Power word: fortitude.
World of Warcraft executive producer Holly Longdale has spoken at PAX Australia ahead of World of Warcraft: Forever's imminent release. Of note were her comments on the sheer popularity of the beta and how the team is handling the waves of feedback from early players.
First reported by PCGamesN, Longdale called the influx of players to the World of Warcraft: Forever beta "insane", and that there had been "no beta bigger than this" in Blizzard's history. This matches previous statements made by Longdale following a server cap increase made to the WoW Forever beta almost immediately after its release.
Longdale then moved onto the subject of feedback from this beta, and said that while Blizzard was"delighted" by the levels of engagement, the company had to be selective about what it listened to. "Social media when these MMOs came out wasn't really a thing, so we had some very focused areas where we got feedback. Now feedback comes from everywhere," she said. "And I think the lesson we learned the most over time is 'You don't listen to the loudest people in the room.'"
It's worth noting the Forever team has been quick in applying changes to the beta as feedback has come in. One recent example is the Skyborne elf models, which are being overhauled to fit better with the retro Classic WoW style. There have also been dungeon loot changes, drastically altered spell buffs (shout-out to the druids), and other tweaks over the past few weeks. This, per Longdale, stemmed from a combination of community-sourced info and data-driven research.
Even so, it appears WoW Forever is being made in the knowledge not everyone will be happy with decisions made. As Longdale put it: "You just have to accept that you're not going to make everybody happy. We have to make some calls, determine, 'What is our game? What is it for? Who is it for?' We have to try and walk that line as much as possible because otherwise you'll give a lot of people a little bit, instead of a complete experience."
World of Warcraft: Forever seems to have captured the hearts of both lapsed and consistent WoW players alike, even though it differs significantly from both modern WoW version and the Classic re-releases. Whether it can retain a strong community after it fully releases on the 4th November remains the big question.
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