December 9 raids and Hardcore

9 December: Hyjal Summit and Barrow Deeps

December 9 is the first dated content drop after launch. What’s Next unlocks new raids that day. Hyjal Summit is the 20-player raid tied to the restored mountain you already saw on the Azeroth board. Barrow Deeps is a maximum-level 10-player challenge. Those sizes are first-party; group-finder rules and lockout types are not in the sealed notes, so they are not invented here.

That five-week gap from 4 November to 9 December is intentional. Forever is supposed to be a 1–60 world you play, not a raid log you jump into on night one. Hyjal’s outdoor restoration is the launch story; Hyjal Summit is the December story. If you are a raid-only player, the honest calendar is December 9, not November 4.

Barrow Deeps is not one of the nine launch dungeons. Do not look for it on the dungeons filter board. The nine are Hall of Thanes through Shaper’s Terrace. Barrow Deeps is a later, smaller, maximum-level challenge sitting next to the 20-player Summit. Bring a 10-player group for Deeps and a 20-player group for Summit; those sizes are the only lockout numbers printed so far.

Five weeks after launch, 20-player Hyjal Summit and 10-player Barrow Deeps are the dated raid beat. Hardcore, more dungeons, and Darkspear Islands stay later than that beat. Play the 1–60 world first; raid in December; wait for permadeath notes after that.

Hardcore is later, not a launch toggle

Hardcore is on this page because What’s Next, Wikipedia’s summary of the announcement, and the PCGamesN BlizzCon report all place it after the December raids. It is a further 1–60 update, grouped with more dungeons, PvP, world content, and a revamped iconic raid. It is not listed as a launch-day realm.

That matters for Legacy. The systems page describes Legacy as alt rewards without Hardcore death stakes. If you roll on 4 November expecting permadeath, you are playing a mode the public roadmap has not turned on yet. Wait for the post-December notes instead of importing Classic Hardcore rules by habit. Until Blizzard dates a Hardcore ruleset, treat Forever as an evergreen 1–60 branch you can replay, not a one-life season.

A “revamped iconic raid” is named only as a category. The sealed notes do not print which vanilla raid gets the revamp. Molten Core and Blackwing Lair stay unnamed here until Blizzard prints a proper noun. When that name lands, the sentence can carry it.

PvP and world updates on the same path

Darkspear Islands is the named battleground: 15 versus 15 off Kalimdor, mixing control points with Arathi Basin-style flag play. Honor changes are a launch-pillar system; this battleground is the later map that gives Honor a new place to land. Treating Darkspear Islands as a 4 November queue is ahead of the notes.

“More dungeons” after December is also a category, not a second nine-name list. The launch nine stay on the dungeons page. Additional instances belong in a future dated update. World content is the same: Forever is supposed to keep shipping 1–60 outdoor work instead of freezing the map after Hyjal Summit.

Watch the What’s Next panel on this page for the tone of that promise. Then use launch for the November clock, Azeroth for the outdoor names you have today, and systems for Legacy and Honor. This roadmap is only the spine that connects those pages after 4 November. Keep the nine launch dungeons on their own list; keep Hyjal’s outdoor restoration on Azeroth; keep the 9 December raid sizes here.

Hold 4 November for the 1–60 world and 9 December for Hyjal Summit and Barrow Deeps. Hardcore, extra dungeons, Darkspear Islands, and a later iconic raid sit after that December unlock. Do not treat permadeath as a launch-day ruleset. Watch the What’s Next panel on this page for the tone, then jump to launch, Azeroth, dungeons, and systems for the facts you can use now.