To the people defending this change or rationalizing it: Where is your joy? What happened to your sense for whimsy?
An Undead Paladin should absolutely be able to have a little humanoid during their bubble, as a treat.
I need people to remember that Greg Abbott has the sole power to call legislative special sessions.
He called FOUR in 2023 to try to ram through unpopular school vouchers.
He called TWO in 2025 to force redistricting at Trump’s request.
He has called ZERO to address rapid and unregulated data center growth or property tax relief.
Vote wisely.
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.
I think the big thing a few people are missing about WoW Forever is that it is meant to force you to slow down.
I've seen folks complain "I have a life now. I have kids. Responsibilities. A job. I can't devote hours to playing this anymore."
That's okay! You ARE the target audience. This game is not meant for you to rush your way to max level. It's not meant for you to have to commit hours upon hours a day to "keep up".
It's meant to be the warm bath you slip into at the end of the day, where you just relax, take your time, enjoy the moment and hope that time slows down, for just a little bit.
A lot of the more "vanilla" era pain points that aren't getting QoL changes are absolutely intentional. Mob tagging is the way it is because they want you to find people in that area and group up for a bit, to work together, even if no words are shared. Meeting stones don't summon because they're meant to be a place to gather and find groups, not a way to speed things up. Fast transport between major cities may not exist because getting you out, in the world, to run by other players and interact with them is the intention.
It's meant to feel slow. It's meant to feel big again. You're meant to melt into that world, find those people, be kind to eachother, relax with eachother, to pace yourself, and enjoy your time.
Somewhere, as the modern era changed over these last 20 years, we shifted to prizing "making progress in the game" over "immersing yourself in the world and community". And as every QoL patch rolled in, the game became easier, but faster paced. We traded that slow life for one that required you to rush rush rush through everything, where any one slip in efficiency is mocked and punished by the community. It's time we re-learn to slow down. Life does not have to be constantly streamlined and fast-paced. WoW does not have to be constantly streamline and fast-paced.
There is no race. There is no rush. Play what you can play and enjoy your time here. Build a community. Commit an act of kindness. Help someone you see struggling.
So what, if you can only play an hour a day?
The world is there, and it's waiting for you. Enjoy your hour well spent. <3
Thanks, @AggrendWoW and the entire @Warcraft team, for breathing life back into the world. May those life-winds blow ever eternal, and I cannot wait to see where they take us.
Friendly reminder:
You are not the Champion of Azeroth. You are not the Maw Walker or any of that BS.
You are just a random adventurer. A mercenary for hire.
Don't look up builds, guides or meta. Go in blind. Make your own choices even if you make a mistake. Just be yourself.
Notice that it’s all about the party losing and about Trump. It’s actually not about US citizens who are struggling to put food on the table or can’t fill their tanks up with gas or losing their healthcare.
They don’t care about helping Americans. They care about power.
I wish our government would go after pedophiles like they go after brown men headed to work at 7 am.
I wish they would close billionaire tax loopholes like they close our public schools.
I wish they would fund healthcare like they fund forever wars in the Middle East.
Some of Ken Paxton's scandals so far:
—Offered an admitted child molester one day in jail after he repeatedly raped a young boy
—Impeached by his own party on 20 counts of corruption, bribery, abuse of public trust, and obstruction of justice
—Owns at least 15 homes across the nation worth $9 million, despite a government salary of $153k
—Accepted $77,000 from men who allegedly sexually assaulted women, exposed themselves to children, and appear in the Epstein Files
—Spent July 4th, 2026, and America's 250th birthday in London
—Fled to Utah during Texas's deadly 2021 winter storms, which killed 246 people, a disaster in which Paxton was "responsible for overseeing key aspects of the state's response"
—Only Texas official to be impeached by his own party in nearly 50 years
—Net worth increased 7,000% since taking office
—Failed to disclose he secretly purchased real estate worth millions in Hawaii, Florida, and Utah, a direct violation of Texas ethics rules
—Accepted $448,000 from data center industry executives and PACs
—Bankrolled by the family who attempted to buy Jeffrey Epstein's "Lolita Express" private jet, and the family who bought Epstein's Zorro Ranch
—Said the Uvalde shooting, in which 21 children and teachers were murdered, was part of a "plan" by "God"
—Owns a $1.6 million luxury home in Oklahoma with a private chef, masseuse, and housekeeping
—Voted against a Texas program that spent billions on cancer research
—Allegedly committed voter fraud using a false address in 6 different elections
—Protected a laboratory that tortured and killed over 400 puppies
—Charged with felony securities fraud shortly after taking office over allegations he misled investors, resulting in additional SEC charges
—Fled his own home to avoid being served with a subpoena
—Illegally appointed attorney to conduct weaponized investigation
—Reported to the FBI by his own top deputies, who alleged he was abusing his office to benefit a close friend and donor
—Currently charges families an average of $750/night to stay at his luxury Oklahoma home
—Terminated the four senior deputies who reported his misconduct to law enforcement
—Used taxpayer funds as attorney general to benefit a friend
—Took a luxury vacation to Iceland after being exposed for releasing a child molester
—Has a secretive personal fortune of $100,000 to $1 million every 18 months from a hospital cellphone tower
—Owns a $750,000 luxury home in Florida, advertised as a place to live "a true Florida lifestyle"
—Celebrated forcing women out of Texas for life-saving reproductive care
—Offered a plea deal to a child sex abuser that failed to register him as a sex offender in Texas, letting him back on the streets
—Conducted a sham investigation of his own whistleblower complaints
—Owns four luxury homes and land in Utah worth over $2 million
—Wasted taxpayer money in an effort to delay his own trial
—Staff attempted to obstruct his Texas House investigation by reportedly threatening witnesses
—Cost Texans over $6.6 million in his court judgment for retaliating against whistleblowers
—His own lawyer refused to endorse him, and endorsed James Talarico instead
Here is a running list of controversies surrounding both Texas Senate candidates.
James Talarico:
• Has wifi on his campaign van
• A rumor about him being vegan
Ken Paxton:
• Gave his pedophile friend an Epstein style sweetheart deal that allowed him to be released from prison after just a couple of weeks despite repeatedly raping a young boy.
• Impeached by his own party for blatant corruption.
• Indicted on securities fraud charges.
• Reported by his own staff for selling his position of power, 8 staffers wrote to the FBI concerning his actions in office, many of which were fired for speaking out.
• Forced to pay restitution to the fired employees (millions from tax payers)
• Caught on camera stealing a $1,000 pen, refusing to give it back until being threatened with arrest.
• Had an affair with a woman, who was employed by a guy he was giving preferential treatment by Paxton’s office.
• Illegally voted in Texas state elections, registered at the wrong address.