SeaRaptor

For the Horde or For the Alliance? Wear your colours proudly with chat badges dropping today with the launch of WoW Forever. Sub or gift to your favourite WoW streamer from today through midnight 11/30 to claim yours.

✅ or ✅✅?

You’ve just ordered Pizza Hut and 2L of Mountain Dew. You’ve loaded WoW on your crappy PC. Somehow, your paladin has reached level 34, and you’re about to group up for a quest in Stranglethorn Vale. Your parents don’t mind you staying up all night. A perfect summer night. You are 35 years old. The year is 2026.

I'm seeing a lot of discourse about who WoW Forever is being made for and while I cannot speak for anyone else on the team I can speak for myself. I am making WoW forever for the classic gamer and for the millions of people who have had their accounts lapse over the years because they were not satisfied with changes that were made to the game. Whether those changes were to the art style, the story, social aspects, game design, or changes to their favorite class. I did not spend the last year of my life relearning and mastering how to do things like we did it 20+ years ago for retail players. I could have taken it easy and just kept doing things like I had done for the past 8 years on retail...because I was much more familiar with it and it actually takes a lot less time to do (height maps on textures do a ton of heavy lifting). Because the reality is that the majority of retail players wouldn't care and would probably actually prefer it. But I felt I had a duty to uphold an artistic vision and integrity that millions of people expect from us. But not just for our players, but for my co-workers past and present who worked on it over 20 years ago. If I could not create something that resembled their work then I failed not only them...but myself. Please do not take this as me throwing any shade at retail players or the retail team because I am one myself...but I wanted to make Forever as authentic of a Vanilla experience as possible. This involves making decisions wildly different than retail. It means holding the line against changes that create a domino affect down the road. It means keeping friction and inconveniences in the game. It means finding friends and forming groups with strangers and being social!! Because WoWs social aspects have always been the pillar of the game and over the years it has slowly been chiseled away at with changes that allow you play alone. Since the day I started working on the Riverglades I have lived by three sayings. "Convenience is the death of the journey." "If you're making a game for everyone then you're making it for no one." "Every change we make incurs a debt to the authenticity of the game and sooner or later that debt will be paid." These are my core beliefs and I had a specific group of people I was targeting with my work. These beliefs cannot be shaken and I will try to hold the line against anything that goes against them and will continue to pester the team about things that feel out of place. That being said, my hope is that Forever will pull in as many people as possible, whether you are a retail gamer, a classic gamer, someone who hasn't played in years, or even a new player. I hope you can all remember what made this game so special in the first place and that starts with understanding why we are so passionate about keeping it authentic.

Something about Classic WoW makes me want to forget real life for a bit, eat some junk food, smash an energy drink and stay up all night levelling

Gen X defined: Ages 45-61 Looks 35-40 Will 100% throw hands Doesn't care about your feelings Cusses a lot Will make you cry with words Great work ethic Pragmatic Zero tolerance for stupidity Skeptical of authority Doesn't trust anyone at 1st Extremely loyal friend Figures shit out Most likely your boss Works hard, plays hard No fear Sarcastic as fuck Still listens to the same music Knows lyrics to Rock, Rap & Country Proficient in analog & digital tech Self reliant Adaptable to any environment Just wants to be left alone

A @SeaRaptor in his natural environment. 🦖♥️