World of Warcraft: Forever took BlizzCon 2026 by storm. Being able to stay at level 60 forever while telling more intimate stories as you explore Azeroth resonated with a lot of players. During the event, TechRaptor sat down with Associate Production Director Clayton Stone and Lead Software Engineer Ana Resendez for a group interview about all things Forever.
Interestingly, Forever will start in the game’s pre-established lore. So when players first get their hands on the game at launch, it’ll be more or less similar to what they originally played in 2004. Resendez explained that players will be taken back to “year one of World of Warcraft.” The reason is that they want to explore deeper stories the team didn’t have the chance to when the game originally came out. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be any content. As a matter of fact, it’ll launch with nine new dungeons, with two new raids releasing shortly after the game launches. On top of that, there’ll also be three new zones for players to explore.
“We’re essentially living in a place where it’s almost like a time bubble,” Stone tells me. “We want to stay in Vanilla forever. Never say never, but it’ll be unlikely to reach the point where the Dark Portal reopens and we have to go to Outlands. Or something like that.”
In World of Warcraft, you’ll know that power scaling has been a constant issue that the game has faced, even more so as you play through the endgame. One way the base game has addressed this is by adding levels to your gear, which affects how you perform. But in Forever, things will be a bit different.
“World of Warcraft has always been a vertically power-scaling game. There will be some of that for our first year,” Stone said. “We want to make sure we are very careful about not making previous gear obsolete. Beyond that, let’s say to year two, or where we go in the future, [we don’t know how that’ll change].”
It’s clear that World of Warcraft: Forever is cashing in on a lot of nostalgia for what the game used to be. But for people like myself, who recently started playing the game, a lot of that doesn’t matter that much. When asked how Blizzard Entertainment plans to get those players in, here’s what they had to say:
“We wanted to make sure that we brought folks who absolutely love Vanilla and absolutely love Classic along for the ride. It had to feel good to them,” Stone told me. “When you look at the offering of what we’re providing for every other type of player, including those who haven’t played WoW, what’s great about Forever is that it really is that return to simplicity and that humble adventure. The world is the main character, and the player’s character is just a humble adventurer in that world.”
Stone continued by explaining that the stories in Forever won’t have world-ending stakes like those in the base game; instead, they’ll be more local. Another way they’re trying to attract a new wave of players is by supporting a gamepad (controller), letting players experience the game in a whole new way. When asked whether they ever plan to bring World of Warcraft: Forever to console, Stone said, “There’s nothing to discuss anything related to console at this time.”
It’s clear that World of Warcraft: Forever has a lot going for it. As someone who mainly plays console games, being able to play on a controller means a lot to me, and it might become my primary way to play Forever. The idea of having more compact stories based around the local area you’re in, and the world being the main center of attention rather than some dangerous event, seems like a breath of fresh air for the franchise.
World of Warcraft: Forever is scheduled to release on November 4 and will be playable on PC.
