WoW Forever: Blizzard Expands Classic With Controller Support and Housing
Instead of a new WoW 2, Blizzard is expanding the old world: over 1,000 new quests, a farm as housing and official Xbox controller support for the first time.
World of Warcraft is getting official controller support for the first time, including Xbox pad input and a dedicated interface, as part of a project called WoW Forever. PC Games reported the update on September 13, 2026. Instead of building a sequel, Blizzard is expanding the existing Classic world with more than 1,000 new quests and a new housing system. The beta has already started, with sign-up handled through Blizzard.
What we know
According to PC Games, WoW Forever is a Classic-Plus hybrid: the existing World of Warcraft world stays intact, and Blizzard builds on top of it rather than replacing it with a sequel. The name signals the direction Blizzard is taking: the familiar world gets new layers, not a new foundation.
The expansion's core content includes more than 1,000 new quests, according to PC Gamer's beta guide. That adds real scope to the Classic world without changing the map, the factions or the timeline.
Housing arrives too. Players get their own farm, styled after the farming feature from Mists of Pandaria, PC Games reports. Anyone who remembers tending crops in Pandaria gets a comparable, but standalone, take on that idea as part of WoW Forever's housing system.
The standout addition is controller support. PC Games reports that WoW Forever ships with official, full controller support for the first time, including Xbox pad input and an interface built specifically for it. Players could previously steer World of Warcraft with a pad through third-party tools or unofficial workarounds, but Blizzard had never built and supported that option itself before.
The WoW Forever beta is already running. Players who want in sign up through Blizzard, per PC Gamer's guide. The sources don't detail the scope of the beta or how long the test phase will run.
Why it matters
Before WoW Forever, part of the community expected an actual sequel, a WoW 2 built on a new engine or a new timeline. Blizzard chose a different path: expand the existing Classic foundation instead. That means more content through quests, a new system through housing, and a technical shift through controller support that World of Warcraft hasn't offered before.
For players, that translates into more scope inside the world they already know rather than a restart. Anyone familiar with the old world won't need to relearn it; they simply get extra quests and a new system layered on top. Controller support also lowers the barrier for anyone who avoided World of Warcraft because it only worked with mouse and keyboard. Making an MMO that traditionally relies on dozens of simultaneously bound keys playable with a gamepad is not a trivial interface problem, which is why PC Games notes Blizzard built a dedicated interface for it.
What's unclear
Whether Blizzard is also preparing a standalone Xbox console version alongside the controller support is not confirmed. The sources only describe controller support on PC, with no announcement covering consoles.
The sources don't give a release date for WoW Forever either, nor an exact final count of new quests beyond the "more than 1,000" figure. How long the beta phase will last and when WoW Forever officially launches on all servers also remains open in the available reports.
