WoW Classic 20th Anniversary Boosting

The release date for Phase 6 of WoW Classic 20th Anniversary has been roughly confirmed. The official announcement states that the pre-patch for TBC Anniversary will begin on January 13, 2026, later than players expected.

This pre-patch includes the general content of TBC, but it differs from TBC Classic in many ways. Let's take a look at the general content of this pre-patch.

Pre-patch Content

The pre-patch includes the new expansion's systems, but not all TBC content itself. For TBC, the pre-patch will include:

• New playable races: Blood Elves for Horde and Draenei for Alliance.
• Class changes: Updated Talent Trees and Spell Mechanics.
• Profession upgrades: Players can begin upgrading their professions.

Outland will remain locked during the pre-patch period until the official release of the expansion. The official release date for WoW TBC Anniversary has not yet been announced. However, based on the experience of TBC Classic in 2021, and considering the community's criticism of the two-week pre-patch period at that time, the pre-patch duration is expected to be at least three to four weeks. Therefore, the official release date is speculated to be around February 3rd to February 10th, 2026.

Character Transfers

The official period for players to transfer characters is from November 25th, 2025 to January 12th, 2026. Players can transfer their characters from Anniversary Realms to Classic Era Realms for free during this period, or enter TBC Anniversary Realms, and there is no intermediate option. All WoW Classic 20th Anniversary gold, items, and levels will be retained.

Hardcore

The official statement indicates that no TBC hardcore servers will be created. Regarding the handling of hardcore characters during WoW Classic 20th Anniversary, players can choose to transfer their hardcore characters to a regular (non-hardcore) anniversary server during the transfer window. The character will then continue playing TBC content as a regular character.

If the transfer is not completed before January 12th, the character will remain on the current hardcore server, but the subsequent transfer destination will be a non-hardcore Classic Era Realms.

No Character Clone Service

In 2021, the official team offered a service that allowed players to retain their TBC Classic and Classic Era Realms characters ($35/character), but TBC Anniversary will not offer any form of character cloning service.

There has been no announcement regarding this service, which is unexpected by the community. Players who wish for this service need to actively provide feedback to the official team.

Balance Changes

The skill changes for TBC Anniversary are being tested on PTR.

Bloodlust And Heroism

Their effects have changed from affecting only Shaman's party to affecting the entire raid. A new 10-minute exhaustion debuff has been added for all teammates. Crucially, this debuff only resets after a boss kill or a wipe.

This will greatly simplify raid progression, as Bloodlust and Heroism can be used on the entire raid once per boss fight, eliminating the need to swap Shaman parties to maximize benefits, while Shamans remain crucial due to their totem buffs and high demand.

Terocone Adjustments

The spawn rate and additional spawn points for Terocone have been increased. This is because in TBC Classic, Terocone was primarily used to craft one of the most important potions, Haste Potions. Due to its low refresh rate, it is often in short supply, resulting in a high gold value. Coupled with the even larger player base on the anniversary Mega Realms, this change is necessary.

Attunements Simplified

Heroic Dungeon

A player's first character still needs to complete the introductory questline by grinding the corresponding reputation to Revered. However, upon completion, a Bind on Battle.net Account key can be traded and mailed to an alt. The alt only needs to reach Friendly reputation to use the key to enter Heroic dungeon.

Raid

A player's first character still needs to complete the full raid introductory quest chain. Once completed, the raid will be unlocked for all characters on the player's Battle.net account.

This significantly lowers the barrier to entry and effort required to participate in high-difficulty content with alts, preventing burnout from repeatedly grinding introductory quests.

Raid Difficulty Adjustments

All TBC raids will be in their post-nerfed state upon release.

Tier 4

Tier 4 includes Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and Magtheridon's Lair. These raids have undergone multiple nerfs, with bosses like Nightbane in Karazhan raids having their health and damage significantly reduced.

Tier 5

Serpent Shrine Cavern and Tempt Keep raids have been significantly nerfed. Boss and trash mob health has been drastically reduced, with some monsters and bosses even being nerfed by 40%.

Lady Vashj's final phase mind control has been removed, and Kael'thas Sunstrider fight has been shortened. Several other boss mechanics have also been modified.

Tier 6

Tier 6 changes primarily affect Black Temple and Mount Hyjal. Because they are inherently easier than Tier 5, the nerfs are less significant. The most major nerf is to the fight against M'uru, with his main body and related units having their health reduced.

With the changes to Bloodlust and Terocone, the consumables and buffs for each boss are significantly simpler than in 2021 TBC Classic, with the most noticeable decrease in difficulty for Tier 4 and Tier 5 gear.

PvP And Arena Changes

Personal Rating system replaces Team Rating, with each character starting at 1500 rating. Each character can have their rating reset to 1500 weekly using gold (only if it's below 1500).

Simplified PvP Gear Acquisition

Except for shoulders (requiring 2000 rating) and weapons (requiring 1700 rating), all other PvP gear has no rating requirements and can be traded using Arena Points and Honor.

Faction Reputation PvP gear will be sold at the start of Season 1, and its set bonuses have been merged with Honor gear, allowing players to mix and match gear and enjoy set effects.

QoL Improvements

Guild Banks will be available from day one of TBC Anniversary launches, allowing players to store gold and items.

The official website will sell upgrade packs containing transmog items, mounts, and more. Unlike previous packs, these will include a flying mount.

Group Finder Tool and Dual Talent Specialization features will soon be added to Classic (both Normal and Hardcore). Edit Mode will be added to both Era and WoW TBC Anniversary, allowing players to customize the UI without addons.

Overall, the developers are significantly making The Burning Crusade Anniversary significantly more accessible. Whether these changes are good or bad is uncertain, but they should help attract more players.

World of Warcraft is celebrating its 21st anniversary, and Phase 6 of WoW Classic 20th Anniversary is now approaching its end. The continent of Azeroth will soon undergo a radical transformation as Burning Legion invades.

While no official date has been announced, many players believe it will arrive in December. We can also make some predictions based on the history of The Burning Crusade.

TBC Classic Anniversary Release Date Prediction

The original Burning Crusade expansion officially launched on January 16, 2007, while the pre-patch went live on December 5, 2006, approximately 40 days later.

In the current in-game phase of WoW Classic 20th Anniversary, Naxxramas raid has been open for about a month and a half. Following the usual server practice, pre-patches typically last for two weeks.

To align with the 20th anniversary theme, the official timeline may mirror the original game. This means the pre-patch duration may no longer be the usual two weeks, but could be extended to four weeks or longer to align with the original release schedule.

If the expansion launches in mid-January, a two-week pre-patch would coincide with New Year's Day, which would be inconvenient for both the development team and players. An earlier, longer pre-patch would allow players to enjoy the new content during Christmas and New Year holidays.

Furthermore, mid-January is considered the dead of winter, and releasing a large expansion at this time would better maintain player engagement.

Specific Date Predictions

All pre-patches for Classic are released on Tuesdays. Therefore, several Tuesdays in early December could be the official release dates for pre-patches, namely December 2nd, December 9th, and December 16th.

December 16th is the most likely release date, as it marks approximately four weeks from that date to mid-January, forming a complete pre-patch cycle.

The official release date for TBC Classic Anniversary is January 15th or 16th. This date almost perfectly matches the original release date of January 16, 2007, fitting the anniversary theme.

Furthermore, data mining reveals a January 15th date marker in WoW Classic 20th, though its specific content is unknown, it's highly likely related to an expansion release.

Moreover, major expansions for WoW Classic 20th Anniversary are typically released on Thursdays, and January 15th happens to be a Thursday.

Unrelenting Rallying Cry Of The Dragonslayer Buff

Currently, in WoW Classic 20th Anniversary, all characters automatically receive a powerful World buff called Unrelenting Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer upon login.

The buff's effects are as follows:

• Increases spell critical strike chance by 10%.
• Increases melee and ranged critical strike chance by 5%.
• Provides 140 attack power.

It cannot stack with the regular Rallying Cry of the Dragon Slayer, cannot be stored by Chronoboon Displacer, and disappears in dungeons and battlegrounds, but the effect is retained after death in open-world maps. Players can choose to disable this buff at any Innkeeper.

Official information states that this buff is to celebrate World of Warcraft's 21st Anniversary. The buff only lasts for one week, ending on Monday, November 24th at 10:00 AM PST.

What Does The Buff Do?

This buff is extremely powerful, essentially a permanent Rallying Cry of the Dragon Slayer effect, greatly improving leveling and monster-killing efficiency in the open world, especially beneficial for physical and magical classes such as Warriors, Rogues, Feral Druids, and Enhancement Shamans.

It is recommended that players, especially those aiming for these classes, make full use of this week to level up, as the experience will be significantly better than without the buff.

This buff also applies to Anniversary Hardcore Realm. It significantly reduces the challenge of Hardcore mode, providing an excellent opportunity to level up a Hardcore character.

The appearance of this powerful, one-week-limited buff may be a signal that a pre-patch announcement for The Burning Crusade Classic is imminent.

This buff has appeared during the week of November 17th, and the official announcement of the pre-patch is likely to follow the week after it ends, around the end of November or beginning of December. This aligns with the predicted mid-December release schedule mentioned above.

How To Prepare For TBC Classic Anniversary?

The arrival of TBC is still some time away. Although this period might be a bit boring, you can do some simple things to prepare for TBC.

You need to reserve at least 20,000 WoW Classic 20th Anniversary gold for TBC. Firstly, you'll need a flying mount for questing in Outland and entering raids. Additionally, your initial gear, gems, and consumables will all require gold.

In the early stages of TBC, the demand for materials will be high. You should start stockpiling WoW Classic 20th Anniversary materials now to craft items that will increase your TBC profession levels. If you have enough time, you can also train profession alt characters, such as Tailoring, Engineer, and Enchanter.

These are the rough predictions for the end of Phase 6 of WoW Classic 20th Anniversary and for the launch of TBC Classic Anniversary. The pre-patch date is likely December 16th, and the official release date is likely January 15th, 2026.