World of Warcraft: Classic Season of Mastery

World of Warcraft: Classic Season of Mastery (abbreviated as SOM) was the first seasonal launch of World of Warcraft: Classic following its original debut in 2019. A fresh take on Classic, it gives players a chance to start fresh in new realms with additional changes for a more challenging raiding experience.

The open beta started on 5 October 2021. It was released on 16 November 2021.

Phases have been adjusted and will unlock every couple months in a 12-month period.

• Phase 1 (Launch): Molten Core, Onyxia, Maraudon, PvP Honor System and Battlegrounds
• Phase 2 (December 16, 2021): Dire Maul, Azuregos, Kazzak
• Phase 3 (February 10, 2022): Blackwing Lair, Darkmoon Faire, Darkmoon deck drops begin
• Phase 4 (March 3, 2022): Zul'Gurub, Dragons of Nightmare
• Phase 5 (April 21, 2022): Ahn'Qiraj War Effort begins, Ahn'Qiraj raids within 30 days as the war effort dictates
• Phase 6 (July 28, 2022): Naxxramas, Scourge Invasion

On 14 February 2023, Season of Mastery realms closed, preventing players from clicking the "Enter World" button. Players were able to transfer their Season of Mastery characters for free to any or realm until the Season of Mastery realms were completely removed on 28 July 2023.

There are some changes to make raiding more challenging compared to the 2019 release. All the changes are listed on patch 1.14.1, with notable changes listed below:

• World buffs (like Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer and others) disabled in Raid instances
• Restoring mechanics that were removed early on to some Raid bosses
• No boss debuff limit (up from 16 debuffs in 2019 Classic)
• Increased health on bosses, to offset player buffs and the removed debuff limit
• Soul of Iron system

Due to the faster phase release cycle, there are a few quality of life improvements:

• Faster leveling (increased experience gains), following along the lines of leveling from 1-60 in, from an Adventure Awaits buff
• Meeting Stones converted to Summoning Stones
• Increased Mining and Herbalism nodes