World of Warcraft Classic just announced the official closure date for the Season of Mastery realms. Players must prepare their World of Warcraft characters to transfer out of these servers soon, or they will risk losing them forever.
Last October, World of Warcraft announced it would be closing the Season of Mastery servers in the near future. Now WoW Classic has confirmed weekly maintenance on Tuesday, February 21 would signal the end of the Season of Mastery realms. After maintenance is completed, players will be unable to enter the game world on these servers.
To prepare players for the impending closure, World of Warcraft has reminded players to utilize the Free Character Transfer service it is offering Season of Mastery realms. In order to use this service, a character must have an empty mailbox, no active auctions, and cannot be the leader of a guild in World of Warcraft. Blizzard suggests players log in and begin transferring their characters before the servers go down to ensure no unexpected obstacles prevent them from doing so later.
After February 21, players will still be able to see characters in the Season of Mastery realms on their login screens but will be unable to enter the world. During this time, players can still use the Free Character Transfers as long as they have taken the appropriate steps beforehand. Blizzard has said it will preserve such characters for at least three months, after which any who have not been transferred will be permanently deleted.
It is good that Blizzard is being transparent with its plans for the Classic Season of Mastery realms. The nature of these Season of Mastery realms is ephemeral, as they were only ever planned to exist for a limited time. As such, this clarity is appreciated by World of Warcraft players who don’t want to lose the characters they have played over the last year.
That said, many World of Warcraft Classic players are wondering when a second Season of Mastery announcement will be made. Many players enjoyed the reset realms and would love to participate in a second round of the World of Warcraft Classic experience. However, World of Warcraft has not yet officially confirmed it will be running a second Season of Mastery. This could mean Blizzard is currently still deciding if it wants to run a second Season of Mastery, or that plans are still in development. Either way, World of Warcraft players who want another Season of Mastery should be sure to make their voices heard while they wait for word from Blizzard.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic is available on PC.
Source: Blizzard