World of Warcraft: Forever looks to take players to the simpler days of World of Warcraft "vanilla-era" but reimagined with new quests, new race+class combos, improved atmospheric graphics, and compatibility with Xbox controllers and Xbox Ally handhelds.

That last new gameplay addition has got people speculating if Blizzard Entertainment is preparing to port its iconic MMORPG onto Xbox consoles, especially as rumored classifications of its existence have been appearing lately.

GamesRadar+ set out to answer this question during a lengthy interview with Blizzard Entertainment's Vice President, Holly Longdale, and its associate production director, Clay Stone, by asking them, "Is World of Warcraft: Forever launching as a PC-exclusive a missed opportunity?"

Holly Longdale responded to this question by saying, "What you just described is really what we're after. Play it wherever you want and, at some point, on whatever you want. But the first leg of that journey is getting gamepads working really well with World of Warcraft, and we thought Forever was the perfect place to start. Looking at where things are going when we hear about Project Helix et cetera, I think platforms will be a bit more ubiquitous," Holly continues, "Honestly, we just want to be able to play it anywhere. We've seen people getting it working on the ROG Ally X…"

Holly then finished the interview with, "I think just doing some of the work we're doing on gamepad [support] is going to give players a lot of flexibility that I think goes beyond consoles."

Is a console port of World of Warcraft possible this late into it's lifetime?

Now, this is pure speculation on my part, as nothing about what Blizzard said during the interview confirms the existence of an Xbox port, but I do find Holly's statement of "Play it wherever you want and, at some point, on whatever you want," while name-dropping Project Helix and the ROG Ally X, curious.

Could Holly's quote be a subtle reference to Xbox Play Anywhere? Could it be a cryptic hint that Blizzard Entertainment plans to port World of Warcraft to whatever console Project Helix turns out to be, with Xbox Play Anywhere support so it can be played on handhelds?

Considering that Project Helix is reported to be an Xbox-PC hybrid potentially capable of playing games from other online stores beyond Microsoft's Windows Store, it might be possible.

Either way, we'll have to wait a long time to find out. After all, if Final Fantasy 14 managed to get an Xbox port after over a decade, I believe World of Warcraft should be able to do the same.

In the meantime, I'll be playing World of Warcraft: Forever to see if it can wash the sour taste of World of Warcraft: Midnight's rushed patch content, weak storytelling, and controversial housing situation out of my mouth.

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Original Article:

World of Warcraft: Forever, the stand-alone, Classic+ take on World of Warcraft, releases next week on November 4, 2026, on PC. To celebrate, Blizzard Entertainment is releasing a series of videos called ‘World of Warcraft: Planet Azeroth’.

It's a Planet Earth-style documentary with a comedic tone that gives viewers a grand tour of Azeroth's many locales that have been reimagined in World of Warcraft: Forever's new lighting and graphical effects.

Along the way, viewers will encounter iconic monsters like Murlocs, Kobolds, and Boars, while taking in vast vistas like the Elwynn Forest, Durotar, and Tirisfal Glades, to name a few.

British comedian/musician Bill Bailey will host World of Warcraft: Planet Azeroth, which will run for three videos (with episodes 2 and 3 releasing on October 30, 2026, and November 1, 2026, respectively) as we get closer to World of Warcraft: Forever's release.

Will World of Warcraft: Forever provide more fun than the Retail version of WoW?

World of Warcraft: Forever is gaining massive momentum going into its release. Its back-to-basics approach to gameplay progression and exploration, while forsaking modern conveniences to make it ironically more casual-friendly, managed to draw in over one million new players during its beta period (according to classicplus.io).

I'm personally intrigued by the existence of WoW: Forever and interested in playing it when it comes out, as I never got to experience the early days of World of Warcraft before all the expansions came out.

However, will it be able to maintain player retention in the long term, or will players go back to the retail version of WoW despite its current sorry state of rushed patches, painfully weak writing, and controversial housing transactions? Only time will tell.

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World of Warcraft's new housing system has provided a segment of the player base with things to do, collect, and create beyong the typical raiding gameplay loop, but already it is becoming egregious for its monetization layers.

World of Warcraft's Housing gameplay feature has acquired some decor items for sale for real money, which isn't a first.

The new bundles are called the Haunted Grimtide Estate for $25 on Battle.net and the Grimtide Decor Pack for $10 on Battle.net. However, selling items tied to a playable race in theme is indeed a first.

The items within these bundles are spooky furniture and decorations themed after the Kul Tiran player race, as these items have a pirate and Lovecraftian aesthetic. However, players are not happy about this arrangement, owing to Blizzard's previous promises about its microtransaction practices for housing.

X users and even famed content creators like @BellularGaming responded to this, pointing out that Blizzard Entertainment is contradicting itself, reminding us that the company swore never to sell housing decor tied to player races for real money.

The promise in question came from a developer blog post Blizzard made on November 6, 2025, where it said, and I quote, "Housing items tied to core fantasies of a player’s race or class, or that already exist in Azeroth, won’t be sold in the shop. Thematically important decor that players know and love will also not appear in the shop."

We've reached out to Blizzard for further comment regarding this situation.

We finally got player house after two decades, but at what cost?

Housing was one of the most requested gameplay features ever since the 2000s, as players wanted a place for their characters and guilds to call home.

Unfortunately, while the actual gameplay of Housing was good, it was marred by controversial housing cosmetic DLC items that cost just as much as an expansion. Add this betrayal of trust on Blizzard's part, and much of the hype and goodwill surrounding this long-awaited feature has been sucked away, much like the rest of this expansion.

So far, the vast majority of playable races in WoW don't have exterior decor options; some don't even have interior decor options in abundance. Getting items can be an absolutely monstrous grind, and unlike other similar games with housing systems like Fallout 76, you need to buy each individual piece, limiting creativity.

Personally speaking, World of Warcraft: Midnight has been a non-stop disappointment with its weak storyline, dishonor to the Horde, constant bugs, and rushed content, and this just adds more salt to the wound.

Here's hoping the prices drop on these cosmetics (or better yet, make them free and earnable in-game), and that the next expansion, World of Warcraft: The Last Titan, as well as World of Warcraft: Forever, turn out to be much better experiences.

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It might seem weird to complain about having "too much content." I've been around World of Warcraft for over two decades, more than half of my entire existence, and I've known some of the game's notorious and mighty content droughts.

When Blizzard first introduced roadmaps a few years ago, I was pretty excited. The World of Warcraft team offered unprecedented transparency about where the game would go over the coming weeks and months ahead. In a subscription-based game, that is a pretty great thing. I pay for the 12-month subscription year in, year out, rain or shine. WoW is my go-to game, and I presume it always will be. I've taken breaks; I've even said I'm totally done with it a few times. But I, like many others, always come back.

With World of Warcraft: Forever on the horizon, I can't help but lament the state of the separate Retail experience. It should be the core of what WoW ultimately is. It comes with expansion packs; it has the most investment, the most history, and legacy. Yet, it feels worse than ever in a lot of ways.

I've come to decide Blizzard's self-imposed 8-week patch cadence is to blame. But whatever the cause, something needs to change.

Blizzard is destroying WoW's setting and story, chasing short-termism

I wrote this week about Blizzard's mid-season patch, which featured the highly unceremonious death of a major lore figure. The 30-minute quest chain concludes with a painfully anticlimactic cutscene, at the hands of an entity that has about 5 seconds of screen time.

The death felt undeserved and unearned, and continues Blizzard's losing streak in handling major Horde characters ... representing another issue I have with the writing in general. Blizzard built up and threw away this character like they were nothing, echoing previously failures with the likes of Vol'jin and others.

I'm sure the death will serve some ham-fisted gameplay purpose in the coming weeks. Some are already speculating it could be to do with the introduction of Undead Paladins on the Horde, for example, but even still ... it was so oddly handled, anticlimactic, and uncinematic, and does subscribers a disservice in general.

This absolutely isn't the first time I've written about these kinds of problems, and they've been going on for some time. It's especially problematic when World of Warcraft sits side-by-side with recent Blizzard writing wins like Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred, and even Warcraft 3: Forsaken Kingdom. Why does World of Warcraft, its flagship product, feel as weak as a Saturday morning kids' TV show right now?

Much like a Saturday morning kids' TV show, I want to firmly believe it's deadline expectations and patch cadence driving the utter crater in quality. Unlike a Saturday morning kids' TV show, though, Blizzard is utterly imposing these deadlines on itself, to the detriment of the game.

The deciding factor for shipping a product should always be quality, and WoW hasn't walked this line for what feels like forever.

World of Warcraft players are in their 30s and increasingly 40s and even 50s ... I think players want an end to their intelligence being insulted like this. I think players want a more mature tone, and higher-quality treatment of the setting and characters we all know and love.

The story feels as rushed out and forced as Shadowlands did, an expansion so notorious for its damage to WoW that it is whispered like a curse in discussions about the game.

It's beyond writing. I feel like WoW hasn't been this buggy in over 20 years.

I already conceived this article last week to focus generally on the story delivery, but Blizzard itself injected another point I might've otherwise overlooked.

As recently as patch 12.0.5, Blizzard literally issued an apology for bugs and the state of the game in general. Yet here we are again, another patch, more game-breaking bugs.

12.1.5 should've been a big deal arguably. We have a mid-season boss battle featuring lore that pushes the story forward. Instead we have cringeworthy writing and needless character death that has become a meme in of itself. But hey, at least we got the first Labyrinth, right?

WoW retail has long focused on linear dungeons designed for the timed Mythic+ race experience, but Labyrinths sounded like a great opportunity to get back to the old-school "lets get lost and have an adventure"-style dungeon of WoW: Classic. Like BRS, Scholomance, Stratholme, BRD, etc. Alas, it too, is broken.

Whether it's progression resetting unexpectedly or total game-breaking blockers and walls, the first Labyrinth has been an unmitigated disaster so far. Reddit is full of complaints like the above over how wings aren't being registered as completed, with random disconnects resetting progress and the like.

Blizzard can't even get its microtransactions right either. It pulled a new Rexxar-themed outfit from sale just yesterday, owing to weird missing textures and clipping. I wrote about the Haranir race, a major expansion inclusion, suffering from similar issues months ago. Blizzard said they would improve ... alas, here we are, with more examples of the exact opposite.

Is Blizzard just AI vibe coding the game? Are there not enough QA people left? Or is it, once again, the self-imposed deadlines that some CFO spreadsheet says are well worth ditching quality for?

I think people would accept a slower patch cadence for higher quality

I'm sure what has ultimately happened here is that Blizzard has some magical telemetry data that suggests 8 weeks is the sweet spot to prevent churn. Churn is the un-subscriber factor, and World of Warcraft is a very big, complex, and expensive game to run.

Built out of California, one of the most expensive game development communities on Earth, World of Warcraft has long been Blizzard's golden goose. Former writer Eric Covington suggested on X that it represents load-bearing revenue for the entire Blizzard operation.

Blizzard President Johanna Faries said in a recent email to staff that the storied publishing house is now Xbox's top studio after a successful sprint across Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Diablo IV. BlizzCon 2026 just wrapped up with World of Warcraft: Forever, which has seen subscribers flock back into the game in abundance not seen in over a decade.

I asked World of Warcraft director Ion Hazzikostas if World of Warcraft: Forever would end up becoming what Blizzard points to when Retail players ask for higher quality in certain areas of the game ... he assured me that isn't the plan. But we've seen the apologies before. Apologies for bugs, promises to do better, and "we're listening to feedback."

I think putting major story beats on a 16-week, or even 24-week cadence instead of an 8-week cadence might help. Mid-season patches, if they must exist, shouldn't try to squeeze in major character deaths out of the blue with no real build-up or inference.

Bugs are one thing, but shitty story delivery threatens to unmake the entire game, turning it into cringe meme fodder, serving to turn people off the setting in a big way. We don't need this. Given how out-of-the-blue Kith'ix has been, he could've worked better as a boss with story context delivered entirely in text, as a side mission-type experience for "player mercenaries." The rush job to inject the major characters has only served to hurt the entire feel of the current arc. It all just continues to contribute to the sense that WoW's writing team is utterly rudderless.

RELATED: World of Warcraft players beg Blizzard to slow down

World of Warcraft is still fun. I have a great guild, I love the gameplay, and I love the relationships I've made and the memories I've carved out. I've met tons of people from the WoW team, and I know they're all passionate, well-meaning people who want to deliver the best quality possible. I imagine it's frustrating for them too, seeing reactions like the above. But something needs to change.

As someone who has played pretty much non-stop through every permutation of the game, I'm wondering if World of Warcraft: Forever will take some of the pressure off the retail team to keep driving this self-destructive 8-week dance. I'm also wondering if WoW: Forever will end up harvesting up resources that would otherwise go to Retail, making the situation there even worse. I'm also wondering if I'm part of the problem by remaining subscribed despite my dissatisfaction ...

Indeed, perhaps there's only one piece of feedback Blizzard will listen to here, and it's to unsubscribe.

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World of Warcraft has been my main gaming love for over two decades; I have multiple tattoos dedicated to the game. I built my career on top of it, and met my partner of 14 years because of it. So believe me when I say it HURTS to be feeling this way about the game.

World of Warcraft has never boasted the most amazing writing at a granular level, but at least it was often steeped in satisfying spectacle, leading with the "rule of cool" for better or worse. The setting was always what made it stand out, atop genuinely immersive background lore and major story beats that feel like the product of something greater. Or at least, should be the product of something greater.

I feel like since the disaster that was Shadowlands in back in 2020, Blizzard hasn't been able to find its narrative voice with World of Warcraft retail. I've written more than a few articles on the topic, but this week's major story resolution as part of Patch 12.1.5 is already seeing significant backlash.

Has Blizzard completely lost the plot here? SPOILERS AHEAD.

World of Warcraft *has* to be an episodic soap opera to function, but the payoff almost never materializes

As I sit to write this, I'm wondering to myself if eventually I'll eat some crow. There's always a flicker of curiosity in my mind about the way the game has moved forward since its most hated story arc, which demystified Death itself, reducing the universal stakes to almost nothing. Shadowlands effectively rendered death and dying as relatively inconsequential in the Warcraft universe, and the inconsistent behavior of some of its major characters, namely Sylvanas, single-handedly undid decades of character development and expectation.

Blizzard doesn't seem to have learned any lessons about stakes, and it's increasingly maddening given how well Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, and even the recent Warcraft III: Forsaken Kingdom expansions prove that Blizzard can still write good shit. Why can't we have this in WoW retail?

In World of Warcraft: Midnight Patch 12.1.5, which launched today in Europe, Lady Liadrin, matriarch of the Horde Blood Elven paladins, dies. Her death is perhaps among the most anticlimactic, unceremonious, and understated deaths for a major character I've seen in video game history.

Blizzard has long held a strange joy for killing off Horde figures in unsatisfying and frankly wasteful ways. Whether it's Garrosh, Saurfang, Vol'jin, Cairne Bloodhoof ... at least some of these figures got meaningful deaths as part of an epic cutscene or CGI sequence. Liandrin simply passes out on a cavern floor, in a death that felt wholly unearned narratively and undeserved figuratively.

Throughout WoW: Midnight, Lady Liadrin has basically followed the player about, giving them quests and standing around while you did most of the busywork. Blizzard has rushed through troll and elf reunification, pushing aside thousands of years of baggage in a few relatively underwhelming quest segments that often feel pretty disconnected from the central battle against Xal'atath. That sense of disconnect extends to Liadrin in general, who hasn't really enjoyed enough build-up in my view to warrant what ultimately happened next.

In Patch 12.1.5, she channels her faith in the Light to deal a decisive blow to returning Old God general Kith'ix, who represents this patch's mid-season boss. The power seemingly overwhelms her, leading to her pretty unexpected demise on the cavern floor. I felt sadly bemused and mildly irritated. But not exactly shocked ... this has been par for the course as a Horde player for some time.

I saw the cutscene without any exposure to reactions online, and wondered if my immediate and overwhelming sense of dissatisfaction was simply a me problem. Apparently not. The backlash so far seems pretty palpable.

I feel as if Blizzard has tried to cram far too many characters in all at once in recent years, leaving them without meaningful story arcs. Mountains of supporting characters appeared as quickly as they then disappeared from the central narrative, robbing deaths like Liadrin's of any real sense of build-up, and therefore, no sense of payoff. It just feels awful, man. It's wild I find myself not even vaguely caring about the death of a character that has been in the game for almost 20 years ... what another miserable, maddening waste.

At least 12.1.5 has a new raid, a new "Mega Delve" to explore (which looks awesome), and other new content ... but man. For me, it has always started with caring about the setting, the roleplay, and feeling immersed in the world. Blizzard has been stripping that away with reckless abandon in recent years.

We have World of Warcraft: Forever coming up thankfully ... but game director Ion Hazzikostas promised me at BlizzCon that WoW: Retail wouldn't be left on the shelf as a result. That might not be his intention ... but it seems to be happening anyway.

Why is World of Warcraft: Retail's writing such a mess right now?

I'm still trying to speak to sources to get to the bottom of what's going on with World of Warcraft's writing so far. This isn't a matter of taste or sour grapes; I'm certainly not alone in thinking that WoW's writing has completely fallen off a cliff in recent years.

There are tons upon tons of issues with World of Warcraft's story delivery right now. I've theorized it's the self-imposed 8-week patch cadence, preventing quality and iteration from reaching the live client. I've huffed copium thinking that maybe, maybe there's going to be a payoff at the end of all this ... and that stuff like Liadrin's death will lead to something more interesting later, somehow?!

I've clung to hopium that Blizzard's appointment of franchise architect Chris Metzen might lead to somehow fixing the disaster that is Shadowlands in the wider narrative. I still have Vol'jin's urn in my inventory ...

Yeah ... I'm most likely just deluding myself at this point. And make no mistake, if Blizzard does somehow manage to pull off a gallery of major pay offs from all of this weirdness come The Last Titan, I'll be the first in line to apologize for my lack of faith. But, right now, I can't see it. After so many disappointments, cringeworthy story beats, and years upon years of unresolved plot threads — perhaps it's time for me to accept that WoW's retail writing team just isn't capable of delivering anything I find to be vaguely engaging.

The South Park team previously talked up a writing rule they follow, by which if your story beats can be linked by "and then" statements instead of "but" and "therefore" connections to denote consequences ... you've created something boring. I can't think of something more relatable to the current WoW writing style.

Things just keep happening for no real reason; "and then," it leads to no real consequences. There are too many plot threads going nowhere. Too many characters are half-baked and then sidelined, leading to various instances of "and then" instead of "therefore." Major lore points keep getting glossed over. Villains who vaguepost and scheme and tease and spend years leading us on to nowhere. Sylvanas showed up in Midnight for literally no reason. So many things keep happening for no reason.

RELATED: An ode to the Horde, and its weird erasure

Arator who? Turaylon when? Thrall where? There's not a single character left in WoW that isn't constantly wracked with self-doubting introspection, suffering from a terminal lack of conviction. Everything in WoW retail has become homogeneous sludge, and it's driving me crazy.

And perhaps worst of all, it's all just getting so, so boring.

World of Warcraft players deserve better.

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A World of Warcraft player has a bunch of kind internet strangers offering her support right now, she shared her sad story on Reddit. This poor user believes her husband is secretly logging into her account and destroying her hard-earned Mythic+ gear to punish her for making social plans without him.

"I was so frustrated I wanted to cry."

The post is going viral after being shared in the Girl Dinner Diaries subreddit (where women share unconventional, low-effort meals and vent).

The poster shared that the couple usually play WoW together, but her husband has been struggling with severe depression and refusing to leave the house. While trying to maintain her own social life, she occasionally goes out on her own when he refuses to go with her, including to a concert with friends. It was after reminding him of this upcoming outing that the first incident happened.

A high-value crafted staff vanished from her inventory, something that likely took took either 100 hours+ of grinding or £50 worth of mats to create. Staffs don't just 'disappear' in WoW; you need to manually drag the item away and type DELETE to confirm you want to get rid of it. Evidence that it had been destroyed was found in her item restoration menu.

Other incidents leading up to the concert included Great Vault rewards going missing and other gear disappearing from her character or showing as sold to vendors. After another disagreement, all gear from one character was outright destroyed.

The poster doesn't say whether she has confronted her husband about this yet, but her husband has her passwords and she often leaves the PC logged into Battle.net. Additionally, she filed a support ticket with Blizzard, which said there is no suspicious activity on the account and no other IPs have been logging in.

"The call is coming from inside the house," one top commenter noted, pointing out that actual account hackers would drain gold or steal items to trade, rather than calculatingly deleting soulbound gear out of spite. The gaming community has also told her that destroying digital items a partner cares about may seem petty, but they are valued nonetheless and have taken time and effort to obtain. This could be a massive red flag for domestic abuse and controlling behaviour. Fellow players have urged the poster to change all her passwords, enable 2FA and reevaluate her marriage.

She has since changed all her Battle.net credentials and added security without telling her husband, and plans to test whether things still go missing the next time she's away from home. Personally, I would have already gone scorched earth and fed him his scrotum, but it takes all sorts.

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Today's news about Xbox establishing Division XP, a dedicated new team to take Xbox franchises beyond and into other entertainment revenues has me dreaming of the most outlandish possibilities. We already know we are getting a dedicated Minecraft theme park land at Chessington World of Adventures in 2027, and I'm I know the Diablo Netflix animated show I've always wanted is now coming to pass. But what if- stay with me here- what if Blizzard World from Overwatch could finally become a real thing?

Hear me out, Blizzard World could be the real deal

For those who haven't played Overwatch, Blizzard World is a hybrid map set inside a fictional, massive amusement park. It’s a fun love letter to all of Blizzard’s iconic universes and a parody of Disney World. It's split into themed zones from across Blizzard's IP. It's got everything from the Hearthstone Tavern, a StarCraft rollercoaster and even a Diablo-themed area.

It was meant to be a fun, tongue-in-cheek level, but every time I spawn into that map, I can't help thinking: why hasn't Blizzard just built this money maker yet?

I know a real-life Blizzard World sounds completely outlandish on paper. But having attended BlizzCon this year alongside over 35,000 other die-hard fans, I’ve seen firsthand the sheer passion and deep pockets of the Blizzard community. Not only that, many of us are aging millennials who can bring kids along for the ride.

I saw the queues at the Blizzcon merchandise store and Darkmoon Faire, and while I accept that this was just a weekend event, as Blizzard no doubt grows, so will demand. A Blizzard World would be a more accessible way for fans to meet than clamouring to attend the one event a year (or two).

Blizzard has one minor demographic issue: outside of Overwatch (where the audience skews a bit younger), many of its staple franchises appeal heavily to the 35-and-over crowd. While the rampant furore and appetite for classic nostalgia bait like WoW Forever will print money, it doesn't necessarily capture the younglings Blizzard needs to stay as successful as it is. That younger generation is a goldmine ripe for merchandise, and they happen to have millennial parents practically forcing them to sit down and watch them play Blizzard titles like "the good old days."

Obviously running a massive standalone convention like BlizzCon in Anaheim probably barely breaks even nowadays, even with the eye-watering cost of entry tickets. Putting on massive temporary events is ridiculously expensive. But look at where BlizzCon happens, right down the road from Disneyland. Families who already shell out a small fortune to travel to California for BlizzCon (between flights, tickets, and hotels) would gladly pay out double to take their kids to an actual Blizzard-themed destination.

It wouldn't even need to be its own standalone, multi-billion-dollar resort right out of the gate. It could easily start as a dedicated expansion land inside an existing destination, exactly how Mojang and Merlin Entertainments are adding Minecraft World to Chessington.

All of this to say: Do I think this will actually happen? Absolutely not. Am I trying to manifest it into existence? Perhaps. But if it was completely outside the realms of possibility before, this new announcement signals to me that it's just one tiny bit less impossible a dream. Xbox, Blizzard, you have the IP. I really just want to ride on a Diablo Rubber Dinghy Rapids, bro!

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On October 6, 2026, Overwatch commenced its fifth season titled 'A Grim Doctrine' and it will feature the public playable debut of a vampiric hero named Doctrine.

Additionally, this season will feature a new anime collaboration, a new map and event, reworks to existing heroes, and Battle Pass adjustments.

Here's everything you can expect to see in Overwatch Season 5.

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New Support Hero: Doctrine

Announced in a trailer at BlizzCon 2026, Doctrine arrives for the final story beat of The Reign of Talon storyline. However, Doctrine's story is linked to Doomfist, who just broke him out of the Grímsvötn prison, since both share an obscure past.

As a support hero, Doctrine brings both defensive and offensive capabilities. With his Eternal Scepter, he can heal allies and damage enemies from mid-to-long range.

Additionally, he deploys bat-like drones to boost the team's healing and attack speed, and he triggers his ultimate to redistribute life force across the battlefield, giving allies Overhealth while reducing enemy health.

New Map and Event

Doctrine's lore video isn't the last time we'll be seeing Grímsvötn. With Season 5, the prison arrives as a playable map for the Escort mode, the first new Escort map in years, actually.

The Season's event is connected to the month of Halloween as well. In Mystery Madness: Graveyard Games, you start as a random hero, and after each death, you come back with new random weapons to create a monstrous combination.

Adjusted Battle Pass System and Reworks

Many live-service games have left the standard single Battle Pass system behind. It's now Overwatch's turn, and they finally adjusted the system to feel way less strict and with less fear of missing out.

Battle Passes from Seasons 1–15 will be available again, and you can pick up where you left off. Players can also have both the current Battle Pass and an Unvaulted one active at the same time. Unvaulted Passes, however, do not include Overwatch Coins, XP Boosts, Mythic Prisms, Prestige Titles, or Mythic Hero and Weapon Skins.

On the rework side, the long-awaited adjustment for Sombra is here, changing the Hero from Damage to Support. This change targets specifically her abilities; Hotfix now heals a selected ally, and Cyberspace creates an area that heals allies while inflicting the new Weaken status on enemies.

Roadhog is also getting his own adjustments. His Scrap Gun now fires two bursts per volley with a stronger center projectile in each. The Trash Compactor ability now takes incoming enemy projectiles and sends an explosive shot back, which damage scales with how much punishment was absorbed.

Mythics and Crossover skins continue

As with most Seasons, A Grim Doctrine brings a collaboration with another franchise, this time with the anime Solo Leveling. Genji, Reaper, Anran, Reinhardt, and Lifeweaver will all be getting skins inspired by the characters of Solo Leveling, such as Sung Jin-Woo and his Shadow Monarchs, Cha Hae-In, and Choi Jong-In.

For Mythic skins, it's Wuyang with the Mythic Dragon Shaoxia Wuyang skin. This skin brings dragon-inspired cosmetics and VFX across its four levels.

In the past few days, the Overwatch team has been teasing on social media with an emoji of a frog.

Now we know that this was referencing the new Mythic weapon: Treblemaker, Lucio’s first Mythic weapon. One of the coolest Mythics by far, if I say so myself, bringing audio and visual effects while the weapon itself holds a charming frog inside.

For those looking for fashion that fits the season, both in-game and in real life, the Tech Witches collection brings witch hats and bats to help you achieve that. These new skins will be available for D.Mon, Shion, Juno, Sierra, and Jetpack Cat.

Fight together, Stay together

Team Drives will return on October 29–November 1. The competitive mode allows players to stay squadded up to progress through Gladiator Ranks. With Season 5, though, Team Drives also makes it way to Quick Play.

Will you be joining Overwatch in this new spooky Season and final chapter of the Reign of Talon? What do you think of the reworks of Sombra and Roadhog? If you have any thoughts on the matter, let us know in the comments, on Reddit, or in the poll.

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For many years, people have wondered what it would be like if World of Warcraft, one of the most iconic MMORPGs in history, became playable on both PC and home consoles, like its biggest rival, Final Fantasy XIV.

Recently, those pipe dreams may have the potential to come true if the latest rumors surrounding the upcoming World of Warcraft: Forever turn out to be true.

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On September 29, 2026, Reddit user 'Rychillie' discovered that on the website for Brazil's Ministry of Justice, it stated that World of Warcraft: Forever was being classified for use on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Mac.

However, another Redditor 'birizinho' in the comments did a quick check on the gov.br listing and discovered that these console classifications had been quickly taken down within a few hours.

Could WoW finally be coming to consoles?

Now, as with any rumor, this should be taken with a huge grain of salt. This is especially apparent considering this console classification list for World of Warcraft: Forever has the PlayStation 3 on it, a console that Sony is trying to kill off by closing down the PS3/PSVita PSN store and discontinuing future physical PlayStation games.

Plus, since World of Warcraft: Forever has only been confirmed for PC, it is 99% likely this was just a typing mistake on the Brazilian Ministry of Justice website's part.

However, there is a very unlikely chance that a console port of World of Warcraft: Forever could become real sometime in the far distant future, as this game features full Xbox controller support.

Personally, even if any version of World of Warcraft came to consoles, I'd stick with playing it on PC with my dedicated MMO mouse and keyboard combo, as that control scheme feels the most natural way for me to play MMORPGs.

I can't imagine how cumbersome it would be to target players and mobs during hardcore raid dungeons and boss fights, especially for healer classes.

But then again, if players are able to clear the hardest Raid content in Final Fantasy XIV (that being Ultimate Raids) using controllers, then I'm guessing the same could be possible for World of Warcraft players using controllers, provided they get enough practice and set up the right keybinds and macros.

Either way, we'll have to wait to see what the future holds after World of Warcraft: Forever releases on November 4, 2026, and if it can survive releasing in the same month as Grand Theft Auto 6.

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Heroes of the Storm fans, rejoice: Blizzard has not forgotten you. Yes, shocking many, I’m sure. Blizzard has just released a new blog post announcing that Xal’atath is joining Heroes of the Storm alongside a major new update.

That’s right: for the first time in almost six years, the game is receiving a brand-new hero, making her the 91st to join the Nexus.

To celebrate the launch, fans can earn exclusive Twitch drops starting today, September 28, at 9:00 am PT, through October 5 at 11:59 pm PT. Rewards scale with watch time, ranging from 1,000 gold for an hour to Epic and Legendary loot chests, and even an Epic Deadly Chaos Wolf at the eight-hour mark.

Now, my personal knowledge of Heroes of the Storm is limited, but the blog post does detail the new hero. Xal’atath is a ranged assassin, and her ability kit is as follows:

• Trait - Void Volley. Basic attacks build Soul Essence; at full Essence, unleash a barrage of void orbs at a target area while moving freely.
• Q - Shadow Mark. Cast a large Void Orb that marks enemy Heroes hit by its inner radius; the Dark Heart moves to the impact point and detonates on marked enemy Heroes.
• W - Dark Heart Ritual. Summon the Dark Heart talisman to pulse void energy at nearby enemies, then follow and detonate on any Shadow Marked Hero.
• E - Void Step. Blink between three points in a triangular pattern, gaining attack damage at each stop; can be cancelled early to reposition or escape.
• Heroic - Void Eruption. Channel a growing void orb, launch it to blind enemies and dominate space, then detonate in a large area - cast on the Dark Heart for an instant, fully empowered eruption.
• Heroic - Void Convergence. Summon a portal that spawns relentless void minions to overwhelm nearby enemies, replacing fallen minions until the portal ends or is destroyed.

Xal’atath is a paid hero, available for $7.99 right now. For those who prefer to use gold, Blizzard aims to make her available for gold later this year, tentatively set for the end of November.

Outside of this new hero, Blizzard details a bunch of other stuff in the blog post, which you should check out, including a teaser that more might be to come... Fans of Heroes of the Storm seemingly have a lot to be excited about, and I for one hope the game can stick it to other MOBAs.

Do let me know your thoughts in the comments, whether you’re excited, not excited, or somewhere in between. And with that, do be sure to take part in our poll below:

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When I learned that it wouldn't be StarCraft, but instead World of Warcraft: Forever to close out BlizzCon 2026, I was admittedly a bit puzzled. After seeing how World of Warcraft: Forever's beta has been going, though, now I get it.

I've been playing WoW since vanilla, and I've seen every permutation of the game since its inception. All the bugs, content droughts, story highs and lows ... World of Warcraft has been an absolutely wild ride since my teens, and it's showing no signs of slowing down.

At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard revealed the latest incarnation of its legendary MMORPG with thousands of WoW fans and Xbox execs in attendance. World of Warcraft: Forever was received to huge fanfare and promises to deliver on a "Classic+" experience many fans have been asking for for years.

In essence, WoW: Forever is a take on the game's classic era, remixing the original game with new content in a slightly divergent timeline. It adds new characters, thousands of new quests, a variety of new features, new dungeons and raids, and aims to double down on what made classic WoW such a legend. The world itself will be the main character, with leveling, immersion, and social systems as the core driver of play.

World of Warcraft's retail version has shortened its gameplay loop to the game's detriment in my view, hyper-optimizing for maximum convenience and minimal friction. The leveling experience has become trivial, immersion is practically non-existent given that you can just fly over all the content, and the rewards revolve around a weekly chest which feels a bit like picking up a salary from a job.

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It's still fun tackling high-end challenges in Mythic difficulty in modern WoW — but many players yearn for a time when WoW felt more like an RPG, and less like an arcade game. That's what WoW: Forever aims to deliver, and thousands have poured into the beta to catch a glimpse.

To learn more, I spoke to World of Warcraft Forever's lead game designer, Tim Jones, and lead software engineer Nora Valleta all about what the plans are.

World of Warcraft Forever vs. World of Warcraft retail

"I think [World of Warcraft] Classic and Retail just serve different types of audience at this point," Nora Valleta explains. "Like Retail has evolved over the many years, and I was part of that evolution, part of making those decisions along the way."

"For Classic players, it's much more about a social experience. They don't want to queue, they want to be out in the world exploring and have to physically make their way to the dungeon. They like being immersed in the world, meeting people in the wilds. The world is the main character. It's not about Thrall or Jaina, it's about your friends, these places. Your story of, 'oh, we went into this cave, Bob did something dumb, then we had to rescue Tim, and then Tim died.' That story is more important than stories about the NPCs ... and we're providing the immersive world for it to happen."

The team talked about overlap between the two audiences here, and I mentioned that there are things about Classic that I miss in Retail, such as the immersive open world — something I would argue is universally better and more appealing than simply flying over all the content completely free of any sort of danger per Retail.

"I think we [the Classic team] often inspire them to try new things. Retail now has World Bosses inside of a Lair for example now, we borrow ideas from each other," Tim Jones explains. "I could see them borrowing the camping system from us very easily, and perhaps connect it to Player Housing? I would love some day to maybe take Player Housing and bring it into the Classic world."

Lore building and horizontal progression in World of Warcraft: Forever

I asked the team to explain their approach to lore and world-building in WoW: Forever, given that it seems to sit in a slightly different timeline than WoW's modern era. I already wrote a piece about why WoW: Forever's developers decided to include Skyborne elves as the new playable race, despite the fact that there's no mention of them in the modern lore. The team said they want to explore some of the grey areas from Classic, Skyborne will tell the story of Eldre'Thalas and Dire Maul, for example, which was previously never fully fleshed out.

"This is a new continuity," Nora Valleta explains. "We're starting from the same place. Think of adjacent timelines. Some things might be a bit different ... we're not going to do something that is super divergent, like, stopping Arthas from becoming the Lich King for example. Or that Jaina is secretly a Dreadlord ... but who knows?"

"The same philosophy applies to how we'll expand continents. The new zone River Glades for example, the landmass existed in the classic map ... but there was nothing there. It was an opportunity to fill in those spaces and complete those stories too."

"Honestly, every memory you have, every memory that our Classic fans have, we're trying to capitalize on and make something cool out of it. What was that weird gate in Azshara all that time, for example? That's now Timbermaw Hold, right? What's inside Old Ironforge?"

Blizzard is also building a new Legacy system into WoW: Forever to incentivize building alts and experiencing the game in new ways. Indeed, WoW: Forever will be locked at level 60 cap in perpetuity and designed for horizontal progression rather than vertical progression.

"We're really hoping the legacy system will incentivize people to make alternate characters and level up their account through perks, giving them reasons to experience new paths through the world."

Different gameplay milestones will award legacy points in this new system, granting perks in a small talent tree that can boost trade skills, offer extra convenience, and so on. Blizzard says that there are achievements tied to the Legacy system too, which will reward hardcore grinders with exclusive cosmetics. Blizzard wants to add new content at all levels to serve this system, not just the end-game.

"We might add an update where we put in a new zone designed not for level 60, but for level 27 to 32 for example, with a new dungeon. The best way to experience that would be to make a new character. It's not all about level 60, we're going to serve across all levels, as well as awesome level 60 endgame content too."

Approach to difficulty, and Class balance in Classic+

One of the interesting talking points around Classic vs. Retail pertains to difficulty. If you're pushing Mythic+ keys or doing Heroic or Mythic difficulty raiding in Retail, I think there's no real question about which version requires more active involvement. However, Classic's open world is far more punishing than Retail's is. Even if the dungeons and raids are easier, actually acquiring gear is also far more difficult and therefore more rewarding, in my view.

I had a full set of heroic items within a week in the current Retail patch. I remember grinding BWL raids for months before my Nemesis shoulders dropped back in the day. It felt so, sooooo good when I finally got them. In Retail, gear is basically throwaway and forgettable.

There are things about Classic I definitely do not miss, though, and it's how classes were actually balanced. Some specs were just unviable. Prot Paladins couldn't tank serious content owing to not having a taunt, for example. Blizzard is changing its philosophy a bit for WoW: Forever.

"Every single one of our 27 talent trees is now viable for all content in WoW: Forever," says Tim Jones. "That's one big class design goal. That doesn't mean they're all the same ... or all equal. They have strengths and weaknesses. But they're all worthy to bring. None are so powerful that you'll stack your raid with them either."

"You can be a Ret Paladin in raids, you can Seal twist," says Nora Valetta, in reference to how Retribution spec Paladins weren't really raid-viable back in the day. "On the flip side, our attitude towards tuning and dungeon difficulty and raids is that the world should be scary ... raids should be difficult. You'll need to prepare, craft potions, make sure you have class diversity and buffs. Get all the gear you can, do reputation grinds. You should need a good amount of research on what bosses do. But ... we're not going to stomp your face into the ground."

The team explained to me that while they want raids to be tough, they're not gunning for WoW Retail's 100+ wipes Mythic raid difficulty.

"We're going to consistently deliver new 10 and 20 player content every patch. Onyxia will be our 40 man raid. Classic players enjoy a casual experience, we don't want people to do 100 attempts on a boss. If you've formed the group and done your homework, you should be on the road to success. Over-prepare and crush the content, that's what Classic players want to do."

Am I too old for WoW: Forever?

I've been playing through WoW: Forever beta over the past week, and it's equal parts nostalgic and intriguing. The new lighting and fog effects make a big difference to the mood of zones like Tirisfal Glades, and new lore and quests make the world feel fresh in a way that reminisces of the Cataclysm revamp of yore.

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I'm curious how rewarding and active WoW: Forever's endgame might end up being for me personally, though. WoW: Forever made me feel old, and maybe a bit broken. Will I have the attention span to spend weeks upon weeks hunting for specific drops in WoW: Forever? Have WoW Retail's Creation Catalyst "insta-gearing" system and infinite epic drops spoiled me? Do I have the free time to build up in-game relationships necessary to find decent raid teams and groups in WoW: Forever?

I'm going to try my best ... at least.

World of Warcraft: Forever launches on November 4, 2026, for Windows PC.

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BlizzCon 2026 was epic, but as a World of Warcraft retail enjoyer, I was a tad disappointed at the lack of information.

World of Warcraft: Forever more than stole the show. The announcements of Diablo V and StarCraft were huge, but the fact they're both around half a decade away at least definitely put a dampner on things. WoW: Forever is much closer, set to launch in mid-November (going up against GTA 6 no less).

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WoW: Forever is a remix of the original World of Warcraft experience, complete with OG visuals, old-school simplicity, but deep and immersive open-world gameplay. The game is in beta now, and has already blown up on Twitch and other streaming platforms, as aging gamers (like myself) pile in for a healthy dose of nostalgia.

World of Warcraft retail (also known as 'modern' internally) is ticking over in its own right, with the current expansion "Midnight" holding ground as a solid entry in the game's storied expac pantheon. The next expansion is dubbed "The Last Titan," although Blizzard hasn't really shared much of ... well, anything, about what we can expect from it beyond its Northrend setting.

In my recent interview with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, I asked how Blizzard would handle the dichotomy between World of Warcraft: Forever and World of Warcraft's modern timeline. There are things about the "classic" game that were objectively better in the old days, one being world-building atop the general levelling experience.

I mentioned how WoW Classic and WoW: Forever's lower stakes and racial starting zones provide a more engaging and immersive experience than anything offered in WoW retail. As such, I asked Hazzikostas if it's reasonable to expect that World of Warcraft's open world in the "modern" game would effectively be forgotten now developers can point to WoW: Forever as an alternative. Ion Hazzikostas said that isn't the goal.

"We do not think along those lines. Those are problems that I acknowledge are real problems in Modern, and things we want to fix," Hazzikostas explained.

Indeed, WoW: Forever even in beta offers a far more cohesive and immersive levelling experience, where players can more slowly and methodically learn their class alongside the RPG setting and racial fantasy. WoW's modern gameplay is designed to speed you as quickly as possible into its choring endgame loop, which while fun ... is definitely less "RPG"-like than the old school game.

Hazzikostas thinks that offering two experiences to players in WoW retail might be the answer, in the form of a new "Heroic World Tier," similar to Diablo. Blizzard already experimented with this in both Legion Remix and a recent mid-season patch in WoW, where some new instanced zones came with a more difficult "Heroic" mode, removing flying mounts and making monsters more challenging to deal with.

"We've done experiments like the Heroic World Tier in Remix ... I think they're promising," Hazzikostas said. "I think we would like to offer something like that in The Last Titan, for people who want a more challenging, rewarding outdoor experience ... as well as more friction, and more purpose. A world where the outer world is devoid of threats or excitement is missing something. We would never say 'Go play Classic if you want that.' All versions of WoW should have that."

Hazzikostas also said that Blizzard is aware that WoW's modern "new player" experience is lacking, and plans to address it again in the future. At present, retail players are dropped into a random island with patronizingly easy and anachronistic gameplay that not only isn't relevant to current in-game timelines, but is miserably easy and unengaging for most players.

WoW: Forever and WoW: Classic offer a far more sensical levelling experience, moving players through slower-paced and more meaningful progression layers on the road to endgame.

RELATED: Full interview with WoW director Ion Hazzikostas

The disparity in quality between aspects of WoW: Forever and WoW's modern era will likely become a broader talking point as both platforms diverge over time. I'm already planning to riot if WoW: Forever gets playable ogres before retail does ...

WoW: Forever already has better lighting, water, and fog effects than retail. Can Blizzard keep both versions of the game well-catered for, or are they going to end up spreading themselves thin? Time will surely tell.

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"Never say never" is the common refrain, but BlizzCon revealed a bit more about the future of Blizzard's games on console than perhaps you might expect.

BlizzCon 2026 was pretty amazing. We got new trailers for Diablo V and the revival of StarCraft, as well as a revival for Warcraft 3, Heroes of the Storm, and WoW Classic in the form of World of Warcraft: Forever.

Blizzard also revealed Diablo 4 for Nintendo Switch 2 for the first time, and World of Warcraft also includes native Xbox controller support on PC as well — eliminating the need to use addons like Console Port.

When I asked Xbox customers on my Patreon and on X (Twitter) for questions to serve up at BlizzCon 2026, the top ask was always about potential Xbox ports.

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So to honor your requests, I put the questions to the teams across Heroes of the Storm, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft about the potential for the games to hit Xbox or other traditional gaming consoles.

All of them offered variations on the same response ... Here's what they said.

"Never say never."

Warcraft 3 had a big moment at BlizzCon when it revealed Forsaken Kingdom, the first expansion pack in over two decades. I asked Warcraft 3 Project Lead Brad Chan if we could eventually see the RTS emerge on Xbox and other consoles, given that games like Halo Wars and Age of Empires have been successfully adapted for controller.

"You know, we're going to talk about it," Chan said, "Maybe, maybe not, I don't know. Many things are possible, but right now we're focused [on PC]."

Echoing that sentiment was World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, when I asked if we could eventually see World of Warcraft itself emerge on Xbox and other consoles. World of Warcraft: Forever is launching in November, and will be the first version of WoW with native Xbox controller support on PC. Is that a hint at a console version down the line?

RELATED: Speaking with WoW's Ion Hazzikostas on the future of Retail vs. Forever

"Our focus remains PC," Hazzikostas said, referring to World of Warcraft Forever's new Xbox gamepad controllers. "It's not just Xbox, it's just gamepad in general. Right? I think we've seen tons of people in the community use addons like Console Port over the years, and jump through a lot of hoops to get WoW playable on gamepad — we want to make that easier."

Hazzikostas said the Classic and Forever eras of WoW are potentially better suited to Xbox, given the slower, more methodical pace of combat before the Haste stat was added, for example. "Our focus remains [on PC], but many possibilities exist in the future, and we'll see where that leads us."

Well then, what about Heroes of the Storm? Heroes of the Storm also had a big BlizzCon moment when they revealed the game is well and truly back, starting with new hero Xal'atath. I have a bigger review with the team there coming shortly as well.

Speaking to Heroes lead developer James Yen, I asked if the game might find new audiences and growth were it ported to Xbox, consoles, or even mobile, given the popularity of things like Pokémon Unite. Yen quite rightly noted that their focus today is mostly about getting Heroes of the Storm back on its feet.

"We think about all avenues for where [Heroes of the Storm] could go, but that kind of distracts us right now ... from 'we just came back, let's make sure that the players that have been here for so long — let's take care of them, let's keep building content for them.'

We do have long-term goals, but you know those are more like stars, as you know. Our stars were like, 'Hey, let's come back. BlizzCon, that was just perfect timing,' but we are driving towards thinking about other things. But right now, the focus is, ' Let's give something to the players."

I think it's inevitable, at least for World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Forever is already poised to be a huge hit, taking the top spot on Twitch despite being weeks out from launch and rocking in closed beta. The fact that it has native Xbox controller support will open up the game to new audiences across PCs, potentially among users who prefer playing MMORPGs in that format. Naturally, bringing it to consoles across Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch would also vastly open it up to new players, particularly among aging millennials who moved to console from PC through the past two generations. The fact that WoW: Forever is based on classic graphics also means it'll run on practically any modern device at 60 FPS, including the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Steam Deck.

It gets a bit trickier for Heroes of the Storm and Warcraft 3, potentially, though. Warcraft 3 is very much a PC game all up, and RTS has never really found a big audience on Xbox consoles. The Age of Empires 2 Xbox controls are very well realized, but there's probably not an audience big enough to justify the work.

Heroes of the Storm is a bit different in my view. I feel as though Heroes and other MOBAs would control great with a gamepad; Pokémon Unite and Smite proved that it's possible. Heroes of the Storm would be virtually without competition on Xbox and PlayStation, and including heroes and characters from franchises beyond Blizzard would also potentially help it find new audiences Fortnite-style. But it's like James Yen said ... it's still early days for the Heroes' revival.

What do you think? Would you like to see any of these games hit Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch? Hit the comments, let us know.

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At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard Entertainment unveiled World of Warcraft: Forever, offering a glimpse into the future of the world's most iconic MMORPG.

The future ironically lies in the past, as WoW players finally get their wish: a version of the game inspired by the Classic era, albeit with new dungeons and raids, refreshed visuals, new storylines, and new class balancing.

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World of Warcraft: Forever launches in November, but I got an opportunity to speak with World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas to learn all about what the future holds for the franchise in general, and answer some burning philosophical questions about the game's direction.

On the popularity of WoW "Classic+", and its future

I remarked to Ion Hazzikostas that I was a tad surprised Blizzard ended on World of Warcraft: Forever rather than StarCraft, which I would've expected to have broader appeal. Hazzikostas remarked upon Blizzard's commitment to the BlizzCon audience and the company's core, who have been very patiently waiting for their answer to "Classic+."

"It's going to be a huge part of the future, and will shape World of Warcraft going forward," Hazzikostas told me, "A big part of it is, that this isn't 'Classic,' right? Classic remains, with Vanilla, Burning Crusade ... that ecosystem will continue. Forever is designed to be a third pillar alongside Retail and Classic."

He explained that WoW: Forever will maintain roots in Classic, drawing on philosophical design ideas pioneered by the old-school version of the game. That means a more grounded storyline, more "crunchy" systems, and a bigger emphasis on community building over auto-matchmaking systems. Although he did acknowledge that WoW Forever will streamline many things beyond Classic. Talent trees and specs will be rebalanced, trying to make every class viable (which was not the case in Vanilla), and things like tedious World Buff farming for raiding will also be removed from WoW Forever.

"There's a large pre-existing audience that has been asking for something like this, who are closely connected to Classic. We are trying to position this as a truly new experience, right? This is a new game. There are new adventures here. Everyone can start at the beginning, and will be updated for years to come. That's not something that comes along very often in World of Warcraft. We've got expansions people have come to expect and re-releases of prior expansions ... but this is something truly new and open-ended. That's quite exciting."

Talking WoW Forever vs. WoW Retail, and community fragmentation

On the topic of something new, as a World of Warcraft retail enjoyer, I couldn't help but wonder if Blizzard is going to end up stretching themselves too thin here. There are already things in WoW Forever that retail players are hoping to see emerge in the modern era of the game.

I asked Ion Hazzikostas pretty broadly, will WoW Forever lead to further degradation of WoW Retail's "social" fabric as players seeking social experiences drain out even more from Retail? I made the point that chat channels on my server on WoW Retail are already dead, and WoW Forever will likely make it even worse.

"Anytime we think about any new WoW experience, even if it's something simple or as like a Plunderstorm or a Remix, we think about fragmentation, the risk of splintering communities — because of how important that is to World of Warcraft. So we do it very carefully."

"In no way, shape, or form, do we see any perceived withdrawal from social systems in WoW retail as desirable, or as a good thing. I think there's a lot more we can and should do there. There are still strong communities in retail, but a lot of that organization now happens outside of the game in Discord. It's inevitable that when you offer more solo convenience and reduce friction, many take the path of least resistance, and you end up with a more solitary experience.

"The presence of friction, the lack of automatic matchmaking ... that lends itself to establishing social connections. It's part of the thing that makes Classic inherently more social. On the other hand, it can be alienating for a number of players. It's inconvenient. It means if you log in and want to run a dungeon on your lunch break, you likely can't. There are inherent trade offs here. There remains very large differences between Classic and Modern, in terms of pace, difficulty, right? People who enjoy gameplay at a cutting edge level, Heroic or Mythic raiding, pushing keys ... that is not what Forever is going to be about."

Hazzikostas emphasized that Blizzard wants to make WoW Retail a place where you can make new friends too, even in an era where it's designed for maximum convenience. I really wanted to drill down into this point of divergence, though, as the Classic and Modern games develop away from each other.

Does this mean that we should no longer expect the Modern WoW games to get things that are objectively more interesting in Classic, like a more consistent world for leveling alts? A more polished and immersive new-player experience? A more engaging open world?

"No," says Ion Hazzikostas. "We do not think along those lines. Those are problems that I acknowledge are real problems in Modern, and things we want to fix. We've done experiments like the Heroic World Tier in Remix ... I think they're promising. I think we would like to offer something like that in The Last Titan, for people who want a more challenging, rewarding outdoor experience ... as well as more friction, and more purpose. A world where the outer world is devoid of threats or excitement is missing something. We would never say 'Go play Classic if you want that.' All versions of WoW should have that."

Hazzikostas also commented on the difficulty of performing another "revamp" on WoW's modern leveling system for new players, Cataclysm style, noting that it's a "challenging pitch" to ask players to stick through dozens of hours of leveling to catch up to friends. However, he emphasized that Blizzard knows it has "a lot more" work to do to make the new player experience up to par in WoW's modern version, to help players get immersed in their class fantasy, and learn the story.

On the Horde vs. Alliance, and the future of faction identity

On the topic of class fantasy, I wanted to ask how Ion and the WoW team are thinking about reactions to World of Warcraft's modern story direction, with Horde and Alliance de-emphasized in favor of a single neutral storyline every player experiences. I asked if the choices therein represent budget constraints ... or something more philosophical.

"It's a bit of both, right? Resources are finite, and while the WoW dev team is bigger than ever, we still have to choose where we place our time and efforts. Building two versions of the levelling storyline inherently means giving players half as much of an experience, times two. But it's also a function of the story, and feedback we do get from our players. If a majority of players were saying they wanted faction conflict, then we'd lean into faction conflict. That isn't what we're hearing ... they want more cross-faction gameplay ... it's also story credibility to some extent. The Horde and Alliance being at each other's throats in the face of world-ending threats ..."

I noted here that I wasn't necessarily talking about Horde vs. Alliance conflict open war, but more about faction identity and world-building consistency.

"Horde and Alliance identity is something we definitely want to preserve," says Hazzikostas. "We want to make it clear that there's a deep history of enmity and conflict here that shouldn't be forgotten or brushed over ... but there is a need to co-operate in the face of ... just as was the case back in Warcraft 3 at Mount Hyjal. Nothing else mattered except saving Azeroth. Given the current storyline, faction enmity gets pushed aside a bit, but they're still there. I think it's something we intend to return to in a more central way further down the line ..."

I'm still not getting my playable ogres ... though ...

World of Warcraft remains near and dear to my heart despite having played it for decades. I'm not always a fan of the game's direction (where are my playable ogres, Blizzard?!), but it remains a valuable source of rest and relaxation for me. I have an awesome guild, made lifelong friends therein, and still find myself as intrigued by its potential today as I was over 20 years ago, which is not something you can say about most games.

RELATED: Blizzard explains why World of Warcraft is getting more elves

BlizzCon offered a glimpse at World of Warcraft's near future, and the franchise's potential more broadly. We're still left wondering what's on the horizon for World of Warcraft: The Last Titan, and what might lie beyond the Worldsoul saga in general.

I'm concerned that Blizzard might split itself too thinly attempting to develop three separate pillars of the game in tandem ... I'm also concerned that community fragmentation may become an issue as players drain out of regular Classic and Retail looking for the "newness" of Forever. But it's also exciting too. I've always hoped Blizzard would look to Classic for inspiration when shaping Retail, because I do think Retail could use a little more danger and immersion. Whether or not we ever get it remains to be seen.

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BlizzCon 2026 was an absolute banger this year, with Diablo V, STARCRAFT, Heroes of the Storm revival, and more revealed.

The show ended with World of Warcraft Forever, which is Blizzard's take on the popular "Classic+" request. WoW Classic players prefer the old-school, social-first experience the game delivered in its early years, before retail added matchmaking systems and other "modern" features that arguably decimated the game's sense of community building.

WoW Forever builds on the original classic experience, adding new "old school" zones, raids, dungeons, quests, and new race/class combinations previously unavailable. The game will take place in a separate but adjacent timeline to the current WoW lore, offering alternative "what if" scenarios that won't impact the official timeline.

One example of this is the new race coming to World of Warcraft Forever: the Skyborne elves, available to both Horde and Alliance players when the game goes live in just under two months.

The first bit of controversy is the fact that Skyborne elves aren't simply included as part of WoW Forever. They come as part of a $29.99 pack, which marks the first time Blizzard has ever "sold" a race. If this race has particularly powerful racial abilities, i.e., so powerful that they become "meta," many are wondering if this doesn't effectively constitute a pay-to-win scenario.

I didn't know that aspect of the Skyborne when I went into my interview with Blizzard earlier today at BlizzCon, but I did want to know exactly why they decided to add yet "another" elf race to the game. People on social media have already been mocking the inclusion a bit, given the fact that WoW's narrative and race additions have been effectively dominated by elves for years at this point. Void elves, Nightborne elves, Dracthyr human-form elves — the main storyline is all about elves — and now WoW Forever is adding yet another new elf. I wanted to know why Blizzard leaned further into this, knowing the memes already circling about "World of Elfcraft."

The answer might be exactly what you expect it to be.

"We know that being an elf is extremely popular," Lead Classic Designer Tim Jones tells me, "We know from our own experiences we went through going into Burning Crusade, the ability to have a so-called 'pretty character' on the Horde was a big deal. If you go back to 2004, 2005, the balance of the factions was 60% Alliance, 40% Horde, and we discovered once we added Blood Elves to the Horde, it actually flipped to 60% Horde. Being able to make a very 'attractive' character is important to our players. We knew players were going to enjoy it. We have a really cool story to tell about it ... so why not? They're not the same as the elves we know."

"There are stories that we want to tell here," explains Kris Zierhut, Principal Designer. "One of the places we talked about was Shen'dralas, that space in between Mulgore and Desolace ... where you'll get more of the story about the history of Eldre'thalas, which is what became Dire Maul. Who opposed Prince Tortheldrin when he decided to sap his own people for power to summon demons? We thought it would be a cool opportunity when we're exploring that storyline among many untold stories that we want to finish and expand upon in the Classic space ... we tied that to the Skyborne."

So, there you have it. And its core ... the reason both Horde and the Alliance are getting access to the blood elf model is for faction balance, in essence. It's absolutely true that "elves" are WoW's most popular race according to the data ... although as a long-suffering Ogre enjoyer, I can't deny that I am immensely disappointed in the tastes of my fellow Azerothian brethren. I'm never getting playable Ogres, am I?

It's perhaps "not ideal" that they're admitting here that the reason they're adding elves is due to their popularity, only for the powers that be to paywall them behind a $29.99 package ... at that point, wouldn't it just be better to sell WoW Forever as a boxed product? I'll let the community debate that aspect of it ... clearly a lot of work has gone into WoW Forever. But monetizing races is potentially a slippery slope in my view.

In any case, how are you feeling about WoW Forever and BlizzCon 2026 in general? Hit the comments and let me know.

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One of the biggest announcements of BlizzCon 2026's Opening Ceremony was that Warcraft 3, one of the most iconic RTS games in the business, is getting a new expansion called "Forsaken Kingdom" for its modern Warcraft 3: Reforged edition.

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This expansion will follow the exploits of Sylvanas' early days waging war against the Scarlet Crusade, how she helped the Forsaken faction found the Undercity prior to World of Warcraft, and the rise of Naxxramas.

Additionally, Warcraft 3: Reforged will receive a new prologue storyline, over 30 hours of new gameplay content, a new definitive edition graphics mode, a new Forsaken Paladin hero unit, enhanced features, world editor improvements, and more.

Warcraft 3 is the latest game in a growing and welcome trend of classic titles receiving new DLC expansions after years of radio silence, like The Witcher 3's 'Songs of the Past' DLC and Age of Empires 3's 'The Baltic Powers' DLC.

And there couldn't be a more pleasant surprise than seeing a new expansion for Warcraft 3, which hasn't seen one since 2003's Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne.

Judging from the trailers, The Forsaken Kingdom expansion looks like it will maintain the same classic strategy gameplay that made people fall in love with Warcraft 3 for decades.

Plus, the new content looks fun and exciting to play, especially if you enjoyed playing as the undead in Warcraft games. So, if you want to relive classic memories of Warcraft 3 while learning new lore about Warcraft's rich universe, then wage war in Warcraft 3: Reforged's "Forsaken Kingdoms", which is now available on PC via Battle.net.

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Blizzard's worst-kept secret of recent times has been revealed. This is World of Warcraft's take on "Classic+".

World of Warcraft's current retail incarnation is fun, but it's an oddly lonely experience. The game's matchmaking systems introduced some years ago, at this point, really damaged the social fabric of the game, reducing player interactions to the bare-bones functional basics for maximum efficiency.

World of Warcraft Classic, complete with retro graphics, was an attempt by Blizzard to recapture the old-style WoW used to provide, in response to pirated servers from players craving the old-school WoW. WoW arguably had far more RPG depth back in the day, even if it was mechanically more simplistic overall (I do not miss one-button damage rotations and effectively useless talent specs).

At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard revealed "World of Warcraft Forever," which is their take on the community's "Classic+" request. Here's how it works.

Players have long asked Blizzard to offer something that retains the experience of World of Warcraft classic, while also providing new content. Blizzard's "Season of Discovery" was their first attempt at this, but WoW Forever seems far more ambitious.

WoW Forever revamps three classic zones and adds three additional ones on top. It also adds three new raids, a new battleground, and a new race in the Skyborne elves (yes ... more elves). WoW Forever also adds "Thousands" of new quests and new content in existing classic zones.

WoW Forever exists in something of a time bubble. The idea is that Blizzard will continue expanding the level 60 experience in WoW Forever, adding new raids, quests, and content in a horizontal way rather than a vertical way.

It's unclear as of writing if this exists in a separate timeline from the current WoW, giving Blizzard narrative license to diverge from the Retail pipeline.

Skyborne elves aren't mentioned anywhere in the current lore to my knowledge, for example, unless Blizzard is going to figure out some clever way to incorporate them retroactively.

Blizzard also teased the next WoW retail content patch in the form of "Eclipse," where players will take the fight to Xal'atath for one final showdown. Given that we already know the next expansion is called "The Last Titan," it doesn't sound as though we'll be victorious in our battle with Xal'atath here ... Blizzard also offered a small teaser for said expansion, although it sounds as though it'll be further out into 2027.

World of Warcraft Forever launches in just six weeks from now, so you won't have to wait long to try it out for yourself.

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While the Diablo 5 reveal was certainly a bombshell, Diablo 4 got its fair share of announcements at today’s BlizzCon, with huge updates to look forward to, including another new class to add to the roster. During the BlizzCon opening ceremony, Blizzard laid out their roadmap for keeping the game fresh well into 2027.

The biggest news by far is that the Amazon class is finally heading to Diablo 4 in the first half of 2027. Following the exploration of the Nahantu and Scosglen regions in Lord of Hatred, the team is bringing back the fan-favorite warrior archetype to her proper homeland of Skovos. The Amazon promises to inject a whole new combat style and tactical depth into the current roster when she arrives.

When Lord of Hatred launched earlier this year with Paladin, many fans thought the Amazon would be the second mystery class given the setting of the expansion and the class link to Skovos, but we got the Warlock at the time.

It's interesting that Diablo 4 devs seem to be striking a balance with their class rollouts, doing something completely new to the franchise (like Spiritborn and Warlock), but also bringing back some classic archetypes, starting with Paladin and now getting the Amazon from Diablo 2.

In the near term, we also have Season 15 (Season of Hell's Legacy) to look forward to. Positioned as a massive franchise 30th-anniversary celebration, Season 15 offers some neat callbacks to the series' storied history. It will feature some iconic past enemies, legacy items like In Geom, Stone of Jordan, etc., and a bunch of stuff pulled from decades of Diablo lore, including encounters involving the Prime Evils themselves.

Attendees at BlizzCon can get hands-on time with a playable version of Season 15 on the show floor in Hall B, while broader details will be unpacked during the "What's Next" panel on Sunday.

And in the worst-kept secret in Diablo, Blizzard officially confirmed that Diablo 4: The Age of Hatred collection is heading to the Nintendo Switch 2. Playable demos of the portable version are currently available in both the press center and the show floor.

There's also confirmation that the long-rumored Netflix collaboration is actually happening.

I hadn't heard a peep about this since chatting to Rod Fergusson back in 2024, I had definitely felt during our interview he held back on answering my question about this "I think that's something that could translate very well to something like that (screen). You know, I wish I had something I could talk to you about today. But in terms of just the general idea, do I think it could work? I definitely do." But even this coupled with Johanna Faires recent comments about Blizzard being Blizzard Entertainment, not Blizzard Games, didn't prepare me for an official announcement. We don't know anything else at this stage, but animated adaptation like Castlevania and Cyberpunk Edgerunners have been such a hit for Netflix, I can't wait to see how they tackle Diablo too.

Between a nostalgic heavy anniversary season, the expansion to Nintendo Switch 2 and the inclusion of the Amazon class from Skovos, Diablo 4 players have plenty of blood, loot, and lore to sink their teeth into over the coming years.

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During the BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony, Blizzard Entertainment's popular hero shooter, Overwatch, received a new cinematic trailer for a new playable hero called Doctrine.

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Doctrine is a Support-type hero that glides through the battlefield using vampiric powers to destroy enemies and support allies by healing them with robot drones shaped like bats.

In addition to Doctrine, Blizzard Entertainment has announced that Overwatch Season 5 will begin on October 6, 2026.

It will feature: a rework of Sombra into a Support-type Hero, a rework of Roadhog's toolkit so it's not a nightmare for enemy players to deal with, a new Watchpoint: Grimsvotn map set in Iceland to battle in, the return of Dokiwatch, and so much more.

Stay tuned for more info on Doctrine, which will be revealed later today during the Overwatch Developer Livestream portion of BlizzCon 2026.

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Finally, after over a decade of waiting, Blizzard is returning to StarCraft.

Revealed at BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard lifted the lid on one of gaming's biggest rumor mills of recent memory. STARCRAFT is coming in 2030, and here's the first cinematic trailer.

StarCraft has historically been a real-time strategy franchise, often credited with kickstarting the mainstreaming of live esports. The franchise focuses on three main factions: humans of the United Earth Directorate, advanced aliens known as the Protoss, and the Xenomorph-like Zerg swarm.

The classic RTS and its follow-up, StarCraft II, have effectively been on ice since StarCraft II shipped its final expansion, Legacy of the Void, some years ago.

StarCraft has previously attempted a foray into shooters too, with the famously canceled "StarCraft: Ghost." The new STARCRAFT seems like something of a soft reignition of the franchise, particularly given the fact it shares its namesake with the original StarCraft (which is always a tad annoying when discussing games which literally share a name ...). But to me, it feels indicative of a Blizzard intent on reintroducing the franchise to a new, potentially more mainstream audience.

What remains to be seen is whether or not we get a tried-and-true StarCraft 3 RTS, as I'm sure many StarCraft fans will be slighted by the decision to step away from the franchise's traditional roots.

There are rumors that Nexon and other companies have pitched Blizzard to work in the StarCraft franchise, so we'll have to wait and see.

I'm curious why Blizzard decided to announce it so early too, considering we're literally four years away from its stated landing strip. I guess this helps Blizzard ramp up hiring for the game's development; it could also be indicative of the game's potential scope.

From what I've heard and seen, the game has been in development for quite a while already. Blizzard may also have its work cut out differentiating StarCraft from a surging Warhammer 40K, which has truly found mainstream success in recent years. It'll be interesting to see how Blizzard navigates some of that.

In any case, what do you think of StarCraft's pending return? Hit the comments, let us know.

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