WoW CLASSIC News - It Will Begin with Patch 1.12, Drums of War

For you who have been so patiently waiting news of World of Warcraft Classic, we have it today! We now know that when Classic launches, it will start with v1.12 "Drums of War". Keep in mind that Classic is not a progression server, so 1.12 is both the start and the "finish".

From there, the team has started discussing the "second prototype":

Speaking of engineering, World of Warcraft is a very data-driven game, which means the basic code is flexible and the specific way it behaves is controlled by information contained in databases. Things like quests, monsters, items, and the rules for how these all interact are defined by the designers and artists in data.

So we asked ourselves, would it still be possible to deliver an authentic classic experience if we took our modern code, with all its back-end improvements and changes, and used it to process the Patch 1.12 game data? While that might seem counterintuitive, this would inherently include classic systems like skill ranks, old quests and terrain, talents, and so on, while later features like Transmog and Achievements would effectively not exist because they were entirely absent from the data. After weeks of R&D, experimentation, and prototyping, we were confident we could deliver the classic WoW content and gameplay without sacrificing the literally millions of hours put in to back-end development over the past 13 years.

While our initial effort helped us determine the experience we wanted to provide, this second prototype really defined how we’d get there. Starting from a modern architecture—with all its security and stability changes—means the team’s efforts can be focused on pursuing an authentic classic experience. Any differences in behavior between our development builds and the patch 1.12 reference can be systematically cataloged and corrected, while still operating from a foundation that’s stable and secure.

And for those who love the technical side of things, the post goes on with a discussion of modern engineering and how it applies to the "new" Classic.

Head to the World of Warcraft site to learn more.