World of Warcraft: Forever, a Classic+ iteration of the long-running franchise that lets players return to an updated vanilla Azeroth featuring new zones, dungeons, raids, and more, was announced at yesterday’s BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony. And now, the game’s developers are revealing why they think the new take on the classic game (along with the numerous other WoW updates announced yesterday) renders the long-speculated World of Warcraft 2 unnecessary.
“I think one of the things that's singularly great about WoW is we have this game and this world and this design that has been continuously developed for the last 25 years,” Zierhut says. “And we keep making it better. We made the graphics better, we made the rendering better, we made the lighting better; all that new stuff we showed on stage today.
“But we've also made the way the engine draws things move more efficiently. The way the server runs, handling players and moving them around, and all the things that handle spells and combat, all of that's been made more efficient and better over the years. We have this incredible engine and server infrastructure driving the game that is second to none. Why would you throw that away and start over?”
Zierhut went on to say that, in addition to the technical advancements in World of Warcraft: Forever, the team is still invested in building the story of the current WoW universe.
“It’s not like there's something wrong with the story,” Zierhut says. “We love the story. So going back to the beginning [with World of Warcraft: Forever], there's a chance to explore that story in new and different ways. So it's really hard to say, ‘Well, what would a WoW 2 give you that World of Warcraft: Forever isn't already giving you?’”
As revealed on stage yesterday, World of Warcraft: Forever won’t merely be a rehashed update of the original. In addition to “updated world visuals and lighting,” the game will feature 10 and 20-player raids, more than 1,000 new quests, new race and class combos, a new Skyborne race, and more. Nuthals and Zierhut say there are a few key features they’re most eager for fans to experience.
“I'm so excited for our players to uncover all of our new items,” Nuthals says. “All of the dungeons and raids have had an itemization pass. There's so much new to explore. I'm really anxious for our players to get in there and explore the world, find all the cool little nooks and crannies, find their really cool loot and just have a great time.
[And] the thing I think I'm most excited about with our raids are the raid sizes. We're going to have Barrow Deeps which will be our 10-player raid. We're going to have the Hyjal Summit, which will be 20, and then Onyxia will be 40. I think the thing that gets me most excited about that is getting folks to find social groups and friends to fill those groups up.”
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/world-of-warcraft-forever-wow-2-unlikely
