Blizzard saw no need to make World of Warcraft from scratch. In an interview with IGN, lead designer Chris Zierhut pointed out that the main feature of the MMO is the continuous development of the world, technology base and server infrastructure over the course of 25 years.
During this time, the developers repeatedly improved graphics, rendering, lighting, engine operation, servers, and combat systems. According to Zirhut, there is no point in abandoning the entire accumulated base for a new game, especially since in addition to the technical base, one would also have to abandon a lore that has been developed for more than two decades.
Blizzard believes that World of Warcraft: Forever will be able to solve some of the problems common to sequels: bringing back old players and attracting new ones. At the same time, the studio doesn’t have to abandon its existing world – as Zirhut said, it’s hard to imagine that World of Warcraft 2 could offer something that Forever couldn’t.
“World of Warcraft: Forever” will be released in November. Previously, Blizzard also confirmed that it has no plans to sell game time and upgrade items in exchange for gold coins because “travel is very important.”
