Ten years is a long time. Ten years ago, in 2004, I was 20 years old and entering my third semester of college--also entangled in endless piles of paperwork while I prepared to spend a year studying at the University of New South Wales in Sydney for the calender year 2005. Ten years ago, in November 2004, World of Warcraft officially launched.

The mark that WoW has left on the gaming industry is indisputable--but we're not here for musing retrospectives. At least, not yet. We're here because there's going to be a whole bunch of fun in-game events to celebrate WoW's first decade of existence, and Blizzard has given us a lovely preview of what at least a few of them are.

The world PvP battles in Hillsbrad Foothills over Tarren Mill and Southshore are legendary, so to commemorate their place in the game's history, Blizzard will be opening a temporary battleground for the duration of the anniversary celebration. No word yet on how the battleground will be organized, but it's aim is to recreate those timeless battles in Hillsbrad with the addition of some structure, and hopefully some rewards for the victors. In addition, the Molten Core, WoW's most iconic raid, will be added to LFR as a level-appropriate 40-player raid. Yes, you read that right, a 40-player LFR. If you were thinking of upgrading your hardware, now might be a good time. Folks who take down Ragnaros in what will no doubt be an incredible experience will earn an achievement and a Core Hound mount. Guys, count me in. Count me so in.

Last, but certainly not least, there is the question of the Molten Corgi pet, which was previewed on Twitter in the not-too-distant past. That furry, fiery little cutie will be your reward for logging in during the 10th anniversary celebrations, so make sure not to miss it!

I'm not quite certain what I expected for 10th anniversary celebrations. I knew it would be big, but I'm surprised and delighted with the extent of these options--an entire battleground! A whole raid! And, of course, a cute pet as has come to be traditional for WoW anniversaries. I'm not much of a PvPer, but I'll definitely be headed into the Hillsbrad battleground, and I'm certainly hitting up the Molten Core LFR. Happy 10 years to WoW!

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Tags: 10th-anniversary, anniversary-battleground, anniversary-event, announcement, announcements, battle-pets, battlegrounds, lfr, molten-core, molten-core-lfr, molten-corgi, new-battleground, pets, pvp, southshore, tarren-mill, tarren-mill-southshore, warcraft-10-years, warcraft-ann, world-pvp, wow-10-years, wow-10th-anniversary, wow-anniversary

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