Drogans

Hey everyone, Drogans here.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

I have a brother who hasn't touched retail World of Warcraft since Cataclysm, and played a bit of Classic 2019 and SoD.

Since the announcement of WoW Forever, he is more hyped for @Warcraft than I've seen in over 10 years.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@BabyBearHS

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

I'm glad that Warcraft Forever doesn't have the summoning stones at the dungeon entrance. Makes the adventure more enjoyable.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

I'm having more fun with World of Warcraft Forever beta than I've had with WoW in 4 years. Whatever you guys are doing @Warcraft keep up the good work!

#wowforever

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@Marmstrongwow I've had a wild ride with WoW over the last 20 years, through the ups and downs.

The War Within is the first retail expansion I didn't touch while it was current content, as well as Midnight.

While I did dabble in SoD, I felt I was mostly done with WoW until Forever. Thank you.

[Cornfed Nebraska Boy @Marmstrongwow]

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. I am making WoW forever for the classic gamer and for the millions of people who have had their accounts lapse over the years because they were not satisfied with changes that were made to the game. Whether those changes were to the art style, the story, social aspects, game design, or changes to their favorite class.

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. I could have taken it easy and just kept doing things like I had done for the past 8 years on retail...because I was much more familiar with it and it actually takes a lot less time to do (height maps on textures do a ton of heavy lifting). Because the reality is that the majority of retail players wouldn't care and would probably actually prefer it. But I felt I had a duty to uphold an artistic vision and integrity that millions of people expect from us. But not just for our players, but for my co-workers past and present who worked on it over 20 years ago. If I could not create something that resembled their work then I failed not only them...but myself.

Please do not take this as me throwing any shade at retail players or the retail team because I am one myself...but I wanted to make Forever as authentic of a Vanilla experience as possible. This involves making decisions wildly different than retail. It means holding the line against changes that create a domino affect down the road. It means keeping friction and inconveniences in the game. It means finding friends and forming groups with strangers and being social!! Because WoWs social aspects have always been the pillar of the game and over the years it has slowly been chiseled away at with changes that allow you play alone.

Since the day I started working on the Riverglades I have lived by three sayings.

"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."

These are my core beliefs and I had a specific group of people I was targeting with my work. These beliefs cannot be shaken and I will try to hold the line against anything that goes against them and will continue to pester the team about things that feel out of place.

That being said, my hope is that Forever will pull in as many people as possible, whether you are a retail gamer, a classic gamer, someone who hasn't played in years, or even a new player. I hope you can all remember what made this game so special in the first place and that starts with understanding why we are so passionate about keeping it authentic.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@madseason_ Welcome home.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@WowKungen The people who are fixated on retail QoL need to spend more time asking themselves why this is so popular, rather than changing it.

It really is as simple as, "If it needs those QoL changes to have a broader appeal, why is it so popular without those QoL changes?"

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@Gingitv So far I approve of most of the decisions this dev team has decided on. It is impossible to please everyone, but for now I'm just going to trust their vision.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@TheWindstalker We have such sights to show you.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@BellularGaming I'm more hyped for this than I was for 2019 classic.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@Gingitv No. I understand why you would want this, but I prefer to leave it as it is.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@WowKungen I was always disappointed if I joined a new expansion half way through and didn't get to experience any of the earlier raids because they were irrelevant.

Even if this isn't the best solution, or needs tweaking, I'm all for making early raids more relevant later.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@Kaelaris What if they changed it so the first run of the day gives good xp, and any runs after that don't.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@shoe0nhead @AlfredAlfer77 I once ran the Indy 500.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@PlayStation Will you have a digital only version when you discontinue physical discs?

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@TheRealWizar While it's not as bad as it used to be, it felt like when MMO's tried to make the graphics better, they'd feel dated after a while.

The cartoony look feels more timeless.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@1GamewithDave1 Yes.

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@ThrillaRilla369 Castlevania: SotN

[Drogans @DrogansTV]

@PlayStation I've bought physical media on every game system I've owned since the 90's, all the way up to the Switch 2.

I have a PS4, and considered getting a PS5. Now I currently have no plans to buy any PlayStation in the foreseeable future.