Blizzard Outlines Anti-Dead-Server Tools for World of Warcraft: Forever
Senior game designer Josh Greenfield says auction house linking and cross-ruleset instanced grouping are options if a ruleset's population collapses.
Blizzard Entertainment said World of Warcraft: Forever will ship with tools to prevent dead or unsustainable server rulesets, according to GameSpot. The game launches on November 4.
Senior game designer Josh Greenfield said that if a ruleset's population becomes unsustainable, Blizzard could link auction houses or allow cross-ruleset grouping for instanced content. He described those options as levers the team can pull if needed.
Greenfield also said Blizzard is committed to keeping the separate RP and RP-PvP rulesets for now. The company said it opted for separate rulesets partly because of differences in PvE and PvP server economies.
The issue has history in WoW Classic, where servers became dead over time as players stopped playing or transferred away, leaving those who remained unable to find groups for raids or dungeons. In some extreme cases, Blizzard gave away free character transfers so players could leave dead servers.
Before Forever's launch, Blizzard detailed improvements to its layering system and announced major changes to racial abilities. Executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale recently said the game's controller support is a step toward WoW being playable wherever and on whatever players want; Forever will be the first WoW version fully playable on a controller.
Quick answers
When does World of Warcraft: Forever launch?
It launches on November 4.
What happens if a Forever ruleset's population becomes unsustainable?
Blizzard says it could link auction houses or allow cross-ruleset grouping for instanced content, options Greenfield called levers the team can pull if needed.
Will Forever keep separate RP and RP-PvP rulesets?
Yes. Greenfield said Blizzard is committed to keeping the separate RP and RP-PvP rulesets for now.