Mists of Pandaria Classic launches July 21, with pre-patch the week of July 1

The newest iteration of WoW Classic will be Mists of Pandaria Classic and it launches later this summer, with a release date on July 21, 2025. Much like the previous Classic expansions, we can expect the Cataclysm Classic realms to turn into Mists of Pandaria Classic realms when the Mists Classic pre-patch rolls out on the week of July 1.

The choice to continue with Cataclysm as a Classic experience — a divergence point for the original World of Warcraft that massively overhauled everything in the game from the zone layouts to quest chains and player progression — was a clear indicator that Mists of Pandaria Classic would eventually arrive. Changing the world just to not continue wouldn’t make sense, so now we’re on the verge of revisiting Pandaria.

During the Warcraft Anniversary Direct stream we got our first hint of the expansions’s release date, with a 2025 roadmap detailing everything coming to all of the Classic servers and realms, including Mists of Pandaria Classic. But now we have more information about the Mists Classic pre-patch, launch, and everything else you need to know.

Here’s the Mists of Pandaria Classic launch schedule:

• Mists of Pandaria Classic pre-patch — week of July 1, 2025
  • Theramore’s Fall level 85 Scenario
  • Playable Pandaren and Monks
  • Pet Battles
• Mists of Pandria Classic launch — July 21, 2025
  • Level cap raised from 85 to 90
  • Six scenarios
  • Nine dungeons (three revised, six new Mists of Pandaria dungeons)
  • Three raids
  • Two battlegrounds

The Mists of Pandaria Classic pre-patch goes live the week of July 1, 2025 with Blizzard noting rollout will begin at the weekly reset. The pre-patch will transform the Cataclysm Classic servers into Mists Classics servers, so we can expect some downtime as the change takes place. Once the servers are up, players will be able to complete the level 85 Theramore’s Fall scenario, play as Pandaren, and play as Monks.

On July 21, Mists of Pandaria Classic will officially launch and players will be able to play the first portion of the expansion’s content which includes all of the Pandaria zones, new scenarios, dungeons, and raids until the expansion’s first phase releases later this year. 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. The mount will appear in your mount collections once the starting experience concludes.

If you haven’t played Classic in some time, or are looking to jump in for the first time ahead of Mists of Pandaria Classic, you can take advantage of the Joyous Journey’s 50% experience buff in Cataclysm Classic. The buff is live now and will presumably remain active until pre-patch. Season of Discovery players can also earn one free level 85 character boost for Mists of Pandaria Classic only if they slay Balnazzar in Season of Discovery’s Scarlet Enclave raid.

Beta signups for Mists Classic are available now, so you can get an early look at the next iteration of WoW Classic until the pre-patch goes live in July so if you want to jump, now is your chance!

Originally published November 14, 2024; updated May 27, 2025.