Ascension has announced the next phase for its unique upcoming realm, Bronzebeard, described as a Classic+ experience dedicated solely to the Original 9 Classes.
Bronzebeard aims to revitalize the original Azeroth adventure, progressing through Vanilla, TBC, and WotLK content tiers. It heavily focuses on expanding the open world with new RPG elements, items, rares, world bosses, and points of interest. While based on the original 9 classes, it incorporates WotLK talent trees enhanced with new custom talents and spells, new race/class combinations (like Troll Druid), Mystic Enchantments, Artifact Enchantments, and tamable Dragonkin/Elementals/permanent Demons. Crafting is overhauled with upgrade kits, random affixes, and new professions (Woodcutting/Woodworking). PvP includes a Hybrid Risk system (PvE/PvP/High-Risk toggle) and new BGs.
Phase 3 of the Bronzebeard Alpha started May 2nd, 2025, raising the level cap to 60. This phase includes a hyper-aggressive testing timeline with daily content releases like Heroic Dungeons, World Bosses (Setis, Azuregos, Kazzak, Soggoth, Nightmare Dragons), PvP Progression, Zul'Gurub, Mythic Dungeons, Crow's Cache, Molten Core, Onyxia, and Classic Mythic+.
Players can still opt-in to the Alpha via Founder Bundles (details on the Ascension website). Bronzebeard aims to recapture the magic of classic exploration with years of Ascension's custom development tailored to the original classes.