From October 9–12, the WoW Forever team appeared at PAX Australia in Melbourne and gave several interviews. The main points: an account-wide bank could arrive "in the not-too-distant future," cross-region play between Europe and America is not coming yet, the character limit has not been announced, and power increases between raids will be kept as small as possible.
Shared banking and alts
In an interview with PC Gamer, vice president Ion Hazzikostas said the Legacy System encourages playing alts, while mailing items from your main character is inconvenient. He could see an account-wide bank arriving "in the not-too-distant future," but that is not a launch promise. Lead game designer Tim Jones promised regular additions of new dungeons and leveling zones.
Regions and character limits
In an interview with streamer Fiamma, Holly Longdale and Clay Stone explained that cross-region play is not available yet: Europe and America will be separate at launch. This involves not only technical issues but also the laws of different countries. The developers are open to the idea, but there is no timetable.
The account character limit for launch has not been announced, and there are technical constraints. When asked for a limit like modern WoW, Longdale joked, "At least 50, right?" She also said modern WoW might adopt Forever's transmog rule: you unlock the appearance of an item from a boss even if you did not receive the item yourself.
Power progression and gear
On the Skill Up podcast, Clay Stone clarified that by "horizontal" progression he meant professions, Legacy, transmog, and collections. There will be small power increases between raids, but the team will try to keep them as small as possible. Items from earlier raids, and even dungeons, may remain best in slot for a long time, so it will never be "too late" to start Forever. He said it was too early to discuss a possible gear "soft reset."
What is not planned
- Expansion races such as Goblins and Vulpera are not planned: the game is being built on Warcraft III lore (TechRadar).
- Class changes will be more cautious than in Season of Discovery, where the team says it went too far (TechRadar).
- Shaman tanks will not be available at launch, although the idea is popular within the team (JackedIQ).
- Northrend and Pandaria are "not ruled out," but for now the team is focused on the first year and the two original continents (JackedIQ).
- Collections only show what you have already obtained: Blizzard wants players to discover things for themselves.
Blizzard's biggest beta
At the opening of PAX, Longdale said Blizzard had never run a beta bigger than this one. Stone added that some testers had already made their way into the new Riverglades zone in large groups, even though it is off-limits during the beta. At release, it will open for its intended level range.