We spoke to World of Warcraft's Ion Hazzikostas on Forever vs. Retail, Horde vs. Alliance, and more - "All versions of WoW should have that."

Key Points:

• Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft: Forever at BlizzCon 2026, a new game version inspired by the Classic era but featuring new content, updated visuals, and rebalanced classes, set to launch in November.
• WoW: Forever is designed as a third pillar alongside Retail and Classic, aiming to blend Classic's grounded storytelling and community focus with streamlined systems and ongoing updates.
• Game Director Ion Hazzikostas acknowledged concerns about community fragmentation between WoW versions but emphasized Blizzard's commitment to maintaining social connections and improving the modern WoW experience.
• The modern faction conflict between Horde and Alliance is currently downplayed to prioritize a unified storyline and cross-faction gameplay, though Blizzard intends to revisit faction identity more centrally in the future.
• While excited about WoW's future, there are concerns about Blizzard potentially stretching resources too thin across three game versions and the impact on player communities, but the company remains focused on evolving the franchise with player feedback in mind.