World Of Warcraft Classic returns to Outland! Join Blizzard's closed beta, especially if you want to return to The Burning Crusade.

Beta testing for the first expansion of WoW Classic began this month, Blizzard revealed on the game's forums (via Wowhead). While still a closed beta, you can join the beta test by opting in on the expansion's store page and adding your name to a pool of randomly selected players to receive a test invite.

Once selected, the beta should appear in the Battle.net launcher along with other WoW installations. Beta testers can choose to create a new character or take over an existing WoW Classic character.

WoW Classic's foray into The Burning Crusade was revealed at BlizzCon earlier this year, but it remains to be seen when The Dark Portal will reopen for Blizzard's nostalgic clients. Technically, it will be an entirely new branch of WoW Classic, with vanilla-only servers remaining and some servers advancing to the first expansion of WoW.

Although unconfirmed, The Burning Crusade is expected to eventually launch this summer or fall. One existing classic character can be boosted to 60 and immediately jump into Outland, with post-launch updates coming over the next few months.

After that, it's only a matter of time before Classic rolls into WoW's best expansion, Wrath Of The Lich King.