[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":632},["ShallowReactive",2],{"site-settings":3,"article:\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-final-development-notes-november-3":16,"article-surround:\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-final-development-notes-november-3":627},{"id":4,"description":5,"email":6,"extension":7,"footerNote":8,"legalNotice":9,"locale":10,"meta":11,"name":12,"stem":13,"url":14,"__hash__":15},"settings\u002Fsettings.yml","Compare World of Warcraft realms by expansion, region, population and play style.","listings@realmlist.org","yml","An independent realm directory.","Not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment.","en",{},"RealmList","settings","https:\u002F\u002Frealmlist.org","QXaYspLUSxnrVumL6oFir6PInhNsRw-yJchxEYSe1AU",{"id":17,"title":18,"author":19,"body":20,"category":581,"description":582,"draft":583,"extension":584,"featured":583,"meta":585,"navigation":586,"path":587,"publishedAt":588,"seo":589,"sitemap":590,"sources":595,"stem":617,"tags":618,"updatedAt":625,"__hash__":626},"articles\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-final-development-notes-november-3.md","Blizzard Posts Its Full Pre-Launch Forever Development Notes: Every Class Hits Harder, Balance Freezes Until the Raids, and Gamepad Support Is Called Complete","RealmList Editorial",{"type":21,"value":22,"toc":570},"minimark",[23,40,53,56,61,64,75,78,81,89,93,96,111,122,125,141,145,148,248,251,334,337,341,344,350,357,360,364,371,374,391,395,398,461,483,490,494,501,549,559,564],[24,25,26,30,31,35,36,39],"p",{},[27,28,29],"em",{},"World of Warcraft: Forever"," is roughly a day and a half from opening, and the largest document anyone at Blizzard has published about the launch build arrived late on ",[32,33,34],"strong",{},"November 2"," by the Pacific clock. The forum post carries a timestamp of ",[32,37,38],{},"03:20 UTC on November 3"," — 19:20 Pacific on November 2, and 11:20 a.m. on November 3 in China — which is why the thread title says \"Updated November 2\" while Chinese outlets covered it on November 3. Both dates are correct; they are the same post.",[24,41,42,43,46,47,52],{},"It is a long one. The post itemises what the team changed in the ",[32,44,45],{},"two and a half weeks after the October 15 beta build",", folds in the racial-trait updates already posted on October 26 and 27, and closes by thanking testers. It is also the first official text behind the class changes that everyone has been reading out of client data since October 31, which we covered in ",[48,49,51],"a",{"href":50},"\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-pre-launch-class-rework-october-31","our October 31 client-diff briefing",".",[24,54,55],{},"One naming note before anything else: Chinese coverage calls these the \"final round of pre-launch changes.\" That phrasing is the press's, not Blizzard's. The post never says final.",[57,58,60],"h2",{"id":59},"the-core-decision-raise-everyone-then-raise-the-monsters","The core decision: raise everyone, then raise the monsters",[24,62,63],{},"The most consequential paragraph is a developer note at the top of the Classes section, and it explains a reversal that has been visible in the client for a month.",[24,65,66,67,70,71,74],{},"Blizzard says that over the course of the beta the team realised that holding itself roughly to ",[32,68,69],{},"Classic-era power budgets"," meant that \"every new element we added needed to come at the expense of something else.\" That, in its words, left iconic abilities feeling lackluster and closed off design directions. The fix was not a targeted buff list. It was a global one: damage raised across every class, and ",[32,72,73],{},"the health of higher-level creatures raised to compensate",", creating what the note calls \"headroom\" to tune things to a place that \"we hope feels better overall.\"",[24,76,77],{},"Read that carefully. Player damage going up alongside creature health going up is not a blanket buff to your levelling speed — it is a re-scaling of the whole combat range. The team is buying numerical room, not handing out free power.",[24,79,80],{},"The same note gives a second reason for the shape of the changes: some of what is here is an admission that the team was \"likely hasty in turning to Burning Crusade- or Wrath-era solutions rather than carving out new ones\" specific to Forever. And it states the goal in explicitly non-mathematical terms — not numerical equality, but for every class to feel valuable to the groups they join, achieved by \"doubling down on the strengths and differences that make each class unique, rather than overly unifying them.\"",[24,82,83,84,88],{},"That is a design position, and it is worth holding next to what ",[48,85,87],{"href":86},"\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-designers-on-the-record-zierhut-jones","Kris Zierhut and Tim Jones told IGN"," about wanting to \"unsolve\" a game the community has already solved. Neither is a measurement. Nobody has played Forever at 60.",[57,90,92],{"id":91},"the-tuning-freeze-and-what-it-means-for-your-first-month","The tuning freeze, and what it means for your first month",[24,94,95],{},"The second developer note is the most practically useful sentence in the entire document.",[24,97,98,99,102,103,106,107,110],{},"Blizzard says that with ",[32,100,101],{},"the exception of bugs and serious outliers",", it does not plan to make big tuning changes between now and the opening of the raids. Reference data will then drive a ",[32,104,105],{},"large tuning pass",", including how classes perform once players pass ",[32,108,109],{},"level 30"," — the beta's cap.",[24,112,113,114,118,119,52],{},"The raid date is not repeated in this post; it says only \"next month.\" Blizzard's own ",[48,115,117],{"href":116},"\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fwow-forever-first-raid-tier-barrow-deeps-hyjal-onyxia","raid overview"," puts Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia's Lair at ",[32,120,121],{},"December 9",[24,123,124],{},"Two consequences follow, and both are worth internalising before you pick a main:",[126,127,128,135],"ol",{},[129,130,131,134],"li",{},[32,132,133],{},"What you feel in week one is, by official design, not going to be corrected in week one."," A class that underperforms at launch is flagged to be fixed after the raids open, not before — and only if it reads as a bug or a serious outlier.",[129,136,137,140],{},[32,138,139],{},"Blizzard has never seen this game past level 30."," The beta cap was 30, raids are at 60, and the team is explicitly waiting for live data above the level it was able to test. Anything you read about 60 balance right now, including anything implied by these numbers, is extrapolation.",[57,142,144],{"id":143},"numbers-you-can-plan-around","Numbers you can plan around",[24,146,147],{},"Past the philosophy, the post contains a set of concrete, boring, useful changes that will affect your first session.",[149,150,151,164],"table",{},[152,153,154],"thead",{},[155,156,157,161],"tr",{},[158,159,160],"th",{},"Change",[158,162,163],{},"Detail",[165,166,167,180,188,196,208,216,228,240],"tbody",{},[155,168,169,173],{},[170,171,172],"td",{},"Training costs",[170,174,175,176,179],{},"Total cost to train every class ability from 1 to 60 is now ",[32,177,178],{},"206–207 gold"," for every class; Warlocks' total is reduced by the expected cost of pet Grimoires. Most abilities learned at the same level now cost the same, except Priest race-specific abilities.",[155,181,182,185],{},[170,183,184],{},"Action bars",[170,186,187],{},"Learning a new spell no longer auto-adds it to your bars.",[155,189,190,193],{},[170,191,192],{},"Bags",[170,194,195],{},"Bags no longer auto-equip into empty slots; you equip them by hand.",[155,197,198,201],{},[170,199,200],{},"Low-rank talents",[170,202,203,204,207],{},"Talents no longer lose trigger chance when you cast a low-rank spell — ",[32,205,206],{},"Blizzard is the stated exception",", still reduced when cast more than 12 levels below your current level.",[155,209,210,213],{},[170,211,212],{},"Base stats",[170,214,215],{},"Corrected across all races; the given example is Tauren Warriors now getting +5 Strength over Human Warriors, previously +2. Applied to Skyborne too.",[155,217,218,221],{},[170,219,220],{},"Quitter debuff",[170,222,223,224,227],{},"Cut to ",[32,225,226],{},"40 seconds"," from 5 minutes.",[155,229,230,233],{},[170,231,232],{},"Stun duration",[170,234,235,236,239],{},"Reduced to ",[32,237,238],{},"2.5 seconds"," from 3.",[155,241,242,245],{},[170,243,244],{},"Proc roots",[170,246,247],{},"Frostbite, Entrapment, Improved Wing Clip, Counterattack and Improved Hamstring now correctly have diminishing returns.",[24,249,250],{},"A handful of class-side numbers, chosen because they are the ones you would actually notice while levelling:",[252,253,254,264,278,291,300,310,320],"ul",{},[129,255,256,259,260,263],{},[32,257,258],{},"Druid",": Bear and Dire Bear Form threat goes from 50% to ",[32,261,262],{},"115%",", explicitly to compensate for Blessing of Salvation being removed. Wrath base damage up about 50%; Shred 155% → 200% weapon damage; Claw 110% → 140%; Ravage 350% → 435%; Starfire base damage up about 40%; Rip, Rake, Ferocious Bite and Pounce all up roughly 25%.",[129,265,266,269,270,273,274,277],{},[32,267,268],{},"Hunter",": Aimed Shot bonus damage up about ",[32,271,272],{},"110%","; Sniper Shot up ",[32,275,276],{},"100%","; Arcane Shot base damage up ~30% with its Attack Power coefficient going 0.10 → 0.15; Serpent Sting's AP coefficient per tick 3% → 5%; Aspect of the Hawk and Trueshot Aura raised at every rank; all traps now share one 30-second cooldown.",[129,279,280,283,284,287,288,52],{},[32,281,282],{},"Shaman",": Lightning Bolt's max rank base damage up ",[32,285,286],{},"80%",", landing at roughly 78% of the Classic Era number but with a shorter cast; Chain Lightning cast time to 2.5 seconds; shocks returned to Classic Era values; Stormstrike 100% → 150% weapon damage with the cooldown cut to 6 seconds; ",[32,289,290],{},"Lava Burst removed and replaced by Call of Thunder",[129,292,293,296,297,299],{},[32,294,295],{},"Warrior",": Defensive Stance threat 30% → ",[32,298,286],{},"; Slam cooldown 18 → 15 seconds; Defiance 5\u002F10\u002F15% → 7\u002F13\u002F20%.",[129,301,302,305,306,309],{},[32,303,304],{},"Warlock",": pets now gain ",[32,307,308],{},"2 Health per point of your Stamina",", down from 7.5; Drain Soul's chance to yield a Soul Shard on damage rather than a kill is significantly reduced.",[129,311,312,315,316,319],{},[32,313,314],{},"Paladin",": Righteous Fury trainable at ",[32,317,318],{},"10"," instead of 16, now +33% threat to everything plus +90% from Holy damage; Salvation, Mass Salvation, Revoke and Blessing of Light all removed.",[129,321,322,325,326,329,330,333],{},[32,323,324],{},"Rogue",": new level-18 passive ",[32,327,328],{},"Poised"," and a new level-24 off-hand strike, ",[32,331,332],{},"Shank","; Deadly and Instant Poison AP coefficients roughly doubled.",[24,335,336],{},"That is a selection, not the full list — the post runs to hundreds of entries across every class and both specialisation trees.",[57,338,340],{"id":339},"respawn-rates-are-temporarily-faster-and-that-is-deliberate","Respawn rates are temporarily faster, and that is deliberate",[24,342,343],{},"The Quests and World section carries its own developer note that answers a question launch-day players always ask.",[24,345,346,347],{},"Blizzard adjusted respawn rates across many areas to support large player volumes at launch, and says the intent is that players are not hard-blocked. It also says plainly that ",[32,348,349],{},"some contention for spawns is expected and \"part of the experience,\" and that removing it is not the goal.",[24,351,352,353,356],{},"The shape is: fastest in low-level zones, fastest of all in the starting zones, tapering to slower rates as you level and spread out. Once the initial surge of low-level characters settles, Blizzard says it will ",[32,354,355],{},"tune the lower-level zones back down to more typical rates."," So the crowded-but-fast Barrens of week one is a launch measure, not a permanent setting.",[24,358,359],{},"Alongside it: experience values, prerequisites and level settings adjusted on various quests, mouseover tooltips added for objectives, missing point-of-interest markers fixed, and region-specific quest fixes in Barrens, Darkshore, Mulgore, Orgrimmar, the Ruins of Lordaeron, Teldrassil, Wetlands and Alterac Mountains. The last of those comes with an unusually jokey line about Dalaran Summoners who \"would summon until their little hearts couldn't summon anymore.\"",[57,361,363],{"id":362},"gamepad-support-from-beta-to-complete-functional-state","Gamepad support: from beta to \"complete functional state\"",[24,365,366,367,370],{},"This section is large and specific. Blizzard says gamepad support ",[32,368,369],{},"\"has entered a complete functional state\""," and that in Forever all major gameplay and core UI can be played with a controller, including movement, spells, interactions and UI navigation, with settings customisable through Edit Mode and the Options menu.",[24,372,373],{},"The detail list is long enough to be worth skimming rather than reproducing: ground-targeted AoE items placed with a confirm press, focus-target selection via LB + RB + Face Down, friendly corpses and critters targetable, enemy players selectable by hostile analog targeting regardless of PvP flag, skip and exit of cinematics, ending a flight path early at the next flight point, pet move commands, a redesigned bag UI with remaining-space and ammo indicators, and fixes for a cluster of Lua errors in bags, trades, quests and professions.",[24,375,376,377,380,381,385,386,390],{},"Two honest caveats. ",[32,378,379],{},"\"Complete functional state\" is Blizzard's own assessment of its own feature",", not an independent test — and it is a change of wording from the official starter guide of October 28, which described controller support as shipping in a beta state. We have updated our ",[48,382,384],{"href":383},"\u002Fresources\u002Fguides\u002Fwow-forever-launch-time-first-login-choices","launch and first-login guide"," accordingly. Second, this is the feature ",[48,387,389],{"href":388},"\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-gamepad-support-console-plans","Longdale and Stone discussed"," as groundwork rather than a console release: no console version has been announced.",[57,392,394],{"id":393},"what-this-settles-from-the-october-31-client-diff","What this settles from the October 31 client diff",[24,396,397],{},"Our October 31 piece flagged three things we could not verify. This post resolves all three, and it is worth putting the resolutions side by side.",[149,399,400,413],{},[152,401,402],{},[155,403,404,407,410],{},[158,405,406],{},"Disputed item",[158,408,409],{},"What the client data said",[158,411,412],{},"What the November 3 official notes say",[165,414,415,429,443],{},[155,416,417,420,423],{},[170,418,419],{},"Ice Lance cooldown",[170,421,422],{},"NGA and ForeverDB both read 8 seconds; a 163.com simulation said 6",[170,424,425,428],{},[32,426,427],{},"\"Ice Lance now has an 8 second cooldown shared with Fire Blast\"",", with bonus damage to frozen targets back to 300%. The 6-second figure was wrong.",[155,430,431,434,437],{},[170,432,433],{},"Frost Blast",[170,435,436],{},"Reported removed by The Daily Game News; absent from both client diffs, so we called it unverified",[170,438,439,442],{},[32,440,441],{},"\"Frost Blast: This spell has been removed.\""," Confirmed, and our earlier caution was the right call given the evidence at the time.",[155,444,445,448,455],{},[170,446,447],{},"Feral Berserk",[170,449,450,451,454],{},"Removed, and explicitly ",[27,452,453],{},"not"," a rename into Primal Bite",[170,456,457,460],{},[32,458,459],{},"\"Berserk talent removed,\""," listed as its own line, with Primal Bite separately described as replacing it as a 1-point talent on row 7. Two separate changes, as the client reading had it.",[24,462,463,464,467,468,471,472,475,476,479,480,482],{},"It also confirms, in official words, several changes that were previously only in client data: ",[32,465,466],{},"Shadow Word: Death"," backlash at 30% of maximum health with no self-damage on a miss; ",[32,469,470],{},"Binding Heal removed"," and replaced in its slot by ",[32,473,474],{},"Holy Binding","; ",[32,477,478],{},"Wild Growth"," gaining a 3-second base cast time; and ",[32,481,328],{}," as a new passive at level 32 for Druids and 18 for Rogues. At least one Chinese report described Poised as datamined and unconfirmed in any development log — as of this post, it is confirmed.",[24,484,485,486,489],{},"Note the limit of this: the official notes confirm ",[27,487,488],{},"existence and direction",", not every number. Values like Primal Bite's per-rank damage or the exact Stormstrike scaling in your client still come from client data, not from this post.",[57,491,493],{"id":492},"what-the-notes-do-not-say","What the notes do not say",[24,495,496,497,500],{},"Being specific about the gaps matters more than usual here, because the document is long enough to ",[27,498,499],{},"look"," complete.",[252,502,503,509,515,521,527,538],{},[129,504,505,508],{},[32,506,507],{},"No measured performance."," There are no damage meters, no simulation results, no before-and-after levelling times. Everything here is intent.",[129,510,511,514],{},[32,512,513],{},"No 60-level data."," Beta stopped at 30; the raid tier opens December 9; the team says it is waiting for live data.",[129,516,517,520],{},[32,518,519],{},"No per-talent rationale."," A handful of entries get a developer note — Piercing Ice, respawns, the class-wide damage change, the tuning freeze. The rest are stated, not explained.",[129,522,523,526],{},[32,524,525],{},"No server list, population caps or queue policy."," Players have been asking for a server list on the official forums; the post does not provide one.",[129,528,529,532,533,537],{},[32,530,531],{},"No hotfix guarantee."," \"Bugs and serious outliers\" is undefined, and no cadence for post-launch hotfixes is given beyond the ",[48,534,536],{"href":535},"\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-update-cadence-four-months","four-month update rhythm"," Zierhut described separately.",[129,539,540,543,544,548],{},[32,541,542],{},"The racial section is a repeat."," Dwarf, Human, Orc, Skyborne, Tauren, Troll and Undead entries match the October 26 post and its October 27 addendum, which we covered in ",[48,545,547],{"href":546},"\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-races-class-combos-racial-traits","the racial-traits briefing",". The post says they are included for completeness.",[24,550,551],{},[552,553],"img",{"alt":554,"height":555,"loading":556,"src":557,"width":558},"Editorial illustration: a hooded scribe in a torchlit stone hall rewriting a glowing parchment of talent runes with a quill, nine class sigils carved into the wall behind, gold coins and training scrolls on the bench",1024,"lazy","https:\u002F\u002Frealmlist.org\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-final-development-notes-november-3.webp",1536,[24,560,561],{},[27,562,563],{},"Original editorial illustration by RealmList, generated for this article. This is artwork, not game footage or official promotional material.",[565,566,567],"note",{},[24,568,569],{},"Verified on November 4, 2026. This article is our reading of the ninth post in Blizzard's official \"WoW Forever Beta Development Notes\" forum thread (thread 2360696), which we fetched and read in full. That post carries a UTC timestamp of 2026-11-03 03:20 — 19:20 Pacific on November 2, and 11:20 a.m. Beijing time on November 3 — and the thread title reads \"Updated November 2\"; the apparent date discrepancy between Blizzard's title and Chinese coverage is a time zone artefact, not two different posts. Every figure attributed to Blizzard, including the class-wide damage increase and its creature-health compensation, the \"headroom\" reasoning, the Burning Crusade and Wrath framing, the no-major-tuning-until-raids commitment and its bugs-and-serious-outliers exception, the large tuning pass once players pass level 30, the 206–207 gold training total, the action bar, bag, low-rank talent, base stat, quitter debuff, stun and diminishing returns changes, the respawn-rate policy and its planned reversion, the \"complete functional state\" gamepad wording and the gamepad feature list, and the Ice Lance, Frost Blast, Berserk, Shadow Word: Death, Binding Heal, Wild Growth and Poised resolutions, comes from that one official post. It is a single primary source. The December 9 raid date is not in this post, which says only \"next month\"; it comes from Blizzard's official raid overview of October 20, 2026. Our two Chinese references (18183, published November 3 at 19:48 Beijing time, and 163.com, published November 3 at 19:54) are independent newsrooms but both are reporting the same Blizzard post, so we are not treating them as independent confirmation of any number — we read both in full and use them only to corroborate that the post was published and read as we describe. The player thread \"11\u002F2\u002F2026 Shaman Changes - Feedback\" (opened 2026-11-03 06:42 UTC) quotes the Shaman section verbatim and independently establishes that this material was visible to players on that date; it is a quotation of the official post, not a separate measurement. We deliberately did not cite a Chinese talent-database page that carries a matching per-class breakdown, because that page renders client-side and we could not read its text directly. Nothing here has been tested on live servers: Forever opens at 3:00 p.m. PST on November 4 (7:00 a.m. on November 5 at UTC+8), the beta closed on October 23 with a level 30 cap, and no raid has been fought. Training costs, respawn rates, gamepad behaviour and every class value are subject to hotfix before and after launch.",{"title":571,"searchDepth":572,"depth":572,"links":573},"",2,[574,575,576,577,578,579,580],{"id":59,"depth":572,"text":60},{"id":91,"depth":572,"text":92},{"id":143,"depth":572,"text":144},{"id":339,"depth":572,"text":340},{"id":362,"depth":572,"text":363},{"id":393,"depth":572,"text":394},{"id":492,"depth":572,"text":493},"briefings","Late on November 2 Pacific time, Blizzard appended a nine-part development-notes update covering two and a half weeks of work since the October 15 beta build. It raises damage for every class and compensates with higher high-level creature health, declares no major tuning until the raids open, standardises level 1-60 training costs at 206-207 gold, says gamepad support has entered a complete functional state, temporarily speeds up low-level respawns, and settles several class-change disputes we flagged from the October 31 client diff.",false,"md",{},true,"\u002Fresources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-final-development-notes-november-3","2026-11-04",{"title":18,"description":582},{"loc":587,"images":591,"changefreq":593,"priority":594},[592],{"loc":557},"daily",0.7,[596,599,602,605,608,611,614],{"label":597,"url":598},"Blizzard Entertainment (Kaivax) — WoW Forever Beta Development Notes – Updated November 2 (official forum thread 2360696; the full update is post 9, timestamped 2026-11-03 03:20 UTC)","https:\u002F\u002Fus.forums.blizzard.com\u002Fen\u002Fwow\u002Ft\u002Fwow-forever-beta-development-notes-%E2%80%93-updated-november-2\u002F2360696\u002F9",{"label":600,"url":601},"Blizzard Entertainment — WoW Forever Beta Development Notes (official forum thread 2360696, opened September 24, 2026; contains the earlier October 26 and 27 racial-trait updates)","https:\u002F\u002Fus.forums.blizzard.com\u002Fen\u002Fwow\u002Ft\u002F2360696",{"label":603,"url":604},"Blizzard Entertainment — World of Warcraft: Forever Raid Overview: Locations, Raid Sizes, and Attunement (official, October 20, 2026; raids unlock December 9)","https:\u002F\u002Fworldofwarcraft.blizzard.com\u002Fen-us\u002Fnews\u002F24303009",{"label":606,"url":607},"Blizzard Entertainment — World of Warcraft: Forever Goes Live Globally November 4! (official launch article, October 30, 2026)","https:\u002F\u002Fworldofwarcraft.blizzard.com\u002Fen-us\u002Fnews\u002F24315820",{"label":609,"url":610},"18183 — 《魔兽世界：永恒》上线前全职业增强，手柄支持全面完善 (Chinese report on the official forum notes, published November 3, 2026 at 19:48 Beijing time)","https:\u002F\u002Fnews.18183.com\u002Fyxxw\u002F202611\u002F9078017.html",{"label":612,"url":613},"163.com — 魔兽世界怀旧服上线前改平衡：全职业伤害上调，12月9日再大调 (Chinese report on the same official notes, published November 3, 2026 at 19:54 Beijing time)","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.163.com\u002Fdy\u002Farticle\u002FLAR8H0HE05561FY5.html",{"label":615,"url":616},"World of Warcraft Forums — 11\u002F2\u002F2026 Shaman Changes - Feedback (player thread quoting the Shaman section of the official notes verbatim, opened 2026-11-03 06:42 UTC)","https:\u002F\u002Fus.forums.blizzard.com\u002Fen\u002Fwow\u002Ft\u002F1122026-shaman-changes-feedback\u002F2399481","resources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-final-development-notes-november-3",[619,620,621,622,623,624],"WoW Forever","Blizzard","Patch Notes","Class Design","Gamepad","Launch",null,"PsF66V84dhqJZavVdDOgWx9QvKbtqCKfxZR8_DYVyNs",[625,628],{"title":629,"path":86,"stem":630,"description":631,"children":-1},"Forever's Designers on the Record: Two Talent Builds, Four Group Sizes, and the Parts of Azeroth They Are Keeping Shut","resources\u002Fbriefings\u002Fforever-designers-on-the-record-zierhut-jones","In a long interview published October 27, days before launch, principal game designer Kris Zierhut and lead Classic designer Tim Jones set out four design pillars, said the team wants to \"unsolve\" a game players have already solved, explained why endgame runs at 5, 10, 20 and 40 players, described professions that force you to work with other players, and named the places that exist in the world but are not open: Gilneas, Silvermoon, the Emerald Dream and Grim Batol.",1793725071229]