When necropolises darkened the sky and the Scourge invaded Azeroth, it could only mean one thing: Patch 1.11 is online and with it Kel’Thuzad, Lord of Naxxramas.

Today, when people talk about the Scourge invasion, they usually think of the Wrath of the Lich King pre-event that Blizzard launched on October 23, 2008. I’m sure you’ll remember it:

But it wasn’t the first event of its kind! Two years earlier, on June 20, 2006, there was already a plague of the undead. With patch 1.11, the first Scourge invasion was unleashed by the Californian developers to announce the opening of Naxxramas, the final raid challenge of Classic WoW. The Lich’s attack was impossible to miss; after all, necropolises were suddenly floating through the air all over Azeroth, much like the alien spaceships in the Emmerich flick Independence Day.

Invasion of the Scourge: Necrotic Shard
However, the flying necropolises only appeared in selected areas of the high levels, such as the Eastern Plaguelands, the Burning Steppe, or Tanaris. And where they appeared in the sky, Scourge troops were usually not far away. The undead then often guarded the necrotic shards that were in direct contact with the necropolis.

Thus, the task of the Horde and Alliance was to wipe out the Scourge near the shards, further weakening them. As soon as one of the shards had drained all of its energy, four cultist engineers appeared and immediately began repairing the necrotic shard.

The restoration process could again be interrupted with a Necrotic Rune, but then the cultist transformed into a powerful shadow creature. Only when the four shadows lay defeated on the ground was the Necrotic Shard over. And only when the players had destroyed all the shards in the respective zone did they succeed in expelling the associated necropolis from the area.

Invasion of the Scourge: The Argent Dawn is mobilized
To ensure an orderly defense against the Scourge onslaught, the Argent Dawn had established a headquarters in the Eastern Plaguelands. In addition to a whole series of quests, there were also merchants there where one could exchange necrotic runes for consecrated magical oil or whetstones and rare pieces of armor that were particularly efficient in the fight against the Scourge. All collectors could also purchase the Argent Dawn tabard there.

There were also merchants selling useful enchantments for Naxxramas, which high-level players could use to increase their frost resistance. 18-fold bags, which were special at the time, and items like rings could also be bought there. The higher the reputation at Argent Dawn, the less players had to pay for the goods.

Scourge Invasion: Great or Bad?
There’s a reason most players think of WotLK pre-event recycling first when they think of Invasion of the Scourge: the rampant zombie infestation really turned normal everyday life on the servers upside down, something like that burns into your brain. The patch 1.11 counterpart, on the other hand, was very tame and didn’t offer enough variety or motivating rewards for many players to go shard hunting for an extended period of time.

Nevertheless, patch 1.11, including the Scourge invasion, is one of the most important milestones in WoW’s history. There has never been a world event of this kind, and the Naxxramas patch was the first to receive a true preview cinematic.

Plus: The patch brought many German place names into the game: Darkshire became Dunkelhain, for example, and Stranglethorn became Stranglethorn. What memories do you have of Patch 1.11 and the Scourge invasion? Did you enjoy the world event or did the undead attack leave you cold?

What is WoW Classic?

World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.

Getting Started

All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.

1. Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
2. Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
3. Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
4. Click the Play button when the installation is complete.

You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!

Heroes&WIKI, WoW Classic, World of Warcraft Classic, WoW ClassicSpecial, WoW ClassicSpecials