Blizzard is building World of Warcraft: Forever around alternate characters. In interviews with PC Gamer, developers said alts are meant to fit into the game’s progression systems, help players keep up with new content and make it easier to bring friends into Azeroth.
The timing is part of that plan. Forever launches November 4, and executive producer Holly Longdale said it is expected to be Warcraft’s easiest entry point for new players. That feeds into how the team is shaping leveling, rewards and future patches, all of which are being designed with multiple characters in mind.
Legacy points push players toward more than one character
Vice president and senior game director Ion Hazzikostas said Blizzard wants clear reasons for players to create alts. “There will be reasons to play alts and to unlock Legacy points, to have new journeys,” he said.
The Legacy System sits at the center of that idea. It awards achievement-style points for major accomplishments, and those points can be spent in talent-tree-style options that grant major quality-of-life improvements. Because alts can gather those points faster or with less effort than a single all-purpose character, they become part of the intended progression loop rather than a side hobby.
Principal designer Kris Zierhut said he even built spreadsheets to estimate what progression-minded players would choose while chasing those points. His conclusion was that starting a new character to collect easier low-level rewards often makes more sense than trying to earn every difficult point on one main character.
He also connected that to how the game supports group play. “I’ve got this level 20 guy I’ve been leveling. You can get there pretty quick. Let’s group up and play together,” he said, describing the kind of conversation Blizzard wants to make possible when friends join at different times.
That social angle matters to the studio’s design. The developers are treating alt-friendly progression as a way to reduce the gap between new players and veterans, and to make it simpler for someone with a geared main character to start again alongside a friend or family member without immediately feeling locked out of shared progression.
Leveling content will keep changing after launch
Alt support is also tied to how Blizzard plans to deliver future content. Because Forever’s level cap does not change, a lot of the new areas, dungeons and encounters will be aimed at leveling characters rather than only at max-level play.
Lead game designer Tim Jones said Blizzard is “releasing content around all of the different level bands.” He added that the structure should let players spend as much or as little time in the game as they want, because there are multiple ways to make progress.
Jones said that flexibility is important for people who can only log in for short sessions. He described being able to finish a couple of quests in Elwynn Forest, visit the auction house for materials or make a few steps in blacksmithing and still feel that the session accomplished something. For Blizzard, that is still meaningful progression even when a player does not have time for a long run.
Lead software engineer Nora Mills said each run through the game should feel different enough that rolling a new character remains appealing. “Your journey is never identical to what it was,” she said.
The studio is also adding new items for professions, new leveling dungeons and new areas in future patches, according to lead software engineer Michael Nuthals. He said Blizzard wants every player to have something worth returning for, especially if they enjoy leveling instead of only chasing endgame systems.
“If I love leveling, I’ve got a new path or a new quest chain or a new dungeon I can do,” Nuthals said.
That approach gives Blizzard a way to keep older content active while still rolling out fresh material. Rather than pushing everyone toward one max-level track, Forever is being built so players can move between characters, zones and progression routes without feeling like the game only counts a single main.
Blizzard is already thinking about account-wide conveniences
Hazzikostas said the team is also considering systems that would make managing alts less cumbersome. He mentioned warband banks from the modern game and said an account-wide bank is something he could see Blizzard adding in the not-too-distant future.
“An account-wide bank is something I could see adding in the not-too-distant future,” he said.
He argued that some of the friction around alts is unnecessary, especially if the game itself is encouraging players to keep multiple characters active. That includes the extra steps involved in mailing items from one character to another and then swapping back and forth to retrieve them.
Blizzard did not announce a release date for that kind of feature, but Hazzikostas made clear that the studio is looking at the practical side of alt play as well as the reward structure. If players are expected to create new characters often, the support systems around them may have to change too.
Longdale’s comments on new-player entry point, Hazzikostas’ focus on Legacy points and Jones’ emphasis on content across all level bands all point to the same design goal. Forever is being shaped so a second or third character is part of normal play, not a detour from it.
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legacy points actually sound like the first time blizzard has openly said ‘yes, having a bunch of alts is the point’ instead of treating it like a guilty habit. if the talent-tree style perks are strong enough, people will absolutely spreadsheet their way into making a second character the smarter route. i do like the idea of old content staying useful, but this could also turn leveling into a checklist if they overdo it.
account-wide bank is the real headline here, not the fluffy ‘new journeys’ stuff. if they’re pushing alts this hard, not having that in from day one would be pretty funny.
had an alt bank system in a different game and it saved so much faffing around. without it, half the play session is just moving junk between characters.
until you become the bank mule yourself
for the wow people here, is an alt-friendly setup actually better for new players, or does it just make veterans even more stacked?
i think it only helps if the rewards are mostly convenience and not raw power. if legacy points start feeling mandatory, then new players just get a bigger homework list.
yeah that part is the worry
for new players it helps a lot tbh, because you don’t feel like you’re behind forever if you miss the first rush. i leveled alts in classic when friends started late and it was way easier to just make a fresh char and run with them.
mailing mats is the real raid boss
and the boss has a 100% chance to drop annoyance