As players continue to flood the WoW: Forever beta, World of Warcraft’s Executive Producer & Vice President, Holly Longdale, recently stated that Blizzard had to increase their beta server’s population cap… again.
With the explosive growth in interest from new and returning players alike, it appears that Blizzard is planning on growing the Classic and Forever team even further. While it was never clear how many people are actually on the Classic team, internet sleuths have previously counted up the total signatures on a Season of Discovery poster that was shared by Josh Greenfield (AKA Aggrend) nearly a year ago.
It’s likely that this image does not contain the signature of every Blizzard employee who currently works on WoW: Forever, and it is speculated that the current Classic team is even larger than previous estimates. Despite the potential increase in Classic and Forever staff over the last year or so, it appears that Blizzard is planning on growing the team even larger, with a recent job listing for a Senior Game Designer on the Classic team.
| Team Name: World of Warcraft Job Title: Senior Game Designer, Systems & Content (Contract) – World of Warcraft | Irvine, CA Requisition ID: R028230 Job Description: Blizzard Entertainment is looking for a talented and experienced Senior Systems & Content Designer to join the World of Warcraft Classic team. This is a temporary position supporting ongoing World of Warcraft Classic initiatives, with an initial assignment through June 2027 and the possibility of extension. As a designer on the Classic team, you will help create, implement, and maintain gameplay systems, features, rewards, and live content across multiple Classic products. This role will play a key part in supporting World of Warcraft Classic initiatives worldwide. The ideal candidate combines strong design instincts with excellent implementation skills. They are comfortable working on gameplay systems, rewards, spells, progression mechanics, data management, and live-service content. They enjoy collaborating across disciplines and can take features from concept through implementation and polish. This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The home studio for this role is in Irvine, CA. What you bring to the table: Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities: · Design and create items, spells, rewards, progression systems, and player-facing experiences. · Support live game updates, events, and new content releases. · Collaborate with designers, engineers, artists, QA, and production. · Work with game data, content tools, and implementation pipelines to bring ideas to life. · Playtest, iterate, and improve experiences through feedback. Minimum Requirements · Strong familiarity with World of Warcraft. · 5+ years of professional game design experience or equivalent. · Experience designing and implementing gameplay systems, content, or features. · Experience working with game development tools and data-driven workflows. · Strong problem-solving and communication skills. Extra Points · Experience working on live-service games. · Experience with rewards, itemization, progression, or class design. · Experience working with large datasets or content pipelines. · Experience supporting in-game stores, cosmetics, or collectibles. · Experience working across multiple game branches, versions, or development environments. · Shipped content updates, expansions, or live game features |
This job description calls for someone who has at least 5 years of game design experience, and suggests that Blizzard will continue to work on multiple version of Classic into the future. Whether this means that Blizzard will continue developement on Warlords of Draenor Classic or Wrath of the Lich King Anniversary has yet to be determined. However, it is interesting to note that this position will be responsible for creating and maintaining live service content through at least June of 2027.
