‘World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic’ release date, exact times: Blizzard confirms June 1 launch and pre-patch schedule

Battle.net players previously spotted advertisement was spotted indicating that the “WoW: Burning Crusade Classic” would be released in the coming weeks. Many fans thought it was just a mistake, but it turns out to be an accurate confirmation now that Blizzard Entertainment has made a more proper announcement.

‘World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic’ release date

Earlier this week, fans waiting for the launch of “WoW: Burning Crusade Classic” noticed that an ad on Battle.net is specifically indicating that the expansion is launching on June 1. Many understandably did not immediately take it as an official confirmation because it was not accompanied by an official announcement from Blizzard.

However, the developer has now confirmed that the said date was correct, along with the announcement of the exact times when the expansion will go live in various regions. “WoW: Burning Crusade Classic” will be released on June 1, at 6 p.m. EDT / 3 p.m. PDT / 11 p.m. BST / June 2, at 6 a.m. CST.

‘World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic’ pre-patch

Another reason fans were not immediately convinced of the earlier Battle.net leak was the fact that Blizzard has yet to launch a “WoW: Burning Crusade Classic” pre-patch at the time. It has always been a required step, which historically ran for about a month and more, for the developer to prepare the game and the fanbase before officially launching a major update to bring in an expansion.

It now appears that the franchise is having its shortest pre-patch period ever. Along with the June 1st launch date, Blizzard also announced the pre-patch will be released on May 18 following scheduled maintenance for servers around the world.

‘WoW: Burning Crusade Classic’ gameplay

The “WoW: Burning Crusade Classic” is primarily a remaster of the original and first-ever “WoW” expansion, but it will also introduce a new Alliance and Horde races called draenei and blood elves respectively. However, Blizzard also gives players an option not to “return to Outland.”

With that, Blizzard is introducing a new “cloning” feature that existing “WoW: Classic” players have to set up before joining the game within the said pre-patch period. It practically gives players the option to make a copy of their character in its pre-expansion state, which they can then transfer onto the “WoW: Burning Crusade Classic” progression realm.

Players can do this for free via Battle.net, and Blizzard added, “WoW Classic characters that existed before the Burning Crusade Classic pre-patch will each be automatically cloned onto their respective Classic Era realm.”