Why WoW Forever Has Me Excited — Part One
There has already been a ton of conversation around World of Warcraft Forever. Some people are excited, some are skeptical, and some seem determined to find something wrong with every new feature before they have even had a chance to play it. For me, though, a lot of what Blizzard is doing just makes sense.
That does not mean I want to sit here and hold Blizzard's hand and tell the developers they are doing a great job every step of the way. This game is decades old at this point. Blizzard knows what worked, they know what did not work, and they have years and years of player feedback to pull from. My expectation is pretty simple: they know the formula. Now they just need to tune it right. If they do, I think WoW Forever could be something really special.
Keeping Azeroth at Level 60
I think keeping the game at level 60 is a great idea. From a logistical standpoint, it means Blizzard does not immediately have to make massive changes to the entire world every time they want to move the story forward. More importantly, though, it gives the writers an entirely new avenue to explore with the lore. The story can stay on Azeroth.
When Blizzard originally moved into the expansion era, I think they created a problem that we did not really recognize at the time. Getting to level 60 in Classic was a long journey. You spent a huge amount of time developing your character, traveling through the world, completing quests, running dungeons, meeting people, and slowly becoming one of the heroes of Azeroth.
Then that journey did not really end. It just suddenly jumped.
We went from this enormous adventure across Azeroth to, "Okay, now we're going through the Dark Portal." Mechanically, your character continued, but narratively there was always a weird feeling of a time jump. It felt like pieces of our character's story had been skipped.
Forever gives Blizzard the opportunity to tell those missing stories. What else was happening on Azeroth? What threats were developing while everyone else was preparing to go to Outland? What regions had we never explored? What groups of people had stories that simply never got told? That is one of the things I find most exciting about this entire project.
The Leveling Journey Wasn't Too Slow — It Just Needed More Content
This one is a little complicated for me because I both loved and hated the leveling experience in Classic. I loved the journey, but I hated some of the grind.
Anyone who leveled through Classic probably remembers hitting those stretches where questing suddenly fell apart. You would finish a quest hub, realize there was not enough content to get you to the next area, and then start bouncing all over Azeroth. You would complete a quest, travel to another continent, do two more quests, and then go back to the continent you just came from.
Eventually, a lot of players just started farming dungeons because it was easier. The grind from around level 55 to 60 was especially rough. There were times where it felt like I was burning myself out just trying to get to the next screen — and yes, that is an Altered Carbon reference.
That is why hearing about all the additional quests, dungeons, and content being added to Forever got my attention. It makes me feel like Blizzard understands what the actual problem was. We were not trying to rush to max level because Classic was bad. We rushed because there were stretches where Classic was lacking.
The pace itself was fine. We just needed more things to do at that pace.
That is a huge difference. If Blizzard can fill those gaps properly, I think leveling in Forever could actually be better than it ever was in Classic. The developers also have another huge advantage this time around: hindsight. They know where the old questing experience broke down. They know where pacing became awkward. They know what stories worked and what stories wrote them into corners later. They have an opportunity to do it better this time.
How Far Should Blizzard Go With Class Changes?
As far as they need to.
That is really my answer. I do not think the community needs to micromanage every class decision. At some point, we have to expect the developers to know what they are doing.
This game has existed for more than two decades. Blizzard has an unbelievable amount of information available to them now. They know what specs worked. They know which ones did not. They know what players enjoyed. They know what systems became problems. Because Forever is supposed to be much more community-focused, they also have opportunities to listen to players and adjust things when it actually makes sense.
I am not interested in telling Blizzard, "Don't touch this because that's how it was in 2004." If something needs to be fixed, fix it. If something needs to be changed, change it. Just keep the spirit of the game intact.
The Skyborne and the "Paywall"
I have no problem with the Skyborne being part of a paid upgrade. Honestly, I think it was a smart move.
First, from a story perspective, we know very little about these people. That gives Blizzard a tremendous amount of room to create something new without completely rewriting things we already know. The Skyborne could become part of an entirely new story arc involving threats that were developing on Azeroth while the events leading toward Outland were happening.
Instead of every major threat requiring us to leave Azeroth and go somewhere else, we can stay home and deal with problems that were always there. That is exactly the type of storytelling I want to see.
Then there is the argument about paying for them, and I really do not understand some of the outrage. How exactly do people expect developers to continue producing content if everything has to be free?
And let's be clear: the game itself is still there. If you do not want to play the new race, you do not have to. You can subscribe to the game just like you were already going to do and play. To me, that is not a paywall. It is an optional upgrade for players who want additional content.
Developers cannot work for free, and I have no problem giving them some monetary recognition for creating something I want to play.
Realmless WoW Makes Sense
Removing traditional servers makes sense to me. There were always problems with the old system: low-population servers, dead servers, massively uneven faction populations, and probably a dozen other problems I am forgetting.
But one of the worst situations was incredibly simple. You rolled a character on a server because your friend played there. Then your friend quit. Now you are stuck on a server where you do not know anybody.
You may have put hundreds of hours into that character, and suddenly the only reason you chose that server no longer exists. The old server system definitely created community identity, but it also created unnecessary barriers. A larger realmless structure removes a lot of those problems.
As far as preserving that community feeling goes, I think Blizzard has already thought about it. From what I understand, the system is designed so that the people you start seeing early in the game are more likely to continue appearing around you when possible.
In other words, even though the population is massive, Blizzard is still trying to create that feeling where you recognize people. I do not think they just threw everybody onto one giant server without thinking this part through. I am willing to see how it works.
Transmog Really Isn't a Controversy
Transmog is cool when you want it, and it is not when you do not. That is really the entire argument for me.
The important part is that the player gets to choose. I like both ways of playing. Sometimes I like seeing everyone's actual gear. There is something cool about looking at another player and immediately recognizing the armor or weapon they earned.
Other times, I want my character to look exactly the way I want them to look. With Forever, I can go back and forth depending on how I feel, and I imagine a lot of players will do the same thing.
So to me, this whole argument is kind of a moot point. The choice exists. Use whichever one you like.
Classic Graphics vs. Modern Graphics
This is basically the same argument. You can turn the newer graphics on, or you can turn them off. If you like the old textures, use the old textures. If you like the newer graphics, use the newer graphics.
I honestly do not see why this needs to become a major bullet point in the argument over whether Forever is "really Classic." It does not matter. As long as you are playing the way you want to play, what difference does it make?
It is your subscription money. Play the version you enjoy looking at.
Where Should Blizzard Take Azeroth?
This is one area where I genuinely do not know exactly what I want. I have gone back and forth on it.
Part of me loves the idea of Forever staying almost completely focused on the existing continents and filling in all the areas we never really explored. But I also love the idea of new regions appearing on the map. Smaller islands, previously inaccessible areas, and entire regions that were always technically part of Azeroth but never became playable all sound interesting to me.
I do not really see any reason Blizzard cannot do that. For me, the location is less important than the continuity. I do not want another situation where the story suddenly feels like it breaks between one game and the next.
As long as the story continues naturally, I am willing to see where Blizzard takes us. That is really the important part.
Raids, Raid Sizes, and Loot
I am completely fine with the different raid sizes Blizzard is using. That is basically how things worked back in the day anyway, and it makes sense.
I do think there is an argument to be made for flex raiding. The biggest reason would simply be allowing guilds to bring their bench players. Nobody likes telling someone, "Sorry, we already have the exact number we need tonight."
Flex raiding helps solve that. At the same time, I am not completely sure it fits the Classic vibe. That is one of those things where I would rather play it first and decide how I feel afterward.
The same goes for the overall gear progression. I am going to leave most of that to the developers. I am a player. Give me the game, let me play it, and then I will form an opinion based on how it actually feels.
What I do really like is the idea of build-defining items. Give me a weapon or piece of gear that changes the way an ability works. Give me something that suddenly makes me rethink my talents. Give me an item that makes me build my character differently because of what it does, not just because it has slightly higher numbers.
That sounds incredibly fun.
I also love the idea of raid bosses having memorable chase items. Think about the way players talked about certain drops from places like Gruul's Lair. Now imagine if nearly every boss had that one item somebody desperately wanted.
One player wants the weapon. Another wants the trinket. Another wants some weird item that completely changes their build. That gives players reasons to keep running content, and more importantly, it makes loot memorable again.
So Far, I Think Blizzard Gets It
The more I see of World of Warcraft Forever, the more I think Blizzard understands what a lot of us actually wanted. We did not necessarily want Classic frozen in time forever. We wanted the parts of Classic that worked to continue.
We wanted Azeroth to keep growing. We wanted more quests, more places to explore, more dungeons, more stories, and more reasons to log in and simply exist in the world. We wanted the pace without the empty spaces. We wanted the journey without the strange narrative jumps.
And we wanted new ideas without throwing away everything that made the original game special.
There are still plenty of things we have not talked about yet — professions, campsites, PvP, Hardcore, social systems, and whatever else Blizzard has planned. Those will be Part Two.
But based on what I have seen so far, I am excited.
Now Blizzard just has to stick the landing.
