Sportskeeda Interview
Sportskeeda had an interview with:
Michael Nuthals (Senior Game Designer)
Kris Zierhut (Principal Game Designer)
We've summarized the interview below, but you can see the original piece on Sportskeeda.
Interview Summary
Timeline
WoW Forever takes place a couple of years after Warcraft 3.
It starts on the same day one launch of World of Warcraft in November 2004.
WoW: Forever is on an adjacent timeline, and it will diverge on the first day of WoW.
Forsaken Paladin
In WoW Classic, having Forsaken Paladins would have been a big change, as the Horde didn't have Paladins and Classic was #nochanges.
In SoD, the problems that were caused by trying to fix Shamans and Paladins so they could be on separate factions were worse than letting both sides have them, and so they learned from that
Stories
They really want players to explore all the nooks and crannies in Azeroth, and focus on the stories that are being told there.
The idea of Classic WoW is the adventurer going from town to town and helping people out and making a name for themselves.
In the Riverglades, there are some references to Warcraft I, including a ruined town called Sunnyglade.
Having smaller stories makes room for the player stories to take focus.
Leveling
To decide where to add quests, they wanted to try to find places where there weren't a lot of options. This includes a lot of level 30 to 50 zones.
They also want to make sure that when players come into Forever, they see something new that they've never seen before.
If you level an alt, you may decide to take a different path than before with the amount of options.
They're not just going to add new level 60 content, but also new dungeons, zones, and leveling paths over time to the world as well.
Controller
Technically, you can play on controller on retail, but it's not great.
Controller on WoW Forever is officially supported.
It's also a great accessibility option for players who don't want to, or can't, sit at a keyboard and mouse.[
Limited Time Events
They're trying to avoid anything going completely obsolete.
They never plan to do anything like what was in Naxx, where you can't do it anymore.
Content should be available as much as possible due to the horizontal progression and the fact that players are staying at level 60.
Itemization
Each boss will have a chase item that will incentivize you to return, as it may be useful later.
Items may have special effects in environments such as forests, mountains, or underground.
Items may also have special bonuses against creature types such as Worgen, Dwarves, or Dragons.
Mounts
Having an aspirational goal for your money is good.
It's also really good for the economy that there are gold sinks.
The new system for mounts is that the gold cost is in the training, which costs 100 or 1,000 gold depending on the level, and then players will get their first mount for free.
