Blizzard supports controllers in WoW Forever and moves the mount cost to the training

World of Warcraft: Forever officially supports controllers. The gold for a mount moves to the riding training, which costs 100 or 1,000 gold depending on the level, and the first mount itself is free. Blizzard says so in an interview with Sportskeeda, summarised by Wowhead.

Controller support is official this time

On retail WoW a controller technically works, but not well, says Blizzard. In Forever the support is official. The team also calls it an accessibility feature, for players who cannot or do not want to sit at a keyboard and mouse.

The gold sits in the training

An expensive goal for your gold is healthy, and the economy needs gold sinks, says Blizzard. That is why the cost moved to the riding skill: 100 gold at the lower level and 1,000 gold at the higher one. The mount that follows costs nothing.

Where the game sits in the timeline

Forever takes place a couple of years after Warcraft III and starts on the same day World of Warcraft launched in November 2004, say Senior Game Designer Michael Nuthals and Principal Game Designer Kris Zierhut. The game runs on an adjacent timeline that splits off on that first day.

Forsaken Paladins would have been a big change in WoW Classic, where the Horde had no Paladins and the rule was no changes. In Season of Discovery, keeping Shamans and Paladins apart per faction caused worse problems than giving both sides both, so the team dropped the split.

Small stories, and a town from Warcraft I

The team wants players to search the corners of Azeroth. The Riverglades carry references to Warcraft I, including a ruined town called Sunnyglade. Keeping the stories small leaves room for the stories players make themselves, says Blizzard.

Quests were added where the choice was thin, mostly in zones for levels 30 to 50. An alt can therefore take a different route than the first character. New dungeons, zones and levelling paths follow after launch, though Blizzard does not say when.

Items that behave differently in the right place

Every boss gets a chase item that makes a return worthwhile. Items can carry effects that only work in certain environments, such as forests, mountains or underground, and bonuses against creature types such as Worgen, Dwarves or Dragons.

Content should stay available as much as possible, says Blizzard, because progression runs sideways and players stay at level 60. The team does not plan anything like the old Naxxramas, which disappeared for good.