WoW Forever's Builder Says It Isn't for All

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World of Warcraft: Forever key art, used by GamesRadar+ for its coverage of Armstrong's post (Blizzard Entertainment)

What Happened

Matthew Armstrong, who builds zones for WoW Forever, says a game made for everyone is made for no one.

The post

Who wrote it. Matthew Armstrong, a World Builder on World of Warcraft: Forever, the expanded rebuild of the original 2004 game, posted it on September 23.
Who it is for. "I am making WoW forever for the classic gamer and for the millions of people who have had their accounts lapse over the years," he wrote.
Friction stays. He says Forever means "keeping friction and inconveniences in the game" and "forming groups with strangers."
His own voice. He speaks for himself, not the team, and hopes Forever pulls in retail, Classic, returning and new players. Retail is the live modern game; Classic is the re-release of the original.
The reach. The post passed 1.7 million views and 16,000 likes within a day.

The three rules

Rule one. "Convenience is the death of the journey."
Rule two. "If you're making a game for everyone then you're making it for no one."
Rule three. "Every change we make incurs a debt to the authenticity of the game and sooner or later that debt will be paid."

The work behind it

The old tools. He spent a year relearning 20-year-old techniques instead of the faster retail workflow he has used for eight years.
The Riverglades. He has worked by the three rules since starting on the Riverglades, a new Forever zone for levels 35 to 45 in the Eastern Kingdoms.
The dates. Forever's beta opened September 17, and the game launches November 4, 2026.
The argument. PC Gamer read the post as an answer to the Reddit and X fight over whether Forever is for Classic players or retail players.

His rules are not studio policy; Armstrong says so himself. They do match what Forever's team said at BlizzCon, Blizzard's fan convention, from keeping travel slow so players feel the size of the world to banning gold-for-loot raids.

The Riverglades, the new WoW Forever zone Armstrong says he began his work on (Blizzard Entertainment)

A dwarf in original-era armor, used by PC Gamer for its report on the post (Blizzard Entertainment)

Still from the “World of Warcraft World Building | BlizzCon 2026 | World of Warcraft” video (9:10)

View post on X

What This Means for the Riot MMO

Riot has to decide who its MMO is for, and a developer building its biggest competitor just gave his answer.

For no one. Armstrong's second rule says a game made for everyone is made for no one. Riot has not said who its MMO is for.
Riot's own line. Riot's statement on resetting the project said players do not want "an MMO that you've played before with a Runeterra coat of paint."
The newcomer problem. Riot's MMO has to reach League of Legends players who have never played an MMO.
Friction has a crowd. The Forever post that went viral this week is the one defending friction and grouping with strangers.
Every convenience costs. By his third rule, any group finder or fast travel Riot adds is a debt. Riot has revealed neither.
Riot is watching. A Riot MMO engineer joked that the Forever beta emptied his town.

Our read. Armstrong is right that "for everyone" is a trap, and Riot has already refused the safe version, a familiar MMO reskinned. The open question is newcomers. Keep the journey and the grouping as the main road, and give League players easier side paths with smaller rewards rather than sanding the road flat. We sorted which Forever decisions belong in Riot's game on the same test.