WoW Forever's new lighting and water effects? A Blizzard designer says they're coming to retail too! Welcome to Azeroth After Dark, I'm Grukk, raid leader and professional loot goblin. And I'm Lyra, lore keeper and collector, here to read the fine print. This one's all WoW Forever: Blizzard's starter guide, Bill Bailey narrating Azeroth's wildlife, Mage talk, a name bug and more. Forever launches next week, so stick around and we'll get you ready for day one.

First up, the choices you make before you even meet a quest giver! Icy Veins has the rundown on Blizzard's big new player guide, and step one's brand new. The first time you log in, you pick an Experience Preset. Alright Lyra, menu please. What am I picking between? Classic keeps standard models, transmog off and the classic U I layout. Enhanced turns on H D models, one-bag, transmog and quest objectives on the map.

Here's the list. One-bag and transmog on day one? I'm clicking Enhanced so fast my keyboard's gonna smoke. Icy Veins has plenty more in the full post, too. Relax, it's not a trap. Blizzard's official starter guide says the preset's just a starting point, and you can change its settings later in the options. Love it. So what's the choice that actually matters? The Ruleset. Normal, PvP, Roleplay and Roleplay-PvP are there at launch, with Hardcore planned for later.

And here's the line every friend group needs to hear. Same ruleset and same faction, or we can't raid together? Guild, group chat, right now. The full post has more, including a two-name system for characters. From rulesets to wildlife. Icy Veins reports Blizzard's launch week push rolls on with Planet Azeroth, a nature documentary parody narrated by Bill Bailey. A nature doc about Azeroth? I'm in.

Throw the trailer up on the big screen! It's based on the B B C's Planet Earth and tours iconic zones like Elwynn Forest and The Barrens. It follows yesterday's Warpath trailer, and my bet? The wildlife steals the show. Homework time! Icy Veins has a five-step WoW Forever pre-launch checklist, and you can already pre-install the game. They walk you through it. And early name reservation runs October 27th to November 3rd, if you own the Skyborne Heroic Pack, the Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection.

Wait, how big's this download? Some of us raid on a potato. Icy Veins says Battle net installs a 12 gigabyte file, so clear some room. Also, once you pick a ruleset, that character's permanently locked to it. Class talk! Icy Veins' Countdown to Forever hits Mages, written from their beta experience, ahead of launch on November 4th. And Blizzard's launch post says it goes live globally at 3 PM Pacific.

As for Mages, Icy Veins says Frost feels like a completely different spec than in Classic. Different how? I remember Frostbolt, Frostbolt and more Frostbolt. That's their whole point. You were a Frostbolt machine, now procs like Fingers of Frost and Missile Barrage give you instant casts. Fire gets the Heating Up mechanic too. Still stuck on a main? Icy Veins has a WoW Forever class guide for all nine original classes, which Forever's heavily reworking.

It breaks down roles and playstyles, with an overview of all nine classes. Grukk, guess what their big advice is. Pick whatever tops the damage meters? Elune give me patience. They say the correct class is the one you enjoy playing, because Blizzard keeps tuning, so the strongest at launch may not be the meta for long. Okay, back to the big one! Icy Veins reports that in an I G N interview, Blizzard principal game designer Kris Zierhut said Forever's new lighting and water effects are coming to retail as well.

Forever news with a retail twist. Let's put Blizzard's BlizzCon panel on the visuals up on the big screen. Before you celebrate, though, he couldn't share a timeline, only that Blizzard's discussing the plans. No date. Fine, I'll survive. But didn't he also stick up for the old engine? He did. Zierhut calls the spaghetti code label an unfair player characterization, and points to 25 years of continuous development behind it.

Look at that number. And if Forever told you your dream name was restricted, hold that thought. Wowhead reports Blizzard found a bug that made the name check overly restrictive. Blizzard's example? Names containing the letters C, O and N getting blocked by mistake. The fix lands with the next realm restarts in each region. So my orc Conqueror might live after all? Lok'tar! Easy, warrior. If you were told a name was restricted and you think it should be allowed, Blizzard says feel free to try again after the restarts.

That's the lineup! Presets, rulesets, a Bill Bailey safari, Mages, a name fix, and someday that shiny Forever water on retail. These stories came from Blizzard, Icy Veins and Wowhead, and the full posts are linked with the episode. Subscribe for more as Forever launch week rolls on. Pick your ruleset with your friends, let Lyra pick the transmog, and see you next time!