WoW's 20th Anniversary event will include Blackrock Depths, a revamped raid. It will also feature a return to Ahn'Qiraj's opening, classic dungeon-timewalking and modernized Tier 2 Transmogs.

World of Warcraft has been around for almost 20 years. It causes me great psychic harm to admit this. Blizzard released an announcement video today detailing their plans for WoW's anniversary event. They'll be bringing classic dungeons back, kicking off public events that will take you back in time at Ahn'Qiraj's gates, modernizing some the finest armor sets from yesteryear and generally making millions Vanilla WoW players fear they're going to crumble into dust.

The first event on the list is the return to Blackrock Depths. The sprawling, multi wing subterranean Dungeon was a beloved - or reviled - fixture of early WoW. It will be returning as a raid for the 20th Anniversary. The dungeon will have eight new bosses, five minibosses and be available in LFR, Heroic, and Normal difficulties. If you haven't been before, expect to see a lot of dwarves and elementals, as well as struggles with the map.

We're then going to go back in time to the opening of Ahn'Qiraj's Gates with the help of bronze dragonflight. Players will join forces with Chromie to relive an important moment in WoW's past while battling unexpected forces that have bled into the timeline from other points, such as the Legion, Kel’Thuzad, etc.

Timewalking, a periodic in-game event where players can complete dungeons of previous expansions for current-day cosmetics and loot, will continue our journey through WoW's history. Classic Timewalking will include Deadmines Zul'Farrak both Dire Maul wings and both Stratholme wing--Rivendare’s Charger can be found in the loot pool--as well as both Dire Maul wings. Timewalking will also get a vendor update, which means you'll be able to spend your Timewarped Badges more freely on cosmetics.

Even the annual anniversary event will be changing. The Caverns' of Time entrance will be the new location for the attractions and activities. This means that we won't have to slog up and down the long spiral ramp. Weekly quests include contests that will allow you to display your transmogrification wardrobe and mount collection. Along with the usual roster of returning world bosses and Doomwalker, Pandaria’s Sha of Anger will be roaming Tanaris along with Lake Wintergrasp’s Archavon The Stone Watcher.

There will be many rewards to be earned. Coldflame Tempest is a new armored, ice phoenix mounted that can be earned by completing the main quest of the WoW 20th Anniversary event. It's based off of real-life "service award" swords that were given to veteran World of Warcraft developers. In-game transmog versions of these swords and Shields will be available with a currency earned through weekly anniversary event quests.

Save those tokens for another reward. Blizzard has modernized the Tier 2 Armor Sets that were dropped in Vanilla WoW’s Blackwing Lair raid. This brings back some of World of Warcraft's finest fashion. New armor sets will be based on historical WoW figures for classes that didn't exist back then. I can still see paladins wearing the 2005 Judgment set in 2024. These armor sets were what convinced me to convince my parents that I should pay for my WoW membership when I was 11. I'm excited to get the glow in the dark versions.

The 20th anniversary of WoW also coincides with Warcraft's 30th anniversary. To celebrate this bigger birthday, November's trading post will feature faction crest transmogs for each of the Warcraft 3 groups: orcs and humans, night elves and the Scourge.

Blizzard's blog has more information about the event. The event's start date is not yet known, but we can safely say that it will begin before WoW's 20th anniversary in November 2024.