Our best guess at when each Mists of Pandaria Classic phase begins, plus what you can expect in each phase

During the 2024 Warcraft Direct, Blizzard announced the next WoW Classic expansion, Mists of Pandaria Classic, which will rollout its pre-patch the week of July 1 before launching the expansion on July 21, 2025. The original announcement came with a roadmap outlining a bit more detail for Mists of Pandaria Classic but really only includes the pre-patch and expansion launch, which feels a little slim for the last half of the year. While it’s possible that this may be all for Mists of Pandaria Classic in 2025, it’s unlikely, since it would lead to a real lull in Classic content, which has proven extremely popular.

Aside from Burning Crusade Classic coming to the anniversary realms, none of the other WoW Classic realms have anything on their roadmaps beyond autumn 2025.  Blizzard has generally been able to release content every 10 – 11 weeks in World of Warcraft and WoW Classic, and it’s likely that we can expect Mists of Pandaria Classic to return to this schedule despite some deviations during the Cataclysm Classic release cycle.

With this in mind, we’ve taken an educated guess at when we can expect the Mists of Pandaria Classic to begin, when each phase will arrive, and what you can expect in each phase. Until Blizzard announces final dates, we don’t know for certain: but with the fairly predictable content cadence Blizzard has set in recent years, we can make some good estimates.

Mists of Pandaria Classic pre-patch — July 1, 2025

• Theramore’s Fall level 85 Scenario
• Playable Pandaren and Monks
• Pet Battles

We expect the pre-patch to arrive on July 1, just after summer begins. This pre-patch will likely convert the current Cataclysm Classic realms into Mists of Pandaria Classic realms, allowing players to create and level Pandaren and Monk characters before launch.

A new instance type, Scenarios, act as mini-dungeons: the first one will be Theramore’s Fall which is also the narrative lead-in to the expansion’s launch.

Mists of Pandaria Classic launch — July 21, 2025

• Level cap raised from 85 to 90
• Mists of Pandaria Classic campaign opens the Pandaria continent and nine playable zones
• Six scenarios
  • Greenstone Village
  • Unga Ingoo
  • Brewmoon Festival
  • A Brewing Storm
  • Arena of Annihilation
  • Crypt of the Forgotten Kings
• Nine dungeons (Normal and Heroic)
  • Six new MoP dungeons
    • Temple of the Jade Serpent
    • Stormstout Brewery
    • Shado-Pan Monastery
    • Mogu’shan Palace
    • Gate of the Setting Sun
    • Siege of Niuzao Temple
  • Three revised dungeons
    • Scholomance
    • Scarlet Halls
    • Scarlet Monastery
• Three raids
  • Mogu’Shan Vaults
  • Heart of Fear
  • Terrace of Endless Spring
• Silvershard Mines and Temple of Kotmogu battlegrounds
• Tol’viron Proving Grounds arena

Mists of Pandaria Classic will launch on July 21, 2025. The level cap will be raised to 90 and players will be able to explore and experience the expansion story across Pandaria’s nine zones. Players can group up for six new Pandaren dungeons or tackle new scenarios to prepare them for any of the three raids available at launch.

Any player who completes the Pandaren starting experience between July 1 and July 30 will earn the Shaohao Sage Serpent mount in retail World of Warcraft only.

Phase 1 (Landfall) — October 6, 2025

• Pandaren Campaign
• Wrathion’s Legendary Cloak quest begins with Stranger in a Strange Land
• Three new scenarios:
  • A Little Patience
  • Assault on Zan’vess
  • Dagger in the Dark

Phase 1 will probably open up the faction specific offensive events in Pandaria, as well as mark the start of Wrathion’s quest that eventually rewards players with a Legendary Cloak.

Phase 2 (Rise of the Thunder King) — December 22, 2025

• Throne of Thunder raid
• Isle of Thunder and Isle of Giants zones
• Wrathion’s Legendary Cloak quests continue
• Nalak, the Storm Lord and Oondasta world bosses

Phase 2 will introduce the Throne of Thunder raid and two new zones: Isle of Thunder, which will have zone-wide offensive quests similar to Isle of Quel’Danas, and Isle of Giants, home to the world boss Oondasta.

Phase 3 (Escalation) — March 9, 2026

• Four new Scenarios and heroic Scenarios
  • Battle on the High Seas
  • Blood in the Snow
  • Dark Heart of Pandaria
  • Secrets of Ragefire
• Battlefield: Barrens world event
• Deepwind Gorge battleground
• Tiger’s Peak arena
• Wrathion’s Legendary Cloak quests continue

Phase 3 doesn’t have any new raids but does feature four new Scenarios and the implementation of heroic versions of all Scenarios to date. There’s some additional story content for the Darkspear Trolls that ties into the Battlefield: Barrens world event.

Phase 4 (Siege of Orgrimmar) — May 25, 2026

• Siege of Orgrimmar raid
• Timeless Isle zone
• Wrathion’s Legendary Cloak quest concludes

We expect Phase 4 to bring the final raid, Siege of Orgrimmar, as well as open up the Timeless Isle for exploration. The final steps of Wrathion’s Legendary Cloak will also become available, finally rewarding players with a cloak of their choice.

Again, these are our best guesses for Mists of Pandaria Classic phases — but we’ll be sure to update this post as we learn more.

Originally published on January 13, 2025. Updated on May 27, 2025.