Samiccus on WoW Forever's hype: what checks out
· ForeverDB
Samiccus reacts to yumytv's think-piece on WoW Forever and adds his own claims: no WoW Token, no gold buying, a level cap that stays at 60, nothing sold for launch and paid races later. We checked each against Blizzard's posts and interviews: the gold rules and the bot crackdown hold, the Token is "no plans" rather than a promise, a cap that stays at 60 is widely reported but not in Blizzard's posts, Blizzard does sell launch editions, and paid races are his guess, with the Skyborne as the one real precedent.
This is a community reaction video by Samiccus, not a Blizzard video: everything in it is the creator's view or claim, not Blizzard's word. Samiccus watches and reacts to yumytv's video "WoW: Forever Will Be Bigger Than You Think". We checked each game claim against Blizzard's posts, the interviews other sites reported and the Forever client (build 1.60.1.70532).
Samiccus spends 26 minutes on yumytv's case that WoW Forever is being under-hyped, stopping it to add his own view: he thinks Forever could become the most played version of WoW, and he loves the social side. Most of that is opinion. But along the way he states several things as facts, about the WoW Token, gold buying, the level cap, what Blizzard sells and how it might make money later. Here is what checks out. Our write-up of yumytv's own video, with its Warrior Taunt and transmog claims, is yumytv on why Forever could be bigger than expected.
The short version
- Gold buying and bots: confirmed. Buying gold breaks Blizzard's rules for Forever, and Blizzard says it acts against buyers as well as sellers, now with Temporary Economy Holds.
- No WoW Token: "no plans", not a promise. A Blizzard developer said in an interview there are no plans for a Token or a boost. That isn't a rule, and Blizzard's forum posts don't mention it.
- "Not even selling an opening thing": wrong. Forever comes with a subscription or Game Time, but Blizzard sells three upgrade editions for launch and a physical Collector's Edition.
- Paid races: his guess. Blizzard hasn't announced any new race or price. The one precedent is real: the Skyborne race needs the Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher.
- Level cap 60 for good: widely reported, not in Blizzard's posts. Several outlets report Blizzard means to keep the cap at 60; the Blizzard posts we track say you level to 60 and the game keeps growing from there.
Claim by claim
| Claim | Samiccus says | What Blizzard or the game says | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold buying | "we already know they confirmed there will be no gold buying" | Buying gold is against the rules, and Blizzard acts against buyers' accounts, not only sellers' (Kaivax, 28 September and 1 October), with Temporary Economy Holds since 13 October. | Confirmed as a rule (it can still happen, and gets punished) |
| Bots and gold sellers | Blizzard is "going harder on bots" and gold sellers | "We will continue to take action against RMT in both the Beta and the live game after the launch of WoW: Forever." (Kaivax) | Confirmed |
| WoW Token | "No WOW token." | Associate Production Director Clay Stone told Destin in mid-September that there are no plans for a WoW Token or a boost (as Wowhead and Icy Veins report the interview). Not in Blizzard's forum posts. | Mostly: "no plans", not a promise |
| Nothing sold for launch | "they're not even selling an opening thing for this" | Forever is included with a subscription or Game Time, but Blizzard sells the Skyborne Heroic Pack, the Skyborne Epic Pack and the Warcraft Forever Collection, plus a physical Collector's Edition. | Wrong |
| Paid races later | "the main way they might try to make money off of WoW Forever potentially is through like races" | No new race or price announced. Playing a Skyborne already needs the Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher. | His speculation, with one real precedent |
| Level cap | "the cap's forever going to be 60" | Launch is at 60. Several outlets report Blizzard plans to keep it there and grow sideways; the Blizzard posts we track don't say "forever". | Widely reported, not in Blizzard's posts |
| Mob tagging | "mob tagging and stuff like that, it has worked to build up more interactions between players" | Blizzard has said no to shared mob tagging, and Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield tied that to the game's social side (as Icy Veins reports it). | Matches what's reported |
| Leveling speed | "Is it a bit faster than the original classic or vanilla leveling experience? Yeah, I think it is" | Blizzard promises more than a thousand new quests across levels 1 to 60. Nobody has published measured leveling times for Forever yet. | His impression from the beta |
| "Agran, the lead developer" | yumytv's line, which Samiccus agrees with | Blizzard credits Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield as a Senior Game Designer in its podcast posts. | The job title differs |
Gold buying, bots and the WoW Token
Samiccus says "we already know they confirmed there will be no gold buying" and "No WOW token." The first is a rule Blizzard enforces rather than something that can't happen. On 28 September, Community Manager Kaivax wrote that Blizzard would "increasingly take action against buyers’ accounts", removing the illicit gold and possibly closing accounts. On 1 October Kaivax added: "We will continue to take action against RMT in both the Beta and the live game after the launch of WoW: Forever." And since 13 October, accounts suspected of buying or selling gold can get a Temporary Economy Hold, with trade, mail, guild banks and the Auction House restricted. More in Blizzard's action against gold buyers and Temporary Economy Holds.
The WoW Token is softer. Blizzard's Associate Production Director Clay Stone told the creator Destin in mid-September that there are no plans for a WoW Token or a boost, as Wowhead and Icy Veins report the interview. "No plans" isn't a promise, and none of Blizzard's own forum posts we track mention the Token. The Forever client only carries the WoW Token error messages every WoW client shares, which tells us nothing either way.
What Blizzard sells, and paid races
Samiccus says Blizzard isn't selling expansions for Forever, "they're not even selling an opening thing for this", so it may make money later by charging for new races. The first part is wrong. WoW Forever itself is included with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, but Blizzard sells three optional upgrades for launch: the Skyborne Heroic Pack, the Skyborne Epic Pack and the limited Warcraft Forever Collection, and a physical Collector's Edition through the Gear Store. See WoW Forever price and editions.
Speculation: paid races are Samiccus's own idea: he imagines Blizzard charging something like $10 to unlock a future race such as ogres. Blizzard hasn't announced any new race, or any price for one. The idea has one real precedent: playing the new Skyborne race needs the Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher, so a race behind a paid pack has already happened once.
The level cap and leveling speed
"The cap's forever going to be 60," Samiccus says, so there's no rush to get there. Forever launches with the full journey to 60, and several outlets report that Blizzard plans to keep the cap at 60 and add new content around it rather than new levels. The Blizzard posts we track put it as adventuring to level 60 while the game keeps growing with new stories and updates, without the word "forever". So treat "forever" as the press's reading of Blizzard's interviews.
On speed, Samiccus thinks leveling is "a bit faster" than in Classic, with extra quests in the starting zones putting you ahead when you reach a new zone. That fits Blizzard's promise of more than a thousand new quests across levels 1 to 60, but nobody has published measured leveling times for Forever yet. From launch, the ForeverDB addon times players' levels and our leveling route shows how long each level really takes and where players level fastest.
Mob tagging and the social side
Much of Samiccus's reaction is about how social Forever feels: people whispering him all the time, and camping and mob tagging pushing players together. Blizzard has turned down shared mob tagging for Forever, so a monster you hit is still yours and your group's, and Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield tied that to the game's social side, as Icy Veins reports it. Samiccus's "mob tagging and stuff like that, it has worked to build up more interactions between players" is his experience of that choice.
The camping system yumytv describes checks out too: Blizzard says camps can offer vendors, repairs, profession workspaces and one-hour buffs, and the Leatherworking Camp Tent Camp Tent raises your rested experience to 5% of a level. See Camping.
The transmog toggle
Samiccus agrees with yumytv that the transmog toggle is "such a good solution": switch transmog off and you see the gear players really wear, whatever they bought. The Forever client has its own option to turn transmog off. Whether shop cosmetics are hidden for you the same way isn't something the client text shows; more in our yumytv write-up.
More on our pages
- WoW Forever price and editions
- The leveling route: where to go at each level, from how players really level
- Gold sellers and bots
- Camping: campfires and camp features
Sources
- Samiccus, Why WoW Forever Is About To Be Bigger Than Anyone Predicted (YouTube)
- yumytv, WoW: Forever Will Be Bigger Than You Think (YouTube)
- Gold buying rules (Kaivax, Blizzard)
- Actions Taken Against Botting and RMT (Kaivax, Blizzard)
- Temporary Economy Holds For RMT (Kaivax, Blizzard)
- No WoW Token or Boosts & The Future of Forever: Destin interview with Blizzard (Wowhead)
- "No Plans" for WoW Token or Character Boosts in WoW Forever (Icy Veins)
- Players Won't Get Shared Mob Tagging in WoW: Forever, but Blizzard Has a Plan (Icy Veins)
- Carve a New Path with World of Warcraft: Forever (Blizzard: the editions)
- World of Warcraft: Forever What's Next Panel Recap (Blizzard)
- World of Warcraft Forever Will Stay at Level 60 and Focus on Horizontal Progression (Digital Citizen)