Blizzard has published an overview of World of Warcraft: Forever aimed mostly at players coming over from the modern game. It also answers a few questions that earlier launch coverage left open: how far the Legacy System goes, which new race-and-class pairings are available, and how controllers work.
New pairings and reworked classes
Six combinations join the original lineup: Undead Paladin, Dwarf Shaman, Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Orc Mage and Troll Warlock. Racial abilities have been updated too, so it’s worth checking how your race fits your class before you settle on one.
Blizzard is also clear that a familiar class name doesn’t mean a familiar playstyle. Talents and abilities have been revisited with original WoW as the starting point, and players shouldn’t expect their modern rotation to carry over. Hunters are the example given: traps work in combat, and pets now scale with gear and have abilities unique to their family.
For group players, nine new five-player dungeons cover levels 13 through 60 across the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. The level cap stays at 60, and Blizzard plans to expand the game without adding more levels.
Legacy System, camping and controllers
The Legacy System is account-wide progression built around challenges, Legacy Points, per-character perks and cosmetic rewards. Points go into three areas: Professions, Adventure and Resourcefulness. At launch, each character can spend up to 16 Legacy Points, and a single character can reach that limit on its own, so you don’t need alts to max it out.
Camping is another new system. Campsites and profession features give players a reason to gather out in the world. Resting briefly at a campfire makes your character rested and grants campsite buffs, but the world doesn’t stop while you sit there, so pick a safe spot.
Gamepad support is in beta. A controller can target allies and enemies, cast spells, loot and navigate menus, but you’ll still need a keyboard for chat. More improvements are planned. Players who want more information during combat can turn on the Cooldown Manager and a Damage Meter under the Advanced options.
The Classic and Enhanced presets work as described before. Enhanced turns on quest guidance, the one-bag view, transmog, strafing keybinds and high-definition models. Classic starts with standard-definition models, the classic screen layout and camera-turning keybinds. Either way, every setting can be changed individually.
Plan your Ruleset with friends
There is no realm list in WoW: Forever. Players pick a Ruleset instead: Normal, PvP, Roleplay-PvP or Roleplay, with Hardcore coming a little after launch. Grouping, guilds, dungeons and raids only work within the same Ruleset and faction, and PvP rulesets lock players to one faction, so groups of friends should settle both choices before making characters.
Access comes with an existing World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, which covers both WoW: Forever and the modern game.
Source: World of Warcraft official news.
