What was actually announced
One paragraph on 5 August, published with the one-million-player milestone, and it is worth reading in full rather than in summary: “Since our official launch, we’ve received an overwhelming amount of feedback requesting a Solo Mode for Brandrgarde… we can now confirm that we’ll be introducing Solo Mode for both the Normal and Cataclysm difficulties of Brandrgarde in the middle of Season 1 in September.”
- Both difficulties, named individually — Normal and Cataclysm. Not one now and one later.
- It is a confirmation, not a teaser. The roadmap graphic lists it again in the Phase II panel.
- It came from feedback after launch, which is why it is a mid-season addition rather than a roadmap item from the start.
“The middle of Season 1 in September” is not “mid-September”
Several syndicated write-ups render that clause as mid-September, which quietly converts a season-relative statement into a two-week calendar window nobody published. The two are different claims. One is a position inside a season whose end date has never been announced; the other is a fortnight you could put in a calendar. Bellring wrote the first. This distinction is the reason most readers arrive here, so it is stated rather than left to be noticed.
- No day, and no week, has been published for the September update.
- Season 1 has no published end date, so “the middle” of it cannot be resolved into a date from public information either.
- Treat any page giving you a specific September date as having invented it.
What you can queue alone today
The announcement never states what exists now, but it entails half the table: a mode being introduced to both Brandrgarde difficulties is a mode that exists on neither today. Hallowgrove is the weaker half and is marked differently on purpose — Bellring has published no launch-version queue list for it, and the closest official statement is a BETA 3 FAQ describing a build two difficulty names ago.
| Map | Difficulty | Solo today | After September | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hallowgrove | Normal | Reported open | Unchanged | Player-reported |
| Hallowgrove | Chaos | Reported open | Unchanged | Player-reported |
| Brandrgarde | Normal | No | Solo Mode added | Entailed by the announcement |
| Brandrgarde | Cataclysm | No | Solo Mode added | Entailed by the announcement |
Hallowgrove
- Difficulty
- Normal
- Solo today
- Reported open
- After September
- Unchanged
- Confidence
- Player-reported
Hallowgrove
- Difficulty
- Chaos
- Solo today
- Reported open
- After September
- Unchanged
- Confidence
- Player-reported
Brandrgarde
- Difficulty
- Normal
- Solo today
- No
- After September
- Solo Mode added
- Confidence
- Entailed by the announcement
Brandrgarde
- Difficulty
- Cataclysm
- Solo today
- No
- After September
- Solo Mode added
- Confidence
- Entailed by the announcement
Cataclysm solo is the harder half of this announcement
The two difficulties are not equivalent additions. Brandrgarde Cataclysm carries the highest gear gate on the site — equipment value at or above 2500 Gyldenblod and Elite combat bags only — which means a solo Cataclysm queue is a solo queue where every opponent is expensive and every third party is dangerous. Whether the gates change for the solo version has not been stated.
- Brandrgarde Normal asks for a combined gear value at or above 300 Gyldenblod with starting gear capped at Epic.
- Nothing published says the solo queues inherit those gates, and nothing published says they do not.
- Class balance is explicitly open: Bellring said the new modes “present fresh class balance challenges in solo play” and that it would report findings before adjusting.
Bellring named the cost in the same paragraph
The announcement carries its own caveat, which is unusual enough to be worth quoting rather than paraphrasing: “adding two new modes will inevitably split the matchmaking queue and present fresh class balance challenges in solo play. We’ll continue to evaluate these factors and will communicate our findings with you before making further adjustments.” Two extra queues divide the same population. That is a reason the timing could move, and a reason to read the September patch notes rather than this table.