Blizzard Entertainment wants World of Warcraft: Forever players to go into launch without a guide for everything, and the developers say they have hidden a lot more than most people realize. The official Warcraft account has been teasing those secrets ahead of the November 4 launch, pointing back to the latest episode of The WoW: Forever Podcast.
The episode was the show's end-of-beta special, hosted by Josh Corbett of Countdown to Classic with guest Meeix. It featured senior game designer Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield, associate production director Clay Stone, lead software engineer Ana Resendez and lead encounter designer Michael Nuthals. We already covered the team's tease of a revamped Molten Core, but there was plenty more to dig into.
Thousands Of Things Were Turned Off For Beta
Corbett pointed out that the team has previously said thousands of things were held back from the beta, and asked what kinds of things that includes. Greenfield explained that the team has grown a lot, and that many designers have tucked their own surprises into different corners of the world and switched them off for testing.
The developers would not name anything specific, but they were clear that some of it will not be found quickly. "There's some really really really cool and really really really well-buried stuff out there that's probably going to take people a long time to find," Greenfield said. "And if we tip our hats to it too much, it's just going to take the fun away."
He did share one example of something that came out early. The torch that players can carry for light was originally switched off, along with the quest and spawn of the Duskwood NPC who hands it out. The team decided to turn it on to test it, which revealed a performance issue that has since been fixed. Seeing players carry torches around even inspired the team to have guards in Stormwind, Ironforge and Orgrimmar pull them out at night.
Items Stay Hidden Until Someone Finds Them
Part of what Blizzard calls "unsolving" the game is new tech that hides items until someone actually discovers them. Nuthals said that even he does not know what drops from Herod in Scarlet Monastery. Resendez added that items and other assets like mounts are protected in different ways, and that going realmless raised new questions, like whether "finding" an item counts per Ruleset or everywhere.
The encounter team also blocked access to maps for unreleased dungeons and raids so players could not load in early, which is why explorers on YouTube have not been able to reach them.
Blizzard's Warning About Datamining
Stone opened the episode with a word of caution about datamining. He explained that the different versions of World of Warcraft share a lot of assets and code, so files pulled from the game can include things that were never intended for Forever.
He said the team watches community discussions and usually lets players correct themselves, but will step in with a quick statement when the wrong conclusions start to feel solid. Greenfield added that, most of the time, players never notice when assets are going to different versions of the game, but now and then something slips through the cracks.
How Language And Region Grouping Work
Resendez also explained how Forever's realmless setup handles language. There is a setting where you choose your preferred language, and the game will try to place you with players who speak it, though these are not hard lines. You can still group with friends who picked something else. Physical servers still exist, so players in places like Australia can connect to closer hardware for better ping.
The only true hard lines are the regions themselves, so you will not be playing with friends in other regions at launch. Resendez said it has been discussed and would not rule it out for the future, but there are technical hurdles tied to where servers live and how Battle.net accounts work.
Quick Tips Before You Log In
- Check your preferred language setting before launch if you want to be grouped with players who speak a specific language.
- Make sure you and your friends are in the same region if you plan to play together.
- Treat datamined items and features with caution until Blizzard confirms them.
- Explore. The team says secrets are tucked all over Azeroth, and items may stay unknown until someone finds them.
- Try a controller. Several developers said they have been leveling and even raiding with gamepad support during testing.
WoW: Forever launches on November 4 at 3:00 p.m. PST, and the full list of start times for every region is in our name reservation and launch time guide.
Are you planning to hunt for secrets in WoW: Forever, or will you wait for someone else to find them first?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.