WoW Forever’s launch was perfect - Can Blizzard maintain that momentum?

Michael Hassall Published 06/11/2026

Imagine nothing but dead boars for as far as your eyes can see. That was the scene in the Valley of Trials, starting area for Orcs and Trolls, as the World of Warcraft Forever servers went live at 11:00pm UK time for myself and a half dozen of my friends.

It looked like something from one of those historical photos of Bison culling in the U.S. But it was just hundreds upon hundreds of green and blue skinned toons filling quests on-mass. Mobs were turned to hyper-speed respawn, and even so, players would camp a single spawn because it was just easier than trying to find a non-tagged Boar.

Like something from a historical photo, masses of slain Mottled Boars on launch day. Image credit: Win.gg

The queues for the game were non-existent. Not for a game launch. I’ve queued through four Final Fantasy XIV expansion launches, New World, Wildstar, and probably MMO launches I’ve forgotten, but this was the shortest and easiest. There were some momentary issues with choosing rule sets, but nothing a reload and requeue couldn’t solve. In the game and grinding in less than 10 minutes.

In fact the queues that I did encounter were player-made. Short lines forming for Lazy Peons. A dozen or so parties queued for Yarrog Baneshadow in the Burning Blade Coven. But even then, Blizzard, seemingly watching the situation, supercharged his spawn rate.

Image credit: Win.gg

WoW Forever’s triumph of a launch

To have seen this game go from announcement, to chats between friends about maybe trying it, to a full launch day rush has been kind of magic. For someone who missed WoW the first time (I’m of the vintage of person who couldn’t convince his parents to pay monthly for a video game), and then spent a lot of time chasing that MMO high on games like City of Heroes, Guildwars, Wildstar, FFXIV, etc. This was something special.

For whatever reason, Classic didn’t resonate with many of my peers who were WoW players, current or former. Perhaps they were not so blinded by rose-tinted glasses, that they had fonder memories of certain expansions than the original release, and realised that pure vanilla Classic WoW was not going to be them.

But Forever, with its chance to redo things, with just enough quality of life changes to keep things fresh, has turned them into rabid fans. For weeks before we were discussing classes, professions, who’s tanking, who’s healing.

Image credit: Win.gg

The problems WoW Forever faces

However, just two days in already the cracks are starting to form. We struggled with some layering issues that meant we simply couldn’t find each other on some of the early days. The layering, as it is now, has made some areas seem far more abandoned than they really are.

Then there’s timing. When World of Warcraft first released in 2004, most of us were 15-16, maybe a little younger or older on either side. These are premium gaming years, where you have basically unlimited free time, and very little in the way of responsibilities. Now those same teenagers of the early 2000s have kids, wives, girlfriends, important jobs with real shifts, etc.

And even on launch weekend, some have struggled to find free time. Even myself, who writes about video games for a living, can count on half of one hand the number of ‘free’ weekends I have until the end of this year. That’s without counting the other attention drains from GTA VI to the Ocarina of Time remake.

Somehow, with all this going on, we’re expected to be level 60 in time for December 6 when the first raids launch?! I think me and the rest of the Millenial unc crowd will be taking our time… Hopefully there’ll be some spots on raids for undergeared old men come January.But this is emblematic of the problems around WoW Forever. For broad appeal, this game needs to be able to let people go at their own pace. But it also must satisfy a smaller hardcore contingent of rabid fans. Hopefully Blizzard will be able to walk that tightrope without falling,

Featured Image Credit: Blizzard

Michael Hassall

About Michael Hassall

Michael is an eight-year veteran of games writing and has been playing games for as long as he can remember. With bylines across the internet, he has used his expertise to cover esports, prediction markets, mainstream gaming, streamers and more.

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