THE WOW FOREVER COLLECTION · DISPATCH · RESEARCH CHECKED SEPTEMBER 24, 2026
Short answer: one Blizzard developer says WoW Forever is for Classic players and for people whose accounts have lapsed, not for retail players. Matthew Armstrong, a world builder on the game, posted on X late on September 22 (US time) that he is making Forever "for the classic gamer and for the millions of people who have had their accounts lapse over the years." He added: "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." He was clear that he speaks only for himself. The post drew thousands of reactions on X, and a beta forum thread calling it "fuel for Tribalism" has 338 replies. Blizzard has not commented. In interviews published the same day, the game's leads described a game that aims wider than that, with every talent tree viable, a steady supply of 10 and 20 player raids, and even some talk of player housing.
The two positions fit together better than the argument suggests, and they tell you a fair amount about what Forever will be.
What Armstrong said
The post opens with context: "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." It then names his audience, Classic players and lapsed players, and says he learned to build content the way it was done "20+ years ago" for them and not for retail players.
Insider Gaming collected the rest of the thread. The lines that spread furthest:
- "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."
Insider Gaming also reports that he said he has no animosity toward retail players and is one himself. The forum thread's author checked his background: Armstrong is credited as a World Builder on The War Within and previously shared Shadowlands level design work. This is a Blizzard developer who has worked on retail, not a Classic purist from outside the company.
Why it landed badly with some players
The forum thread "This Tweet feels like the fuel for Tribalism and some mixed messages is confusing for me" opened on September 23. Its author's point is fair: "WoW: Forever is not WoW: Foreveryone," and a developer drawing a line between Classic and retail players invites the loudest part of the Classic community to treat everyone else as tourists.
The first reply is the other half of the argument: "A product is being made with a target audience in mind? Somebody call 911." Most of the thread is those two positions repeated.
The timing made it worse. Armstrong posted the day after Josh Greenfield said Blizzard will "hold the line" on Classic mob tagging despite crowded starting zones (our shared tagging piece covers that), in a week when testers were arguing about levelling speed in both directions. Players who wanted retail conveniences had just been told no, and then a developer seemed to tell them the game was not meant for them.
What the leads told the press the same week
Two interviews recorded around BlizzCon and published on September 22 give the team's official line, and it is broader than Armstrong's.
Windows Central (Jez Corden) spoke to lead game designer Tim Jones and lead software engineer Nora. Windows Central gives her surname as Valleta and Shacknews as Mills, so we are leaving it out until Blizzard confirms. The quotes worth knowing:
- Jones: "Every single one of our 27 talent trees is now viable for all content in WoW: Forever." That is a direct promise. Protection Warriors and Shadow Priests are already testing it in the beta (see our class feedback roundup).
- Jones: "We're going to consistently deliver new 10 and 20 player content every patch. Onyxia will be our 40 man raid." This confirms the raid plan from the September 17 Q&A. No flex sizes, and Onyxia is the only 40-player raid.
- Jones, on content for levelling characters: "We might add an update... with a new zone designed... for level 27 to 32... with a new dungeon." Classic Era never added levelling content after launch, so this would be new.
- Jones, on retail borrowing from Forever: "I could see them borrowing the camping system from us very easily, and perhaps connect it to Player Housing?" The quote is about retail borrowing from Forever. Windows Central's headline frames Classic-style player housing as something the team is thinking about, but nothing has been announced.
- Nora: "For Classic players, it's much more about a social experience... The world is the main character."
- Nora, on raids: "We're not going to stomp your face into the ground."
- Nora, on lore: "This is a new continuity... Think of adjacent timelines. Some things might be a bit different."
- Nora, on Retribution: "You can be a Ret Paladin in raids, you can Seal twist."
Shacknews (TJ Denzer, from Ozzie Mejia's BlizzCon interview) got the positioning in one line. Nora: "It is a third pillar of World of Warcraft. We already have our versions of World of Warcraft Classic." Jones listed the design pillars: "journey before destination, protect and nurture social experiences, and world as the main character."
Reading the two together
Armstrong and the leads are describing the same design goals. All of the stated pillars point toward friction: a long journey, social play and the world as the main character. Keeping Classic tagging, hiding item stats until they drop and cutting dungeon XP all follow from that. Armstrong's "convenience is the death of the journey" is the same idea put more sharply.
Where they differ is audience. The leads call Forever a "third pillar" alongside retail and Classic and promise viability for every spec and possibly new levelling zones. That is a pitch to anyone curious, and it includes retail players. Armstrong's post is about what he, as a world builder, is trying to recreate. Only one of these is official, and it is not the X post.
Retail players looking at Forever should expect Classic's rules: no shared tags, no dungeon finder that teleports you in, and slow levelling by retail standards. On top of that there are enough new systems (Legacy, camping, new dungeon items) that the game is not a straight copy. If that sounds good, the team would like you to play. If it does not, one developer has already said you are not the audience.
One more thing from this week: weather
On September 23 Kaivax posted "Increased Weather Effects" on the beta forums, with a short video and the line "Coming soon to the Beta." It shows a heavy rainstorm in Elwynn Forest, the kind of dense weather some players remember from the original game and missed in Classic. No zones, build or date were given. Coverage varied: PC Gamer framed it as part of Forever's "first patch," while other outlets simply called it coming soon. Reactions in the forum thread ranged from nostalgia for Wetlands rain to "who asked?"
The same day Blizzard released a short official video, "What is World of Warcraft: Forever?", explaining how the game differs from retail and Classic. It is the clearest sign that Blizzard is marketing Forever beyond the Classic audience, whatever any one developer posts on a Tuesday night.
The numbers behind the argument
The debate is happening because a lot of people are paying attention. Streams Charts measured a Twitch peak of 599,618 viewers on September 17 for the beta launch, after 807,223 for the BlizzCon reveal on September 12. Greenfield called the beta turnout "the craziest numbers I've seen in 17 years."
We will update this page if Blizzard responds to the forum thread or if Armstrong follows up. For everything confirmed about the game so far, start with the WoW Forever hub and the Forever vs Classic pillar guide.
Sources: Matthew Armstrong on X; Insider Gaming, Who is World of Warcraft: Forever for?; PC Gamer's report on the post; GamesRadar, WoW Forever is for the millions of people who have had their accounts lapse; the beta forum thread This Tweet feels like the fuel for Tribalism (September 23); Windows Central (Jez Corden, September 22), I spoke to the World of Warcraft: Forever team; Shacknews (TJ Denzer, September 22), World of Warcraft: Forever is not a remake; Kaivax, Increased Weather Effects (September 23); Wowhead, What is World of Warcraft: Forever? Official Video; PC Gamer on the weather update; Streams Charts on Twitch viewership; Massively OP on Greenfield's comment.