World of Warcraft first launched more than 20 years ago, becoming the king of the MMORPG genre and establishing Azeroth as one of the most iconic worlds in gaming. Now, Blizzard Entertainment is reimagining that world with World of Warcraft: Forever, which launches on November 4 and builds on what made the original great while adding a ton of new content.
The feel of the OG game has been carried over to WoW: Forever, with the original character models and spell animations still intact. The level 60 cap is also back, as is the slower leveling experience that made each level up feel like an accomplishment. But the details have been enhanced, with improved core systems, items, UI, and world graphics.
The headliner additions are new zones, a new playable race, and a bunch of new quests. We’re not going to ruin the feeling of discovery by going into too much detail about the new locations, but we can share that even areas long-time players are familiar with have some new surprises. There are over 1,000 new quests, which will take you to corners of the map you’ve never visited before.
The main new zone we will call out is Zephras Isle, a starting area that’s in crisis after the air spirits that protected it vanished and its current people are divided about what to do next. This area is notable because it’s home to WoW: Forever’s brand-new playable race, the elven Skyborne.
They can be part of either the Horde or Alliance, with their racial abilities determined by their alignment. Members of the Horde get access to the Shaman class and members of the Alliance get the Mage class. Skyborne from either faction can be Warriors, Hunters, Rogues, or Druids, and there are all-new druid forms exclusive to Skyborne characters.
Existing races are also getting access to classes they haven’t had before. It’s now possible to create a Dwarf Shaman, Undead Paladin, Human Hunter, Gnome Priest, Troll Warlock, and Orc Mage. And you’re encouraged to try out more of these classes thanks to the Legacy System, a new account-wide progression system that provides benefits for leveling up alts.
This system introduces Legacy Points, which you can gain by completing Legacy Challenges. The challenges include things like reaching level thresholds in a class or tradeskill, attaining ranks in PvP, exploring the world map, completing groups of dungeons, and more. You can complete these challenges as multiple alts, and the Legacy Points are shared across all your characters.
You can then spend the Legacy Points for upgrades in three types of talent tree: Professions, Adventure, and Resourcefulness. The available upgrades are numerous and diverse, including things like boosting your odds of finding rare materials when gathering, regaining health and mana from kills, and eliminating the reagent requirements of class abilities.
These upgrades are character-specific, so you can spend the points for each of your alts separately and have them focus on different things. Each character can gain up to 29 Legacy Points but is limited to spending 16, so this system doesn’t require alts. You can still make use of it on just one character, but the shared point pool encourages using multiple characters.
We’re just scratching the surface of everything that’s been added. There are new dungeons, 10- and 20-player raids, skills and talents, professions content, reputations, and more. Honestly, there’s so much we couldn’t possibly list all of it here. And there’s lots more on the way, with Blizzard promising there will be regular content updates and patches for years to come.
Those updates won’t just be for endgame content, either. The plan is to release new zones, dungeons, storylines, and other content across all levels. So there’s another reason to level up some alts: You’ll get to see new places and things that weren’t available before.
On top of all the content additions, WoW: Forever also has plenty of visual upgrades. Updates to lighting, water, and other effects have clearly improved the look of the world while still retaining its original art style. That includes new global illumination, volumetric fog and sun rays, flowing water that catches the light, shadows cast by the terrain, and more stark lighting changes as the in-world day progresses.
All of these updates and additions make it clear that Blizzard views WoW: Forever as a third pillar in the franchise, standing next to the Modern and Classic versions of the game. It isn’t simply a rehash of what’s come before, it’s an update that keeps the spirit of the original game intact while finding new ways to update and expand on it.
You don’t need a separate subscription for WoW: Forever, you can play it with your sub to the base game or Game Time. It launches worldwide on November 4 and is available to pre-purchase now, so get ready to create your own story in Azeroth.
To celebrate the launch, Blizzard is hosting a real-life escape game competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. WoW: Forever presents Escape Together will bring together some fan-favorite streamers and cosplayers from both the Horde and the Alliance to battle it out in a series of head-to-head challenges before facing their final test together: an escape room inspired by the iconic Scarlet Monastery.
The experience will be streamed Friday, October 23 at 10 a.m. PDT on the official Warcraft Twitch channel. Viewers can tune in to see which faction brings home victory.