WoW: Forever's classes won't be modernized

TechRadar published a three-part interview with Blizzard’s WoW: Forever team between October 9 and 11. On classes, Blizzard said it won’t modernize them or dramatically alter the vanilla versions. It errs toward simpler classes with engaging depth: some classes in the Classic era were too simple, it said, so those have gained a few mechanics, and the complexity of the classes in the beta shows where it means to land. The team likes the original game’s pacing and combat speed and wants to avoid drastically speeding the game up or making it overly complex.

Respecs won’t be cheap. The cheap first respec each hour is a beta-only discount, Blizzard said; when the game goes live, the price will climb quickly and come down only once a week. It gave no numbers, and said some added respec utility may come to the Legacy talents later. TechRadar adds that Dual Specialization is learned at level 40 for a cost; on its October 8 podcast Blizzard said that level is still under discussion.

Class changes will come in batches. Blizzard said it plans a lot of class changes during the beta, and that when it makes them they will all land at the same time and not trickle in. It expects frequent balance changes in the first six months, once a week at first, while it gathers data on how the classes perform. Its aim is to make very few design changes once the game is live.

The encounter team played a lot of Classic dungeons and raids to understand how the original game felt, and found its encounters very approachable. Blizzard wants the team to be creative and surprise players while pointing everything back to the game’s core pillars.

Summoning Stones stay out, as Blizzard told Kotaku in September. Its reason: easy, quick teleports shrink the world and marginalize part of the identity of a class like the Warlock.

On races, Blizzard said it has no plans at this time to add races from WoW’s expansions; TechRadar reads that as no Vulpera, Goblins or Haranir. Blizzard’s main focus is to build on Warcraft’s foundational lore. The Skyborne Elves remain Forever’s own new race.

Why it matters: classes stay recognisably Classic’s, with some gaining new mechanics, and respecs will cost more at launch than they do in the beta.