‘World of Warcraft: Classic’ update: Ahn’Qiraj raid kicks off in late July; Blizzard bans 40,000 exploitative accounts since June 17

Players of “World of Warcraft: Classic” have something major to look forward to this month. Blizzard has confirmed that the Ahn’Qiraj content will go live later this month as part of patch 1.13.5. Meanwhile, the developer is continuing its aggressive efforts in suspending and banning thousands of accounts found to be exploiting the gameplay.

‘World of Warcraft: Classic’ gets Ahn’Qiraj War Effort contents in July

One of the main purposes of “World of Warcraft: Classic” is to allow long-time players to relive their favorite raids while allowing new players to experience the earlier segments of the 15-year-old MMORPG. Later this month, they get to experience War Effort gathering and quests that would lead to the opening of Ahn’Qiraj.

Gameplay contents linked to Ahn’Qiraj will be available starting on Tuesday, July 28. Activities under this gameplay are divided into three key events including the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline, gathering of supplies for the War Effort, and a war in Silithus that would then pave the way to the opening of Ahn’Qiraj. This is going to be a time-consuming event on “World of Warcraft: Classic” just based on the magnitude of materials that both factions will need to gather for the War Effort.

Blizzard nixes 40,000 ‘World of Warcraft: Classic’ accounts since mid-June

Last month, Blizzard announced its massive effort to identify suspicious “World of Warcraft: Classic” accounts and suspend those who are found violating the game’s policies. It resulted in the suspension or removal of more than 74,000 accounts from various regions including the Americas, Oceania, and Europe.

Blizzard issued another report on Wednesday informing “World of Warcraft: Classic” fans that it has removed exploitative accounts “at a high pace” resulting in the banning of more than 40,000 accounts since June 17 -- the date when the previous banwave was announced. Botting has been plaguing the game for a while now and has been causing real problems, especially to new players who want to go through the game fairly.

Networks of bot accounts are often used to hog resources and rare monsters with real-money trading as the main driving force. “This is a long-term effort that becomes continuously more difficult, as exploits and those who use them are driven by real money profit motives,” Blizzard said. The developer also emphasized the importance of continuously receiving reports from “World of Warcraft: Classic” players to help them identify more exploiters.