World of Warcraft: Forever's beta has been extended, as community members mourn the loss of their hunter pets

World of Warcraft: Forever's beta has been extended until this Friday, much to the joy of the community of early players.

Announced on X by World of Warcraft's Associate production director Clayton Stone, this extension will allow those who have hopped into the MMO for their level 1-30 journey to spend just a little bit more time before servers go down this weekend.

In addition Blizzard is hosting a server stress test today, allowing players - including those who otherwise wouldn't have access to the beta - a chance to hop on and bush the game to its limits. After the servers go down on Friday, WoW Forever lovers will have a chance to reserve a character name next week, ahead of the full launch on the 4th November.

This obviously is great news for those who can't get enough of World of Warcraft: Forever, but there's a funny consequence to this extension. On World of Warcraft community hubs, players made lovely farewell posts to the game ahead of the original beta end date. Like this one, where Reddit user Roodster123 sat their gnome down overlooking the Stormwind docks in a post titled "This is where I leave you little one. We had a good run. Until we meet again."

Another user No_Staff_6299 made a similar post titled "Wait for me Kitten, I'll be back soon." In it, we can see their character crying and dismissing their pet spider, never to be seen again. A hunter's pet is rather important in World of Warcraft, so if they want to play the beta some more, they'll need to capture a new one - no doubt it'll be a pet with far fewer fond memories attached. The comments on that post are full with other hunters sharing their similar stories. "Lets pour one out for u/No_Staff_6299" wrote user Thirteenera, in reaction to the news.

While it's maybe a little late to hop on now, World of Warcraft: Forever's beta gave an excellent first impression to the upcoming MMO. That obviously is brilliant for those excited to dive back into Azeroth, and equally tragic for those of us unable to get time off work.