WoW Cataclysm Classic gets a launch date and speedy roadmap

Somebody’s in a hurry to get to the end of the world. Blizzard has announced the release schedule for World of Warcraft Classic: Cataclysm and, as you can see from the dates below, we’re putting the end of the world (of Warcraft) on the fast track.

The pre-patch releases on April 30 and the full expansion launches on May 20. The final patch for the expansion will go live only 8 months later. The previous WoW Classic expansions have each lasted about two years, mirroring the original releases.

The obvious first impression is that this is sped up because people didn’t really like Cataclysm. I don’t think that’s as accurate as some YouTubers would have you believe, but it was the first time people started to turn on World of Warcraft. For my money, Cataclysm was a good time and a fascinating look at what it takes to re-do a world as vast as Azeroth.

It’s more likely that Cataclysm is “too new.” Everyone can agree that the “classic” era of WoW was up through Wrath of the Lich King. That was the better time to revel in the nostalgia, and to make sure everything was done right. Now, we’re just having a fun time revisiting other previous expansions, and this version of the game is more in-line with the current one. There’s really no reason to linger any longer than a year.

That’s okay. This just means we’re even closer to Mists of Pandaria Classic than I had hoped!