It seems a whole lot of players are interested in the next step in Classic, as the WoW Forever Beta broke Blizzard records. In a recent Q1 earnings call, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella specifically called out Forever as being “the largest beta in franchise history” (as per Kotaku). She didn’t add any additional context. Since we didn’t get any more information, it’s unclear what exactly is being counted here. Forever had a “Server Slam” test available to anyone, without any subscription, game time, or other requirements, which lasted a few hours. Blizzard also invited many players directly, but there are also plenty who did pay $/€60 to access it.
We also had an X post by Senior Game Designer Josh Greenfield on the matter. We didn’t get any exact numbers there either, but apparently they were the “craziest numbers I’ve seen in 17 years”.
More In-Depth Stats
We do actually have some Beta stats, as Blizzard posted a few more specific numbers on X. In a “Beta by the numbers” post, we saw that almost 9 million characters were created, over 1.8 million of them Skyborne. The new Hall of Thanes dungeon took out the most players. The simple Kobold Miner took the deadliest creature crown! It wasn’t just mobs downing players, however, as the Beta reached almost 10 million PvP kills, with 1.2 million duels. And sometimes, nothing and no one is responsible for a player death… Well, aside from gravity, that is, with 1.1 million falling deaths.
Whether and how this will all translate into tomorrow’s WoW Forever launch remains to be seen. Blizzard and Microsoft might share the actual numbers if the launch is particularly huge. And hopefully the servers can handle the stress!
If you’re looking for a primer on the Forever launch, you can check out a feature overview here. There’s also our guides for it, the latest additions from the Beta (including massive class buffs) and, of course, the global launch times. It’s getting really close and we can’t wait!