World of Warcraft: Forever devs break down new zones, Skyborne elves, and the Tinkerer question

Blizzard sat down with press at BlizzCon to talk World of Warcraft: Forever, the studio's returning classic MMO, and the interview covers a lot of ground. Lead game designer Tim Jones and lead software engineer Nora Mills fielded questions on everything from zone design to pricing to the game's long-term roadmap.

On the content side, Jones and Mills discussed designing new zones — Mount Hyjal and Riverglades both get specific callouts — alongside a new lighting and particle system that the team says changed how Azeroth looks in a meaningful way. The level cap sits at 60, which the devs defend as a deliberate choice that benefits players, and a new dungeon called Hall of Thanes gets a brief spotlight. The leveling experience is also getting attention, with a camping system that hands out buffs built into the design. Skyborne elves — a new playable race — come with a price tag, and the devs addressed what that means for future content pricing. Add-on support is confirmed and discussed in detail.

Forever is Blizzard's attempt to bring back the classic WoW experience while layering in new content rather than simply freezing the game at a historical patch. It sits in a different lane from both retail WoW and WoW Classic Era — the pitch is a version of Azeroth that keeps the old-school feel but keeps moving forward with new zones, systems, and eventually new classes. The Tinkerer class has been one of the most-requested additions in the WoW community for years, and the devs were asked directly about it, though the interview stops short of confirming anything concrete.

The full interview runs just under 20 minutes with timestamps covering each topic, so players can jump straight to whatever they care about most — pricing, PvP realms, social systems, or the game's future direction.