# World of Warcraft: Forever’s shiny lighting and water changes will be coming to retail: ‘I don’t know when, but I know they’re talking about doing it’

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/world-of-warcraft-forevers-shiny-lighting-and-water-changes-will-be-coming-to-retail-i-dont-know-when-but-i-know-theyre-talking-about-doing-it/
- Published: 2026-10-29T14:09:56+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-07T02:39:35+00:00
- Original publisher: PC Gamer
- Original article: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcraft-forevers-shiny-lighting-and-water-changes-will-be-coming-to-retail-i-dont-know-when-but-i-know-theyre-talking-about-doing-it/
- Topics: Gaming

## Key points

- Forever’s lighting and water improvements are planned for retail WoW.
- Blizzard has not given a release date.
- Retail has 1,272 zones to update, compared with Classic’s 114.

## Summary

Blizzard plans to bring the improved lighting and water features developed for World of Warcraft: Forever to the retail game, though it has not said when. The changes could make Azeroth look closer to players’ idealised memories of the original game and give its environments a more polished appearance.

The work is labour-intensive because each zone needs its lighting and colour palette adjusted by hand. WoW Classic has about 114 zones, while retail’s world through Midnight has 1,272, including unused areas and instances, making a full update a much larger undertaking.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.