The cosmos divided cannot survive what is to come

The amount of hype surrounding WoW Forever is honestly starting to feel unreal.

I’m hearing people talk about it everywhere, even in real life, which is something I’ve barely experienced with WoW before.

Strangely enough, I don’t think I’ve fully processed just how big this launch is going to be. I’m excited, but cautiously optimistic, almost like I’m mentally unprepared for the sheer scale of what’s coming.
The more people I hear talking about it, the more I realize this might genuinely eclipse the 2019 Classic launch. And that’s saying something, because 2019 was absolutely massive.

There’s this growing feeling that we’re about to experience something special. Not just another WoW launch, but potentially one of those rare gaming moments where everyone seems to be playing the same game at the same time.

I genuinely think WoW Forever is going to be something unlike anything we’ve experienced before.

Horde racials are zoggy 😔

No it's not overpowered. It takes 2.5 minutes.

This is only useful running between far towns.

At this point they should just get rid of them altogether.

Check in on your local human, skyborne, and maybe Orc. They put on a strong face but deep down things might not be okay. Suggest they play something like Gnome and that the model "really isn't that bad once you get used to it"

Yet people will spend days farming professions, reputation, dungeons, raids, or buckets of gold all for a 1-2% upgrade.

Classic warrior prebis with Heart of Wyrmthalak instead of Hand of Justice - 1479 DPS
Classic warrior prebis with Hand of Justice - 1504 DPS - 1.7% difference

Warrior p2 BiS - 1525 DPS
Warrior p3 BiS - 1617 DPS - 6% difference, 7 items replaced = 0.86% DPS increase per piece replaced.

People will spend literal weeks/a ton of money on ZG rep for a shoulder enchant that's worth less than 1% dps.

Warrior p3 BiS without ZG shoulder enchant - 1617 DPS
Warrior p3 BiS with ZG enchant - 1631 DPS - 0.9% DPS increase

Any singular gear upgrade in WoW tends to be a 1-2% DPS increase and they tend to take days, or weeks, or in the case of BoEs a lot of gold to get. Contrast that to racials that take a single button press at the start of your character's creation to get the same benefit.

Days/weeks of effort vs 1 button click.

And this isn't even talking about the 5% beast/elemental racials. If a skelf does more DPS than a gnome against standard enemies, then why do they do an additional 5% more damage against elementals as well?

So if you're someone who doesn't think 1-2% matters then keep that in mind next time you lose your BiS item roll to someone else. Keep that in mind when you spend money on enchanting your gear. Because WoW is literally all about 1-2% incremental increases and it's silly to pretend otherwise.

They replaced axe specialization with savage (+1% crit) which at least helps every orc regardless of class. But now savage is being removed too, and Command is coming back: +5% damage for hunter and warlock pets.
Am I missing something here or is this inconsistent? Curious what other orc players think.

Its not elitist or retail brained. Its common courtesy. If you are already ready to go, you shouldn't feel bad about not wanting to wait for someone to finish a quest, turn it in then travel from the other side of the world while you stare at the wall. Kick them. Or better yet just check where they are first. But never let people put you on blast for being ready to go and having standards. No, its not part of the experience. Its just a part of theirs.

I recognize that this may not be news to many of you but, to anyone that it is, I want to warn you not to purchase Battle.net currency if your intention is to use that currency to pay for one of WoW's various subscription bundles (particularly ahead of Forever's launch next week).

Essentially, Battle.net's storefront has a hidden design flaw: their subscription bundles (with their various mounts, pets, transmogs, etc.) are ineligible to be paid for using your Battle.net account balance and, intentionally or not, their subscription page provides you zero warning about this... as I only discovered this upon arriving at their final checkout screen...

Therein lies the predicament I now find myself in... I purchased $170 in Battle.net currency via Amazon because I happened to have a Prime Visa (thus enabling me to get 5% cashback instead of 3) and some accrued rewards dollars to spend and, by doing so, thought I could somewhat mitigate the cost of committing a year-in-advance to WoW: Forever (that I had already pre-purchased via the Warcraft Forever Bundle). When their system shockingly (at least to me) prevented me from doing this, I opened a ticket requesting that billing manually deduct the funds from my balance and then grant me the 12-month bundle, and above is the response I got...

In short, the GM told me that their system won't allow them to do this and their recommendation was to pay another $170 using a "valid recurring payment method" to get the bundle and to just leave my initial $170 sitting in my Battle.net wallet "for future purchases down the road."

My response (also above) was that I've been a sub, and Battle.net customer, for over 20 years and that telling a customer to casually float over $320 out of pocket because your automated storefront lacks basic structural transparency is ridiculous and that other platforms, like Xbox or PlayStation, let you fund recurring subscriptions via your digital wallet.

I've now requested a manual override to deduct the cost of the bundle from my account balance or to use that money to refund my credit card if forced to go that route.

TL;DR: Do NOT buy Battle.net currency if your intent is to then purchase a subscription bundle with it. Blizzard will take your money, lock it in your wallet, and then tell you to swipe your credit card again...

*IN SD PEOPLE ARE HARSH ON HD I 'M A SD ADVOCATE - I DON'T WANT RETAIL TOO BUT THIS IS IS VERY MUCH "LOW FANTASY" AND CAN BE IMPLEMENTED IN CLASSIC EASILY*

This is just cool I need these hoods / shoulder drapes in WoW Forever it screams adventurer.

A travelling Warrior / Hunter / Rogue vibes really nice.

Those boots look Classic to me too throw those in!

I really don’t understand the reasoning behind replacing Tauren’s 1% hit with 2% increased critical strike damage. Gotta think if I crit 1k, it’s doing 20 extra damage.. it’s practically useless. The 1% hit was a genuinely useful racial that benefited multiple specs and helped with gearing, especially early on when hit rating is harder to come by. Meanwhile, 2% increased critical strike damage only provides value when you actually crit, does nothing for your non-critical hits and its effectiveness varies depending on your class, spec and abilities. I’m not saying Tauren need to have the strongest racials in the game, but replacing something as consistently valuable as 1% hit with such a minor and conditional damage bonus feels like a pretty uneven trade. How is that a trade off for 1% hit? I’d love to see the developers either reconsider restoring the 1% hit or give Tauren something that provides comparable value. /moooo

A main theme of Warcraft is Escalation

In the words of Rooster Teeth: they have a base over there because we have a base over here. It's an arms race

I don't think that we need exact, immediate symmetry

In fact, some asymmetry is a lot more realistic

It should balance out though over time

- Alliance get Dalaran, a huge magical city

- Horde get major based in Riverlands and Swamp of Sorrows with the Oges, get into talks with Feralas Ogres

- in response the Alliance build a new Garrison on Feathermoon Island

- in response the Forsaken make a dock on Northern Tirisfal

These things don't have to be exactly equal in that sense, and I think the game would be better for it