Blizzard Entertainment held a media event today and made the announcement that World of Warcraft‘s next expansion, Battle for Azeroth, will launch on August 14. That is not the only announcement that they made, though.
There will be a physical collector’s edition available for the expansion which retails for $99.99. In addition to all of the Digital Deluxe in-game goods, you will also receive the official soundtrack, a double-sided novella that tells the story of the events leading up to the expansion as well as a commemorative coin for both Horde and Alliance so you can represent your faction. Missing from this deluxe edition is the typical art book.
The good news is that Blizzard realizes that many people have already purchased the digital versions of the game. If you buy the physical collector’s edition, the original amount you spent on your digital version will be refunded to you in the form of a credit which will be added to your Blizzard Balance. As an example, if you bought the standard edition, upgraded to digital deluxe, then bought the physical collector’s edition, you will be refunded for the standard edition. However, if you bought digital deluxe and then the physical, you will get the digital deluxe refunded. It’s based on your ORIGINAL purchase. Just keep that in mind when making your decision.
In addition, the development team gave some insights as to what will launch with the expansion:
- Dark Iron Dwarves and Mag’har Orcs will launch. Zandalari Trolls and Kul’Tiran Humans will come later
- Arathi Highlands Warfront
- Island Expeditions
- 6 Reputation Factions / 2 Neutral factions
The also stated that there will be a pre-expansion event which will feature the Darkshore zone that tells the backstory behind the burning of Teldrassil. There will also be replayable skirmishes with elites.
