Well, they did it. A new mainline World of Warcraft version outside of Classic or retail that's effectively Classic+.
Blizzard Entertainment
World of Warcraft: Forever is a new beginning from the team behind WoW: Classic, set in a reimagined Azeroth with revamped gameplay, all rooted in authenticity to the original WoW experience. Explore new and expanded zones with enhanced graphics. Choose your faction, the noble Alliance or the mighty Horde, and create your character from an expanded list of races and classes, including the new Skyborne, along with Forsaken Paladins, Dwarf Shamans, and more. Along your journey through this beautiful and dangerous world, you’ll find hundreds of new quests and 9 new dungeons, master revamped systems, and forge communal bonds to take on greater challenges in an entirely new end game starting with two new max-level raids. Take the journey at your own pace, with persistent progress and frequent major updates that will evolve the Azeroth of WoW: Forever for years to come.
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⦁ NEW LANDS & NEW ALLIES – Explore unseen corners of Azeroth as the Skyborne elves, High Elf exiles forced to make a desperate flight from their ancient kingdom, free to join either the Horde or Alliance. Discover new zones including the lush Riverlands and Mount Hyjal, still housing remnants of the recent battle against Archimonde.
⦁ UNSOLVED DEPTH – New areas in existing zones to explore, new dungeons and raids, and over 1000 new quests across Azeroth. Customize your character’s strengths and abilities with revamped talent trees and discover brand new gear and items as you level up and conquer powerful bosses. This is an opportunity to explore a familiar, legendary world with fresh new twists, content, and stories yet unwritten.
⦁ A BEGINNING THAT NEVER ENDS – Real danger lives in a pack of wolves or a duel outside Southshore: you are a fledgling adventurer in a beautiful and dangerous world, not a legend already written. In WoW: Forever, your journey matters more than the destination, and the all-new Legacy System provides account-based rewards for progress you make across all your characters.
⦁ AZEROTH IN A NEW LIGHT – Discover the beauty and wonder of Azeroth in a whole new light, with updated visual effects and improvements made to enhance your adventures while still retaining the original essence of World of Warcraft’s majesty. New lighting and global illumination, volumetric fog and god rays, water that flows and catches the light, and terrain that casts real shadows as the sun crosses Blackrock Mountain.
⦁ SHAPE YOUR OWN JOURNEY – Take the long road. Play at your own pace, with progress that persists. With a level cap of 60 and post-launch updates adding new content across all levels, you are free to adventure without worrying about falling behind. And with the Campfire feature, meeting new friends along the way has never been easier.
⦁ JOIN THE BETA – Access to World of Warcraft: Forever is included with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time, but with the Skyborne Edition or Warcraft Forever collection you can join the Beta as soon as September 17th!
It's super cool to see them bring the OG dwarf hunter back for the trailer. That's a real full circle moment.
The bit with the dead Archimonde is also neat - get to see right away we're not moving far into the future.
I do wonder how they'll manage to fulfill this forever promise. I'd really want them to go into a more player-driven Ultima Online/Star Wars Galaxies direction. But there's fat chance of that. I'm hoping it's not just an expanded warband system from retail.
