Wrath of the Lich King Classic release date set for 2022

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WoW Classic is getting one of its best expansions this year, and Death Knights will arrive early

Wrath of the Lich King Classic is coming to the old-school vanilla version of Blizzard's iconic MMO later this year. 

While we don't have an exact release date for the expansion's return, beta opt-ins are open now through the WoW Classic website. The expansion itself will be included in your existing WoW Classic subscription, Blizzard clarified. 

World of Warcraft Classic is getting the full-fat version of Wrath of the Lich King and Northrend, and as Blizzard explained in today's reveal stream, it's also making some changes, like adding a barber shop that lets you customize your character a bit more. 

"We're going to be adding a few more options not existing when Wrath launched, but also there's another side of this where we're not gonna charge a real money fee [for character customization]," lead producer Holly Longdale explained. "It seemed the right thing to do for that to just be available in-game for gold and we add more options to it." 

In a new FAQ on the Classic website, Blizzard confirmed that the Wrath of the Lich King's popular Death Knight class will become available "sometime before" the expansion is actually released. "The game client will be updated, and players who wish to level up a Death Knight character to level 70 will be able to do so without restrictions," Blizzard says. 

There won't be any special requirements to make a Death Knight, though you'll still be limited to one per realm. After your first realm, you will need an existing level 55 character on that realm to make another Death Knight. With the level cap going to 80 for the Lich King, Blizzard will "offer an optional Character Boost service closer to the launch of Wrath of the Lich King Classic," it confirmed. 

The WoW Classic release of Wrath of the Lich King was announced alongside World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, the dragon-powered expansion coming to the main version of the game. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.