Same world, same level 60 cap, and yet WoW Forever and Classic are two very different games. Tonight, we put them side by side. I’m Aldric Vale, and I will be defending the original, thank you very much. And I’m Dorra Stonehymn. Forever launches worldwide on November 4th, so let’s see what actually changed. Story-wise, Forever is set after Warcraft III and before Molten Core: Year One, before the Dark Portal opened again.

Round one, the looks. Classic keeps the original standard-definition character models. Forever lets every character pick HD or SD, and the whole world gets new lighting, shadows, fog and water. Fine, the water is lovely. Blizzard even says those lighting upgrades are coming to Retail. And the darkness is real now. Some places are properly dark, so the Night Watchman’s Torch is an actual light you carry.

Blizzard admits we all remember 2004 looking better than it really did. I refuse to accept that. Round two, races. Classic has eight, four per faction, each locked to one side. Forever adds the Skyborne, elves descended from the Highborne, and they can join either the Horde or the Alliance. They start on Zephras Isle and even get their own Galestrider mounts. I’ll admit those birds are handsome. Plus new druid forms.

And race and class rules loosen up too. In Classic, Paladins were Alliance only and Shamans were Horde only. That was the deal. Forever adds six new pairs: Orc Mage, Troll Warlock, Undead Paladin, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman and Gnome Priest. An Undead Paladin. The Light must be very confused. Round three, the world. Classic gives you the original one to sixty, and Mount Hyjal stays closed. Forever adds over a thousand new quests, opens Hyjal, and adds Shen’dralas, the Riverglades and nine new five-player dungeons.

A thousand quests. My quest log is weeping already. Gilneas is on the map but closed for now. Northrend and Pandaria could get short side trips, but home is always Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Round four, talents. Classic has the original trees, and every respec costs gold at your trainer. Forever reworks the trees and gives you dual spec at launch. Triple spec might even follow. Round five, raids.

Classic opens with Molten Core and Onyxia, both for forty players. Forever opens three at once on December 9th: Barrow Deeps for ten, Hyjal Summit for twenty, and Onyxia for forty. And you still need the Drakefire Amulet for Onyxia. Some traditions survive. That gives Forever four group sizes: five, ten, twenty and forty players. Round six, PvP. Classic has honor ranks up to Rank 14 and the three classic battlegrounds.

Forever adds Darkspear Islands, a fifteen versus fifteen battleground, and PvP seasons every four months. Round seven, and this one hurts. Forever has no realms. You pick a ruleset instead, and names are unique across the whole region. And if you love danger, the Hardcore ruleset arrives sometime after launch. And addons follow Retail’s rules, so no WeakAuras. The cooldowns, the damage meter and the swing timer are built in.

No WeakAuras. Half my raid just fainted. Then there’s camping: shared camps that give buffs, and an account-wide Legacy System. Classic’s campfire is just for cooking. The biggest difference? Blizzard’s own word for Classic is a museum. It stays the way it was. Forever is a living game, with a major update about every four months and raids already planned into 2027. And Wowhead reports over eight million characters were created in the beta alone.

So: Classic if you want 2004 preserved, Forever if you want it reimagined. Me? I’ll be in both. Which side are you on? Tell us in the comments, and subscribe for more from Azeroth After Dark.