Summary
World of Warcraft Classicrecently revealed that Season of Discovery is not ending in Phase 7 – and may not even end in Phase 8. While there will come a time whenWorld of Warcraftstops actively developing Season of Discovery, the experimentalClassicservers will still remain available for players to enjoy in some form indefinitely.
During the Warcraft Direct presentation in November 2024,World of Warcraft ClassicSeason of Discovery revealed Phase 7 of the experimental Realms would be its final one. ThisWorld of Warcraft ClassicSeason of Discovery update was released in January 2025, adding exciting content like the Karazhan Crypts dungeon and Naxxramas raid to the game. However, little communication about what is next for Season of Discovery has been shared since then, leaving the future of the servers in question.
This ledWorld of Warcraft Classiccontent creator Hammerdance to share a YouTube video called “A Message To The WoW Classic Dev Team | Season of Discovery.” On behalf of theWoWcommunity, Hammerdance asked the developers for clarification on what was going on with Season of Discovery – andWorld of Warcraftresponded directly. In the video’s comments section,WoW Classicsenior game producer Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield confirmed that the team was “all-in on a really great, really robust phase 8,” despite previous claims thatPhase 7 would be the end ofWorld of Warcraft ClassicSeason of Discovery. The update will feature the Scarlet Enclave raid teased during the Warcraft Direct, though he could not share too many other details on what else would be in it.
The Future of WoW Classic Season of Discovery
That said, Season of Discovery may not even end there. “The reality is, we think there are many many many months of content in SoD left,” he said, “and trying to put a pin on a definite end date really just harms the experience of people that could still have months if not years of fun with the content that already exists and is coming.” Greenfield does not want to mark Phase 8 as the endpoint, as that could discourage a lot of fans from jumping into Season of Discovery because of a preconception that it would be too late to do so.
The walking back of Phase 7 being its final one is an example of whyWoW Classicdoesn’t want to reveal too much about the future of Season of Discoveryahead of time. By claiming Phase 7 would be the “final phase” of Season of Discovery during the Warcraft Direct, the development team put itself in a tricky spot, and set expectations for players that they now must unmake. “Giving too much info too early can be harmful because of the TLDR nature of communications and info sharing these days,” Greenfield admitted, which led to some fans being afraid to invest in Season of Discovery for fear that it could end in a matter of months.
The reality is, we think there are many many many months of content in SoD left, and trying to put a pin on a definite end date really just harms the experience of people that could still have months if not years of fun with the content that already exists and is coming.
In actuality, Greenfield confirmedSeason of Discovery will never truly end for as long asWoW Classicis around. “SoD will end in the sense that we will stop actively developing new large amounts of new content,” he said, “but it won’t be a hard ‘it ends today’ date and we have no intention of closing SoD servers.” Though other seasonal experiments – or possibly even Classic+ – may eventually happen, Greenfield assured players that Season of Discovery realms will persist in some form, emphasizing that “it’s never too late to start and the more eyes and feedback and lessons we get from what we put out in SoD, the better the next thing we work on will be.”
