WoW Forever Podcast Episode 1: Skyborne, Layering and Leveling Speed
News
In the first WoW: Forever Podcast, Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield and lead designer Tim Jones talked with host Josh Corbett and Xaryu about the beta’s first week: why the Skyborne were made and split between factions, how the new layering works, that reaching level 20 takes as long as in Classic Era (20.5 hours against 20.4), and that early dungeons hand out too many blue items.
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The episode
Blizzard posted episode 1, “Unpacking Beta Launch”, on September 24, a week into the beta. It runs about an hour, with host Josh Corbett (Countdown to Classic), streamer Xaryu, Senior Game Designer Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield and Lead Classic Designer Tim Jones. Jones said he leveled a Hunter to 60 on the internal alpha.
These are the developers’ statements, read from the episode’s captions. What they said about classes a week later is in WoW Forever Podcast episode 2.
The Skyborne
- Why a new race and not High Elves. Jones said Gilneas, Uldum and Quel’Thalas are places the team wants to go, but Chris Metzen challenged them not to play it safe. Greenfield added that starting with every expected place would use that content up too fast. The Skyborne are a Highborne offshoot, and their story stays inside Forever without rewriting other versions of the game.
- Why they split by faction. The two groups disagree about magic: the High Order (Alliance) uses arcane magic, the Windshapers (Horde) are shamanistic. The split also ties them to the Kirin Tor in Dalaran and the Earthen Ring in Mulgore, two factions the team wants to give quests and reputations.
- No Priests, for a story reason. In Skyborne lore the priests are a cult, so religion is something they distrust. Greenfield called that a mistake in hindsight and told Horde players asking for another Priest race “never say never”.
- The blue skin and the Druid forms. Greenfield said the blue elves were shown more than he meant to. The Druid forms were already made lower-detail to match Classic; the remaining complaint is their extra geometry, and the team is looking at it. Skyborne were among the first things made for Forever, and newer art is closer to the target.
Racials, classes for each faction and the starting zone: WoW Forever Skyborne.
Layering and big fights
- You keep meeting the same people. Layers now favor players you have grouped with, your guild and your friends list. Greenfield kept running into one player from Zephras Isle through Westfall to Darkshire.
- Each zone has its own cap. A new layer starts when a zone passes its limit, set by the zone’s size and how likely it is to see world PvP.
- A few hundred players fought in Ashenvale with almost no ability lag. Xaryu’s streamer battle was the smoothest large fight Greenfield has seen in any version of WoW. Frame rates still dropped.
- Known problems. A monster or an enemy player can vanish to another layer when you form a group; Blizzard calls that a bug and is fixing it. Changing graphics settings while grouped caused frame drops in cities, also being fixed.
How realms and rulesets work: WoW Forever servers. What your PC needs: WoW Forever system requirements.
Leveling speed and blue gear
| Game | Average time to level 20 |
|---|---|
| Classic Era | 20.4 hours |
| WoW Forever beta | 20.5 hours |
- Quests over kills, on purpose. Experience moved from dungeon kills to dungeon quests so you run each dungeon at least once and then go back into the world. Blizzard said it would watch that balance; on October 1 it halved the extra quest experience.
- Casters aren’t overpowered. Spell power on low-level gear feels strong, but spells were lowered to account for it, so weapon upgrades matter to casters too.
- Too many blues too early. Jones wants white gear to 10, greens from 10 and the first blues around 20. One Hall of Thanes run gave four blue quest rewards, so some dungeon quests lose their item or share one reward.
The numbers behind the experience change: WoW Forever leveling guide.
No classic UI toggle
Xaryu asked for a switch back to the old unit frames and cast bar. Jones said Forever is meant to be its own game, and the bronze, weathered interface is how you tell it apart from Classic Era and modern WoW at a glance; addons can change the frames. Greenfield said they are still listening to feedback on it. What the game does let you switch off is on our WoW Forever Classic Mode page.
What this means for you
- Leveling isn’t faster. By Blizzard’s numbers the road to 20 takes the same time as in Classic Era.
- Expect fewer blue quest rewards at low level than the first beta weeks gave.
- Grouping bugs with layers are known and being fixed before launch.
- It’s a beta. What was said on a podcast can change before launch on November 4.
Still unknown
- Whether Skyborne models and Druid forms change before launch.
- How many players a layer holds in each zone.
- Whether the unit frames get a Forever look of their own.