September 20, 2026: Frostmourne launched yesterday, and Whitemane's launch post gives first-party numbers: more than 8,500 players online at peak, starting zones packed past what dynamic respawns could handle.
The first 30 minutes were rough in a specific way: a large-scale DDoS attack took all services unreachable network-wide. The team mitigated it within half an hour; residual latency after that was diagnosed and resolved. Since then the realm is stable with no major bug reports, per the post, with vigilance pledged against repeat attacks.
Confirmed alongside: Tier 7 Normal opens September 30, Heroic one week later, as scheduled. Plus one teaser: a major new character-progression system in preparation, unrevealed, pitched as changing how players approach characters.
Day-two housekeeping arrived this morning as a first-party known-issues list: wrong-version world maps, a temporary bug reporter, five broken addons (Bartender4, ElvUI, ClassicAPI, CompactRaidFrame, Talented) with launcher-distributed fixes coming, DXVK texture filtering, a Zul'Farrak door block, locale chat errors, an upcoming WorldChat migration, Collections leaks, and Shift+P opening the legacy Pet Book. Five fixes shipped with it: Hardcore combat lockout, Wailing Caverns reset, hearthstone home on start-zone pick, SFK cross-faction door, Polish Hardcore announcements.
Verdict: the biggest WotLK launch of the year by the only number that matters, with the standard launch-day attack tax paid in the first half hour. The 8,500 peak sets the bar every private launch this fall gets measured against.
SOURCES: Whitemane "Frostmourne is online" (Sep 19) and "Known Issues September 20" (first-party).