World of Warcraft: Forever, in case you missed the wild news that came out of BlizzCon over the weekend, is essentially Classic+. A reimagining of vanilla WoW with updated talent trees, new raids and dungeons, more horizontal progression, and some shiny, glossic graphics thrown over the top of the whole thing.
Given it’s aping a more friction-filled time in history, you might be wondering if it’ll be offering a Hardcore mode: The answer, per the “What’s Next” panel, is a resounding yes. Production director Clayton Stone, who was the associate production director on Classic itself, took to the stage to profess his love of the hardcore mode:
“Hardcore represented a turning point for us as a team. We had tried a few things before it, and as [Ian Hazzikostas] covered, we have absolutely tried new things since. But hardcore represented the moment when Blizzard and the community came together, and showed not only why World of Warcraft is one of the greatest games ever made, but why that original adventure still holds so much promise for where we could go in the future.
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“Which,” he continues, “Is why I am also so proud to announce that Hardcore will be coming to WoW Forever as well.”
While this isn’t all too surprising on the face of it—Classic Hardcore proved to be incredibly popular—it will be interesting. One of the reasons why Hardocre mode became so popular was because, well, Classic is a “solved” game at this point. Chances are if you’re going for a hardcore run, you already know every nook and cranny of Azeroth, which is 20 years old at this point. And if you don’t, you can open a guide somewhere to maximise your chances.
But Forever will be adding new dungeons and raids, new quests—surprise encounters around every corner that could kill a Hardcore run deader than dirt. Which is likely why it’s not coming out on the game’s launch this November—instead reserved for the winter season.
That’ll give more time for Hardcore aficionados to map out every inch of Forever’s alternate-reality Azeroth and plan the best strats. And we know how WoW players love their min-maxing.