The Scourge Invasion event has come to World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic nearly a week earlier than was originally planned. Though scheduled to begin on September 13, the Wrath of the Lich King Classic Pre-Patch event kicked off early, much to the surprise of both World of Warcraft fans and developers.

The Wrath of the Lich King Classic Pre-Patch was organized in three phases. The first began on August 30th, and allowed players to create Death Knight characters in World of Warcraft Classic. Phase two, the Zombie Plague, began on September 6, and the final phase–the Scourge Invasion–was planned to start a week later and run until Wrath of the Lich King Classic’s launch on September 26. However, a programming glitch caused the Scourge Invasion to start on September 9 instead.

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According to World of Warcraft, the early release was unplanned. The Scourge Invasion was supposed to start 168 hours after the Zombie Plague began in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, but a trigger accidentally fired off 72 hours into the event, causing the new content to unlock early. Rather than scramble to stick to the original schedule, World of Warcraft ran with it. The Scourge Invasion kicked off a half week early, giving players more time to experience this historic event and earn some sweet loot.

The Scourge Invasion event allows players to fend off undead invasion points in select places around World of Warcraft and discover special encounters within certain dungeons and cities. Completing these challenges awards special currencies and rare items unobtainable outside this event. All of this occurs alongside the infamous Zombie Plague event–a world-wide PvP event where players are transformed into ghouls which can prey upon other players and NPCs to spread the Scourge infection.

Players were thrilled to get the chance to start the Scourge Invasion event early. Many of the limited-time encounters and bosses are extremely fun, and several exclusive items–especially the Arcanite Ripper axe–are highly-desired by many World of Warcraft players. Having a few extra days to farm these items may be what some players need to get their hands on these special rewards.

Of course, the Wrath of the Lich King Classic Pre-Patch event is far from perfect. With excitement abound, many World of Warcraft Classic servers are experiencing long queue times and massive crowds, making participating in parts of the Scourge Invasion difficult or impossible for some–not to mention the hordes of zombies roaming the cities. Hopefully, the extra days of the Scourge Invasion mean players experiencing difficulties participating now will be able to later once other World of Warcraft players get their prizes.

World of Warcraft is available on PC. Wrath of the Lich King Classic launches September 26.

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