Blizzard Entertainment is deliberately concealing more than 12,500 items within the files of World of Warcraft: Forever, the studio’s latest reimagining of its classic massively multiplayer online role-playing game. With the game’s beta currently in full swing, developers have kept nearly 40% of the title’s approximately 32,000 items hidden from dataminers, ensuring that the discovery of new gear remains a genuine surprise for players as they journey through Azeroth once more.
The World of Warcraft: Forever beta is offering players a wealth of new content, from additional dungeons and abilities to an entirely new playable race. Yet amid these additions, players are quickly uncovering a vast trove of items that promise to reshape how this old-school version of WoW is played. Whether it is gear granting far greater spellpower at early levels or equipment specifically tailored toward professions, Blizzard appears to be deliberately recalibrating the leveling journey and endgame to make them feel entirely fresh.
A Calculated Approach to Concealment
As detailed by Icy Veins, part of how Blizzard is achieving this sense of novelty is by keeping almost 40% of the game’s nearly 32,000 items a secret. Dataminers can technically confirm that these 12,000-plus items exist and even identify where many of them might originate, but they cannot see their actual stats. Many of these items are assumed to be brand new, though some are likely variants or modified versions of items from WoW Classic.
Players have already taken a bite out of that 12,500-item total, having discovered over 4,400 “hidden” items in the Forever beta. Once an item has been discovered, it is then revealed in the game’s backend. Icy Veins notes that not all the items datamined might actually exist in Forever, as it lists a number of items that were part of WoW Classic’s Season of Discovery and might not make it into Blizzard’s new version of the MMO.
Uncovering the Depths of Azeroth
Many of the hidden items originate from raids and dungeons, including tier sets. So far, players have uncovered a few different sets, such as some low-level dungeon item sets, as well as full loot tables for early-game dungeons like Wailing Caverns, Ragefire Chasm, Shadowfang Keep, and the Deadmines. The beta’s level cap is currently 20, though it will be raised to 30 before the beta’s end, meaning players will likely uncover even more dungeon loot ahead of launch.
The aura of discovery and mystery players are experiencing as they explore Azeroth once more is just one of the reasons Forever’s beta looks to be wildly popular. Multiple WoW devs, including Blizzard VP Holly Longdale, have commented that the beta is breaking player-number records, and Blizzard has had to raise the beta’s population cap as a result. However, the beta hasn’t been without controversy, as a recent streamer scandal involving gold trading has players demanding Blizzard do more to combat real-money transactions and gold buying.
Looking Ahead
WoW: Forever’s beta ends October 21, with the game’s full launch set for November 4. Blizzard’s third version of its MMO will add over 1,000 new quests to classic Azeroth, as well as new zones and endgame content. Though there won’t be a new class at launch, a recent Blizzard survey revealed 11 new potential WoW: Forever classes that could come to the MMO in the future.
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