Before the release of World of Warcraft: Classic, it was among the most highly-desired and asked for releases, so much so that it was asked at nearly every BlizzCon and every forum when Blizzard would finally let players play Vanilla as they wanted.
Now, about a year after the release of Classic, fans are left with a new question to ask – what next?
One of the most popular thoughts is simple: Let the game continue as it did sixteen years ago, moving through the expansions one by one. To this end, many have expected that the developers would eventually release a second version of Classic based not on Vanilla WoW, but on its first expansion, The Burning Crusade.
This intermingles with our topic today, wherein Wowhead has found that one if their datamined objects – a Doomwalker world boss – is absent for the 16th anniversary of World of Warcraft event. Expected to be there, many are now wondering where else it would be.
Following this, many have begun to wonder if it instead could be part of the 17th anniversary, along with a datamined Outland Whelpling pet that was expected to be seen. However, many are also wondering, what if these Burning Crusade themed mobs are for a different purpose?
The datamined Doomwalker world boss does not seem to be part of the 16th Anniversary event. However, if the speculation is true for TBC Clasic, this boss alongside the encrypted Outland Whelping pet could be part of the 17th anniversary!#Warcrafthttps://t.co/Yq3bw1Pajt pic.twitter.com/POV4M33O2J
— Wowhead💙 (@Wowhead) November 1, 2020
Doomwalker was originally located in front of the Black Temple, the legendary raid of The Burning Crusade where Illidan Stormrage awaited players. Additionally, the Outland Whelpling pet is alarmingly similar to the Netherwhelp pet from the same expansion.
With two datamined objects that resemble the Burning Crusade expansion’s content, many are beginning to think that the objects are actually part of an announcement event in the future for World of Warcraft: Classic‘s version of The Burning Crusade.
It’s important to note that none of this is confirmed and that it’s all simply speculation. However, the evidence continues to pile up to point towards a Burning Crusade announcement, so who knows? Classic can’t continue in its current form forever, and an “expansion” is among the more viable solutions.
Blizzard has put a considerable amount of thought into Classic and how to keep it going, with the final tier of raiding and content soon to fully drop for the Classic client. With this drop, there’s nothing left for Vanilla without inventing new things, leaving the game to stagnate and eventually die.
Releasing The Burning Crusade in its full, Classic-esque form seems to be Blizzard‘s solution, as a player survey sent out earlier this year seemed to indicate. With no way to know for certain for now, we’ll simply have to wait and see what the developers have in mind with these datamined objects.
