World of Warcraft’s next major expansion,Dragonflight, is tentatively planned for release later this year. Blizzard has yet to announce a release date, but fans of the MMO are expecting news regarding the arrival ofDragonflightand its pre-patch soon. Blizzard may have had the rug pulled out from under its feet regardingDragonflight’s release date announcement, however. What’s claimed to be the leak of an internal Blizzard document contains release dates forWorld of Warcraft: Dragonflight, as well as the expansion’s pre-patch.
The internal document stems from a now-deleted post within Reddit’s community forWorld of Warcraft Classic, with no listed source. The leak is an image of the document with the heading “Game Launches & Events by Required Readiness Level,” followed by planned release dates for multipleActivision Blizzard games. The list includesWorld of Warcraft Dragonflightunder the “WoW 10.0: Global Launch” labeling, with a listed release date of November 28.
RELATED:World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Introduces a Major Character who is Deaf
In addition toWorld of Warcraft: Dragonflight’s release date, the expansion’s pre-patch launch is also listed in the image. “WoW 10.0 Prepatch” is listed as arriving on October 25, just over a month ahead of the expansion. This scheduling lines up with past pre-patch launches from Blizzard, though that’s not enough evidence to prove the leak is real givenWorld of Warcraftplayers' familiarity with past expansion launch schedules.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflightisn’t the only Activision Blizzard product included in the document, however. There are also listings forWorld of Warcraft Classic’sWrath of the Lich Kingexpansion launch. Pre-patch and pre-sale are listed for an August 30 launch, with the full expansion arriving September 26.Overwatch 2’s PvP early access launchis listed for October 4, as previously announced.Call of Duty Cortez, known to beCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, andCall of Duty: Warzone 2are listed for October 27 and November 16, respectively. Lastly,Diablo 4’s pre-purchase is listed for December 8, the day before The Game Awards 2022.
Many of the leaked dates in the document have already been officially announced by Activision Blizzard. TheWrath of the Lich Kingpre-patch and final release dates,Overwatch 2’s early access launch, andCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s launchall line up with officially confirmed details. If the leak is fake, the faker has at least done their homework.
While there’s no way to confirm the veracity of the details of the leaked document, it’s undeniably persuasive. There’s nothing in the leak that seems undeniably fake or unrealistic. And what’s included in the leak seems within the scope of something Activision Blizzard would have on an internal document. Accurate or not,World of Warcraftplayerswill still be waiting another month or two for more specificDragonflightlaunch details. But, hopefully, they can now start making more specific plans.
