WoW Classic: Season of Discovery
INTRODUCTION
World of Warcraft Classic is on the brink of an exciting transformation with the arrival of the Season of Discovery. Unveiled during BlizzCon 2023’s opening ceremony, this season is set to debut on November 30th, promising a radical reinvention of the game.
Season of Discovery will allow players to reimagine the conventional roles of WoW’s classes. Warcraft executive producer Holly Longdale revealed that players will have the opportunity to explore new dimensions of gameplay, such as enabling a Mage to take on a healing role or transforming a Warlock into a tank. These are just a couple of the many possibilities that await players in this forthcoming season.
This will be the second Season for WoW Classic. The first being the Season of Mastery which concentrated on enhancing leveling speeds and intensifying the challenge of much of the MMO’s endgame content. WoW Classic was originally launched in 2019, providing players with the opportunity to relive the classic version of Blizzard’s MMO. This experience had not been available since the introduction of the Cataclysm expansion in 2010.
Without further ado, let us focus on what’s coming with the Season of Discovery!
Changes coming with WoW Classic: Season of Discovery
The upcoming “Season of Discovery” in World of Warcraft Classic is meant to shatter the established conventions that have remained intact for 19 years. Classes traditionally designated for DPS roles will gain the capacity to perform healing and tanking roles, while old raids will make a return, featuring bosses and mechanics that never existed in the original version of the MMO.
Scheduled to launch on November 30 without undergoing public testing, the Season of Discovery resembles the long-requested “Classic+” concept that WoW Classic Players have been advocating for since the game’s initial release. This season will operate within the framework of the original WoW but with distinctive changes. It will commence with an initial level cap of 25, compared to the usual cap of 60 in Classic WoW. Players can anticipate a reimagined 10-player Blackfathom Deeps raid, complete with “revised bosses, mechanics, and rewards.”
After a few months, the level cap will be increased, and Blizzard will introduce an additional wave of reimagined endgame content. Further insights about the Season of Discovery are expected to be unveiled during a developer panel broadcasted from BlizzCon.
According to a statement from Blizzard, the Season of Discovery will introduce a rune system enabling players to customize and gain new abilities. This system bears similarities to equipping Legendary gear in Diablo, providing distinct effects. Players will discover runes in the world and will be able to use “rune-engraving” to activate several of them on their characters, thereby enabling previously nonexistent spells and attacks.
While WoW Classic has previously deviated from the original game, the Season of Discovery appears to be taking this to a whole new level. Earlier this year, the addition of the Random Dungeon Finder system in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion to Classic marked a significant departure from the original release. However, the Season of Discovery seems bent on pushing these boundaries even further.
Next we’ll cover a bit that is known regarding the Rune system for this new WoW Classic Season.
WoW Classic: Season of Discovery Rune System
One of the innovative systems introduced in the Season of Discovery is Rune Engraving, which grants each class a unique set of abilities. These abilities effectively expand your capabilities, enabling them to operate beyond their conventional tank, DPS, or healer roles.
While these abilities have made appearances in different expansions of World of Warcraft, they have been fine-tuned to integrate into the Classic state of the game.
How will we acquire these runes and abilities?
To acquire these abilities, players must first find the necessary runes scattered throughout Azeroth. They will be hidden throughout the game world in special chests, some of which will be easy to find while others might require a group-effort. Once acquired, the new rune-engraving system will allow players to swap their runes in and out to experiment with different builds. It is highly likely that these runes will be rewarded for completing Discoveries, although precise details about this aspect of the Season of Discovery remain limited. Discoveries are known to take place in the open world and may involve multiple steps or grouping up with other players.
According to information presented in one of the slides during the World of Warcraft Classic: What’s Next panel, each class will have access to 12 runes, although it’s important to note that the specifics could still change before the system goes live. Lead Software Engineer Nora Valetta confirmed that there are more than 100 runes spanning all classes. She also provided a preview of three runes per class that will be introduced in the Season of Discovery, although this is only a fraction of the total runes that will be available.
The Runes that were revealed for WoW Classic Season of Discovery
So far there will be 3 Runes that are revealed, out of the 12 Runes per Class that will be available. We will cover each Class and the Rune effects that we know of so far! It’s important to note that the Runes can be engraved and used in only 3 slots on your character, the Leg, Chest and Gloves slot.
Druid Runes
- Skull Bash (Legs) – Charge to a target within 13 yards and bash the target’s skull, interrupting spellcasting and preventing any spell in that school from being case for 2 sec.
- Fury of Stormrage (Chest) – Reduces the mana cost of Wrath by 100% and each time you deal damage with Wrath you have a 12% chance for your next case of Healing Touch within 15 sec to be instant.
- Wild Growth (Gloves) – Heals up all friendly party members within 15 yards of the target for 156 over 7 sec. The amount healed is applied quickly at first, and slows down as Wild Growth reaches its full duration.
Hunter Runes
- Beast Mastery (Gloves) – Your pet’s damage and health are increased by 30% and its Focus regeneration by 80%. In addition, your pet’s Growl now also Taunts the target to attack it for 3 seconds.
- Explosive Shot (Gloves) – You fire an explosive charge into the enemy target, dealing 82-82 Fire damage. The charge will blast the target every second for an additional 2 sec. Cooldown shared with Arcane Shot.
- Lone Wolf (Chest) – You deal 25% increased damage with all attacks while you do not have an active pet.
Paladin Runes
- Crusader Strike (Gloves) – An instant strike that causes 75% weapon damage and regenerates 2% of your maximum mana.
- Hand of Reckoning (Gloves) – Taunts the target to attack you but has no effect if the target is already attacking you.
While you know this ability, the threat bonus from Righteous Fury is increased to 80% and Righteous Fury causes you to gain mana when heled by others equal to 25% of the amount healed. Additionally, while Righteous Fury is active, damage which takes you below 35% health is reduced by 20%. Righteous Fury will remain active until cancelled. - Seal of Martyrdom (Chest) – Fills you with the holy spirit for 30 sec causing each of your melee attacks to deal 30% weapon damage to up to 3 nearby targets but you lose health equal to 2% of all damage you take.
Unleashing this Seal’s energy will judge an enemy, instantly causing 70 weapon damage at the cost of health equal to 2% of the damage inflicted.
Mage Runes
- Ice Lance (Gloves) – Deals 35 to 41 Frost damage to an enemy target. Causes triple damage against Frozen targets.
- Living Flame (Gloves) – Summons a spellfire flame that moves toward the target, leaving a trail of spellfire. This trail deals 42 spellfire damage every second to nearby enemies. Lasts 20 sec.
- Regeneration (Chest) – Heals the target for 485 health over 3 sec and applies Temporal Beacon for 30 sec.
Records the subject’s space-time position. 100% of all Arcane damage done by the caster will be converted to chronomantic healing and divided among the caster’s current Temporal Beacon targets.
Shaman Runes
- Lava Lash (Gloves) – You charge your off-hand weapon with lava, instantly dealing 100% off-hand weapon damage. Damage is increased by 20% if your off-hand weapon is enchanted with Flametongue.
- Way of Earth (Legs) – While Rockbiter Weapon is active on your main hand weapon, you deal 100% increased threat, gain 30% increased health, gain 6% reduced chance to be critically hit by melee attacks, and Earth Shock taunts targets to attack you and has a separate cooldown from other Shock spells but has its range reduced to melee energy.
- Healing Raid (Chest) – Heals the 5 most injured party or raid members within 15 yards of the selected area for 7 every second.
Warrior Runes
- Victory Rush (Gloves) – Instantly attack the target causing 151 damage and healing you for 10% of your maximum health. Only useable 20 sec after you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor.
- Devastate (Gloves) – While you are in Defensive Stance and have a shield equipped, Sunder Armor also deals 100% weapon damage, increased by 10% per application of Sunder Armor already on the target.
- Raging Blow (Chest) – A ferocious strike that deals 100% weapon damage, but can only be used while Enrage, Berserker Rage, or Bloodrage is active.
Warlock Runes
- Haunt (Gloves) – Unleash a ghostly soul on an enemy, dealing 108 to 127 damage, and increasing all Shadow damage over time you deal to that target by 20%. When Haunt ends or is dispelled, you will be healed for all the damage it dealt to your target.
- Chaos Bolt (Gloves) – Sends a bolt of chaotic fire at the enemy, dealing 225 to 286 Fire damage. Chaos bolt always hits, cannot be resisted, and its knowledge causes all your Fire spells to pierce through absorption effects.
- Metamorphosis (Gloves) – Transform into a Demon, increasing Armor by 500%, reducing the chance you will be critically hit by 6%, increasing your threat by 100%, transforming the functionality of some of your abilities, and granting some new abilities:
Searing Pain: Now instant.
Shadow Bolt: Becomes a Shadow Cleave, a Shadowy melee attack that hits up to 3 nearby enemies, but has a 6 sec cooldown.
Curse of Recklessness: Now also taunts your target to attack you for 3 sec, but gains a 10 sec cooldown and range is reduced to melee.
Demon Charge: Charge an enemy and stun it for 1 sec. Cannot be used in combat.
Demon Howl: Forces all nearby enemies to focus attacks on you for 6 sec.
Rogue Runes
- Envenom (Legs) – Finishing move that deals instant poison damage based on your Deadly Poison doses on the target. Following the Envenom attack you have a 75% increased frequency of applying Instant Poison for 1 sec plus an additional 1 sec per combo point:
1 dose: 40 damage
2 doses: 81 damage
3 doses: 121 damage
4 doses: 161 damage
5 doses: 201 damage - Shadowstrike (Gloves) – Teleport behind your target and strike, causing 150% weapon damage to the target. Must be stealthed. Awards 1 combo point.
- Just a Flesh Wound (Chest) – You take 20% reduced Physical damage while Blade Dance is active. Additionally, you have 6% reduced chance to be critically hit by melee attacks, the threat generated by all your actions is massively increased, and your Feint ability is replaced with Tease, which Taunts the target to attack you.
Priest Runes
- Prayer of Mending (Legs) – Places a spell on the target that heals them for 150 the next time they take damage or receive healing. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a party or raid member within 20 years. Jumps up to 5 times and lasts 30 sec after each jump. This spell can only be placed on one target at a time.
- Penance (Gloves) – Launches a volley of holy light at the target, causing 64 Holy damage to an enemy, or 171 healing to an ally, instantly and every 1 sec for 2 sec.
- Homunculi (Legs) – Break off splinters of your soul to animate 3 miniature copies of yourself that attempt to attack your current target with a mace, sword, and axe reducing the attack speed, attack power, and armor respectively of any target they hit.
WoW Classic Season of Discovery – Discoveries
Last but not least, the Discoveries, next to the Rune Engraving aspect are the addition that will make this new Season even more enjoyable!
The World of Warcraft Season of Discovery may initially appear to be like traditional Classic WoW. However, around level 2, your class trainer will give you with a quest to go on a rune search. Following this initial quest, you’ll be left to explore and search for “discoveries” that WILL NOT be indicated on the map. This introduces an exploratory aspect to the game, revealing hidden locations for new adventures. Blizzard wants to implement the need to keep up the MMO aspect, so some discoveries will only be uncovered in groups and you will be able to get more runes and while exploring the mysteries of Azeroth.
CONCLUSION
The WoW Classic Season of Discovery is something that resembles one of the concepts from the private server WoW where you are able to pick abilities and spells from other classes, as well as enhance your own. However, this is done on a far superior and more MMO approach. In the future we are to expect various new content, a level cap increase, raids and some completely new content like the Crypts of Karazhan which was introduced.
We feel that this new Season has a lot of potential without the need for Players to invest a lot of time to achieve certain goals. We will have to see how everything will play out, but the release is near so surely we will know soon!
If you need help with anything regarding WoW Classic Era, Hardcore, WotLK Classic or Retail, feel free to check out our site!
To sum things up, we will leave a video of the official announcement from Blizzcon below for those who wish to check it out, but were unable to.