This November marks an exceptional holiday for World of Warcraft, in more ways than one. After being forced to delay, Blizzard recently announced that their latest expansion, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, will be releasing November 23rd.
But there’s another release on the 23rd of November that had fans excited earlier this month. On November 23rd, 2004, World of Warcraft went live for the first time with its original Vanilla launch, marking this 23rd as the 16th anniversary of release!
Players were concerned as to what this would mean for the expansion’s release, as the anniversary celebration always includes a few buffs, specifically towards experience and reputation gain. The 16% xp/rep gain buff that was put in place had players worried for their first-time Shadowlands experience.
To remedy this, Blizzard chose not to delay the celebration but to bring it forward. Live from November 1st up until the day before the anniversary itself on November 22nd, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is actively celebrating its 16th anniversary.
There’s plenty for players to grab during this, but we want to focus on the mounts and a special cape to begin with. While the main attraction is definitely the buff to make leveling and reputation grinds easier, players should be careful not to overlook this unique chance to grab some appearances.
The Korrak's Revenge mounts added for WoW's 15th anniversary can still be obtained this year during the 16th anniversary!#Shadowlands#Warcrafthttps://t.co/GPSulcsjTQ pic.twitter.com/JLHSIqb96g
— Wowhead💙 (@Wowhead) November 2, 2020
There are two mounts obtainable, with one on each faction, as a reward for earning the achievement Alterac Valley of Old. This achievement is earned by earning 200 Timewarped Badges from doing quests for the event.
As the name suggests, players will also need to participate in the unique battleground, Alterac Valley Classic. This battleground brings back the original format of Alterac Valley, the first epic battleground of the MMORPG.
For their troubles, players will earn the Stormpike Battle Ram on the Alliance side and the Frostwolf Snarler on the Horde side. Earning the achievement for one side seems to grant the mount on both factions, but always double-check to make sure you’ve been given both mounts!
Players will also be able to earn a unique cape appearance that they’ll purchase from the vendors in the Caverns of Time. This cape, the Crafted Cloak of War, is a back-slot item with no stats, serving only as a transmog appearance.
There’s plenty of other rewards out there as well, so make sure that you’re active for the next few weeks leading up to the launch! Once this event ends, we’ll be taking our first steps into the full release of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.
