After passing its 20th anniversary, Blizzard’s long-running MMO, World of Warcraft, continues to find new ways to innovate. Particularly with the launch of The War Within, Azeroth and its denizens have seen a commitment to a new design philosophy that was first glimpsed during Dragonflight.
A regular patch cadence, more open communication from Blizzard about what players can expect, a more direct story, and a regular introduction of new, fun ways to enjoy the game. With all that, 2025 is poised to be one of the most significant years for World of Warcraft, even without an expansion launch. And here’s how.
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D.R.I.V.E.
One of World of Warcraft‘s oldest features is getting a major revamp with the launch of Undermine-d. Players will be given a new ground mount system called D.R.I.V.E. to drive around the Goblin-focused zone, Undermine. With a new car and car customizations, players can drift, race, and go faster than current sky-riding speeds. That means ground mounts are getting at least 700% faster than they ever could!
After watching several PTR videos, this new system is chaotic, but it looks like, with training/refinement, it could surpass Skyriding in all the best ways. What’s curious, though, is how this new system will be incorporated after Undermine-d ends. How will they add this to current ground mounts? Will every ground mount get a D.R.I.V.E. upgrade like most flying mounts did at the launch of The War Within? And with this being a patch-specific feature instead of an expansion-wide one, I’m sure we’ll get that answer before 11.2 releases.
Revamped Old Content
Battle for Azeroth had many downsides, but one of its most popular features will be returning in 11.1.5. Horrific Visions took us to a void-infested alternate universe of Orgrimmar and Stormwind, having us take out our friends and allies who N’zoth corrupted. This feature was a rogue-lite experience where players had to survive void-infused enemies and beat the primary boss before running out of sanity.
While little is known about what this revamp will entail, and we probably won’t know until after Undermine-d releases, we can speculate some. This was an event that people could only progress by upgrading a legendary cloak that reduced the rate of sanity drain. What if a similar version of this cloak returns as our new mid-patch mega item? On the Siren Isle, we got Circe’s Circlet. Another welcome would be a new cloak to replace that and give players a new in-game tool to get stronger and overcome challenging content without nerfs. Plus, Blizzard making old content relevant again instead of adding even more new events is a significant new change that we need more of.
Legion Remix?
The end of Dragonflight gave us an excellent new way to get through the time between one expansion ending and the next beginning through Mists of Pandaria Remix. Players got the chance to replay all MoP content without a focus on getting gear, but getting overpowered to eventually solo challenging content to unlock rare and hard-to-obtain cosmetic rewards. Plus, Remix was a rapid way to level new characters.
The 2025 roadmap gives us an interesting hint that another Remix event may be on the way near the end of the year. With a feel look, we may return to the Broken Isles in a Legion Remix. That means the return of long-lost artifact weapon appearances, Mage Tower cosmetics, and all the fun of its numerous patches. And hopefully, without the time-gating hell many rewards were locked behind. Similarly to how MoP Remix reminded us of what finding a long-lost land was like, Legion Remix would be a great reminder of Azeroth being invaded before the void’s forces attack it in Midnight.
Midnight
Late in the Summer, we’ll get our first look at part 2 of The Worldsoul Saga, Midnight. We know so far that the void invasion will go full steam ahead and we will return to the Blood Elf home of Quel’Thalas to unite the Elven tribes. And in the end… things won’t go our way. From BlizzCon 2023, we can expect more of an evolution of features introduced in The War Within: Delves, Warbands, and Hero Talents. So, expectations for any new major features (besides one mentioned later in this list) are pretty low.
Refinement and modernization of past features seem to be the new focus of Blizzard. After six-plus years of expansions, introducing a new expansion-wide feature and taking it away the next for something new again was frustrating, particularly when those features required almost constant grinding to stay relevant in end-game content.
What’s going to be really interesting to see is the evolution of Quel’Thalas from a 2.5 zone area introduced in Burning Crusade to a four-plus zone area that a whole expansion will revolve around. Will Silvermoon City be the new hub? Are we going to re-raid Zul’Aman? Lots of exciting questions that we will get the answers to later this year.
Ethereals Return
Now, this is more from data mining and PTR analysis. PTR has shown that the Ethereals, disembodied beings from a planet destroyed by the void, are making a comeback, with more and more showing their allegiance to the void. They play some role in Xal’atath’s schemes by teaming up with the Goblin’s former leader, Gallywix. And 11.2 looks like it’s taking the fight to the Ethereals somehow.
Datamining has hinted at an Ethereal raid. Could we be going to their shattered homeworld, K’aresh, to get a first-hand glimpse of what the Radiant Song can lead to? What about Ethereal allied races? Very little is known about what or how this fan-favorite race will become our enemy. All we know is we’re getting a new zone, a new dungeon, and a new raid to come along with their threat. Whatever happens, we better find out who exactly Nexus-Princess Ky’veza was talking to in the raid.
More Player Friendly Updates
Already, Blizzard has shown a commitment to updating newer modes to make them more player-friendly. Like the recently returned battle royale mode, Plunderstorm no longer has a forty-tier renown track and, instead, has an in-game store to buy rewards. So instead having to get every reward to get what you want, you can just play however much you want to buy exactly what you want. And Plunderstorm can now be queued for in-game instead of its separate menu.
Other fantastic quality-of-life updates are coming too in Undermine-d, specifically with the raid. A new raid-specific renown track is being added to reward raiders with the raid skip, faster movement speed outside of raid encounters, self-resurrections between pulls, and longer timers on consumable buffs. And more importantly, adding an expansive hub right outside the raid entrance in the hotel next door. Blizzard really is going all in on the casino heist theme. And these changes should stay for the better, moving forward, to greatly improve the raiding experience.
Player Housing Comes to World of Warcraft in 2025
A highly requested feature is coming in 2025. As revealed in the 2024 30th anniversary Warcraft Direct, player housing is going to be a real thing as part of Midnight. The 2025 roadmap revealed that housing may appear before then, possibly in a test run capacity. Now, there are several key things Blizzard needs to get right with housing. No limited plots, highly customizable houses, and giving professions that have slowly fallen to the wayside new life with ways to create items for houses.
As for what the reveal trailer showed, many of those things will be coming. Particularly with displaying trophies and rare items. As a player who loves to collect mounts and complete old raids, adding new trophies to old raids or experiences will be an awesome way to revitalize older content on top of adding meta achievements to previous expansions. A stable would be nice, too, to display those super rare mounts.
What the 2025 roadmap has shown us is that Blizzard is redefining how it will develop and add to World of Warcraft. Dragonflight was a test run, and now The Worldsoul Saga and beyond is them executing on those ideas.
A more refined content rollout and reducing the amount of downtime between patches and expansions have been the two biggest things so far. And with long-requested features and updates now confirmed to come in 2025, this year is, put simply, a fantastic year to be a WoW fan and a great time to dive in.
World of Warcraft: The War Within is available now on PC.
