WoW Forever devs say alts are central, retail races aren’t planned, and Shaman tanks are still only a discussion
Blizzard is sharing more details on World of Warcraft Forever ahead of its launch early next month, and the pitch is becoming clearer: this is meant to be a Classic-style starting point for WoW, not a shortcut to modern retail design.
Executive producer and WoW VP Holly Longdale described Forever as the franchise’s new low-barrier entry point, while the team also stressed that it doesn’t want to “modernize” classes or strip away their Classic identity. That means some popular requests are staying on the shelf for now.
- Alts are being treated as a major part of the game’s long-term loop, especially through the new Legacy system. Blizzard says it plans to keep adding leveling dungeons and zones over time.
- An account-wide bank is being considered for the “not-too-distant future,” though it doesn’t sound locked in for launch.
- Retail races are not currently planned for Forever.
- Shaman tanking has come up inside the team, according to WoW Classic associate production director Clay Stone, but Blizzard isn’t officially pursuing it right now.
- Forever is sticking to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, especially in its first few years. Northrend and Pandaria are not on the current roadmap.
- Summoning stones are also out. Blizzard says easy teleports shrink the world and cut into the role of Warlocks.
The team also talked about gear progression, which sounds intentionally restrained compared with the usual MMO treadmill. Endgame tiers are planned to have smaller power jumps so older raids don’t become irrelevant immediately. Some earlier raid drops may stay best-in-slot for certain specs, and Blizzard is leaving room for chase items in the vein of Dragonspine Trophy.
For players who want something to work on outside raw item level, Blizzard is pointing to the Legacy system, transmog, collections, and professions. Stone also clarified that when the team used the word “horizontal” at BlizzCon, it was talking partly about expanding Azeroth itself, not just adding more character power.
One smaller but telling detail: Forever’s collections UI won’t show every missing item the way retail WoW does. It will only show what you’ve already collected, which Blizzard says is meant to push players back toward community discussion about where gear and cosmetics actually come from.
