WoW Forever is almost here, and Azeroth has plenty of new features
From new races and dungeons to Legacy Points, here is everything you need to know before playing.
World of Warcraft: Forever launches today, bringing a reworked version of the original Azeroth with new zones, dungeons, character options, and progression systems. Blizzard has now shared a final overview of what to expect before creating your first character.
Choose Between Classic and Enhanced
When you first log in, you will have to pick between two "Experience Presets". These are located in the Game Menu under Options, in case you want to change it later on.
They do not affect your Ruleset or gameplay. It just changes the initial visual and interface settings:
Classic
Starts with standard-definition character models
Classic screen layout
Classic keyboard bindings for camera turning
Quest guidance, one-bag view, and transmog are turned off by default
Enhanced
Gives you different quality-of-life options that are enabled by default
Quest guidance: Points of interest and marked objective areas help you find where to go next.
One-bag view: See your inventory together instead of opening each bag separately.
Transmog: Keep character appearance part of your adventure.
Movement and layout: Start with keyboard bindings for strafing and a centralized screen layout.
Character visuals: Begin with high-definition character models.
You are not locked even if you pick Classic. You can still toggle on and off the different QoL settings as well.
Advanced options also include a Damage Meter and Cooldown Manager.
Controller support is available too, and it has been adjusted for launch. You can now move, fight, loot, heal, cast spells, and navigate menus with the gamepad. The only thing you might need a keyboard for is chatting.
More to Explore
WoW Forever keeps the original level 1-60 progression, but that does not mean we are not getting new content.
The Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor get new and expanded zones, stories, and quests. So even if you know the game by heart, you will still discover new secrets.
There are also nine new 5-player dungeons covering levels 13 to 60. If you play with friends, it means that you can complete new group content during and after leveling.
The Skyborne are the game's new playable race, and they start on Zephras Isle. You can join the Horde as a Windshaper or the Alliance as a member of the High Order.
However, access to the Skyborne requires one of the paid bundles. The race is sadly not free.
Same Classes and Races but New Combinations
Obviously, you will still meet your old classes and races, but each class has been slightly reworked so you can work on new builds and combinations.
And talking about combinations, Forever lets you combine new classes and races:
Alliance
Human Hunter
Dwarf Shaman
Gnome Priest.
Horde
Orc Mage
Troll Warlock
Undead Paladin
All the Classes will also have new abilities and talents, and some old ones have been changed. Hunters, for example, can use traps in combat, and their pets even benefit from gear scaling. Hunter pets also get different abilities depending on their family.
Legacy System and Camping
The Legacy System adds account-wide progression through challenges, character perks, and cosmetic rewards. You can spend Legacy Points across three categories:
Professions
Adventure
Resourcefulness
At launch, each character can spend up to 16 Legacy Points. But do not worry, you do not need to level multiple characters to reach that limit. You can unlock the full 16 points on a single character.
And when you are exploring, you can rest or grab some buffs by sitting at a campsite.
Pick Your Ruleset Before Joining Friends
This is probably one of the most important choices you need to make. Instead of picking an individual realm, WoW Forever asks you to select a Ruleset. There are four available at launch:
Normal: Focus on PvE, with optional PvP combat.
PvP: Open-world PvP is a constant threat.
Roleplay: A dedicated roleplaying environment with additional naming and behaviour rules.
Roleplay-PvP: Combines roleplaying rules with open-world PvP.
Hardcore is planned to arrive after launch, so you will have to wait if you want to play a Hardcore character.
You can only group, join guilds, run dungeons, and raid with players on the same Ruleset or Faction, so you have to coordinate with your friends first.
If you are on PvP but your friends are all on PvE, you will not be able to make a guild together or even play together. This is also true if you are on Alliance and the others are on Horde.
When Can You Start Playing?
WoW Forever launches tonight, on November 4 at 3:00 p.m. PDT. That is midnight on November 5 for EU players (CET).
Access is included with an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, so you do not need to purchase a different copy of the game.
Your subscription also works for Classic and Retail WoW. You can play all the games with the same sub.
The Skyborne bundles do not give access to Forever, they just unlock the race.
For more WoW Forever information, check out our latest news.