World of Warcraft: Forever has been making the rounds online after Blizzard's big reveal at BlizzCon 2026, standing as the closest official thing we'll get to the long-coveted Classic+, but it does also mean we probably won't see a retail sequel.
In other words, World of Warcraft 2 – which, honestly, feels a bit silly to even write. After all, World of Warcraft itself is an ongoing project as you know, standing as the biggest MMO to date… one that's over two decades in the making now.
With Forever underway, too, there's little reason for such a sequel to ever actually come to fruition, anyway, as principal designer Kris Zierhut tells IGN in a new interview.
"I think one of the things that's singularly great about WoW is we have this game and this world and this design that has been continuously developed for the last 25 years," he explains – and, yeah, that checks out.
As Zierhut puts it, "We keep making it better. We made the graphics better, we made the rendering better, we made the lighting better," you name it. It's all better in retail, and, yes, Forever. All of that, plus the way things work behind the scenes.
"We've also made the way the engine draws things move more efficiently," Zierhut continues. "The way the server runs, handling players and moving them around, and all the things that handle spells and combat, all of that's been made more efficient and better over the years. We have this incredible engine and server infrastructure driving the game that is second to none."
So, "Why would you throw that away and start over?"
Why would you, indeed… not to mention the decades-in-progress lore that World of Warcraft sits upon. "It's not like there's something wrong with the story," as the dev says. "We love the story. So, going back to the beginning [with World of Warcraft: Forever], there's a chance to explore that story in new and different ways."
Considering all of this, Blizzard doesn't really have any motivation to move away from it all to try and conjure up a sequel.
As Zierhut concludes, "It's really hard to say, 'Well, what would a WoW 2 give you that World of Warcraft: Forever isn't already giving you?'"
I get it – it's not just a nostalgic rework with plenty of new features to look forward to, it's a chance to attract both fresh faces and longtime fans, too… the same way a World of Warcraft 2 would, except perhaps a bit better at grabbing the attention of the former.
I, for one, can't wait to dive into World of Warcraft: Forever come its November release – and, much like I'm not inclined to wish for a Minecraft 2, I'm not bothered about potentially never seeing a World of Warcraft 2 arrive.
