iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Some new strings in Forever talking about in-game voice chat integration with Discord. Not sure if this is coming to Forever or if it is just Modern WoW stuff given the shared clients. We'll find out soon enough, maybe in a future 12.1.5 PTR build or with the release of the 12.1.7 PTR. Very neat!

$Diff showing the following voice chat strings: 60347 VOICE_CHAT_SERVICE Preferred Voice Chat Service 0x1 60348 VOICE_CHAT_SERVICE_DISCORD Discord 0x1 60349 VOICE_CHAT_SERVICE_LEGACY Legacy 0x1 60350 OPTION_TOOLTIP_VOICE_CHAT_SERVICE 0x1 60351 OPTION_TOOLTIP_VOICE_CHAT_SERVICE_DISCORD In-Game Voice (Discord)\n\nUses World of Warcraft's built-in voice chat powered by Discord when you are the group leader.\n\nYou can link your Discord account to inherit Discord keybind and volume settings (optional, under Social settings).\n\nOther players do not require a Discord account to join.\n\nDoes not support Text-to-Speech or Speech-to-Text. 0x1 60352 OPTION_TOOLTIP_VOICE_CHAT_SERVICE_LEGACY In-Game Voice (Legacy)\n\nUses World of Warcraft's older voice chat service when you are the group leader.\n\nUse this option if you require Text-to-Speech or Speech-to-Text. 0x1 60353 VOICE_CHAT_MODE_FORMAT Voice Chat: |cnHIGHLIGHT_FONT_COLOR:%s|r 0x1 60354 VOICE_CHAT_MODE_NONE None 0x1 60355 VOICE_CHAT_MODE_LEGACY In-Game Voice (Legacy) 0x1 60356 VOICE_CHAT_MODE_DISCORD In-Game Voice (Discord) 0x1 60357 VOICE_CHAT_MODE_CUSTOM Other 0x1 60358 VOICE_CHAT_JOIN_GROUP_TEXT This group is using voice chat for easier communication. 0x1 60359 VOICE_CHAT_JOIN_GROUP_DISCORD_TEXT Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text are not supported in this channel because it uses the Discord service. If you need these features, ask the party leader to switch voice chat to the Legacy service. 0x1 60360 VOICE_CHAT_JOIN_GROUP_BUTTON Join Voice Chat 0x1 60361 DISCORD_VOICE_TTS_STT_UNSUPPORTED Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text are not supported in this channel because it uses the Discord service. If you need these features, ask the party leader to switch voice chat to the Legacy service. 0x1$

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Mikhail Klimentov @leadergrev.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Made this guy in Blender a bit ago for fun. Really simple composition but I think he's chill and it was nice to do something remotely creative again. Might use him in some upcoming stuff. Anyone* know what it is a reference to? (*Datamining server users barred from guessing)

A green armored soldier holding a crate of bananas with a stack of bananas on the floor

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Reposted by Marlamin

For nearly two years, I've been investigating a pattern of ominous legal letters sent to journalists by defamation counsel representing Bobby Kotick. That investigation is finally live. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKwp...

Inside Bobby Kotick's Campaign Against the Press

YouTube video by People Make Games

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Requested a refund for Control Resonant, first time I use that system but the performance just isn't there for me even though I'm above minimum requirements. Apparently you can fiddle with the settings but the render resolution was already noticeably lower as is. Game is too expensive for that.

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 23/09/2026

Sorry guys, someone somewhere mentioned a thing they found in the Forever game files so now we're forced to spoil it too. We didn't want to write and make a whole news post about it, really. We're only doing this out of our well known journalistic integrity and would never post any spoilers first. 🙄

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May 2003 - 0.3.4.2953 June 2009 - 3.x.x.10000 (3.1.x/3.2.0) May 2015 - 6.2.0.20000 April 2019 - 8.x.x.30000 (8.1.5/8.2.0) Aug 2021 - 9.1.0.40000 June 2023 - 10.1.0.50000 March 2025 - 1.15.7.60000 September 2026 - 99.0.0.70000 (internal dev) The tradition is kind of ruined now. :(

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 23/09/2026

Another thing to add to the list of cool new/improved stuff to look at... www.youtube.com/watch?v=grhj...

Increased weather effects are coming to WoW: Forever Beta Zones

YouTube video by World of Warcraft

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 23/09/2026

Ah yes, I love not seeing the same video as everyone else and (timestamped) comments possibly no longer making sense.

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 22/09/2026

Wanted to get this out the door just so I could start on my new zone design blog post. It'll take a while, but it'll be good. Anyways, here's my review of all the panels I watched as well as BlizzCon as a whole (and a note interviews/lack of Retail openness). blog.marlam.in/blizzcon-202...

blog.marlam.in

BlizzCon 2026 review | Marlamin's blog

Wow, what a BlizzCon! I have a lot of thoughts and feelings to express, so here goes!

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 20/09/2026

My WoW install hit over 256GB in its Data/data folder a bit ago and Battle.net started constantly updating installs. Checked the index files and the files say that it should be able to go up to 1TB in theory, but that limit used to be 256GB. Wonder if something somewhere is still limited at that?

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 20/09/2026

We are coming up on 1 year of WoW housing (I count testing) and the amount of creativity I've seen has surpassed all my expectations. So many talented artists out there and I can't wait to see whats made next. With housing, it feels like the Blizzard that is open to user-generated content is back.

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 19/09/2026

I just know if this were posted in the MMO-C speculation/hype thread pre-announcement it'd be seen as a crazy conspiracy theory and the person would be laughed out of the thread. I love it.

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 17/09/2026

Not my usual positive post, but I think the Retail team need to adjust their PR strategy a little. Not only was the Q&A almost entirely a regurgitation of what was already answered, but the style of not actually answering the questions needs a fix (surprised some were even asked, props to Kaivax).

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 17/09/2026

The BBC finally put up the tender invitation for Doctor Who. A decision will be made in March 2027 on who gets to produce the franchise going forward, with first episodes scheduled to air in 2028/2029. www.bbc.co.uk/commissionin...

bbc.co.uk

New opportunity: Doctor Who invitation to tender

Deadline for initial submissions: 2 October

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 17/09/2026

I wonder what makes the Classic crowd much more accepting of obviously vibecoded websites and AI YouTube thumbnails compared to Retail users. Quite the noticeable difference in pushback between the two communities.

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I'll be posting any neat findings in the Forever client in this thread. For what I will/won't be posting, please check my blog post here: blog.marlam.in/datamining-f... There will be no story spoilers or whatever as per the above post, but if you don't want to know anyways, please mute this thread.

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Dammit, I wasn't able to finish the blog post in time.

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I spoke with Hurricane about this, he doesn't use any of Artlist's GenAI features and has used it for stock sound effects since way before they made their AI pivot. Same goes for any AI stuff other services are offering, he always clicks it off/doesn't use it. Glad that this is the case! Phew.

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Great interview, interesting to have Paul Kubit note that the multi-select isn't the same as permanent grouping, so it sounds like they know we want that too. Also good to see devs still have that +100% immunity on asking about things based on datamining. 😅

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Jeff Miller @dmgmil.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Very happy to read that Blizzard is trying a few new tricks to hide stuff in Forever, I frankly don't have a ton of faith in their current tricks as certain workarounds are unpatched and known by most of the dataminers, so hopefully these new tricks are as effective as they (and I) hope.

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Reposted by Marlamin

Hey everyone! Missed the WorldBuilding Panel at BlizzCon? It's on YouTube now! Go behind the scenes as we walk through each phase of developing zones and dungeons. Curious what goes into worldbuilding? This one's for you! #Blizzcon #WorldofWarcraft #Warcraft www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUif...

World of Warcraft World Building | BlizzCon 2026

YouTube video by World of Warcraft

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 15/09/2026

WTL 0.9.8 is out, not because I wanted to but because Blizzard shipped a dummy build to the wow_classic_beta (Forever Beta) endpoint which broke WTL's build table. Usually has 2 more weeks of testing before it ships, so hopefully the new things work well enough. :D github.com/Marlamin/wow...

github.com

Release 0.9.8 · Marlamin/wow.tools.local

Wasn't planning on shipping this today, but Blizzard pushed up a fake dummy build for WoW Forever that broke WTL's builds table even without loading it. Usually the below things go through 2 additi...

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 15/09/2026

I have until the Forever Beta client hits to do the stuff I need to do for work as well as get that BlizzCon review blog post out (and maybe start working on the new zone design one). After that it'll be figuring out the changes that Forever brings. Looking forward to it, but also a little scared.

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 14/09/2026

Honestly, not as much as I thought. Still a lot, but largely on par with the Index. Still an oof either way. Guess it'll go up properly in the next few minutes.

Steam Frame on the Steam Store for 1049 EUR

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Marlamin @marlam.in · 14/09/2026

I am taking tomorrow off, only to study all the new tooling footage and information we got and to relearn a lot terminology that we came up with but now know official names of. Fun times ahead. Also going to work on those blog posts.

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The rendering updates panel, wow. I can understand why they can't simply apply these to Retail tomorrow with the amount of handcrafted tweaking that goes into reworking each zone. That said, I hope they can look past having to do it for everything and ship TLT zones with these same improvements.

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That was, unequivocally, the best WoWEdit/world building BlizzCon panel ever. Thank you @dmgmil.bsky.social & co. I was transcribing it for MMO-C so I am going to watch it AGAIN later on full-screen. Best BlizzCon yet.

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Housing panel was amazing. Next up, the world building panel, with what I hear will have some more stuff on housing (how the neighborhood maps were made). So excited.

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Okay, well, that explains that. Blizzard is calling it "realmless" (obviously there's still realms, but they're invisible to users). There's going to be some smart balancing based on rulesets, preferences, faction balance, realm pop etc. etc. Very interesting!

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Esfand ran into Ion and he mentioned that they'll be encrypting a bunch of stuff in the Beta, so hopefully that'll go better than encryptions usually go. 🙏 www.twitch.tv/videos/28722...

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Datamining WoW Forever | Marlamin's blog

In regards to datamining Forever I wrote this up as to clarify what I'll (not) be doing, I think we have a chance to do better in terms of spoiler culture in the community, but we'll see. Hope Blizzard encrypts ALL the things, but I have my doubts it'd be fool proof. blog.marlam.in/datamining-f...

blog.marlam.in

So, Blizzard just announced WoW: Forever, AKA Project Camelot and I think we need to have a conversation about datamining, spoilers and all that again. I'll have a longer post reviewing/reacting to al...

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Here's a mildly interesting thing. Forever might not have realms in the traditional sense or at least be moving away from having them be as user facing as now. The name + surname is unique _per region_ and there is no realm selection button (*in the demo), but just ruleset selection instead.

Ruleset selection, showing PvP, PvE, RP and Hardcore rulesets (with the ability to transfer characters to other rulesets for Hardcore after you die)

The menu on top of character selection only having shop, menu and ruleset buttons

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WoW schedule updates for day 2: * WoW Art Panel is now "World of Warcraft: Forever - Evolving a Timeless World" * WoW Design Deep Dive is now "World of Warcraft: Forever - Found Photographs" * World of Warcraft Hardcore: What's Next is now ""Go Again!" - The Past, Present, and Future of Hardcore"

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Oh god, I just realized what these sounds were for. Some of these, as well as the crazy impact sounds, match the sounds from TLT cutscene teaser. I wonder if I can find the exact ones they used...

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Woke up realizing that this is probably one of the best instances of BlizzCon, if not the best, for me yet. The amount of info we already got on how the things I care about are made is more than any other BlizzCon and we haven't even gotten the housing, world building and art design panels yet.

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✅ DROPS | CLASSIC+?? | Opening Ceremony Blizzcon | @anniefuchsia on socials - anniefuchsia on Twitch

AnnieFuchsia enabled the new controller UI in the Forever demo for a bit. Looks pretty expanded, she didn't have time to dive into it but it already looks like it'll be a MUCH better experience on e.g. Steam Decks. www.twitch.tv/videos/28722...

twitch.tv

anniefuchsia went live on Twitch. Catch up on their World of Warcraft VOD now.

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12.2 housing updates: showcases, visitor codes, mannequins, copy paste, multi-select AND BUYING ITEMS FROM THE UI IF YOU ALREADY OWN ONE OF THEM SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO FLY EVERYWHERE. Sorry, got excited about that last part.

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The TrailerCraft panel right now (and probably the WoW cutscene panel after) is a MUST WATCH for machinima enthusiasts and such. We've never seen them talk about their in-game machinima tools to this extent. You can scroll back to the start on YouTube, too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC33...

BlizzCon 2026 | Legends Stage | TrailerCraft

YouTube video by Blizzard Entertainment

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Character surnames on WoW: Forever... 👀

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Okay, putting this out there, but what if we set a precedent as a community to NOT datamine WoW: Forever? Yes, I'm sure there will be certain people that I can probably already name that will regardless, but what if we like... try not to?

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I'm expecting the improved controller UI to also come to Retail, not in 12.1.5 but maybe 12.1.7/12.2.0, no shot they're only keeping that for Forever, it would be such an accessibility mistake. The rendering changes, while they've been showing up in the Retail client, I'm not so sure about yet.

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And yeah, when I said I was going to busy for the rest of the year I wasn't actually joking

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