It’s amusing to me that I’m this keen for Forever considering I didn’t really give 2019 Classic much of a chance. To be fair, I had played pre Cata WoW to DEATH (I started in TBC) and Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers was eating up all of my time. I don’t play retail much outside of the start of expansions and major patches these days.

Anyway, we’re so back!

I’ve been having a really hard time not spending all my time in the beta. Thankfully, knowing that none of this is being saved and it’s just for testing has helped me avoid sticking to a singular character. I’ve mostly played Alliance as I will main Horde come launch, playing classes I don’t normally, and spent my time running around and reporting bugs.

I haven’t personally had any game breaking bugs, just graphical and sound issues.

I noticed that the moonwell in Stormwind Park is displaying the old Vanilla water textures. They’re such an eyesore in comparison to the new Forever textures! There’s also some funny developer leftovers. Side note; man I missed the park! I’m also glad they added the harbour.

What they’ve done with the lighting and effects are so good! It’s incredible how these additions made the old world look stunning. Whenever I spot sunbeams poking through the trees, or the rain starts pouring as I’m leaving a building, I stop for a moment and take it in. Especially with the rain; everyone in chat starts carrying on about it. Besides the white lines, it looks really good!

>

You may have noticed I am using the SD models wherever I can. Unfortunately the Skyborne don’t have one (YET we can hope). I just prefer the faces on most of the old models. Some races HD models have lost the uniqueness of their faces! I have been playing retails for a long time now (WoD model updates were 12 years ago) so I have gotten used to them, but I still mourn the skull face for undead females every time I remember her.

Looking Forward to the Launch

Some of my friends will also being playing on launch, though we are a bit spread in faction and race choice, most of us will at least have one character on each side. I’ll be leveling one Alliance character with a friend, and will be leveling my main on Horde in my own time. I’m looking forward to messing around with everyone! I’m not really sure if everyone will stick around to 60 as we are mostly retail players, but the best thing is they can drop in whenever they want and we can do some content and have fun!

I’m also looking forward to meeting new people. I will be rolling on PVE initially, so I will of course need to find a nice guild, run dungeons, pop into a battleground and mess around in the open world. I am glad there will be an OCE region because it’s nice having people on your same ping and vibes to run content with, but the megaserver will be sooooo good for off peak times. It makes me really sad when I can’t run anything or see barely anyone because everyone is asleep or at work.

More people is a good thing! And honestly, WoW on 200ms isn’t even that bad when you’re doing leveling content.

Mostly I am looking forward to taking my time and exploring. Yes I am intimately familiar with the world, and have been to these areas many times. But it’s been awhile since I’ve properly sat in the vanilla world. And now it has new content! I want to be immersed.

I won’t be able to play on the launch weekend as I am unfortunately an adult with a job! It’s fine… At least it’ll be quieter.

Creative Endeavours

I will be making regular blog posts about my time in Forever. I’d like to make videos when inspiration strikes, but it is a lot more effort. We’ll see! Mainly I think I will be drawing and writing about my characters and their adventures. So far I only have two set for PVE, however I will eventually create more.

Undeath means different things to different Forsaken. For Encephalitis, it means freedom. Ironic given that she was a mindless, ravenous zombie for awhile. When she eventually came to her senses, she did not remember her living name, and she did not care. Enceph is now in the prime of her life, starting out as a fresh adventurer and learning the skills of the rogue with aspirations of becoming a Deathstalker. She can be snarky and blunt, with little interest in being soft or kind. It’s time for her to be selfish.

Irlaya Silverheart is the only remaining member of the entire Silverheart line. While her line had lived and died in Quel’thalas, Irlaya had not been to the region for many years even before the scourge invasion. Residing in the Hinterlands at Quel’Danil Lodge, she has lived a regular civilian life until recently when she decided to take up arms and fight for the Alliance. Irlaya carries herself with a measured grace that gives her the airs of a knight, though she is quite charismatic and prone to chattiness.

–

Encephalitis is my main over on retail so I already have a lot of material for her, though I’ve never compiled it anywhere. She is also romantically involved with Sylvanas (I am a dirty disgusting NPCxOC enjoyer and I don’t care what you think) and I am thinking about doing that again in Forever because I miss who Sylvanas used to be. Irlaya is a completely new character and I just made up that backstory on the spot. I’m not bothered at all by the Skyborne but I wanted a High Elf character, so I made one!

Please look forward to more content for these two!