As World of Warcraft: Forever nears its big release tomorrow, Blizzard continues its work on the new MMO spin-off to address fans' growing feedback from the Beta – particularly when it comes to classes and their identities.
World of Warcraft has always done well to ensure every class feels unique and brings something to the table that others don't. It's the mark of a good MMO, after all, and Forever will offer no exception there.
In the latest roundup of Beta development notes from Blizzard, the developers make as much clear, explaining that "trying to hold ourselves roughly to Classic power budgets for each class" hasn't been simple.
Every new addition came "at the expense of something else," and "those reductions left some iconic abilities feeling lackluster, and closed the door to other potentially exciting design options. So over the last two weeks, we've raised damage on classes across the game, and have increased the health of higher level creatures to compensate. This additional 'headroom' has allowed us to tune things to a place that we hope feels better overall."
As for this latest round of changes, it "reflects areas where we were likely hasty in turning to Burning Crusade – or Wrath-era solutions rather than carving out new ones that better fit into the Forever combat model. Our aim in class design is not perfect numerical equality, but rather for every class to feel valuable to the groups they join, with powerful, unforgettable moments brought on by mastering them."
WoW Forever Beta Development Notes – Updated November 2from r/wowforever
In Forever, in particular, "this is accomplished by doubling down on the strengths and differences that make each class unique, rather than overly unifying them."
Blizzard lists some of this "doubling down," so to speak, detailing changes to everything from the Druid (buffs and new passives, yippee) to the rogue. There's a lot, and that's putting it lightly, so I'd recommend browsing 'em all to see what your class will look like.
It won't all happen at once, either – there's more to come.
"Once we have sufficient data from players leveling past 30 and engaging in a wide range of content, we expect that we will do a large tuning pass based on our data," as the devs admit. "And this is all merely a starting point for the classes in Forever, which will continue to evolve over the course of the months and years ahead just as they did following the original launch in 2004."
That's… pretty darn big, and I'm not alone in thinking so. Over on Reddit, it's clear that fans are happy with Blizzard's news – they just hope they stick by it.
"I really hope they remember and stick to this throughout," one comment reads. "Let some classes be stronger for one raid, and then change things up for the next. As long as everyone gets their moment in the sun, I think some classes falling behind at times is a fair price for keeping things unique."
I'd agree.
Another response echoes this, calling the news "a massive W," while somebody chimes in, "They've learned. Amazing."
I suppose all that's left now is to wait and see how it all unfolds come World of Warcraft: Forever's journey post-launch.
Here's how after 22 long years, World of Warcraft: Forever has finally sold me on Blizzard's undying MMO – and now I never want to leave.
