Naxxramas Opening Time and Scourge Invasion Adjustments

Following the release of WoW Classic patch 1.13.6 on December 1, we’ll open Naxxramas and kick off the Scourge Invasion on December 3 at 23:00 CET.


The Scourge Invasions coming to WoW Classic next week have been adjusted in some ways that differ from how they were originally configured to operate in 2006. Here’s a look into the details behind that.

Original WoW

On June 20, 2006, Scourge Invasions began, including bonus dungeon bosses, vendors, quests, and a series of undead invasion outdoor events. The Invasion part of the event came in three stages. Necrotic Shards spawned in each zone being attacked and are surrounded by undead enemies which must be defeated to destroy the Shard. They most notably drop Necrotic Runes, which were used as quest objectives and as currency to purchase Consecrated Sharpening Stones and Blessed Weapon Oils.

The stages progressed per-realm. The first stage ended when 50 zones were defended, the second at 100, and the third ended at 150 zones defended. At the end of each stage, any player on that realm could speak with NPCs in capital cities to receive an item with limited charges that provided a minor scaling stamina buff for 1 hour. Once a total of 150 zones were defended, the invasions portion of the event ended permanently.

Regardless of the number of zones defended, the rest of the features of the Scourge Invasion event were configured to end after three weeks, taking away all bonus dungeon bosses, vendors, quest NPCs, and vendors.

WoW Classic

Given the number of endgame players per realm nowadays, as well as how much more knowledgeable players are when it comes to optimizing gameplay, we feel that it is pertinent to make several changes to the event. We calculated that it would be easy for some realms to be completely done with the invasion portion of the event in less than five days, so our primary goal is to allow more time for players to participate and not feel rushed.

  • The number of zones needed to complete each stage has been increased to 100/200/300.
  • The total duration for the bonus dungeon bosses, vendors, and quest givers has been increased from three to four weeks and will end on December 31.
  • An additional one-week period has been added, beginning after 300 zones have successfully been defended on each realm. During this extra week, invasions will continue to spawn to allow players a final chance to participate and gather the rewards.
    • This additional week cannot extend beyond the end date of December 31.

These adjustments feel like a solid way to allow players more breathing room to enjoy Naxxramas and still participate in this one-time event.


Thank you for reading, and we look forward to joining you in Naxxramas at 23:00 CET on December 3!

21 Likes

I welcome this #change !

19 Likes

Advertising an opening time on December 3rd then releasing it at 23.00 is disgraceful. For most products and most companies, this would get them a slap from a regulator.

How are we supposed to plan and schedule things when we can’t count on Blizzard to release their products, as advertised, at reasonable hours? For any guild on a Wednesday/Thursday schedule, this disrespectful, dishonest, NA-centric move means we won’t get to raid the first lockout of Naxx, as advertised.

18 Likes

Could you please specify exactly when the content not directly tied to Naxxramas and the scourge invasion unlocks? Things like new dungeon drops (new conjure food rank, frost ward rank etc.), savage frond drops, hunter buff changes etc.

2 Likes

Late night EU release was expected from the moment they announced it to become available at the same time globally.

You go by previous experience. See BWL and ZG releases.

Also, they never advertised December 3rd EU release. They said it would release in the week of December 3rd.

2 Likes

Will there be layers for this? The lag will be insane with all the classic players returning to farm the events.

1 Like

What a stupid time to open it when people have already made plans to raid Thursday evening and you push it for so late. retarded.

7 Likes

Is this a joke? How can a mature company announce dec 3rd and then announce 6 days prior “oh its at 23:00 so you cant actually raid dec 3rd”.

8 Likes

good choice to extend the invasion so people can get their stuff without rush.
I hope this reflects some further changes in tbc.

Unfortunate it releases so late, I understand it is for the global release but who do we care for here? the world first race? not really important or serious in classic as it all comes down to who can enter the raid first anyway (zg was horrible laggy for instance).

1 Like

I don’t understand how people are surprised by this, this is the exact same way BWL and ZG released.

And any tuesday/wednesday NA guild won’t get to raid either?

I know this may be hard to grasp for some, but you are actually allowed to move your raid times and adjust your schedule, should you need to.

2 Likes

Your new intern is making wonderful job. Blizzard, promote him plz!

1 Like

And any tuesday/wednesday NA guild won’t get to raid either?

The difference is - for those guilds, the raid is ACTUALLY opening on Thursday, as advertised.

1 Like

Are you new to the concept of obligations?
It isnt easy to move raid times, actually it is the hardest thing to do in this game.

1 Like

And it is in europe too? 23.00 is still thursday, even if it’s late.

The release date has been known for a long time now, and both BWL and ZG were released in this way (at midnight, even), so you’ve had plenty of time to schedule for the opening.

If a guild is taken by surprise by this and messes with their plans, that’s entirely their own fault.

No it’s not? BWL/ZG Got released at midnight on wednesday to thursday, so everyone just planned their raid for thursday that didn’t do midnight.

Most us assumed it be the same now.

3 Likes

Disgusting release time. I am disappointed by this post.
Don’t worry about screwing over the people who have ALREADY made plans. Also, don’t worry about EU guilds going for world first progress runs who also want to go to bed, and you know, have a life.
Haven’t learned anything from BWL. Pathetic. So disrespectful advertising the 3rd but at 23:00, who thought this was a good idea? Did not a single person with any common sense in the entire team not think this was scummy behaviour?

2 Likes

our guild raids on thursday but we had sunday as backup. Does not detract from the my point that changing schedule is difficult, but the earlier they release it the better. Could have been a Sunday release would have been much worse.

You should have complained about that a month ago when the dates were announced then. US Thursday release, with same time all over the world has been known for a while now. Did you really expect blizzard to release it during sleep/early work hours in the US?

1 Like

Just wondered what reason they would find to turn this into a rage and whinethread this time.

2 Likes

Really? Layer zzz