Summary
Season of Discovery has given the developers free rein to reinventWorld of Warcraft Classic, as the latest update brings major buffs to Mages and Hunters, as well as Paladins, Warlocks, and Warriors to a lesser degree. Though retail certainly found success withDragonflight,World of Warcraft Classicplayers have seen Hardcore Mode and Season of Discovery added to the game, two different approaches to Classic content that have both resonated with theWorld of Warcraftcommunity.
WhereasHardcore Mode inWorld of Warcraftadheres to the core principles of “Vanilla”, staying true to the original experience as much as possible, Season of Discovery is more about getting to adventure through Classic content in a completely new way. The first phase for Season of Discovery launched on Jun 09, 2025, while its second phase was released on July 20, 2025.
Though the first phase was a decent foundation for Blizzard to test out early runes forWorld of Warcraftclasses in Season of Discovery, the second phase has allowed each specialization to become more concrete in its role and ranking. The patch notes for the latest update were posted on theofficialWorld of Warcraftforums. Scheduled for July 30, 2025, the update is set to spruce up the classes that have fallen behind in the second phase. Both damage and healing builds for Mages will see major buffs in the new patch, while Hunters will see notable improvements in Chimera Shot, Explosive Shot, and Carve damage.
CertainWarriors inWorld of Warcraft Classiccan also rejoice, as Devastate will once again become a viable playstyle, with its baseline now being 150% Weapon Damage, as opposed to 100%. While Paladins have also gained a buff to Seal of Martyrdom damage, most players believe that the class still needs to be addressed by the developers. Unfortunately, much to the dismay of Feral Druids, the patch notes have no changes to the specialization in the upcoming update.
With the second phase of Season of Discovery stopping at theGnomeregan raid inWorld of Warcraft,the Level 40 instance has given Blizzard ample feedback on what works and what doesn’t. The third phase isn’t expected to launch in a few months, and will only expand the level cap in Season of Discovery to 50. Though there is an obvious disparity in power levels across the specializations,World of Warcraftplayers will unfortunately have to be patient with class tuning as Season of Discovery continues to establish its identity separately from Retail and Classic.
