Dan Trachtenberg has spent the past few years proving he can put a fresh spin on some of Hollywood’s most recognizable franchises. After making his feature debut with the tense 2016 thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane, Trachtenberg moved into the Predator universe with 2022’s Prey, followed by Predator: Badlands and the animated Predator: Killer of Killers. Now, he’s turning his attention to another iconic piece of pop culture — but this time, it’s coming from Disney.
Even though World of Warcraft: Forever is only in beta right now, players are able to explore a good amount of Azeroth to see what secrets Blizzard has tucked away for the full release.
Several secrets have been found, like a bunch of hidden books that reward powerful leveling items, but some of them have hints for what to expect when it launches in November. There are plenty of items that don't have a clear use yet that might become extremely valuable as time goes on.
A new NPC was recently found in the new Riverglades zone who sells a bunch of expensive crafting items. Theoretically, you should be able to get these items by playing the game normally, but many WoW: Forever players suspect he exists to prevent the auction house prices from skyrocketing due to their rarity.
Mister Graphed, the black market goblin merchant, sells items for 20+ gold—a hefty chunk of change in the Classic-era of WoW—that should prevent anyone from feeling obligated to buy them for more than that from other players. I'm sure it'll still happen because people love to sell items you can buy from vendors at a premium for the convenience of not having to travel around, but it will at least keep the prices from getting too ridiculous.
Notably, though, the vendor also sells new crafting materials called Fel Crystal and Stranglevine. Blizzard has done a big overhaul of professions in WoW: Forever, making them considerably more useful while you're leveling up. I was able to craft a nice set of gear before I was anywhere close to the beta's level cap of 20. These new items suggest there will be some really rare items to craft that never existed in previous versions of the MMO.
One item is available that isn't a crafting item at all: It's called the Gift of Galloping and it's a whopping 150 gold. This item says it gives you a 10% boost to your mounted movement speed for 15 days. Classic WoW never had anything like it, but I guess if you're rich you can pay a pricey subscription fee to go a little faster if you want.
It seems Blizzard is doing its best to prepare for WoW: Forever being a game that won't transition into new expansions. The level cap will permanently stay at 60, so there will have to be reasons for players to keep playing their characters or start new ones. It also means the economy will need things like that NPC in place so that the prices don't get out of control as players presumably get more powerful and the mysteries of the game get solved.
With only a couple of weeks remaining before survival sandbox Enshrouded makes its 1.0 release, the devs have been primarily keeping their heads down to get the full launch prepared and ready, but they also have peeked up a couple of times to dig in to some of the significant updates being made in its next big build. Last […]
World of Warcraft: Forever's beta is in full swing, and if its popularity is any indication of how the full launch might go, it's going to be big, as Blizzard has had to increase the beta's population cap multiple times.
Forever was Blizzard's big finale during its BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony, a modified version of WoW Classic that keeps the old-school MMORPG's gameplay and world but brings plenty of new changes and content as well. It's something WoW Classic players have asked for years, and Blizzard is now finally ready to deliver.
The beta kicked off September 17 with an initial level cap of 20 and will run through October 21, with Forever's full launch slated for November 4. It's important to note that it's not an open beta that anyone can join. Players need to purchase the $60 Skyborne Epic Pack (which unlocks the new playable Skyborne race in Forever) to gain access.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buBZRiQXl8U&t=1s
Despite a $60 barrier to entry, everything points towards the beta being huge. From the get go, the beta ran into problems due to sheer popularity, with WoW: Forever senior game producer Tom Ellis (who has since deleted their X account) posting a technical breakdown that boiled many of the beta's initial issues down to the game's beta environment simply not being accustomed to such high demand.
It wasn't long before other developers at Blizzard began to chime in on how unprecedented the Forever's beta seemed to be. WoW executive producer Holly Longdale posted that Forever's beta was "setting records." Two days later on September 19, she said "launch will be wild…and we are here for it, come what may."
Most recently, Longdale chimed in about the beta's success once more. On September 27, she wrote Blizzard had to increase the beta's population cap once again. "The wild ride continues," she said.
Longdale hasn't been the only one commenting on how big the beta seems to be. Senior game designer Josh Greenfield, who frequently answers from the game's community on X, said the beta "has been crazy."
"The craziest numbers I've seen in 17 years working at Blizzard and almost 8 years on Classic," Greenfield said. "We've got something really special here."
When asked how Blizzard was preparing to handle potential login queues at launch, Greenfield said the beta itself was the answer, as the team had found and fixed more problems on beta launch day than it would have in six months of internal testing.
Still, given how some previous WoW launches have gone, it certainly wouldn't be surprising if Forever were to run into technical issues at launch, despite the game essentially doing away with traditional servers. Blizzard hasn't yet released exact beta numbers, but off of everything we've seen so far, Forever's launch is shaping up to be a doozy.
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