Seven chapters, from the first climb to the necropolis — each one a raid or dungeon door, opened by hand. The game itself is already the finished 1.12.1 ruleset. The first raids open 2 weeks after 80 accounts reach level 60 — then Dire Maul, Blackwing Lair, Zul’Gurub, Ahn’Qiraj and Naxxramas follow across roughly fifteen months. When Naxxramas opens, Elwynn is fully unlocked Vanilla, permanently.
The realm is live · The Climb · climbing to the 80×60 gate
Release order
Straight from the server's own world database, not a wiki copy: every content patch, what it unlocked, and the level it opened at.
| Patch | Opens | Level |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2 | Shadowfang Keep, The Stockade, The Deadmines, Wailing Caverns, Razorfen Kraul, Blackfathom Deeps, Uldaman, Gnomeregan, Sunken Temple, Razorfen Downs, Scarlet Monastery, Zul'Farrak, Blackrock Spire, Blackrock Depths, Onyxia's Lair, Scholomance, Stratholme, Maraudon, Ragefire Chasm, Molten Core | 10 |
| 1.3 | Dire Maul | 45 |
| 1.4 | No new door | — |
| 1.5 | Alterac Valley, Warsong Gulch | 51 |
| 1.6 | Blackwing Lair | 50 |
| 1.7 | Zul'Gurub, Arathi Basin | 50 |
| 1.8 | No new door | — |
| 1.9 | Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, Temple of Ahn'Qiraj | 50 |
| 1.10 | No new door | — |
| 1.11 | Naxxramas | 51 |
| 1.12 | No new door | — |
Beat 0
Open now
You are here
Launch
Opens
The 80×60 gate88 / 80The gate is met — the first raids open within 2 weeks.
The realm opens to level first; the gated endgame instances stay shut. The 80×60 gate lives here — Molten Core and Onyxia open 2 weeks after 80 accounts reach level 60. 🔴 This head-count gate opens the FIRST raids only; every chapter after it is on the clock below, not on a player count.
Beat 1
Up next
Gate + 2 weeks
Opens
2 weeks after the gate is met — 80 accounts at level 60. The Mountain and the Broodmother open together, and this day is the zero point: every chapter below is counted from it.
Beat 2
Sealed
≈ Month 2
Opens
Alongside
A 5-man catch-up step that lifts the whole roster — not a day-0 freebie.
Beat 3
Sealed
≈ Month 5
Opens
Alongside
Nefarian's brood, and the first of the big raids. It opens before Zul'Gurub, the order the instances themselves were built in.
Beat 4
Sealed
≈ Month 8
Opens
Alongside
The Atal'ai stir in the heart of Stranglethorn. Zul'Gurub sits alongside Blackwing Lair rather than replacing it — a second raid night for a roster that has one.
Beat 5
Sealed
≈ Month 11
Opens
Alongside
The War Effort comes first — the whole realm builds toward the Gong before the gates ever open. It is the opening ceremony for two instances, not a change of ruleset.
Beat 6
Sealed
≈ Month 15
Opens
Alongside
🔴 The FINAL unlock. The necropolis stands above the plaguelands, and when it opens Elwynn's progression is finished — there is no chapter after this one, only the permanent state below.
After Naxxramas
Elwynn stays exactly here. This is not an open ending that we have yet to fill in — it is the end of the progression and the permanent state of the realm, and it is the whole reason the realm exists.
And what never comes
Months are counted from the day Molten Core and Onyxia open — not from realm launch, which is community-gated and has no fixed length.
Every chapter keeps the same house rules, and they were already final at launch: x1 rates · no cash shop · cross-faction · 1.12 talents & balance, fixed · debuff cap 16, fixed · honour and the battlegrounds live from day one · world buffs only in a tier's opening weeks. The roadmap opens instance doors and changes nothing else.
No hard dates by design — the cadence stays flexible. The realm is run by hand; this roadmap is the only schedule there is.
Lockout durations and reset times for every raid live on the raid reset calendar.