WoW: Burning Crusade Classic Release Date Revealed Following Leaks

Earlier this week, we saw a leak concerning Burning Crusade Classic, the incoming expansion for World of Warcraft Classic. That leak, which centered around ads published the Battle.net launcher that were then quickly pulled, suggested that Burning Crusade Classic's release date would be June 1st. This sparked a lot of debate among the WoW Classic crowd, but now we're getting confirmation that those leaks were indeed accurate.

Blizzard announced today that Burning Crusade Classic will be launching on June 1st, just as that leak said. While those who were around for vanilla WoW have noted that the pre-expansion patch rolled out more than a month before Burning Crusade the first time around, this time the schedule will be accelerated. The prepatch for Burning Crusade Classic will go live in WoW Classic on May 18th, a mere two weeks before the expansion itself launches.

When Burning Crusade Classic goes live, players will have a choice to make. They'll be able to move existing characters over to new Burning Crusade servers or keep them on vanilla World of Warcraft servers. Players can also choose to clone their characters to bring one forward to Burning Crusade Classic and keep one on WoW Classic, but that will cost $35 per character.

With the launch of Burning Crusade Classic, Blizzard is also introducing level boosts. Players can purchase the Dark Portal Pass, which runs $39.99 and boosts a single character to level 58, getting them primed to level through the expansion. Blizzard will also be selling a Deluxe Edition for Burning Crusade Classic, which will include the Viridian Phase-Hunter mount for retail WoW; the Reawakened Phase-Hunter mount, Dark Portal Hearthstone, and The Path of Illidan footstep effect for Burning Crusade Classic; a Dark Portal Pass with a level 58 boost; and 30 days of WoW subscription time.

It's worth pointing out that if you opt to purchase a Dark Portal Pass, it can't be used on Blood Elf or Draenei characters, which are being introduced in Burning Crusade Classic. Like WoW Classic, Burning Crusade Classic will be included in the cost of a regular World of Warcraft subscription. You can see the in-game items included in the Deluxe Edition in the image embedded above, but otherwise, look for the Burning Crusade Classic prepatch to drop on May 18th.