Blizzard developers named the starting point for Forever: events begin on the same day as the original WoW in November 2004, but then diverge from the path Retail took.

At the World of Warcraft: Forever announcement, players immediately asked: is this the same universe as the regular WoW? The developers answered with a single phrase — and it turned out to be more precise than anyone expected.

The designers named the starting point: Forever's events begin on the same day as the original WoW in November 2004 — a couple of years after Warcraft III. From there, the timeline splits off from the one Retail followed.

What it means

This isn't a prequel, a remake, or an alternate history that began somewhere in the middle. Forever starts from the same point where the first WoW appeared twenty years ago — but is built differently.

That's where the name of the construction comes from — a neighboring timeline. The same Azeroth, the same early years after Warcraft III, but the decisions and events play out differently. That's why in Forever you don't need to explain where the new zones or characters that never existed in Retail came from: in this branch of history, they could have been there from the start.

What this means for you

• If you were waiting for "Classic+" in the spirit of "what if Burning Crusade had gone differently" — this isn't it. Forever is its own separate line, not an alternate history of Retail.
• If you were waiting for a "WoW 2" with a clean slate — also not it: the starting point is the same as in November 2004.
• But you don't need to scratch your head over "where did this character in the new zone come from": in Forever's timeline, that expansion simply doesn't exist.