Blizzard Says World of Warcraft: Forever Has No Plans for Modern WoW Races

"We have no plans to add races from WoW's expansions at this time," Blizzard said, according to TechRadar. That means fans should not expect races such as Vulpera, Goblins or Haranir. The company also said it does not plan to reintroduce races from Azeroth-based expansions including Battle for Azeroth, Shadowlands or Midnight.

Blizzard explained its focus is on the original Warcraft games because WoW: Forever exists within its own timeline. "Our main focus for the game is to build off the foundational lore of Warcraft," it said. "This means first and foremost the RTS games, and we've hit on this right from the start with our content that picks up after the events of the new Warcraft 3: Forsaken Kingdom campaign."

The team said its separate continuity allows it to forge its own path and tell stories that serve WoW: Forever first. It added that it would not be fair to WoW: Forever and players who want to see where this world is going to spend a lot of time fleshing out stories already told extensively in the modern game.

Blizzard said it plans to keep its stories very grounded. Modern WoW's stakes are "so vast" and have weight because characters have gone far in that world, but WoW: Forever will start in a very different place. "You aren't THE hero in WoW: Forever, you are just A hero," the team said. It said players may be part of larger narratives and events, but how they interact with those narratives will be more subtle and grounded, as was the case in original WoW.

The team also teased that it may go to some places that came in later WoW expansions, but it is fairly committed at this time to doing the WoW: Forever version of those places rather than simply retreading the versions already seen. In the same interview, Blizzard confirmed it is actively working to combat real-money trading in WoW: Forever.