Update, September 03:
There are a number of WoW Classic fans out there who are just waiting for Blizzard developers to finally reveal their plans for the Classic era servers. After all, the designers now have it in their hands to implement cool improvements and new features that could make the vanilla experience noticeably more fun.

However, the freshly landed patch 1.14 on the PTR for "Classic Era" did not include any cool improvements and new features. In an official forum post, Community Manager Kaivax explained that it is very important to do this update now to accompany updates to servers and infrastructure that have recently been implemented for WoW (buy now € 14.99 )

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Update from August 20:
Dataminers have already been able to unearth some data from patch 1.14 for the WoW Classic era servers (currently, the PTR has a patch level of 1.13.7). However, no major new features have been found yet, only some fresh options in the system settings. There you can choose for the first time (in the Classic context) whether you want to use DirectX 11 Legacy, DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 as graphics interface, furthermore there's a selection option for "Raytraycing shadows": Disabled, Medium, Good and High.

The option is supposed to improve the shadow quality: shadows are created by more light sources and turn out softer and more natural. To use this feature, you will need a graphics card with hardware raytracing, Windows 10, the latest graphics driver, and DirectX 12 (as in retail WoW).

Original post from August 18:
Blizzard has added a new entry to the "In Development" section of the Battle.net launcher: "Public Test Realm (Classic Era). You can currently access two "Classic Era" test servers through this entry, but they are listed as "Offline" at the time of this news release.

On Reddit and Youtube, several players state that the servers were online in the meantime. There, of course, they immediately checked which Classic phase is active on the PTR. Players' findings:

• Onyxia's Lair and Molten Core are available, but the raid instances from the later phases are not.
• The honor system from Classic Phase 2 is active, but battlegrounds are not yet available.
• The Bleak Quarry dungeons are up.
• Chromie is selling the Chrono Strength Shifter, which was introduced in Classic Phase 6.

All of this combined suggests that Blizzard is looking to test "fresh era servers" in the coming weeks - though it will be especially exciting to see what insights the developers have gleaned from the survey around fresh Classic servers. In it, for example, the designers presented changes they might implement for the next Classic round. These included:

• More experience points when leveling
• Barbershop
• No world buffs in the raids
• Increased debuff cap on raid bosses
• Black market auction house for vanity items
• More difficult raid and dungeon challenges
• Original Alterac Valley design (more guards, longer matches, additional quests)
• Increased drop chance for items
• You earn gold faster
• Summoning stones in front of all dungeon entrances

What do you think: Would you be up for fresh Classic servers if Blizzard made a tweak or two? Tell us in the comments!

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: Cheers to 15 years - Blizzard celebrates Classic launch. From Karsten Scholz
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