Blizzard is implementing new character creation restrictions in World of Warcraft Forever to address faction imbalances on PvP servers. Senior Game Designer Josh Greenfield confirmed that, due to the current population split reaching 55% Horde and 45% Alliance, the team is limiting the ability for players to create new Horde characters.
Faction Balance Measures
The developer noted that maintaining a balanced population is a priority for PvP servers. While some players have speculated that flooding servers with level-one characters could skew these metrics, Greenfield clarified that the internal balancing system ignores such accounts. Instead, the game monitors characters that have been actively played over a set duration.
A Branching Narrative
In a recent discussion regarding the project's lore, Lead Lore Historian Sean Copeland described World of Warcraft Forever as a "branching continuity." The team made a conscious decision to separate the game's story from the modern retail version of World of Warcraft to prevent narrative conflicts. This approach allows the development team to explore "untapped" regions and underutilized characters without having to account for the current status of the modern game.
Future Content and Tone
While the team plans to reintroduce elements like the Scarlet Enclave and the Ashbringer, they are avoiding the implementation of a single, years-long overarching villain. Instead, they intend to use specific raid locations like Molten Core and Blackwing Lair as "anchor points" for the narrative. Greenfield emphasized that while they are maintaining the "seriousness" found in the original game, players remain free to ignore the story entirely to focus on gameplay and loot.
Regarding future updates, the team confirmed they are not currently planning to add new race/class combinations, despite interest from the community. Players looking for more information on the development of regions like the Riverglades or the new Skyborne race can find further details in the full Forever Lore podcast.