September 18, 2026: one day before Frostmourne's launch, Whitemane published its roadmap guide for the WotLK+ realm. The headline is not the launch mechanics but three original raid arcs planned for later patches.
- Patch 3.1.5, Scourging of Karazhan. A darker version of the tower, with an Antonidas encounter, as the Scourge's influence reaches into the Kirin Tor's history.
- Patch 3.2.5, Echoes of the Sunwell. A Caverns of Time raid built around the resurrection of Kel'Thuzad, tying into the Culling of Stratholme timeline.
- Fall of the Sunwell. Players follow Arthas as the undead while the Infinite Dragonflight interferes with the events that created the Lich King. Final boss: Anasterian.
All three are roadmap claims from the server's own post, not live content. Phases, not releases. But together they put Frostmourne in the custom-content tier alongside Octo WoW, Ravencraft and Chromiecraft: a 15-year-old client shipping new raid encounters, not number reskins.
The rest of the announcement matters for system watchers. Determination recovers a Normal raid after wipes. Heroic splits loot by difficulty rather than raid size, so 10H and 25H share the 25-player table and a ten-player guild can chase best-in-slot. Domination opens Vanilla and TBC raids to solo or small groups at 80. Currencies collapse to Justice, Valor, Honor and Conquest with rolling weekly caps. Leveling runs at x5 with battleground, gathering and rare-mob experience. Dungeons, raids, parties and battlegrounds are cross-faction. Hardcore Mode is optional at character creation. Mages get Time Warp (30 percent raid-wide, 10-minute lockout) and the Titan's Grip penalty lifts for Tier 7, returning at 5 percent in 3.1 and 10 percent in 3.2.
Verdict: the launch gets the traffic, the raid pipeline is the story. Whether Whitemane ships original raids on schedule is the test that decides if WotLK+ is a category or a label.
SOURCES: Whitemane "Very Short Guide to WotLK Rebuffed" (Sep 18, first-party); Frostmourne launch announcement (Sep 5); tracker launch coverage (Sep 14).