Now Blizzard has confirmed that one of the Crusade's most ambitious adventures is coming back. During the November 12 official WoW Forever lore podcast, Senior Game Designer Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield revealed that Scarlet Enclave will return to World of Warcraft: Forever, along with the legendary Ashbringer.
"Scarlet Enclave will return. The Ashbringer will return at some point; it might be a while," Greenfield explained, according to Wowhead's account of the discussion. It is an exciting confirmation, although Blizzard has not announced a release date or explained exactly how either element will return.
Why the WoW Forever Scarlet Enclave Return Matters
Scarlet Enclave originally opened on April 10, 2025, as the final major raid of Season of Discovery. Unlike the familiar Classic encounters Blizzard had been reworking throughout the experiment, this was an entirely new adventure set in the Eastern Plaguelands, complete with eight bosses and a storyline involving the Scarlet Crusade's increasingly complicated activities around Tyr's Hand.
The surrounding content was just as interesting. Players infiltrated New Avalon in disguise, became involved in the Crusade's internal conflicts and pursued a legendary weapon quest connected to Ashbringer. According to Blizzard's original Scarlet Enclave announcement, a splinter faction of the Scarlet Crusade needed help reclaiming Tyr's Hand from a greater evil. Naturally, helping religious fanatics resolve their internal disagreements was never likely to end with everyone shaking hands and agreeing to become more tolerant.
The raid featured familiar Warcraft villains such as Balnazzar alongside newer characters including Beatrix and Caldoran. More importantly, it demonstrated that Classic-era Azeroth still had room for genuinely new adventures. Blizzard did not need to invent another continent or introduce a world-ending cosmic threat. There were already plenty of unfinished stories waiting in the Eastern Plaguelands.
That philosophy is central to WoW Forever's approach to expanding Classic Azeroth. Rather than preserving the original game as an untouchable museum exhibit, Blizzard is developing new content within its familiar geography and history. Scarlet Enclave is a particularly interesting candidate for that approach because Season of Discovery already demonstrated what could be built there.
What Blizzard Has Confirmed About Scarlet Enclave
The Ashbringer connection is perhaps the most intriguing part of Greenfield's announcement. Few weapons in Warcraft have accumulated quite so much mythology, from Alexandros Mograine and the Corrupted Ashbringer to the Scarlet Crusade's deeply questionable relationship with the Holy Light. Bringing Ashbringer back creates opportunities to revisit those stories, although Blizzard has not confirmed a new questline, specific rewards or the weapon's eventual role.
There are also important questions about the raid itself. Will Scarlet Enclave return with its original eight encounters? Will the mechanics change to suit Forever's classes and progression systems? How will it fit into Blizzard's planned 10-player and 20-player raid structure? None of those details has been confirmed.
What we do know is that Scarlet Enclave is not among Forever's first three raids, which are scheduled to open on December 9, 2026. Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia's Lair will introduce the initial endgame, while Scarlet Enclave remains a future addition without an announced date.
Its eventual place in the progression system will be especially interesting because Blizzard also wants older raid equipment to remain useful for longer. A returning Scarlet Enclave could become part of that evolving endgame rather than simply another nostalgic attraction, although its rewards and progression role remain unknown.
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the announcement is what it suggests about Season of Discovery's legacy. That experiment introduced new ideas, characters and encounters into a world many players believed they knew by heart. Scarlet Enclave's confirmed return shows that at least one of those experiments has a future beyond its original season.
And if the Scarlet Crusade returns with its usual enthusiasm, adventurers can probably expect another warm welcome involving swords, fire and accusations of heresy. Twenty-two years of Warcraft history have taught us one thing about the Crusade: whenever somebody starts preaching about absolute purity, it is usually time to check where you left your Hearthstone.
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