Blizzard has announced it will be releasing World of Warcraft Classic. The server option for World of Warcraft will allow players to play the original version of the game.

World of Warcraft Classic is said to feature the same experience as the original 2004 version - without any expansion packs that change gameplay.

Being able to play the original version of the game has long been one of the most requested features of the game's community, so much so that it spawned the Nostalrius community that focused on recreating the experience with custom game clients and servers.

Blizzard requested the community projects to be shut down several times, but when the company stopped talks with the project's development team earlier this year custom servers were eventually brought back online after it was rebranded as The Elysium Project.

The custom client and server project is still available today and will likely stay online even after Blizzard releases World of Warcraft Classic because the project contains custom content that will not be available in Blizzard's version.

World of Warcraft Classic is expected to launch in 2018.