New Ms. Marvel Poster Reveals Kamala Khan’s Family
Marvel Studios has revealed a brand-new poster for the upcoming Ms. Marvel series on Disney Plus, but instead of a focus on her powers or potential villains, this poster instead turns an eye toward the entire Khan family and Kamala's close friends.
Slated for release this summer, Ms. Marvel will feature the version of the hero first introduced back in 2013. Similar to other classic teenage superheroes, Kamala will spend part of her time dodging her family's questions about her hidden heroic exploits.
In the poster, Kamala is front-and-center in her full Ms. Marvel costume, and you can also see a smaller glimpse of her copying Carol Danvers' Captain Marvel look from the first film.
In 50 days, Kamala Khan's journey begins. ⚡️#MsMarvel, an Original series from Marvel Studios, starts streaming June 8 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/7kz5fR6Zso
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) April 19, 2022
Flanking Kamala on either side are her older brother and best friend. On the left is that best friend, Nakia Bahadir, portrayed by Yasmeen Fletcher. Nakia is a classmate at Kamala's school. Hailing from a Turkish family, Nakia belongs to the same mosque as Kamala's family and social activist. In the comics, the gap between her and Kamala grows as the latter becomes a superhero.
That's in contrast to Bruno Carrelli, who appears to the left of Nakia. Bruno, played by The Walking Dead and The Alienist's Matt Lintz, is Kamala's other best friend. Unlike Nakia, Bruno is brought into Kamala's heroic adventures rather early, acting as her confidant for the Ms. Marvel side of her life.
To the right of Kamala is Amir Khan, her older brother. In the original source material, he avoided getting a job to focus more on religion, much to the annoyance of their parents. It's unclear if that storyline will play out in the show. Amir's future wife, Tyesha Hillman-Khan, also appears just below him on the poster, played by Travina Springer.
Right next to Amir is another major character in the show, Kamran, played by Rish Shah. Shah was last seen as Ravi in To All the Boys: Always in Forever. Kamala has a crush on this young heartthrob who attends her school. There's also a superheroic future for Kamran in the original comics, as he becomes an Inhuman in the same way Kamala does. Her powers seemingly come from a different source in the show, so Kamran's character might also head in a different direction.
Next up, there are Kamala's parents, Muneeba Khan and Yusef Khan. Her mother Muneeba is played by The Big Sick's Zenobia Shroff, while her father is played by Mohan Kapur, a famous Indian host and voice actor. Kamala's parents are both immigrants from Pakistan trying to find a life for their family in New Jersey. Neither knows of her double life as Ms. Marvel, simply thinking her absences and actions spring from more mundane sources.
Underneath Kamala's parents is Zoe Zimmer, played by Laurel Marsden. Zoe is the most popular girl at Kamal's school and bullies her early on. She's also the first person that Kamala saves, prior to fully becoming Ms. Marvel. Later in the original comics, Zoe does become friends with Kamala and eventually even strikes up a one-sided romantic interest in Nakia.
Ms. Marvel will be airing on Disney Plus starting on June 8. You can check back here at IGN for further news and details about the show, including the recent teaser trailer and how it changes up her powers.
Mike Williams is a freelance writer at IGN
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Hayden Christensen Binged Star Wars Animated Shows To Prep For Return
Hayden Christensen knows the role of Anakin and Darth Vader better than anyone, but when it came time to once again step behind the mask in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, he was quite thorough in his research.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Christensen revealed the lengths he went to in order to prepare for the role. Aside from rewatching every single Star Wars movie, Christensen also watched the animated shows, The Clone Wars and Rebels, to gain an additional perspective on the franchise.
“It was interesting,” Christensen said. “They did a lot with these characters in those shows. And they did further explore the relationship. There was interesting stuff there to learn about. It was great fun getting to go back and re-immerse yourself in this world that just continues to grow and become more and more vast.”
Christensen wasn’t the only cast member to dedicate himself to his research. Ewan McGregor, who will play the titular Obi-Wan, also watched every single Star Wars movie for the first time since they released to reacquaint himself with the series, or, as he put it, “just to get back in that world.” McGregor also delved further into the genre by reading science fiction classics by Iain M. Banks.
Obi-Wan Kenobi will air with two episodes on May 27, with the rest of the series premiering on subsequent Wednesdays. This isn’t the only expansion of the beloved Star Wars series that’s currently in the works — The Mandalorian Season 3 is due in late 2022 and Star Wars: Ahsoka is in the works among others.
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN.
Jane Foster Thor Coming to Marvel’s Avengers as a New Playable Hero
Crystal Dynamics announced its plans to add Jane Foster: The Mighty Thor to Marvel’s Avengers’ roster of playable characters. This will mark Avenger's first new character since Spider-Man in November 2021.
Jane, who has appeared in the Thor comics since the early 1960s, will join the game in Update 2.5. In a blog post announcing Jane Foster, the developers say that Jane Foster Thor will be a unique hero with her own abilities.
“Our Hero designs are driven first and foremost by their core comic book identities, so, as a fellow wielder of Mjolnir, her suite of abilities will have a lot in common with the Odinson’s, however she will also have elements that are distinctly Jane,” Square Enix said via a development update.
It’s unclear what the rest of this update will include or when it will launch. However, Square Enix plans to reveal more details about Jane’s role in the future as more news regarding Update 2.5 rolls out.
Jane’s announcement arrived alongside details regarding Update 2.4, which is slated to release in May. Update 2.4 focuses on retooling the game’s rotation of events to keep things “fresh and compelling for replays.” This will include more diverse rewards, higher power level gear rewards, and rewards that apply to players’ entire rosters rather than just one hero.
Marvel's Avengers isn't the only place Jane Foster is appearing. She will also be coming to the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder played once again by Natalie Portman.
The update seems to target many of the complaints surrounding the game, which Crystal Dynamics released to mixed reviews. We reviewed the game in 2020 and initially enjoyed the single-player campaign, though the loot-based endgame became tedious and repetitive.
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN.
New Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Characters Revealed
Amazon Prime Video has revealed new images for two characters set to be in the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Check below to get a new look at Theo and Bronwyn.
During the Amazon Global All Hands meeting, the company revealed some new images for the two characters. While we see Theo holding what looks like a broken sword hilt or staff, and Bronwyn looking out mysteriously at a river, no other details were revealed for either of these characters.
Theo will be played by Tyroe Muhafidin, while Bronwyn is played by Nazanin Boniadi.
The Rings of Power is a new Lord of the Rings TV series set centuries before the events of The Lord of the Rings, during the Second Age of Middle-earth. There will be some familiar faces such as Galadriel, played by Morfydd Clark. She appeared in the Peter Jackson movies played by Cate Blanchett.
For a full list of known characters, check out IGN’s breakdown of the first Rings of Power trailer from the Super Bowl.
While the trailer shows off the epic scale Tolkein’s works are known for, there are still plenty of mysteries left to uncover before the Rings of Power premiers on Amazon Prime on September 2, 2022.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Is the Blizzard MMO’s Long-Awaited Dragon Expansion
At long last, the rumored dragon-themed World of Warcraft expansion is upon us. Blizzard has announced that the ninth expansion for its long-running MMORPG will be titled World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, and will take place on the mythical Dragon Isles.
Unlike several recent expansions, Dragonflight will open with a much more optimistic tone as explorers and adventurers arrive on the shores of the ancestral home of the dragons, which have recently awakened after being hidden for centuries. Draconic characters who have previously played major roles in World of Warcraft lore — such as Alexstrasza, Kalecgos, Ebonhorn, and Wrathion — will return for major storylines. As usual, there will be new quests, dungeons, and raids tied to this expansion and area, to be revealed at a later date.
Dragonflight expands the level cap to 70 and introduces four new leveling zones to get players there, which they'll explore in order: the lush and lava-filled Waking Shores, the wide Ohn'ahran Plains, the icy Azure Span, and Thaldraszus — the seat of power for the dragons and home of the new player hub, Valdrakken.
The Dragon Isles will also include a fifth zone — a starting area for a brand new hero class, the Dracthyr. The Dracthyr are draconic beings that can switch between dragon and human forms, and who can be part of either the Alliance or Horde. Dracthyr are exclusively tied to a single class, the Evoker, which can specialize either as a healer or a ranged damage dealer.
Not only will the Dragon Isles allow players to be dragons, but every player will be able to ride them as well. Dragonflight will introduce Dragon Riding, a new mount system with far more robust features than typical flight. Players will partner with a customizable dragon that will gain new flight abilities as they work through the expansion, eventually allowing them to fly, dive, spiral, and swoop through the isles. The Dragon Isles are designed with this flight in mind, as it's available from the outset, and thus is a much more vertical zone than we've seen in past expansions.
Alongside these new additions, a number of World of Warcraft systems are being revamped. The UI is getting an overhaul to allow for far more customization than before without having to download extra mods, and the profession system will implement features like work orders, profession-specific equipment and stats, and the return of specializations. Most notably, the talent system is getting an overhaul as well to allow players to allocate points into talent trees both for their class and specialization at every level.
Sign-ups for the alpha and beta for Dragonflight will soon be live on the official WoW website. Blizzard has not yet announced a release window for Dragonflight, though in our interviews with the team they reassured us that they will not launch it on top of the upcoming World of Warcraft Classic expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, which is due later this year.
We chatted in-depth with game director Ion Hazzikostas and narrative director Steve Danuser about the new Dracthyr Evoker hero class, the big changes to fundamental WoW systems in Dragonflight, and rumors of a WoW console port. We also spoke to the WoW Classic leads about some of the changes coming in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, and where Classic might go next.
Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Reimagines Fundamentals of Talents, Crafting, and UI
World of Warcraft is, inarguably, a pretty old game as far as MMORPGs go. So even though it remains popular nearly 20 years after its initial release, there are a number of antiquated systems and visual aspects that Blizzard's been steadily trying to update with each subsequent expansion. And now with Dragonflight it's time for an overhaul to three big ones: talents, crafting, and the UI itself.
For several expansions now, World of Warcraft players have been frustrated with a series of gimmicks designed to increase player power that were then ditched at the end of each expansion (RIP Artifact Weapons). In Dragonflight, Blizzard appears ready to ditch the temporary magic amulets and what-have-you and go back to a good old-fashioned talent tree once again.
As revealed in the Dragonflight announcement World of Warcraft is re-embracing talent trees after having ditched them at the start of Mists of Panderia. But the new talent system isn't just a reemergence of the old trees — it's been completely overhauled with both class- and specialization-specific talents which players can put points into on each and every level up.
In an interview with IGN, game director Ion Hazzikostas explains Blizzard's reasoning for initially ditching the trees, and then bringing them back with Dragonflight:
"In the years since we moved away from the standard talent trees…we've realized that while there was initial appeal to focusing the choices and really meaningful pivots in your character's capabilities, that system didn't lend itself to the same sort of ongoing growth and expansion," he says.
"We were increasingly turning to new systems to fill the hole the change to the talent system left. Of course, some of these were more successful than others, and there was a lot of excitement in them. It also inherently feels pretty bad to leave something behind at the start of every new journey, to start every expansion by saying goodbye to a piece of your character that you've grown attached to over the last couple of years, as opposed to feeling like you're progressing.
"So we're really excited to overhaul our talent system, return to its roots in a sense, but also carry a lot of the lessons that we've learned over the last dozen years about different talent systems and how our players play the game today."
Hazzikostas reassures players that it will be very easy to reallocate talent points and switch specializations, and says that Blizzard wants to get back to an idea that used to be more common of players having an active, secondary specialization they could bust out as needed without tons of effort. The current plan, he says, is to have multiple loadouts that can be adjusted while in town, but then swapped freely between in the field.
Talent trees aren't the only core WoW system getting an overhaul in Dragonflight. Professions, too, will see dramatic differences. One of the biggest changes is the introduction of profession-specific stats that can be attached to profession gear, giving crafters both practical improvements as well as visual ones. So yes, an alchemist can look like an alchemist while doing alchemy now, instead of just some guy in armor making little potions. And crafting is also seeing the return of specializations, allowing crafters to allocate talent points within their professions.
Blizzard is also implementing a work order system that allows players to commission crafters to make specific items using materials the commissioner provides, or to have soulbound items crafted on their behalf. There are a ton of other changes too that we haven't seen the full scope of yet, such as quality level being added to crafted items, crafting tables for every profession set up in major cities, and an entirely new crafting UI and interface.
Speaking of UI, crafting isn't the only segment of the game getting a new interface. The entire World of Warcraft UI is getting redone from the ground up. The rework will present a cleaner and more modern interface, but also allow players to customize how their HUD looks without downloading a bunch of mods, as has been the case for years now.
"One of the challenges with our default UI is that it really doesn't necessarily have information laid out in the best way possible for the larger screens that people are playing on today," Hazzikostas says. "[It] all worked physically when the UI was originally created for the 1024x768 CRT monitors people were playing on back in the day, but now you get your cool widescreen, ultra widescreen monitor. You want to play all your games on it. All your other games instantly feel better. The default UI experience in WoW— that's honestly not really the case today. So the things we wanted to solve were information layout; offering better, more centralized defaults, but also a much greater level of customization flexibility to let players, without needing add-ons, move things around and place the information where it suits their play style and their aesthetic."
Sign-ups for the alpha and beta for Dragonflight will soon be live on the official WoW website, though the expansion does not yet have a release date. We also chatted with Hazzikostas about the new Dracthyr Evoker hero class, and rumors of a WoW console port. And we spoke to the WoW Classic leads about some of the changes coming in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, and where Classic might go next.
Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
World of Warcraft Game Director Dismisses Rumors of Eventual Console Port
Over the years, there's been a series of rumors that, one day, World of Warcraft would get a console port. Most recently, there's been discussion flaring up again due to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard and the tantalizing idea of an Xbox version, just as FF14 is playable on PlayStation. But at least for now, WoW game director Ion Hazzikostas is dismissing these hopes.
In an interview about the game's newly announced expansion, Dragonflight, I asked Hazzikostas if a console port was on the horizon specifically because of the planned UI overhaul announced as a part of the expansion.
With the MMO getting improved controller support recently and now a fully customizable HUD that players can move around however they like, the time seems ripe to make the jump to consoles.
But Hazzikostas doesn't seem keen.
"Nah, I think World of Warcraft is a game designed from the ground up for the PC," he says. "I think we've just been looking at the ways in which add-ons have at times felt increasingly required, or like the first thing you do when someone comes to the game for the first time is tell them, 'Hey, go download this add-on pack and move this stuff around' and we want to do better for our players."
That's unfortunate news for console hopefuls, but existing PC players can still enjoy the new UI overhaul at least — the first major rework it's gotten since World of Warcraft began.
Sign-ups for the alpha and beta for Dragonflight will soon be live on the official WoW website, though the expansion does not yet have a release date. We also chatted with Hazzikostas about the new Dracthyr Evoker hero class and the overhauls to the UI, the professions system, and talent trees. And we spoke to the WoW Classic leads about some of the changes coming in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, and where Classic might go next.
Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
Blizzard Open to Continuing WoW: Classic into Cataclysm, if the Community Wants It
With the announcement today of Wrath of the Lich King Classic, World of Warcraft has now committed to revisiting arguably its most famous and beloved expansion — a time period that could also be looked at as the end of an era.
Wrath represented the peak of World of Warcraft's popularity, and while it's continued to thrive since then, the expansions that followed were very, very different. Cataclysm, specifically, was a moment of dramatic change throughout the "old world" of Azeroth, and saw a major revamp of numerous regions from the original game. That's not to mention the various mechanical and visual changes from that point forward.
It's for those reasons that I asked WoW Classic head Brian Birmingham and production director Patrick Dawson whether or not Blizzard would be interested in taking Classic further after Lich King has run its course. I've asked Blizzard leads the same question twice in the past — once when Classic was unveiled, and again when Burning Crusade was announced. Both times, the answer was a resounding "if the players want it," but with a general optimism toward the idea.
This time, while the answer itself is still the same, the tone of it is a bit more cautious than before. Birmingham starts by acknowledging that while Cataclysm is often thought of as a breaking point, the break actually began in Wrath, with the introduction of the Dungeon Finder tool at the end of the expansion. An introduction that, notably, won't be present at all in the Classic version.
"We're trying to find that balancing point where we can preserve the Classic feeling and still make sure that we're giving people new things to do," he says. "Because obviously [if] you're going to play through it again, you're going to get to the end of it. And you're going to say, 'I want more.' Well, what do we have? We're going to try to make sure that we find something that is satisfying to people that gives them something more to do, and also feels as much like Classic originally. Whether or not that's Cataclysm or something else in the future is something we have not decided today, and we definitely want to hear feedback from the community."
Dawson echoes Birmingham's sentiments, encouraging players to speak up as Wrath continues on what they want to see next.
"This entire game has been a love letter to the fans ever since we decided to make Classic World of Warcraft originally…When we shipped Classic, we really focused on that. We weren't even thinking about the next step necessarily, but almost immediately people said, 'We want Burning Crusade.' And after we shipped Burning Crusade, people almost immediately said, 'Wrath, that's such a cool expansion, can't wait to play that.' We're going to continue to have our focus on Wrath and making sure that's an amazing expansion for the players, but then we'll take that moment afterwards to pause and listen and see what players are saying, what they're thinking, and what they're feeling."
Wrath of the Lich King, announced today, will be added to World of Warcraft: Classic sometime in 2022. We also spoke to Dawson and Birmingham about some of the changes we'll see from the original version of Wrath. And we chatted with the leads of retail World of Warcraft about its upcoming new expansion, Dragonflight, and whether or not it will eventually get a console port.
Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
You Can Finally Play as a Dragon (Kind of) in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
Given that the next major expansion to World of Warcraft is themed around dragons, it's only natural that we finally get to actually play as a dragon with the new Dracthyr Evoker hero class. It may not look exactly like the dragons we're used to seeing fly around Azeroth, but that's probably for the best — the actual Dracthyr have quite a bit more going on.
We spoke with game director Ion Hazzikostas and narrative director Steve Danuser ahead of the announcement about the Dracthyr, beginning with a fundamental question: why make a combination hero class/race where Dracthyr can only be Evokers, and Evokers can only be Dracthyr?
Hazzikostas says that the team started with the concept of the Dracthyr race, and came to the conclusions about the Evoker class organically from the lore.
"Once we really got excited about the idea of chasing a customizable full player race that delivered the fantasy of being a dragon, being a descendant of the dragons in Azeroth, well, then the natural next question was: what classes can they be or should they be? Pretty rapidly, we realized that none of our existing classes was exactly the right fit. The fantasy of being a dragon— they call down powers that are different than what mages or warriors or any of our known classes do. And of course, by their nature, they have these unique physical gifts, like literal wings and claws, the ability to unleash breath weapons…An elf is never going to be able to literally take flight and do a soaring deep breath over their enemies. Only a Drakthyr can do that."
Danuser broke down the Dracthyr a bit further for us, describing their magical abilities that are tied with each of the five dragonflights: blue, red, green, gold, and black. As shown in the Deep Dive video, the class specializations of the Dracthyr allow them to be either a healer, focusing on green and bronze magic, or a ranged damage dealer, focusing on red and blue. They can cast magic while flying around the battlefield, and have a new ability called "Empower" that involves holding down a button to charge up the next spell, changing its power or how many targets it hits. It's a first-of-its-kind ability for World of Warcraft.
What's most immediately striking about the Dracthyr, however, isn't their magic or their abilities. It's their customization. Dracthyr don't look entirely like the dragon models we normally see in Azeroth, which is probably sensible given that players actually have to be able to control them in battle and a giant flying beast running around a battle arena would cause some serious game imbalance. But Dracthyr are still quite draconic, and can customize two forms — human and dragon — with different colors, scale styles, and other visual tidbits reminiscent of the different dragonflights. They can even have multicolored hair.
Don't worry, though. A Dracthyr's aesthetic isn't tied to the magic they use. Even though in the story a green dragon explicitly uses green dragon magic, Dracthyr will get to use all five types regardless of appearance.
As a hero class, the Dracthyr will start at a higher level than other classes and will begin in a unique starting zone located as a part of the new Dragon Isles. They'll begin their story with a unique introductory questline, before joining other players to explore the rest of the Dragon Isles throughout Dragonflight.
Sign-ups for the alpha and beta for Dragonflight will soon be live on the official WoW website, though the expansion does not yet have a release date. We also chatted with Hazzikostas and Danuser about the big changes to fundamental WoW systems in Dragonflight, and rumors of a WoW console port. And we spoke to the WoW Classic leads about some of the changes coming in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, and where Classic might go next.
Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
World of Warcraft: Classic Gets Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Later This Year
Blizzard has just announced the (rather unsurprising) next step for World of Warcraft: Classic. Later this year, it's moving on to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
Originally launched in 2008, Wrath of the Lich King brought with it numerous additions that put WoW firmly on the road to being the MMORPG that it is today. They included the massive Northrend map; famous dungeons such as Violet Hold and the Culling of Stratholme, and numerous raids ranging from an updated Naxxramas to the frigid finale in Icecrown Citadel. It also added features such as an achievement system, the inscription profession, and the game's first hero class: the Death Knight.
By and large, Wrath of the Lich King's revival in WoW Classic will mirror the version fans remember, though there will be some changes. One of the biggest differences is the absence of a dungeon finder system, which was originally added to the game at the end of Wrath of the Lich King. According to WoW Classic lead Brian Birmingham, the decision not to add the dungeon finder at all was made to keep what the team perceives to be the spirit of the WoW Classic community.
"We know that the Classic audience is more interested in long-term social engagement, that feeling that comes from reaching out to people, talking to them about how you're going to group, trying to coordinate, who's going to do what role walking to the dungeon together, trying to figure out how you're going to get to the dungeon, who's going to summon, maybe run into a PVP fight on the way,” Birmingham says. “And then you finally get in there and you have friends that stick together with you."
Birmingham assures fans that the team is looking at improvements to the grouping tools already introduced in Burning Crusade Classic, as well as adjustments to help guide players to appropriate chat channels where they can find others to group up with. They're also looking at some adjustments to the raiding and lockout systems, so players don't feel obligated to run four versions of the same raid per week to optimize their characters.
In terms of smaller but still highly meaningful changes, Blizzard will honor a number of the adjustments made to in-game texts and character depictions to improve sensitivity and inclusivity. For example, a new human racial ability that was originally added in Lich King, called "Every Man For Himself," will be called "Will to Survive" as it is in the current version of WoW. The barber shop — another element added in Wrath of the Lich King — will cost in-game money instead of real money, and will include the ability to change a character's gender.
"One of the things I've appreciated about this entire process is it's really been an exercise in listening to our team," says production director Patrick Dawson of the changes. "And [we] just hear any feedback from all the developers that work on the game about things that they might raise an eyebrow to, versus things that they just think we’re okay, or part of the content. It's really good that we're able to take action on those things that feel like, we wouldn't make that decision today. Let's make sure we are not shipping a game with something that we wouldn't have done."
Another shift Classic players might want to take note of is how Blizzard is handling the transition from Burning Crusade to Lich King. When Burning Crusade was first announced, Blizzard allowed players to choose whether they wanted to stay in the original World of Warcraft Classic or move to Burning Crusade. While those who opted to stay in the original version can still remain there, this time there won't be an option to keep characters in The Burning Crusade expansion. Everyone who's already in Burning Crusade must move on to Wrath of the Lich King.
Fortunately, Dawson says that not many people currently in Burning Crusade want to stick around in that expansion anyway.
"People want to experience certain eras of WoW in the progression style that is meaningful, and Burning Crusade has done that," he says. "I think there are opportunities in the future to look at different seasonal content we can provide to people who are looking [to] revisit BC or… revisit Classic again. It's something we're always keeping an eye on to see what we could do."
Wrath of the Lich King will be added to World of Warcraft: Classic sometime in 2022. We also spoke to Dawson and Birmingham about the future of Classic and whether or not it would move on to Cataclysm eventually. And we chatted with the leads of retail World of Warcraft about its upcoming new expansion, Dragonflight, and whether or not it will eventually get a console port.
Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
