Black Temple opens on Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary, with Arena Season 3
Black Temple opened on the Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary Edition realms on 27 August 2026, alongside the Battle for Mount Hyjal, the Netherwing daily hub and epic gems. Blizzard's own notice lists all four together, and puts Arena Season 3 five days later on 1 September.
The two raids, side by side
| Black Temple | Battle for Mount Hyjal | |
|---|---|---|
| Level | 70 | 70 |
| Location | Shadowmoon Valley, Outland | Caverns of Time, Tanaris |
| Bosses | 9, ending on Illidan Stormrage | 5, ending on Archimonde |
| Reputation | Ashtongue Deathsworn | Scale of the Sands |
| Gate | An attunement chain | The Vials of Eternity questline |
| Extra vendor | Okuno, inside the raid | Indormi, inside the raid |
Indormi is the one to note for anyone not raiding: the jewelcrafting designs for the new epic gems sell from inside Mount Hyjal, and the gems themselves come from mining in that raid at 375 skill or as rare drops in Black Temple. Blizzard's notice also says a raid group is not required to enter Mount Hyjal.
Our take: what it means for players
The arena rollover is the part with a deadline attached, and it has already passed for anyone holding points. Season 2 closed the week of 16 August at 10:00 pm local time on the night before each region's reset, and unspent Arena Points converted at ten Honor Points each.
That is a conversion, not a refund, and we think it is the wrong way round. Points saved for a Season 3 purchase became honor, which buys a different and older set of gear. Anyone who did the disciplined thing and banked their points for the next tier was paid out in a currency for the last one, and the people who spent theirs immediately lost nothing. A rollover that punishes patience is a small unfairness with a real cost, and it was avoidable.
The upside of the same rollover is genuinely good, and it is worth being loud about because it is the opposite of how a lot of this genre now solves the same problem. Two tiers of PvP gear dropped their gates at once: Season 2 gear now sells at a discount from Area 52 with no rating requirement, and Season 1 gear moved to the honor vendors in Orgrimmar and Stormwind. For a player arriving late to the phase that is the cheapest catch-up window the anniversary realms have offered, and it costs time rather than money. No boost, no bundle, no store page. Just a vendor and an afternoon.
Netherwing is the long tail and it is unapologetic about it. Reputation comes from dailies on Netherwing Ledge, a floating outpost in southeastern Shadowmoon Valley that effectively needs a flying mount to reach, and the six Netherwing Drake colours require exalted standing, artisan riding and the Blood Oath of the Netherwing step of the questline. Nothing about that chain is fast. That is the point of putting it in beside a raid tier, and it is the sort of reward that still means something a year later precisely because nobody can shortcut it.
Credit where it is due: Wowhead carries the fullest public write-up of the Netherwing chain and the anniversary realm vendors, and it is where most people will end up checking the steps.
What's next
The anniversary realms have no further dated phase in Blizzard's notice. The next Warcraft date on the record is BlizzCon on 12 and 13 September, whose published running order carries a Hardcore panel and two sessions titled "World of Warcraft: What's Next". Both days are on the calendar with the day we last checked them.
Common questions
Which raids opened in the Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary Edition phase?
Two. Black Temple in Shadowmoon Valley, with nine boss encounters ending on Illidan Stormrage, and the Battle for Mount Hyjal in the Caverns of Time, with five encounters ending on Archimonde. Both are level 70 and both need an attunement or questline first.
When did Arena Season 3 start in Burning Crusade Classic?
1 September 2026, with each region's weekly content reset. Season 2 ended the week of 16 August, at 10:00 pm local time the night before each region's reset.
What happens to unspent Arena Points from Season 2?
They convert to Honor Points at ten Honor Points per Arena Point. Season 2 gear then sells from Area 52 vendors at a discount with no rating requirement, and Season 1 gear moves to the Honor vendors in Orgrimmar and Stormwind.
Written by 0hp from the publisher's own announcement, linked above, and every specific in it was checked against that page by a second pass before it published. Independent, and not affiliated with the publisher. Dates are announced or labelled as estimates. How this site is written, and how to correct it.
