World of Warcraft: Forever players have made their feelings about the game’s visual style crystal clear: They love it when things look old.
It’s a recurring theme in the Forever beta, where players have continually pushed back against updated high-definition character models and character portraits. While Forever is in many ways a new version of Blizzard’s MMORPG, it’s built with the spirit and foundation of WoW Classic in mind, even as it includes updated visuals and quality-of-life updates taken straight from modern WoW. One of those new features is an option to use modern WoW’s updated playable character and non-enemy NPC models.
According to the WoW content creator Savix, who tested an early version of Forever before it was publicly announced, developer Blizzard didn’t originally plan to include the ability to swap between standard or high-def character models, instead only using HD models. The testers, many of them streamers and content creators from within the WoW Classic community, stressed how important it was to include an option for the game’s original character models.
Blizzard thankfully listened, but every other instance of updated character models have been met with similar distaste from among the MMO’s community. Whether it was intentional or by mistake, a quilboar boss was found to be using its modern WoW model and was met with backlash from players. It didn’t take long for Blizzard to return the enemy back to how it looked in WoW Classic.
It’s a similar story with the game’s character creation portraits. For much of the beta, the Forever character-creation screen used HD portraits taken from modern WoW, to the disappointment of the community. Earlier this week that finally changed, with the game now using WoW’s original character-creation portraits.
Blizzard seems to have gotten the message. Currently, the game’s new playable Skyborne elf race only has HD models. That, too, sounds like it will soon change. In a comment attached to a video exploring Skyborne lore and abilities, Blizzard said to “stay tuned regarding Skyborne models,” seemingly implying standard-definition versions of the Skyborne are on the way.
Even with these options, some players want more. Forever’s user interface is a fascinating combination of old and new–cleaner and more streamlined similar to modern WoW, but inspired in many ways by WoW Classic. Currently, there’s not a toggle option to swap between Forever’s updated UI and WoW’s original interface. For those who want the UI as it was 20 years ago, a player-made ClassicUI Forever add-on reverts many of Blizzard’s changes to make everything from the game’s action bars, spellbook, profession tab, character portraits, bags, and more look as they did in 2004.
I expect this push and pull to continue. WoW content creators have debated the clash between old and new found in Forever’s art style, with many calling on Blizzard to pick a lane. For what seems like the majority of the Forever community, the answer is loud and clear–the older looking the better.
WoW: Forever’s beta runs through October 21, with Forever’s full launch coming November 4. A recent RMT controversy in the Forever beta saw Blizzard put its foot down when it comes to illegal gold buying. Meanwhile, Blizzard is asking players in a survey for their opinions on 11 potential new classes that could be added to Forever in the future.