Warcraft Forever

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Interview from blizzcon
Jez Corden spoke to the 'World of Warcraft: Forever' team about balance, competing with Retail, adding "classic"-style Player Housing, and

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/blizzard/i-spoke-to-the-world-of-warcraft-forever-team-about-balance-competing-with-retail-adding-classic-style-player-housing-and-more

The fact that they're saying things like "Classic housing" -- and how Classic players expressed frustration about all of the quality of life things they didn't have (I remember this particularly acutely during WotLK Classic) -- suggests to me that Forever isn't going to be a particularly "classic" experience for very long.

I also suspect the audience that really longs for a pure November 2004 experience for long-term play is smaller than they appear to be in online discussion, speaking as someone who was playing WoW since the Friends & Family alpha.

 

[trappedslider]

who was playing WoW since the Friends & Family alpha.

lies,we all know no one on the forum has friends or a family

 

[Aldarc]

The fact that they're saying things like "Classic housing" -- and how Classic players expressed frustration about all of the quality of life things they didn't have (I remember this particularly acutely during WotLK Classic) -- suggests to me that Forever isn't going to be a particularly "classic" experience for very long.

Blizzard had considered player housing as far back its initial development, which is why there are some gated instance portals in cities like Stormwind since the game's release.

 

[Campbell]

Been really enjoying the Beta so far. At least the characters I have played so far (Skyborne Hunter, Orc Warrior and Undead Paladin) are giving me Cataclysm vibes from a gameplay perspective. Which is really hitting my nostalgia vibes since that was the first expansion I really got into playing the endgame for.

 

[TwoSix]

Been really enjoying the Beta so far. At least the characters I have played so far (Skyborne Hunter, Orc Warrior and Undead Paladin) are giving me Cataclysm vibes from a gameplay perspective. Which is really hitting my nostalgia vibes since that was the first expansion I really got into playing the endgame for.

Agreed, the overall play style vibes are somewhere between Wrath and Cata, in terms of the new talents and the overall rotation benefits they provide. (Of course, there's overall less meat, they did a good job not going overboard with adding later expansion buttons too early.)

I am glad they didn't force spec choice (which started with Cata); I enjoy doing heavily off-meta hybrid builds. Frost/Fire mage is looking particularly tempting for a first character right now.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Blizzard had considered player housing as far back its initial development, which is why there are some gated instance portals in cities like Stormwind since the game's release.

Yes, I recall.

 

[Aldarc]

Yes, I recall.

Yes, Nozdormu.

 

[Aeson]

lies,we all know no one on the forum has friends or a family

You're half right. I don't have friends. My family would be unlikely to play.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Boy, the survey on the Battlenet launcher is sure ... something.

I think Forever is going to be very different than from what a lot of gamers are expecting, based on some of the options in that survey. If Blizzard is seriously considering most of those choices (and given how fleshed out they all are, it seems pretty likely), I'm not really sure what the identity of Forever is supposed to be and I'm not sure Blizzard knows either.

 

[Aldarc]

Boy, the survey on the Battlenet launcher is sure ... something.

I think Forever is going to be very different than from what a lot of gamers are expecting, based on some of the options in that survey. If Blizzard is seriously considering most of those choices (and given how fleshed out they all are, it seems pretty likely), I'm not really sure what the identity of Forever is supposed to be and I'm not sure Blizzard knows either.

Despite being a longtime Warcraft player and lore enthusiast, I didn't get far in the survey. I haven't played any version of Classic, so they were uninterested in my opinion. That's a shame. I wish there had been an option for returning players or for players who first played in Vanilla.

The class options have been posted by some who took the survey. I think some of the class choices are odd. Some are more akin to fan favorites. Calls for Tinker and Bard classes roll around every single expansion. The former fits in Warcraft but the latter does not. There isn't a precedent for a Bard class.

However, I would definitely be interested in a Necromancer class. When World of Warcraft was announced, I was genuinely surprised that we got Warlocks instead of Necromancers. The Necromancer class ideas seem a little undercooked, especially considering that every single Warcraft game has had some form of Necromancer: orc necrolytes in WC1, reanimated death knights in WC2, necromancers in WC3, the Lich hero unit in WC3, etc. I would actually prefer seeing WoW Forever choose not to have the WoW Death Knight in favor of having a Necromancer. But I believe that Necromancers were the top choice of a Classic+ community survey before we knew that there would be a WoW Forever.

Some of the other class choices seem incredibly race-specific, which I never enjoy: e.g., Warden, Demon Hunter, etc. What other races would these be other than night elf? We don't have blood elves yet.