World of Warcraft: Forever

Classic+ finally becomes a reality, and it's glorious.

Recently I've talked about what will happen when I inevitably retire from high-end raiding in Modern Retail World of Warcraft, and Guild Wars 2 & 3 are big options for me, for many reasons, chief among them being horizontal progression systems...

Horizontal Progression: What is it?

Think of modern WoW as a treadmill on a steep incline. At the start of every new expansion you have to level your character up another 5-10 levels (for no real particular reason), then you need to start replacing all of the old epic mythic end-game gear you earned last expansion/patch with newer, more powerful gear that's green or blue in nature. Objectively better gear that you know will be replaced in days anyway.

That constant upward climb for levels and ever-more powerful gear is a vertical progression system. You're always climbing, be it in character or item levels. The progression trajectory is always and inevitably UPWARDS.

Horizontal progression however says, no thanks. Not doing that.

In Guild Wars 2 (and 3 when it comes out eventually) we have what is termed Horizontal Progression. Once you get to the level cap that's it. You never have to level that character up again to participate in end-game content, even when new patches or expansions come out, you're set. Gear always remains relevant. You can earn gear from the oldest end-game content the game has to offer, and it will be just as relevant as gear from the newest expansion.

What it might offer is better stats, or a cool new look to collect for transmog, or a new set bonus that you might enjoy. So gear is largely something that serves as a means to an end, not an end in and of itself (unless you count legendary gear, that's its own thing entirely).

So in Guild Wars 2 we have what are called Masteries. Once you hit level cap you continue to gain experience. And when you "level up" again, you won't hit a new character level, instead you'll earn what is called a Mastery Point. And these are account-wide, and what form the basis of the game's horizontal progression system.

These mastery points can be used to unlock improved abilities, such as unlocking new mounts and mount abilities, faster mounts, the ability to use different things out in the open world such as ley-lines or rifts, increased run speed in major cities so you can get around while doing your daily stuff just that little bit faster. In GW2 there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of mastery points to earn and spend, currently sitting at a maximum of 884 across all of the expansions released so far over the past 14 years.

Each new expansion, rather than forcing you to further level up your character, gives you access to a new suite of mastery points and abilities to unlock. Each mastery track requires more and more XP (or mastery points) to unlock, so you can either choose to knock out a lot of lower level easier to unlock mastery abilities, or focus on a single track and unlock all of the masteries it entails to get the best rewards that that track has to offer.

Horizontal Progression: What it isn't.

It's not a thing that will make or break your ability to play and enjoy the game. There are plenty of GW2 players out there who have never bought an expansion, and are just content playing the core/vanilla experience. Obviously over time they will unlock all of the mastery tracks that the core game has to offer and stay there. Subsequent expansions don't offer anything mandatory to enjoy the core game.

They do however have systems such as mounts that are huge quality of life improvements, but that are not mandatory to enjoy that core game in and of itself. Mounts themselves in GW2 didn't come along until the 2nd expansion, Path of Fire, so getting about the world prior to that was all done on foot, or travelling by way-point fast travel (which is so handy, honestly).

Mastery tracks help enhance the game experience for those that unlock them. They make the game feel better, or offer quality of life features that modern players come to expect.

Horizontal Progression in WoW?

Yes, horizontal progression is finally coming to the World of Warcraft franchise.

There wasn't much revealed about how it will work, but several things were mentioned:

Once you hit the level cap of 60 you're done, forever. No progression to TBC or Wrath, this is a completely new Vanilla timeline/experience.
Account wide "perks" will be earn-able at end-game (sounds kinda like masteries...)
Gear will be relevant for the lifetime of the game, so becoming a means to an end, not an end in and of itself.
No flying mounts, so one would imagine that they'll improve ground mounts in various ways via the account wide perks. Sound familiar?

One place that it will differ wildly from the Guild Wars franchise: cost.

Forever will still be a subscription product, but as with current Classic & Retail, it'll all be part of the one monthly subscription fee. Honestly, I'm fine with that, I'd likely be paying anyway for continued access to retail, and if this keeps me playing characters that I can become attached to still within Azeroth...

Endgame

Forever will feature raids, dungeons, solo gameplay, over 1000 new quests, a new race (Smurf Elves, aka the Skyborn), new starting zones, expanded existing vanilla zones, building out the other parts of the vanilla world that were originally inaccessible on the map etc.

I do get the impression that this isn't being aimed at the super-high end players. Sure, there is going to be a Hardcore experience (which is where if your character dies, it becomes unplayable and you have to start again), but the vibe I'm getting is that this is the version of WoW that Blizzard is creating for the older, long term players that just want to enjoy themselves in Azeroth.

Retirement home for WoW veterans? Yeah sure, maybe. And I'm fine with that. I just want to keep playing and have fun.

Forever vs Retail

Will it replace Retail for me? Yes, but not immediately. I'll keep playing Retail until I would've stopped playing anyway, but this'll be a good side game until I get to the point where Retail no longer has any allure for me, or I simply age out of it.

At that point, Forever, alongside GW2 & GW3, will likely become my permanent homes in online gaming. I love MMO's more than most other genres of games, so having two or more modern MMO's I can call home, where endless levelling and gear grinds are a thing of the past?