WoW Forever Designer Explains Why Blizzard Isn't Starting Over With a WoW 2

A Guild Wars 2-style clean break for World of Warcraft does not appear to be on Blizzard’s agenda. In comments to IGN, picked up by PC Gamer, World of Warcraft: Forever principal designer Kris Zierhut explained why the team would rather build on the existing game than begin a sequel from scratch. This is a developer explaining his reasoning, not a formal announcement ruling a WoW 2 out forever.

Zierhut’s case: the foundation is the asset

Zierhut’s argument rests on what he sees as WoW’s rare advantage: one game and one world that have been developed without a break for 25 years. Instead of treating that age as baggage, he described it as a pile of upgrades Forever gets to inherit:

• Better graphics, rendering and lighting, including the improvements shown on stage.
• An engine that now draws the world more efficiently.
• Server technology that handles players, movement, spells and combat better than it used to.

He boiled the position down to a single question: “Why would you throw that away and start over?”

PC Gamer frames Forever as more ambitious than a Season of Discovery-style twist on Classic, describing it as a full remake of classic-era WoW with reimagined class trees and new raids. The outlet also points out that the progress of the modern game, from new character models and animations to its overall look, is precisely what makes a Classic-flavored project like this workable.

The counterargument

PC Gamer’s writer is not entirely sold on the idea that a sequel would be pointless, and raises two points:

• Technical debt. Decades of changes leave fragile systems behind, and the article cites player housing breaking after a fix to an elevator in a 13-year-old raid. A sequel, the piece argues, would be a chance to question core design assumptions, the way ArenaNet’s Guild Wars series leaned further into action combat.
• Nostalgia versus modern design. Today’s MMOs are data-mined weeks before patches land and optimized down to the smallest detail, which can drain the sense of mystery. The writer admits some sympathy for the view that Forever is chasing an outdated style, but also cites colleague Lincoln Carpenter’s MMO column, which argues that modern games still feel most magical when you step off the treadmill.

The piece closes on a conditional note: if Forever turns out to be an alternate history of MMO design as a whole, not just of WoW, the author is on board.

What it means for players

For anyone still hoping for a true World of Warcraft 2, these comments suggest Blizzard’s effort is going into evolving the current game and its technology instead. For Forever players, the upside is a Classic-era world running on engine and server tech that has been refined for decades. Whether that mix feels fresh or dated is the open question only launch will settle. In the meantime, you can explore class options in our talent planner.