Aether opens a progressive Classic realm with guild sieges and a Battle Royale arena

Aether, a progressive realm run by a Brazilian team, opened on 1 October 2026. It uses the Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a client but starts in Classic, with a level cap of 60 and Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair open. Rates are blizzlike x1 for experience, drops, gold, reputation, honor and professions, and the realm is PvE.

14 phases to Icecrown Citadel

Classic gets three phases, ending with Zul'Gurub and Ahn'Qiraj. The Burning Crusade follows in six, from the Dark Portal to the Sunwell, and Wrath of the Lich King in five, up to Icecrown Citadel and the Ruby Sanctum. Naxxramas skips Classic and opens at level 80 in the second Wrath phase. Players keep the same client the whole way, and the next phases have no dates yet.

Systems of its own

The team counts 38 custom systems on top of the original game. Among them:

• 12 regions whose safety, prosperity and hostility move vendor prices and set off incursions
• 3 world bosses that grow stronger in stages until someone kills them
• 71 guild territories with siege weapons, alliances and truces, and a weekly siege whose target comes from a public draw anyone can verify
• A Battle Royale arena and 1v1 and 2v2 duel tournaments, all with equal kits
• A Chronicle and a phase race that record the first kill of every new boss
• Iron Mode with one life per character, dungeon challenges, mentoring and eight-week seasons
• Crafting orders, kill contracts and PvP bounties paid through escrow
• Player housing, transmog, and two Lost Regions that open when the whole realm reaches a goal (the team names Mount Hyjal and Gilneas)

The team says these systems reward titles, halls of fame and Chronicle entries, never stats. A free addon puts them all in one panel in the game.

The shop

Donation points buy teleports, name, race and faction changes, titles, transmog sets, house and guild base designs, and time with the Adventure Companion, a guardian that follows you and fights at your side for 24 hours. Every account gets one free day with it. Gear, gold and levels are not sold.

Joining

Register on the Aether website, set your realmlist to play.forgeaether.com and pick the realm Aether. The team doesn't hand out the client, so you need your own 3.3.5a copy. The community speaks Portuguese and the game runs in English. There is no Discord: a chat on the website is linked to the in-game Aether channel.

The realm is still very small. On 5 October its status page counted four characters, and nobody had killed Onyxia or a Molten Core boss yet.

Sources: the Aether team's announcement sent to Private Server Hub in October 2026 and the Aether website (status, systems, shop and Lost Regions pages, 5 October 2026).