One of the many surprises of World of Warcraft Forever’s announcement at BlizzCon this past weekend is that the new version of the MMO is, in fact, getting its own hardcore mode. During the final Forever panel at BlizzCon, the studio devoted time to laying out all of the specifics for this “level 60 on one life or bust” mode.
The studio recapped how this community-created explosive phenomenon became officially enshrined in WoW Classic — and, coming down the line, WoW Forever. Blizzard pointed back to Diablo II’s single-life hardcore mode as partial inspiration as well.
“In a way, this is the most pure way to play vanilla WoW,” one of the devs said. Another noted how execs were iffy on the idea but ultimately gave it a go-ahead and saw success follow.
Hardcore isn’t coming to Forever at launch but will follow several months afterward. The devs said that the new features of Forever will allow players to prepare their characters better for the journey to 60, including all of the new tradeskills, new items, better food buffs, and camping buffs. Another helpful leg-up is the acquisition of legacy points, which gives you choices of perks for your next run, bringing hardcore a step closer to roguelike game design.
The world will be more “fair” by not killing your characters with unexpected lag, as there’s some character protection with a new system coming to this version of the game. The devs also teased a possible space for Mok’gora PvP duels but did not go into more detail.
Another big change is that if you die in hardcore, you’ll be able to transfer to your choice of PvE, PvP, or Roleplay realms. Any legacy points earned in hardcore will transfer over to the other servers. There will also be hardcore-specific legacy challenges to replace the PvP achievements.
“It’s an opportunity for you to show a new mastery of the game,” the devs said, speaking to all of the additional changes to the world.
source: Twitch
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