WoW Forever: weather that changes gameplay was cut, may return

Weather that changes how WoW Forever plays was one of the ideas cut before launch. Principal game designer Kris Zierhut and lead game designer Tim Jones talked about it in a video interview with content creator Crix, published in the days after release.

The team did a lot of work on connecting gameplay with the weather, but did not find the right design in time to build it. Examples from the interview: rain in Elwynn Forest would affect something, a dust storm in Tanaris would change something, and a snowstorm in Winterspring could send players off to do a specific task while it lasts. Several prototypes were made and then removed from the launch version.

Another idea mentioned was a ritual in which several shamans together call down rain over the zone for everyone on the same layer. None of this has a date or a patch, and the developers only said it is something they want to explore in the future.

Zierhut, who was on the team back in 2005, also said that 20 years of experience now lets the developers make different calls on old Classic decisions they regretted. The raid and PvP parts of the same interview are in the tier 1 set split across 3 raids, and the shaman part in the shaman talent rework.