We need to talk about "World of Warcraft: Forever"
With 'World of Warcraft: Forever', Blizzard promises to bring back the feeling of 2004 without the hassle. What sounds like a nice nostalgia project could become the most honest admission Blizzard has ever made about its own flagship game.
I miss the old «World of Warcraft». I just don't really want to play it anymore.
I realize this every time nostalgia pulls me back to a Classic server. At first, everything is back: the vast Azeroth, the slow journey, and the feeling that something new could be waiting behind every hill. Until I trudge through the Barrens for what feels like the hundredth time, and «Wow, this world is huge» has long since turned into «Do I really have to go through this again?».
Source: Luca Fontana
At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard has now announced «World of Warcraft: Forever»: a third, permanent WoW alongside Retail, the ongoing modern version, and Classic. The beta is even starting today, and Blizzard officially describes the project like this: The world should once again «be at the center», the community should come first, and the journey should count just as much as the destination.
My colleague Philipp has done a complete BlizzCon report on this. «Forever» sounds like a nice extra offering for nostalgic players. But it isn't. The more I look into it, the more it becomes the most exciting WoW announcement in years for me.
And that's not because of the over 1000 new quests or the new elf race, Skyborne.
Maybe I don't miss Classic at all
«Forever» starts with the original Azeroth, keeps the level cap permanently at 60, and instead expands the world with new areas, dungeons, and raids. At the same time, Blizzard is modernizing where Classic simply feels dusty today: Useless talents are being removed, specializations are intended to all become viable, and later second and third characters will receive noticeable relief via an account-wide legacy system.
That is exactly where the truly difficult question lies. Much of what we associate with warm nostalgia today was already arduous back then; we just perceived it differently. When I walked through a zone for twenty minutes in 2005, I didn't know the way, perhaps discovered a cave, or met another player. The world felt huge because I actually had to traverse it. With the fifth character (so-called «twinks»), however, discovery turns into annoying, repetitive work.
Retail has solved many of these problems. The Dungeon Finder saves you the arduous group search, flying mounts shorten paths, and faster leveling gets me to the «holy» endgame faster. All understandable improvements. But in doing so, Blizzard sometimes didn't just remove the problem; it also disposed of the experience along with it. Anyone who teleports into a dungeon at the push of a button no longer has to ask anyone where the entrance is. And anyone who flies over every mountain turns a landscape into a backdrop beneath them.
Something as formative as my epic journey from the human city of Stormwind to Ashenvale, the enchanted realm of the night elves, is simply no longer offered by «Retail» these days:
This is exactly where the suspicion lies that makes «Forever» truly interesting: I don't miss Classic at all with its tough talent trees and its «LFM UBRS tank!!» group search via world chat. I only miss how Classic felt before I knew every path by heart.
And what if «Forever» is the better WoW?
Now things are getting tricky for Blizzard. Ion Hazzikostas, for years the chief tinkerer behind modern «WoW» and currently also director of the ongoing expansion «Midnight», is also the face of «Forever».
In an interview with Men's Journal, he describes the ambition like this: Blizzard wants to «take the best MMO of all time and make it even better». He explicitly includes those players in the target group who tried Classic, enjoyed it, but then switched back to Retail.
So, me.
Remarkable about this: The same man who has been responsible for Retail for years is now positioning himself as the curator of a game that explicitly promises to bring back everything that Retail lost along the way.
Source: What's Next Panel, BlizzCon 2026
This imbalance is also evident in the small things. «Forever» gets official controller support from the start. For Retail, according to Associate Game Director Paul Kubit, this remains a non-binding «never say never», because the modern version with its countless buttons is simply more complicated. A small detail that nevertheless reveals something bigger: The new, nostalgic project is getting attention that is currently being denied to the established main game.
The community has long noticed this irony. In the largest WoW forum, MMO-Champion, a thread has been running since the announcement titled «Blizzcon 2026: The worst blizzcon for retail-players ever». In it, a user gets to the heart of the contradiction: People are celebrating a «Classic+», developed by the same studio that many accuse of watering down Retail, while the actual, ongoing version came away almost empty-handed at the same BlizzCon.
Whether Blizzard will ever openly admit this is another question. But the existence of «Forever» feels almost like a quiet criticism of its own present. Okay, scratch the «almost». And «quiet» maybe as well.
The «real» WoW
Sure, Blizzard doesn't say anywhere that modern «WoW» is too focused on the endgame, but «Forever» makes the journey the game again. Blizzard also doesn't say anywhere that Azeroth has become a backdrop, but «Forever» makes the world the main character again. And finally, Blizzard doesn't say anywhere that 20 years of vertical progression would devalue content too quickly, but «Forever» freezes the level cap at 60 and swears by «horizontal» progression.
Whatever that may mean.
Source: Evolving a Timeless World, BlizzCon 2026
The irony of it: Blizzard drove most of these developments itself, often at the request of its own community. Faster paths, more convenient group searching, and more focus on the endgame solved real problems. «Forever» is therefore not an admission that Retail took a fundamentally wrong turn. But along the way, things were undoubtedly lost during modernization. All in the name of comfort and efficiency.
That is why the concern currently haunting Retail communities is more than mere nostalgic defiance. If «Forever» actually delivers what it promises, it doesn't just compete friendly alongside Retail for some attention. It answers the question of which of these three «World of Warcrafts» offers the best experience according to Blizzard.
Retail players have every reason to fear this. If enough of them leave, Blizzard will cannibalize its own main product. Fewer players mean fewer resources for Retail development and emptier servers, a vicious cycle that weakens exactly what should remain the larger, established game.
Source: Evolving a Timeless World, BlizzCon 2026
Whether Blizzard itself already knows what the «WoW» should be in the future, I doubt. I still don't want to go back to 2004; I lack the patience for that, and Blizzard has solved too many real problems since then. But I want to understand again why I could walk from Stormwind to Ashenvale for hours back then without ever asking myself when the actual game, the endgame, would finally begin.
Because I felt like I was already in the middle of it. And that is exactly what «WoW: Forever» promises us.
Do you think «Forever» can actually bring back that feeling, or am I underestimating how much we ourselves have changed? Write it in the comments.
I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
This is a subjective opinion of the editorial team. It doesn't necessarily reflect the position of the company.
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