Could Blizzard Expand WoW SoD to The Burning Crusade?

Following the very successful launch of World of Warcraft Season of Discovery Classic, some players are starting to wonder if Blizzard Entertainment will take the next step into expanding this new version of WoW into The Burning Crusade. Despite SoD still being fresh off the shelves, it looks like people are already interested if the company will continue implementing this version of WoW in the following expansions, similarly as they did with the launch of Classic in 2019 and then proceeding with The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and now Cataclysm in 2024.

We will be taking a look into the possibility of Blizzard continuing the Season of Discovery journey into the Outland as well as looking at what the community is currently thinking about this direction from the devs. 

WoW SoD Popularity and Enjoyment

It is no secret how much the players have been enjoying playing the new World of Warcraft Season of Discovery variant for Vanilla as a recent poll on Twitter showed that nearly 50% of the player base is playing Classic WoW, whether it is Hardcore, Wrath of the Lich King or Season of Discovery. 

Although these numbers are not to be taken as definitive proof of the actual player base's preference, the community sentiment online at least remains that about 50% of players are playing Dragonflight (Retail). Despite that new balancing issues arise constantly around SoD, Blizzard is rather quick to respond and do balance adjustments when a common exploit or overpowered mechanic is found by the players.

This shows the amount of dedication that the devs have put into this very fun twist on Classic, allowing players to experience the joy of playing once again through a new prism. The new runes, re-imagined Blackfathom Deeps 10-man raid, and new PvP event in Ashenvale have brought a lot of life back into the game with many players socializing and making new friends along the way.

WoW SoD TBC Possible Release

Having said all that, Blizzard also has to consider whether or not a continued investment into SoD beyond Classic will yield enough financial incentive to produce more content in the next expansions of the game. Given the fact that a lot of time and effort was put into the release of Season of Discovery, this version of WoW might just be limited to Vanilla as Blizzard is dedicating a lot of its resources to the upcoming Cataclysm release in 2024. 

Should Blizzard Entertainment continue the SoD experience into TBC, the teams will need to put in even more effort and time, not only learning from the shortcomings the players have found so far but also providing even more exciting changes to the gameplay as the expectations of the players are very high given the quality we have seen thus far.

Another interesting approach would be to further expand the Classic universe and provide new content to WoW instead of going on the same path again. Many players have been asking for new playable races, zones, quests, and raids dubbing the version as "Classic+". This approach would possibly be met with more understanding and love from the veterans of the franchise, however, we are yet to learn how much the world will shift with the approach of Phase 2 in SoD Classic. 

Summary

Overall, whatever step Blizzard decides to take, it will be crucial to maintain the same design philosophy of making the game fun to play, despite being almost 20 years old. Although WoW SoD TBC might be met with some criticism from the community, if the release fails to stick the landing in terms of enjoyment, then most likely Blizzard will abandon the project and focus more on Retail expansions. There is a very fine line in terms of providing innovation whilst sticking to the roots of the game to maintain the Classic atmosphere and pacing. 

A lot is riding on Blizzard's shoulders for 2024, we will see not only the release of their newest expansion for Retail called The War Within but a lot of content for the WoW Classic enjoyers who will have to decide whether to play Classic Hardcore, Season of Discovery or Cataclysm.