World of Warcraft: Classic is known for many things – countless events, stories, and adventures. However, one of the biggest WoW Classic events came in the form of servers banding together to open up the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj. Arguably it was the biggest in-game event in World of Warcraft history that many veteran players remember fondly. It’s been 15 years since this happened in the original game and now the event is starting once again.

With the latest server reset, Blizzard has launched their long-awaited Phase 5 of World of Warcraft: Classic content release schedule. This kicks off a global War Effort where players in each game realm are gathering resources in order to “fuel the War Effort against the sinister forces of Ahn’Qiraj”. Each faction will have to gather a set amount of various materials such as cloths, herbs, metal bars, and so on in order to begin a siege on the Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj and the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj – two huge raids culminating with a fight against the Old God C’Thun.

Once the War Effort is completed, there will be a 5-day window during which “resources are transported to Silithus”. According to Blizzard, due to the raid requirements in the quest chain leading up to the “Bang A Gong!” quest, the earliest that the gong-ringing can occur in Silithus on highly-motivated realms will be just over a week later. Once the gong is rung on a realm, the 10 Hour War begins spawning various world-bosses, enemy incursions, and so on. Once the 10 hours have elapsed, “Bang a Gong!” can never be turned in anymore and the two Ahn’Qiraj raids will open.

One thing that particularly captured player interest in this World of Warcraft: Classic event back in the day was the fact that there can only be a single-player from each realm that rings a gong. That player earns a title Scarab Lord, while the rest will have to do with some mounts of epic loot, and gold.

According to Blizzard, this time around the Ahn’Qiraj opening event will have some restrictions to avoid exploits and give a fair chance to every player. Here’s what they told in the forums:

“In the original WoW, the Scarab Lord wasn’t used as a title, and that will be the case in WoW Classic. The ability for players to manage their titles came after the original WoW.

During the 10 Hour War, world bosses do not only spawn in Silithus. Resonating Crystals that spawn major enemies will appear in Tanaris, Feralas, Thousand Needles, and Barrens. This is important to know because we expect there to be an overcrowding issue in Silithus on realms whenever large groups of players all go to Silithus at the same time. While the negative effects of overcrowding can’t be eliminated, we’re taking several steps to mitigate the worst outcomes:

  • Thanks to players who helped us test on the PTR in June, we can support a higher number of players in the zone than we could before.
  • Those PTR tests also helped us determine the maximum number of players that can be supported before “a little laggy” became “unplayable.”
  • If the maximum is reached, players will be automatically removed from the zone.
  • First, players will be removed if they are below level 60. Alliance players will be ported to Westfall, and Horde players will be ported to The Barrens.
  • Level 60 players who are ported out will be moved to Un’goro Crater, Tanaris, Thousand Needles, or The Barrens.
  • If Silithus is at max population, a level 60 player can only zone in when another player leaves Silithus.
  • Players who have a Scepter will never be automatically removed from Silithus.
  • Zone maximums and automatic adjustments are per-layer.

There are restrictions on realm-to-realm character transfers, which are in place to prevent players from a different realm from coming to your realm and disrupting the progress of events. The quest “Bang a Gong!” cannot be completed by characters who transferred to the realm in the past 90 days, however, those players can complete “Treasures of the Timeless One”. Before the end of the 10 Hour War on a realm, there are also other restrictions on transfers for characters who have participated in significant event activities elsewhere. For example, players cannot transfer a character that has Silithus Carapace Fragments in their bags or bank.

The initial War Effort requires a great deal of supplies to be turned in by your faction on your realm. If this is not complete 30 days after the content is unlocked, small amounts of supplies will begin turning in automatically, as they did in the version 1.12 of original WoW. The gates still require somebody to “Bang a Gong!”, but this will help ensure that all realms have the chance to unlock Ahn’Qiraj before Naxxramas is released.

We’re very excited to follow the unfolding events on WoW Classic realms around the world over the next few weeks. We’ll see you in Silithus!”

So, you think you can become a Scarab Lord? Renew your World of Warcraft Classic subscription and join the effort!