Rumors about Blizzard’s veteran MMO have been circulating for a long time, and as it turns out, they weren’t unfounded.
The game, referred to as “Classic Plus” by World of Warcraft fans, does indeed exist and now has an official name: World of Warcraft: Forever, a new branch of the MMO, takes us back to 2004, the year WoW was released. Unlike World of Warcraft: Classic, however, WoW: Forever is not merely to take us back to the MMO’s beginnings so we can relive those exciting early years. WoW: Forever will explore new areas of Azeroth and tell stories that weren’t covered in the original storyline of the MMO.
World of Warcraft: Forever is set during WoW‘s first year, and the level cap will remain at 60. The new content won’t be limited to max-level players; it will cover all levels. There will be three new zones. Several existing zones will also be revamped to fill in missing parts of the classic map. Players can look forward to nine new dungeons, two new raids, a new race (Skyborne Elves), and new race/class combinations. The trailer appears to show a Forsaken paladin, a dwarf shaman, and an orc mage.
This strategy, reminiscent of Old School RuneScape, treats the 2006 version of the MMO as a starting point rather than a model to be preserved. It has worked well for Jagex. OSRS is bigger today than it was more than two decades ago. Having three versions of World of Warcraft carries the risk of fragmenting the player base. However, if any MMO is large enough to support three official versions, it’s probably WoW.
World of Warcraft: Forever will be playable at BlizzCon this weekend, and the beta launches Thursday. The full release is set for November 4 and will be available with an existing WoW subscription. Expansion packs, such as one that adds the Skyborne race to the game, are already available on Battle.net, starting at $30.
Source: PCGamer
