THE WOW FOREVER COLLECTION · DISPATCH · UPDATED AFTER THE Q&A, SEPTEMBER 17, 2026
Updated September 17, after the developer Q&A. The question is answered. Lead software engineer Nora Mills, asked whether Forever uses the Midnight addon API restrictions, the Classic API or something else: "We did opt for the modern API approach."
What Blizzard said, quoted
Mills gave three reasons and two promises. The reasons: the team has "a lot of empathy for add-on developers and their ability to also kind of keep up with our patches," so one API across modern WoW and Forever is easier to maintain; Forever's boss encounters are "a lot more simplified compared to Modern," so "the combat restrictions" should not "impact someone's experience negatively"; and the team does not want players "to feel like they need add-ons in order to play the game," because that "can lead to some amount of gatekeeping."
The promises: Forever ships with a built-in damage meter and cooldown manager, "and actually, additionally, I'm proud to say too, Swing Timer perhaps coming soon." Addons for UI customisation stay allowed; Mills said she uses them herself.
This lines up with what Ion Hazzikostas said at BlizzCon: addons are not going away, but interrupt trackers and similar combat automation are "something that we probably are going to make some more changes to, to restrict."
What the modern API means in practice
Midnight's addon changes, which Forever inherits, restrict what addons can read and react to during combat. The practical effects, based on how those restrictions work in modern WoW:
- Classic Era addons will not load as they are. Era runs the old API. Anything you use on Anniversary or Era realms needs a Forever-specific build. Expect Questie, Bagnon, auction addons and the big UI suites to be ported quickly, because their authors already maintain retail versions.
- WeakAuras exists, with the combat limits it has in Midnight. Auras that track your own buffs, cooldowns and resources work. Auras that read enemy cast bars, combat log events or other players' states in combat to tell you when to press something are the category being restricted. Forever's simpler encounters are Blizzard's argument for why that is fine.
- Damage meters are built in, so Details and Recount become optional rather than mandatory. Blizzard's meter is the one everyone will have.
- Swing timers are coming natively, which matters for the Twist of Light Paladins and Enhancement Shamans whose rotations live on the auto-attack.
- Boss mods are the open question. DBM and BigWigs run on modern WoW today under the same restrictions, so they will run on Forever; how much they can announce mid-fight depends on what the encounter exposes.
The rumour, settled
The MMO-Champion thread claiming Forever runs the retail API was right in substance and wrong in its conclusion. The API is modern; that does not mean "no addons" and it does not mean "no WeakAuras." It means the same rules as Midnight.
What to do today
Install the beta, look for an Interface/AddOns folder, and try a retail-built addon rather than an Era one. We will keep a compatibility list here as authors publish Forever builds through the beta.
The first Forever addon to make headlines was not a raid tool. OlympusMute, which hides every member of Asmongold's Olympus guilds from your chat, passed 34,000 downloads in its first week. Here is what it does and why it exists.
Sources: the World of Warcraft Developer Q&A VOD, Forever segment; Warcraft Tavern's Ion Hazzikostas interview; our full Q&A recap.