My Thoughts Going Into Phase 3

Hey dudes. Silvite Soltis back again with another post for your reading pleasure.

Nefarian, Final boss of Blackwing Lair

As you all know, Classic's been out for almost 6 months at this point. And since Phase 3 is imminent (and possibly out by the time I hit publish on this post), I thought it might be fun to just jot down some of my thoughts about the game until now. Especially since I've never really discussed the different phases much previously. So, before we all hop into Blackwing Lair and try to get those ultra-epic lewts, let me just take some time to tell about my thoughts going into Phase 3.




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As many of you know, my initial goals when Classic released was to reach the level cap during phase 1, begin raiding, and collect my full Prophecy set and Benediction. However, due to my limited time for playing the game I'd so long awaited, I wasn't able to meet that first goal. When the early release of Dire Maul was announced, with Phase 2 officially starting not long after, I was really bummed out, but it really pushed me to level as fast as I could, given my circumstances.


Well, luckily I reached level 60 and got into raiding not long after Phase 2 officially launched. And while I was still a bit bummed that I missed the initial Dire Maul rush, it felt great to finally raid Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair as relevant content. Overall, I found a lot of satisfaction with the game after finally capping.

Like...what happened with the phases? (Credit to classicwow.live)

Fast forward a bit to December 2019, and we got the announcement that Phase 3, the one with Blackwing Lair, would be launching in "Early 2020". Initially, I was furious with this news, as I'd only recently hit level 60 and had hardly even touched Molten Core. After comparing the Classic releases of the other content, like DM and battlegrounds, to their original release dates in vanilla, I felt like Blizzard was rushing out the phases and not really letting players experience it in an authentic manner. I was especially worried because, to me, "Early 2020" sounded like a mid-late January release, and with only one viable day for raiding, I thought I might have to make a choice between either finding a new guild that would continue doing MC on that day, or move into BWL without completing my second main goal - Prophecy and Benediction.

The Next Chapter...

Well, here we are with BWL about to launch, and I can say that I was definitely a bit too hasty in my initial reaction to that news. This phase's February release means that it's coming roughly five and half months after Classic's launch, only about two months sooner than Vanilla's Patch 1.6. Sure, it's not 100% true to the initial launch, but considering that most of us didn't have much actual progression in tier 1 content this time around, the timing seems pretty much right.

5/8 Prophecy AND Benediction Obtained!

Basically, what I'm saying is that though I thought Blizzard has been rushing Classic content, the release of Blackwing Lair and the rest of Phase 3 content seems like it's coming at a good time. Personally, I'm super-excited for this new chapter of Classic. Despite not having my full Tier 1 set - 5/8 as of right now - I'm ready for something new. And I'm sure that many of you out there who have been clearing MC in under 2 hours for the past few months are right there with me.


In addition to the new raid, I'm excited about a few other things coming to the game in this phase too! The Sunken Temple class quests, while not really beneficial for  my priest at this point, will give my shammy alt something to work on when I get him up to the early 50s. The Darkmoon Faire, while not necessarily something I was ever really interested in, will be a fun place to go hang out in whenever it comes to Mulgore, if only to listen to the music while chitchatting with my guild.

Most importantly, though, is that we'll start having overpowered BWL-geared raiders running with alts and newbies through Molten Core and Onyxia - boosting those toons' gear faster than ever before. Despite being old content in Classic as soon as BWL and beyond are released, the fact that MC contains so many amazing items (including tier 2 legs, some trinkets, and more) makes it impossible for certain raiders to pass up. Phase 3 is going to be a great time to have a fresh 60 in Classic, that's for sure!

Did somebody say...?

And, of course, we'll all finally get to see people running around Ironforge and Orgrimmar with, you guessed it, Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker! What a time to be enjoying Classic!






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So, there you have it. My thoughts going into this new chapter of Classic's life. Overall, I'm pretty excited, as you can probably tell, but I'd like to know what you think. Are you excited for something new, nervous about the challenges that await in Nefarian's evil lair, or annoyed by the slightly early release of this 15 year old content? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment down below. If you liked this post, add yourself to my mailing list below, or follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates when I post new content. Also, consider checking out my videos over on YouTube, as that's where all of these blog posts end up roughly a week or so after their writing.

Thanks for reading, have an awesome day, and as always...

Take it easy!