World of Warcraft Classic has announced a surprising twist for its Season of Discovery: it won’t be wrapping up with Phase 7, or maybe even Phase 8. While the time will come to stop actively developing new content for the Season of Discovery, these experimental Classic servers aren’t going anywhere. They’ll stay open for players to explore as long as WoW Classic is around.
This revelation came during the November 2024 Warcraft Direct presentation. It was then that the team initially suggested Phase 7 would conclude the experimental realms’ development. By January 2025, players saw fresh content like the Karazhan Crypts dungeon and the Naxxramas raid. Yet, since then, details about what’s next have been scarce, leaving fans wondering what the future holds for the servers.
World of Warcraft Classic content creator Hammerdance stepped in, addressing the community’s curiosity with a YouTube video titled “A Message To The WoW Classic Dev Team | Season of Discovery.” Responding to this, WoW Classic’s senior game producer Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield clarified in the comments that the team is working hard on “a really great, really robust phase 8.” This upcoming update, teased during the Warcraft Direct, features the Scarlet Enclave raid. However, many of the specifics remain under wraps for now.
Looking ahead, there’s a chance Season of Discovery might continue beyond Phase 8. Greenfield expressed that there are potentially many more months—and even years—of content left to enjoy, if specific end dates are not set. He believes placing such limits might deter players who are yet to dive into the experience, mistakenly thinking they are too late to join the fun.
Walking back the idea of Phase 7 as the conclusion exemplifies the team’s caution about over-sharing future plans. Initially citing Phase 7 as “the final phase” created a bind, raising player expectations that the team now needs to adjust. Greenfield admits that too much information given too soon can cause misunderstandings, as often seen with today’s fast-paced information sharing, making some fans hesitant to commit to Season of Discovery due to fears it could end abruptly.
Greenfield reassured that while development on new significant content will eventually cease, the Season of Discovery itself will never really end as long as WoW Classic exists. “SoD will end in the sense that we will stop actively developing new large amounts of new content,” he stated, “but it won’t be a hard ‘it ends today’ date and we have no intention of closing SoD servers.” Even as new projects like Classic+ appear on the horizon, Season of Discovery realms will endure, allowing players old and new to provide feedback that could shape the future of World of Warcraft’s evolving landscape.
