World of Warcraft Classic has arrived at BlizzCon 2018, with the throwback MMO being demoed live on the convention floor. Both attendees and BlizzCon Virtual Ticket purchasers at home can try out the demo right now, questing through either Westfall as Alliance or the Barrens as Horde. Blizzard had more than just the World of Warcraft Classic demo to share at BlizzCon, however, announcing both the MMO's planned release window and part of its pricing scheme.

Current subscribers for World of Warcraft have long been wondering just how Blizzard will price the MMO when it's eventually released. Would it have an up-front price? Would it require a second subscription? Or would Blizzard offer current subscribers a discount? Today Blizzard answered that question, confirming that World of Warcraft Classic will be included with all current World of Warcraft subscriptions.

Even better, Blizzard confirmed that World of Warcraft Classic isn't that far off. For now, World of Warcraft Classic is tentatively planned for a summer 2019 release. Given how difficult Blizzard has said it has been to adapt the original World of Warcraft to the studio's modern server technology, the wait doesn't seem too significant.

One bit of news has already cropped up from those playing World of Warcraft Classic that may grow into a bit of a controversy. Players have confirmed that the World of Warcraft Classic demo featured sharded servers, which split servers into chunks of players and phases them in and out of each other based on the number of players. The original World of Warcraft, on the other hand, allowed players to see everyone on a server that was within draw distance. It's unclear whether sharding is just implemented for the demo or the whole game, but hopefully Blizzard will clarify soon.

That may be it for information regarding World of Warcraft Classic for the time being. The game wasn't mentioned during World of Warcraft's "What's Next" panel and doesn't appear to be included in any further BlizzCon panels. Expect to hear more on World of Warcraft Classic as summer 2019 approaches.

World of Warcraft Classic releases summer 2019 on PC. World of Warcraft is available now on PC.