization
Players are able to purchase Dual Talent Specialization in Phase 3, allowing for easily swapping between Builds without having to visit your class trainer or pay for a respec. Doing so requires reaching level 40 and paying 50 gold to an NPC named Grendag Brightbeard in Orgrimmar or Ironforge.
With Dual Talent Specialization, you can swap between two saved talent setups at any time except when you’re in combat. That means that players will be able to perform different roles based on the needs of their group, or have separate setups for use in PvE and PvP content.
Discoveries
Phase 3 brings new Rune Engravings for the bracer and helm slots for every class. These Rune Engravings add new abilities and further expand on the new roles and builds we saw in Phases 1 and 2. The Runes that we know about so far have been added to our class rune pages below.
Class Abilities
While most classes have already acquired the bulk of their new abilities by level 40, there are still a few remaining to obtain in Phase 3 and 4. In addition, players who went deep into one talent tree to get their capstone ability will now be able to dip into a second talent tree for some nice bonuses!
We have a detailed list for each level bracket on our Class Abilities & Talents pages:
Class Quests
Each class has a unique quest at level 50 which will need to be completed inside the Sunken Temple raid. These quests will be upleveled along with their rewards to be more competitive at level 50. Below you can see each of these quests along with their Vanilla rewards. Originally players had to choose from one of three rewards for these quests, but in Season of Discovery the quests will award all three options!
Quest | Class | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
A Better Ingredient | ||
The Green Drake | ||
Destroy Morphaz | ||
Forging the Mightstone | ||
Blood of Morphaz | ||
The Azure Key | ||
Da Voodoo | ||
Trolls of a Feather | ||
Voodoo Feathers |
Professions
Professions in Phase 3 are capped at 300 skill, or Artisan level, which is the maximum level for professions in Vanilla WoW. Specializations are now available for Blacksmithing, Engineering, and Leatherworking. Players will also be able to complete the Triage quest for First Aid and Nat Pagle’s quests for Fishing, which are required to max out those skills.
New recipes will be obtainable for crafting as well, mostly by completing another epic quest chain in the Phase 3 raid, Sunken Temple.
Get caught up on your professions with our Season of Discovery Profession Guides.
Zones
The following are the zones that you will be able to quest in up to level 50. There won’t be anything stopping you from entering higher level zones in Phase 3, but you’re not likely to find many quests there and the enemies will be extremely dangerous.
Zone | Level Range | Faction |
|---|---|---|
1-10 | Alliance | |
1-10 | Horde | |
1-10 | Alliance | |
1-10 | Horde | |
1-10 | Alliance | |
1-10 | Horde | |
10-20 | Alliance | |
10-20 | Alliance | |
10-20 | Horde | |
10-20 | Alliance | |
10-25 | Horde | |
15-25 | Contested | |
15-27 | Contested | |
18-30 | Contested | |
18-30 | Contested | |
20-30 | Contested | |
20-30 | Contested | |
25-35 | Contested | |
30-40 | Contested | |
30-40 | Contested | |
30-40 | Contested | |
30-45 | Contested | |
35-45 | Contested | |
35-45 | Contested | |
35-45 | Contested | |
40-50 | Contested | |
40-50 | Contested | |
40-50 | Contested | |
43-50 | Contested | |
45-55 | Contested | |
45-55 | Contested | |
48-55 | Contested | |
48-55 | Contested |
Dungeons
Only three new dungeons are added in the level 40-50 range, but they’re some of the larger and more commonly farmed dungeons in the game: Zul’Farrak, Maraudon, and Blackrock Depths. The entrances to these dungeons are all located in contested zones. Blackrock Depths is completable up until the Grim Guzzler, the bar in the middle of the dungeon. All bosses past that point are currently located inside the Grim Guzzler and can’t be fought.
Blackfathom Deeps, Gnomeregan, and The Temple of Atal’Hakkar have all been converted into raids, and their original 5-player dungeon versions are not available in Season of Discovery.
Dungeon | Level Range | Min Level | Entrance |
|---|---|---|---|
13-18 | 8 | ||
17-24 | 10 | ||
17-26 | 10 | ||
22-30 | 14 | ||
24-32 | 15 | ||
30-40 | 25 | ||
26-35 | 21 | ||
30-40 | 21 | ||
32-42 | 21 | ||
35-45 | 21 | ||
35-45 | 30 | ||
44-54 | 35 | ||
46-55 | 30 | ||
52-60 | 40 |
Nightmare Incursions
Blizzard is finally doing something with all of those Emerald Dream portals that were left unused in Vanilla WoW. Phase 3 of Season of Discovery will add new repeatable PVE content to the game in the form of Nightmare Incursions.
Nightmare Incursions are available from level 25 on, providing an alternative to quests and dungeons while leveling. The events vary in difficulty, with some Nightmare Incursions being solo-able while others require a group.
There is also be a new faction in Phase 3, Emerald Wardens, who you’ll gain reputation with by completing Nightmare Incursions. Rewards from this faction include lower level items for alts and new characters as well as level 50 epics and one rune for every class. You’ll also be able to get a new starter set of PvP gear through this content.
The four Emerald Dream portals are located in Ashenvale, Duskwood, Feralas, and The Hinterlands. Ashenvale and Duskwood are both level 18-30 zones while Feralas and The Hinterlands are level 40-50 zones.
Raids
As in previous phases, one of the Vanilla dungeons has been reworked as a raid for Phase 3 of Season of Discovery. The Temple of Atal’Hakkar, better known as Sunken Temple, is a 20-player, level 50 raid with 8 bosses. The raid opened immediately when the phase launched and is on a one-week lockout, as will be all future raids going forward.
The entrance to Sunken Temple is in the Swamp of Sorrows zone. Horde players have a flightpath in the zone at Stonard. Alliance have to travel through Deadwind Pass from Duskwood, or from the Nethergarde Keep flightpath in Blasted Lands.
Tier tokens are divided into two versions that each cover 4 classes:
- Hunter, Rogue, Warrior, and Paladin/Shaman
- Druid, Mage, Priest, and Warlock
There is also plenty of other gear to obtain in the raid.
Player Versus Player
There is no new PvP content in Phase 3, only new PvP rewards. Alterac Valley is not available in Vanilla WoW until level 51, so Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin continue to be the only battlegrounds until Phase 4. The Blood Moon in Stranglethorn Vale remains the primary world PvP event, with the Battle for Ashenvale still in the game but not receiving any updates.
There are plenty of new PvP rewards to obtain in Phase 3, however. Nightmare Incursions provide a new PvP starter set for every class and role, complete with set bonuses. Rewards from the Blood Moon event have also been updated for level 50, with a new currency, Massacre Coins, replacing the old Bloodstained Commendations.
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