The beta for World of Warcraft: Forever, Blizzard's "Classic Plus" MMO set during the game's early years, experienced unprecedented player numbers upon its recent release, according to developers.
Josh Greenfield, a developer on the World of Warcraft Classic team, shared on X (formerly Twitter) that the beta has generated "the craziest numbers I've seen in 17 years working at Blizzard and almost eight years on classic." He expressed his excitement, stating, "We've got something really special here."
The surge of players initially led to significant issues, including server disconnects and extreme lag, particularly with looting and quest acceptance. Tom Ellis, a senior game producer for World of Warcraft, explained on X that the beta was utilizing a "BETA PTR environment stack" which is not as powerful as a production stack, noting that "Betas for WoW aren't usually huge meter movers so this environment just isn't that powerful." This underpowered infrastructure contributed to the initial problems.
Blizzard addressed these issues, and Ellis later confirmed that the servers were marked live again and the beta was running smoothly. "Right now things are incredibly smooth for the first few hours of a public beta," he stated, adding that the Classic team was monitoring and fixing any blocking issues.
Players who have managed to access the beta have reportedly praised the new visuals, including improved lighting, and new sound effects. For long-time players, the experience has also been a significant nostalgia trip, echoing the early days of World of Warcraft's launch in late 2004 and early 2005.