The release date from the fifth and final phase of Wrath from the Lich King Classic hasn’t been announced yet, but I would bet Blizzard releases Wrath Classic Phase 5 early the coming year by January 2024. This speculative date relies largely on what the 2024 release cycle for Dragonflight might seem like, exactly what the future of WoW Classic overall might be, and, to some lesser extent, when another Season of Mastery might arrive.

Wrath Classic likely remains complementary to Dragonflight’s 2024 release cycle

Keeping in your mind that game development is fluid and susceptible to change, Blizzard seems to be on pace using the Dragonflight 2023 roadmap — patch 10.0.5 was released on January 24 and patch 10.0.7 has already been on the PTR, reinforcing a possible end-of-March release. The current roadmap details release through Fall 2023 and, when the schedule is kept, then Blizzard may give a roadmap for Dragonflight’s 2024 release cycle prior to the year's ends, much like dropping the 2023 roadmap in December 2022. If this were to happen, we’d be able to make a much better estimation of Wrath Classic’s Phase 5 arrival.

What’s in Wrath Classic Phase 5?

The main addition arriving in Phase 5 may be the Ruby Sanctum raid. Taking place inside a new wing below Wyrmrest Temple, the Ruby Sanctum is really a sacred area of the red dragonflight where players must reduce the chances of an invading force of the black Dragonflight.

The original patch 3.3.5 was relatively small, bringing just the Ruby Sanctum and minor changes to the game. Since Wrath Classic’s pre-patch began using the patch 3.3.5 class, balance, along with other quality-of-life changes upfront, we might be in for an additional round of #somechanges. Right now, we don’t understand what changes Blizzard has in your mind but we're able to see additional changes to gear level based on the changes designed to endgame gear in the past phases. As more phases roll out, we're able to also see more changes to Titan Rune Dungeons along with other existing world activities to keep them in relevant gameplay rotation.

Will Classic exceed Northrend?

Originally, the events from the Ruby Sanctum raid set happen for Cataclysm but as of this moment, the way forward for World of Warcraft Classic might not be so clear. Cataclysm completely reshaped the field of Azeroth directly into what it is today. Choosing to implement Cataclysm Classic servers could be completely contrary to the original nature and also appeal of Classic.

For now, we have at least another year of Wrath Classic phases and content to savor before we are able to start asking what comes next.