As Fans Flood the World of Warcraft: Forever Beta, Dev Says It’s Putting Up ‘The Craziest Numbers I’ve Seen in 17 Years Working at Blizzard’
World of Warcraft: Forever, announced at BlizzCon 2026, exceeded Blizzard’s expectations with massive player interest during its beta launch this week. The “Classic Plus” MMO, developed by the WoW Classic team and set during the first year of World of Warcraft, will officially release on November 4.
The beta release immediately overwhelmed servers, with players experiencing frequent disconnects and severe lag issues. A Blizzard developer with 17 years at the company noted the engagement was putting up “the craziest numbers I’ve seen in 17 years working at Blizzard,” indicating the volume far exceeded internal projections.
The exceptional beta response reflects significant player appetite for a classic-era World of Warcraft experience and suggests the game could become a major hit at launch. Whether Blizzard can scale its infrastructure to handle the expected player load at full release remains to be seen.