Progressive · gated · the journey
The journey, together.
One character. Classic through Wrath. Everyone moves together — the whole realm climbs the same road, crosses every gate on the same day, and nobody is left behind at a level nobody plays any more.
No date. One appears here the day the running phase has a published length — we do not put a guess in its place.
Barrens · current record
Barrens is at content stage 1.5 with a level cap of 30. The whole realm moves together.
Next gate: level cap 40, opening Uldaman, Maraudon.
The realm ledger
The QoL record keeps the small changes separate from the realm story: what changed, what it replaces, and the setting last read from the running realm.
Read the QoL ledgerTwo ways in
The same account, the same house rules, the same client. The difference is one thing: whether the world stays where it is, or moves.
The museum
The game, kept.
Vanilla, preserved. The cap is 60 from the first day and no phase ever moves it, so nothing you do here can fall behind.
For the player who logs in on a Sunday evening and wants the world exactly where they left it.
The road
The journey, together.
Classic, then The Burning Crusade, then Wrath of the Lich King. The cap is 30 today and lifts in steps, on the same day for everyone.
For the player who wants the climb, and wants to be climbing it at the same time as everyone else.
You are standing here
The arc
Real clients per era — 1.12, then 2.4.3, then 3.3.5a — not one engine pretending to be three. Each era opens for the whole realm at once.
Era I · Classic
The long road
The first tram out of Ironforge, a campfire in Duskwood while something rustled past the light — no flight master, only feet and a map you barely understood. Every zone was earned, and every level came with a story someone still tells at the inn.
Azeroth — Classic
Era II · The Burning Crusade
The world broke here
The Dark Portal didn't open — it swallowed, and on the other side the stars are wrong and the old heroes became something else. You cross at sixty, and the shattered land asks questions the old world never thought to raise.
Outland — The Burning Crusade
Era III · Wrath of the Lich King
Where the cold remembers
Icecrown sits on the horizon and does not move — the tundra is silent in a way that isn't peace, it's waiting. By the time you reach the gate, seventy levels behind you and the wind cutting through plate, you know the crown was never meant for the living.
Northrend — Wrath of the Lich King
Every gate
The level cap lifts in brackets, then sits at each era's ceiling for the raids. Timing is community-driven — no hard calendar dates, only the honest gate, and the whole realm crosses it on the same day.
The cap is one road: it lifts in steps, for everyone on the same day. What the world holds is the other, and it moves on its own — most of Classic happens at sixty, chapter by chapter, while the cap stands still.
How far a character may climb. Fixed for all three eras.
19phase 0
Launch brackets — Ragefire Chasm, Deadmines, Wailing Caverns, Shadowfang Keep, Blackfathom Deeps, the Stockade, Razorfen Kraul, Warsong Gulch
opened
30phase 1
Gnomeregan, Scarlet Monastery, Razorfen Downs
the realm is here
No date. One appears here the day the running phase has a published length — we do not put a guess in its place.
40phase 2
Uldaman, Maraudon
next
planned 14 days
50phase 3
Zul'Farrak, Sunken Temple — mounts at 40, 1-gold respec
ahead
planned 14 days
60phase 4
BRD, Dire Maul, LBRS and UBRS, Scholomance, Stratholme, Alterac Valley
ahead
planned 14 days
60phase 5
Endgame Classic — Onyxia, MC, BWL, Zul'Gurub, AQ, Naxxramas, gate by gate
ahead
planned 14 days · fixed
What the world contains. Classic runs the original patch data, so these chapters carry their historical patch numbers — the client never changes.
Molten Core and Onyxia
Molten Core, Onyxia, Warsong Gulch — Alterac Valley from level 51
the world is here
started July 24, 2026planned 21 daysthe planned window has passed and the chapter is still open
Blackwing Lair
Blackwing Lair, the Darkmoon Faire
next
planned 28 days
Rise of the Blood God
Zul'Gurub, Arathi Basin, the tier two sets complete
ahead
planned 7 days
Dragons of Nightmare
The four emerald dragons, Silithus reworked
lands inside this chapter
ahead
planned 14–21 days
The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj
AQ20 and AQ40, the war effort
ahead
planned 21–28 days
The Calm Before Naxxramas
The tier 0.5 quest chain, the weather system
ahead
planned 10–14 days
Shadow of the Necropolis
Naxxramas
ahead
planned 35–42 days
Drums of War
Cross realm battlegrounds, the Blackrock Mountain event
lands inside this chapter
ahead
planned 14 days
The Burning Crusade pre-patch
The pre-Portal world event
ahead
planned 14 days · fixed
Arathi Basin
Promised for phase 1. It is not a level gate — Arathi Basin belongs to content stage 1.7, on the other road, and opens with Zul'Gurub.
Dual specialisation
Promised for phase 3. What phase 3 opens today is the 1-gold respec. Dual talent specialisation is not a Classic feature at all; it belongs to Wrath.
How far a character may climb. Fixed for all three eras.
64phase 6
The Dark Portal — Hellfire dungeons, Eye of the Storm
ahead
planned 10–14 days
69phase 7
Auchindoun, the Caverns of Time
ahead
planned 10–14 days
70phase 8
Endgame TBC — Karazhan, SSC/TK, Black Temple, Sunwell, arenas, flying at 70
ahead
planned 14 days · fixed
The client stays 2.4.3 through the whole of Outland, and the level gates are fixed. Endgame content opens progressively; the exact sequence publishes once it is technically validated, with item balance and class state staying 2.4.3 throughout.
Opening Outland
Hellfire Peninsula, the Outland dungeons
ahead
Tier 4
Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair
ahead
planned 28 days
Tier 5
Serpentshrine Cavern, Tempest Keep
ahead
planned 35 days
Tier 6
Mount Hyjal, Black Temple
ahead
planned 35 days
Zul'Aman
Zul'Aman
lands inside this chapter
ahead
Sunwell
Isle of Quel'Danas, Magisters' Terrace, Sunwell Plateau
ahead
planned 35–42 days
Wrath of the Lich King pre-patch
The pre-Northrend world event
ahead
planned 14 days · fixed
How far a character may climb. Fixed for all three eras.
74phase 9
Northrend dungeons, Death Knights, Strand of the Ancients
ahead
planned 14 days
79phase 10
Drak'Tharon, Gundrak, Halls of Stone & Lightning
ahead
planned 14 days
80phase 11
Endgame Wrath — Naxx, Ulduar, Trial, Icecrown Citadel
ahead
planned 14 days · fixed
Content opens progressively for real, through AzerothCore's mod-progression-system — the same mechanism behind Classic's raid gates. What is not promised is a full historical replay of Wrath's original minor patches.
Northrend
Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, the Northrend dungeons
ahead
Heroics
Heroic Northrend dungeons
ahead
Tier 7
Naxxramas, Eye of Eternity, Obsidian Sanctum, Vault of Archavon
ahead
planned 21 days
Ulduar
Ulduar
ahead
planned 42 days
Tier 9
Onyxia's Lair, Trial of the Crusader
ahead
planned 21 days
Icecrown
Icecrown Citadel
ahead
planned 56–70 days
Ruby Sanctum
Ruby Sanctum
lands inside this chapter
ahead
permanent
The road does not end in a shutdown. When the Lich King falls the realm stays: permanent Wrath, every chapter open, the same characters.
Peace and war
The Barrens turns on a slow drum: three days as a PvE realm where every fight is chosen, then three days of open-world PvP where the contested zones flag everyone. The whole realm switches together — at dawn, after a short announced restart. Read the sky before you ride out.
Rotates every 3 days · switch at dawn (~05:00 server time) · short announced restart · a cross-faction party stays friendly on war days, and survives the restart
All of it, on one page. Running today: 14. Set, but not yet picked up by the running server: 5. Not built: 2. Deliberately not done: 0. If something surprises you and it is not here, that is a bug and we want to hear about it.
The changes you notice in the first hour.
Comfort changes, most of them voted for by the realm.
The realm concept itself, and what has been repaired in it.
Getting in
Barrens runs on the same account and the same client as Elwynn. If you already play here, you are two clicks away.
Using your own client? Set this line in realmlist.wtf
set realmlist play.stonetavern.appIf the world ever traps you
Type .unstuck in the chat box. Every player can use it, no GM needed. It is the fastest way out of a wall or a floor.
The honest part
The road opened on 24 July. Right now the whole realm sits at content stage 1.5 with a level cap of 30, and the caps lift together as the community reaches them, not on a calendar. Elwynn is live next door: pure Vanilla, for good. You start fresh on Barrens. A one-way character move to Elwynn exists in the account area, but it is still a trial run: it checks your character and the name on Elwynn, and it does not move anything yet. One more honest note. The realm runs on an earlier content stage than your game client knows about, so a few item tooltips show the later numbers: damage, stats, price, or whether something binds. The realm uses the earlier values, and those are the ones that count. If an item looks wrong, that is usually why.
Not today?
Every gate on this road opens for the whole realm on the same day. Pick the one you are waiting for, and we write you once, when it happens. No date is promised here — the road moves on progress, not on a calendar.