World of Warcraft Forever is off to a strong start, but it has also deepened the old rift between Retail and Classic fans. And it now looks like part of the development team is openly picking a side in that argument.
“I am making WoW Forever for the classic gamer”
Blizzard world builder Matthew Armstrong laid out his thinking in a long post on X/Twitter. He wrote that he is making WoW Forever for the classic gamer and for the millions of people whose accounts lapsed over the years because they weren’t happy with the changes the game went through.
Armstrong added that he could have taken the easy route and kept working the way he had for the past eight years on Retail, since he knows that workflow far better and it takes much less time (height maps on textures, he noted, do a lot of the heavy lifting). In his words, most Retail players wouldn’t care and would probably even prefer that approach – but he felt a duty to uphold the artistic vision and integrity that millions of players expect from Blizzard.
No shared tagging, and Blizzard isn’t budging
The statement doesn’t come out of nowhere. Earlier in the same week, another WoW Forever developer defended the decision not to include shared tagging, calling it something the team “simply must hold the line on.” The message is consistent: Blizzard wants to deliver new content for Classic players without giving in to the modern quality-of-life features that split the playerbase.
That doesn’t mean Forever is a pure museum piece. It brings improved lighting, controller support, Undead Paladins and even heavy rain effects – things plenty of Retail players would happily take in Midnight, where some of them are set to arrive with the Eclipse update in patch 12.2. If you want to see how far the design work goes, we also covered the Shaman tank talents spotted in the beta.
The community is split down the middle
Armstrong’s post immediately drew fire from both directions. User MesciuSandman tagged Blizzard and asked whether it’s normal for an employee to openly state that the game the company is about to release wasn’t made for a certain part of its customer base.
On the other side, BanKsEsports thanked the developer outright, saying January 2021 was the last active subscription they held after playing since day one, because the game had turned into an endless grind loop that felt too far removed from something worth investing that much time into.
What this means for you right now
- The beta currently caps you at level 20, so only a fraction of the final content is playable.
- The full release lands on November 4 – that’s when you’ll really see where the community settles.
- Design direction is clearly aimed at Classic sensibilities, so don’t expect modern conveniences like shared tagging.
- Blizzard is also cracking down on offensive character names, and some harmless silly ones have reportedly been caught in the sweep.
If you want to follow where all of this is heading, we keep every update in our World of Warcraft news hub, and on the Retail side we’ve written about the Demonology Warlock changes as well.
FAQ
He’s a world builder at Blizzard working on World of Warcraft Forever. He spent the past eight years working on Retail before switching to the new project.
The full release is set for November 4. The current beta only lets you play up to level 20.
Improved lighting, controller support, Undead Paladins and heavy rain effects, among other things.
Some of them are set to reach Midnight with the Eclipse update in patch 12.2.