Season of Discovery ends phase 4 with Karazhan Crypt. But what about what comes before that? And then there is the fun question of what comes after.

Intro

We all know that Season of Discovery has 4 phases. Phase 1 is Blackfathom Deeps at level 25, as well as the Ashenvale PVP zone for its PVP event.

It’s our introduction to level up raids and new PVP event zones, letting Blizzard test the waters, dipping their toes into seeing just what the classic player base enjoys and what it hates. And I think they’ve hit the nail on the head on how to properly release content and make changes to the Season of Discovery, because of the phase system.

4 to 12 weeks between each phase is a sweet spot for letting people enjoy content without getting bored. This system lets everyone share how they feel about a new experience because every person you ask will have a widely different answer to what is Classic Plus. So, this is far more useful to Blizzard than a thousand voices yelling different things.

So, Blackfathom Deeps and the Ashenvale PVP event zone are testing ground to player reactions. When you keep that information in mind, it makes the remaining phases and schedule make a lot more sense.

Phase 2 - Gnomeregan

Phase 2 is Gnomeregan at level 40, and it’s a dungeon that’s massive, full of flavor, and still abandoned in retail, leaving the Gnomes as homeless refugees for almost 2 decades.

Just like Blackfathom Deeps, it’s a large dungeon that can essentially be broken into different wings and be filled with bosses, events, and quests that just feel natural.

And just how Phase 1 had a massive PVP event zone, Phase 2 will have 1 as well. It should, so long as the player base doesn’t lose their collective minds and tear Ashenvale down so hard that Blizzard cancels their plans.

And while BFD is in the veil, so is Warsong Gulch. So, you’d think that Phase 2’s PVP zone event should be in the Arathi Highlands to tie it into Arathi Basin. But you’d be wrong because Phase 2’s PVP event zone is the Stranglethorn Vale.

Honestly, it would be funny if they kept PVP zone events in the zone of the dungeon. But how could they turn an Alliance leveling zone into a PVP event zone? Are all Dwarves and Gnomes just being exiled to Elwynn Forest? No, that won’t happen, but Stranglethorn Vale itself makes perfect sense—a highly contested PVP zone and one that should have had a battleground from the get-go.

We can likely expect a new reputation, a new Quartermaster for some PVP loot down there, but we’ll find out more in the coming weeks.

Phase 3 - Scarlet Monastery

Now, Phase 3 is where it gets spicy but also still makes perfect sense since we have Scarlet Monastery, which comes with the level cap of 50. But it’s also just north of a very conflicted and iconic battleground, Alterac Valley in Alterac Mountains.

With Scarlet Monastery being one of the most iconic dungeons because of Sally Whitemane, and Alterac Valley being one of the most recognizable Battlegrounds in World of Warcraft, it’s a perfect combination to throw out for Phase 3.

Regardless between the level cap of 50 and Scarlet Monastery being turned into a massive level-up raid with new bosses, remastered bosses, new events, quests, and perhaps even a brand new reputation, Phase 3 is looking to be incredibly exciting.

Also Read: WOW Classic SOD: Top 10 Things You Need To Do At Level 25

Phase 4 - Karazhan Crypts

The PVP is just icing on that beautiful, delicious cake. And then that brings us to Phase 4 and the first new dungeon in Classic: Karazhan Crypts, a dungeon that was designed back in 2002 or 2003 and then abandoned because they ran out of time before becoming the raid known as Karazhan in The Burning Crusade.

We know nothing about Karazhan Crypts, and people will be making pure conjecture until it comes out. But I expect us to perhaps see original questlines and ideas make it back into the game. It could be the start of an alternate timeline with ideas from Vanilla making a frontline return. We will probably get a new reputation to grind, new quests, new items, and perhaps even instead of being a 10-man level-up raid, we’re looking at the first new 20-man or 40-man raid in Classic.

But PvE without PvP just isn’t World of Warcraft, and thus the new PVP zone event for Phase 4 is also likely to be new content. Since Karazhan Crypts, an abandoned and forgotten concept and idea, is being brought back to life, so will, in my opinion, Azshara Crater, a complete new battleground, dreamed back to life for Classic as well as turning Azshara into a massive level 60 zone-wide PVP event zone.

New reputations, questlines, and much more are going to be given to us. And our dream is the limit or, in this case, the amount of risk Blizzard is willing to take.

And thus, I conclude with what I call the Season of Discovery introduction phases, which are amazing and incredible. While we don’t know exactly what we’ll be getting, it’s only the beginning of Season of Discovery because Blizzard has already said we’re getting more content at level 60.

Phase 5 - Molten Core & Onyxia

And thus, let me introduce you all to the Season of Discovery endgame phases, which is Phase 5 to 8.

You might think that 8 phases is a lot, but Classic, when it came out in 2019, had 6 phases, and that was just re-releasing the original 6 raids.

Now, this is what we call the educated guessing phase, where we have ideas and we know what they’re going to do nominally. But despite knowing we’re getting content, new and old changes, and more, we don’t know what that is. So, this is more of a wishlist for content.

So, Phase 5 is, of course, none other than Molten Core, and the top 5 most iconic raids in World of Warcraft, after Black Temple, Ulduar, ICC and Siege of Orgrimmar. Don’t crucify me for that top 5 in the comments.

While Molten Core might not be the most iconic raid, Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker, is the single most iconic in-game weapon from World of Warcraft. If you don’t count Frostmourne or the Warglaives, we’re looking at a remastered Molten Core, new bosses, mobs, quests, items, and perhaps even legendaries and reputations.

A legendary that’s already in the game but only 1 singular person got is the necklace (Talisman of Binding Shard) back from Vanilla, which got removed because it wasn’t meant to be in the game. Now that necklace might not come back, but they already have a legendary they designed back then, which they could reincorporate into Season of Discovery.

I’m not sure exactly how much they’ll change Molten Core and, with it, Onyxia. But there will be changes. As for PVP, Black Rock Mountain is the single most dangerous PVP zone in the game. If you played on a PVP server, then you’ll be having Vietnam flashbacks.

So, we know that Molten Core and Onyxia are coming, but what about new content? Allow me to introduce the new and improved Dire Maul or Blackrock Depths.

These two dungeons are massive, so massive in fact that in Cataclysm, they got cut down and reshaped into multiple separate wings. And in BRD’s case, they just scrapped well over half of it.

Either of these 2 dungeons makes the most sense as being a new 20-man-raid or 10-man raid. Logically, it makes sense because Blizzard stated that they wanted new players to be able to catch up easily from phase to phase.

Introducing more level 60 level-up raids, making gearing a lot easier and allowing a transition into raids more easily, albeit I’m not sure if they’ll focus all the effort into making the already existing raids better and more fun to interact with.

Keeping the phases between 4 and 12 weeks long, so we get a lot of hyper-focused content and then new phases before we get bored. Or maybe Phases 5 to 8 will be 6 months long, each with a storm of content to keep us all content.

Phase 6 - Blackwing Lair & Zul’Gurub

Nonetheless, Phase 6 is Blackwing Lair and Zul’Gurub, two fun and interesting raids which will definitely get more quests, reputations, mechanics changes, and loot.

The dungeons most likely to get changed with this phase are the Temple of Atal’Hakkar for ZG and Blackrock Spire for Blackwing Lair, correlating nicely with each other.

Also, Blackrock Mountain being a horrible war zone probably continues into Phase 6, maybe Stranglethorn Vale as well at this point.

But then again, perhaps this is an overload of content and I’m overestimating Blizzard’s zeal, desire, and SOD Gold when it comes to Classic Season of Discovery. There is a lot that they could do here, so much in fact that this could easily be a six-month content stretch between the 10-mans, 20-mans, and 40-mans.

Phase 7 - Ahn’Qiraj 40 & Ahn’Qiraj 20

Let’s move on to Phase 7, which is where I think we’re going to see the most new content in the game.

Scarab Lord is a very coveted title and the Black Qiraji Battle Tank is one of the rarest mounts in the entire game. The opening of Ahn’Qiraj and the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline is a long, awesome, and genuinely a wild experience.

So, imagine the things they could do here, the things they could add. Imagine a massive zone-wide PVP event in Silithus where the Horde and Alliance battle it out for new PVP reputations and items.

AQ40 and AQ20 are incredible raids full of awesome bosses, lore mechanics, and loot, and I can’t wait to see what Blizzard does here.

Now, we aren’t theorycrafting if we don’t think about new content, and with that, allow me to introduce Uldaman, the new 10-man dungeon and another location to gear with level 60 gear, so you can delve into the raids faster.

Phase 8 - Naxxramas

Last but not least, Phase 8 and The Dread Citadel - Naxxramas, the so-called guild killer in vanilla and definitely a guild killer in Classic, as everything devolved into GDKP and triggered hyperinflation.

Naxxramas will probably get more loot, new quests, new bosses, new mechanics, and more. That’s to be expected. But what else will change in Phase 8? Let me introduce you all to the new 20-man or 10-man raid Stratholme, one of the most iconic places in World of Warcraft and the beginning of the fall for our beloved prince Arthas.

Now, this is me wishing, but it could make sense as once Eastern Plaguelands into a massive PVP zone event, which is already supported by the tower situated across the zone. It would make a lot of sense to have more than just Naxxramas for the entirety of Phase 8, and the size of Stratholme already correlates to being a miniature raid, anyway.

Even if they only include a fraction of what I’ve spoken of and even if they go on absolutely a completely different path, the amount of content that Blizzard seems to be planning to add to Classic Plus Season of Discovery is staggering. And whilst all of this might not be in Season of Discovery, it will definitely be in Classic Plus.

So, whether Season of Discovery is Classic Plus or leads into Classic Plus, expect an obscene amount of content just from the endgame phases.