The year is 2005. Thousands of adventurers are playing a role-playing game in the same world at the same time. Probably the biggest and most successful MMORPG of all time celebrates its release: “World of Warcraft”. Years of epic battles between the Alliance and the Horde for supremacy over Azeroth followed.
21 years later, World of Warcraft is still hugely popular. There are now eleven expansions for the main game, plus a version called Classic that was meant to bring back the 2005 experience. Now Activision Blizzard has announced a third version: World of Warcraft: Forever. The classic world, new quests, dungeons and loot – but no higher than level 60. The game promises horizontal progression instead of higher levels and new gear every few years that instantly makes all your hard work obsolete.
In Europe, WoW: Forever launches on 5 November 2026, marking the return to the Azeroth where a huge adventure began for so many people.
A WoW newbie, a timeline and a discovery
I'm an MMO veteran, but a newbie in Azeroth. I've been playing online role-playing games for as long as I've owned a PC. World of Warcraft was always there in the corner of my eye, but it never pulled me in far enough to move to Azeroth.
After Forever was announced, I spontaneously bought a beta key and I'm right in the middle of it. My verdict so far: simply thrilled. Still, you won't get a review from me, because I stumbled upon something far more exciting.
Anyone who has ever ventured into the depths of our “About us” page knows the timeline: from the first Lord of the Rings shop in 2000 and the move into Harry Potter in 2004 to more than 30 stores. And right in the middle is 11 February 2005, under the heading “The great distraction”: the European launch of World of Warcraft, which completely swept our founders away. Even a side note about one of the founders made it into the company history: it took him almost a year to reach max level.
We're talking about Alexander Lapeta, Dirk Wiedenhaupt and Jens Geppert, who founded Elbenwald as students in 2000. That people who got a fantasy shop off the ground while still at university disappeared into Azeroth in 2005 is hardly surprising. I wanted to know just how deep they went.
The interview: Alex, Dirk and Jens on their early days in WoW
I asked Alex, Dirk and Jens seven questions, from choosing a faction to their most embarrassing moment in Azeroth. The result is a mix of raid nostalgia, wipes and stories you won't find in any career guide.
A quick warning before we start: things are about to get bearded. And pretty loud when it comes to the question of the best race.
You're about to find out which side our managing directors are on. In the comments, you can show whether you fight alongside them or against them.
Horde or Alliance?
Alex: For the Alliance!
Dirk: Alliance, no question! And dwarves are the only true race! But seriously: I actually tried everything at some point.
Jens: Clearly: Alliance!
What did you play? Race, class, role
Alex: Dwarf, hunter, DD (damage dealer), engineer.
Dirk: My favourites were three characters I spent most of my time with: a dwarf marksmanship hunter (ideal as a raid leader), a dwarf priest (for smaller raids where I tagged along, and for fun in dungeons) and a gnome frost mage for PvP (always straight into the thick of it!).
Jens: Pretty much everything at some point, really. But my main was a dwarf warrior. He was with me most of the time.
How much did you play at your peak?
Alex: About 8 hours a day.
Dirk: I have no idea. We were online every day. With the 40-player raids back then, there was all the time outside the game on top of that. We needed around 70 people to fill a raid, because not everyone always had time. Then there was all the organisation (raid points, forum and so on). We spent a lot of time on the phone and met up IRL several times, too. It was a crazy, wonderful time.
Jens: At the peak, probably around 20 hours a week. Saying that today, it sounds like quite a lot. Back then it somehow felt completely normal.
How long did it take you to reach level 40 and save up 100 gold for your first mount?
Alex: I honestly can't remember. The very first time it took ages, but on twink speedruns I could do it in a weekend.
Dirk: I can't say exactly, but definitely months. Everything was new to us back then; we had no clue, no guides, no tutorials. We died so often in high-level zones before we realised we didn't even have to go there and could simply keep levelling somewhere else. We had a friend who, as we only found out weeks later, always created a new character whenever he died on a quest.
It was just an incredible feeling, because everything was new and unknown. There were still loads of role-players who really played the role of their characters. It was beautiful. The typical speed levelling you see today simply didn't exist in the early days. I only reached level 60 after a year, and only then did I discover that there were things like raids and even bigger dungeons.
Jens: Forever! I really can't say how many months it took. But back then 100 gold felt like a fortune, so the first mount was something very special.
What was your favourite dungeon, raid and zone?
Alex: My favourite raid: Serpentshrine Cavern. Lady Vashj had such great boss mechanics, I always had a blast with her. My favourite dungeon: the Zul'Aman speedrun. And as for zones, I always felt most at home around Ironforge. Dwarf, after all.
Dirk: As a dwarf, my favourite is of course Dun Morogh, with its huge, towering, snow-capped mountains and the impressive entrance to Ironforge.
Molten Core is of course the raid that impressed me the most, simply because it was my very first raid. It was great to develop tactics with the group back then, especially how you had to keep adapting them whenever the group changed. (It was pretty rubbish when you had no Fear Ward for Magmadar.)
But my favourite raid (actually a 10-player dungeon) was Karazhan, even though I didn't like The Burning Crusade as an expansion. The mechanics were new at the time, the tower had real flair and we all loved the chess event.
Jens: For me, Molten Core is probably the raid I remember most fondly, especially Ragnaros, of course. It was simply impressive back then. When it comes to zones, it's something completely different: I loved being in Nagrand and often just went fishing there. Somehow it was the perfect counterbalance to dungeons and raids.
Your most embarrassing moment in Azeroth?
Alex: I was fairly sure that the areas you couldn't reach “over land” (before flying mounts) had to contain some kind of Easter eggs or secrets, so I swam all the way around Kalimdor at least … and it takes much, much longer than you'd think. Days …
Dirk: There were plenty. We all accidentally pulled some mobs and wiped the whole group. But those were usually the situations we kept laughing about for weeks. Leeeroyyy!
For me, though, the most impressive moments weren't the embarrassing ones, but the ones where you got through hopeless situations with friends: one mob sheeped, one mob shackled by the priest, one mob in a freezing trap, and you're still fighting three more …
Jens: I'm afraid I'll have to pass on that one. Either there wasn't one – or I've successfully repressed it.
To finish: any funny anecdotes?
Alex: One thing I remember really fondly: as an engineer, there was one profession you pretty much didn't need at all – fishing. Until recipes came along that absolutely required soulbound fishing items. So within a few days I took my fishing skill from almost 0 to max, and I was pretty much always tipsy while doing it. I'd always find “fishing buddies” and then just sit together at a fishing spot for hours, drinking beer and chatting about everything under the sun – everything a fishing holiday is about.
Dirk: Something that kept me busy for a long time was the hunter epic quest that starts with the leaf from Majordomo. It honestly took me months to take down all four demons. And three weeks later, some green item from The Burning Crusade was better than my fancy bow. *sob*
Jens: What I remember most are the people. We even met up with some of our guild in real life for guild meetups. That was pretty funny: suddenly there were real people behind the characters you'd spent countless hours with. And when I look back on the whole time: no regrets!
Any words for everyone playing for the first time with WoW: Forever?
Dirk: Play with real friends! Hang out on Discord and enjoy the dungeons. Mess around. Rushing through a dungeon is fine, but you'll never remember it. The reward isn't your level or some item, it's the time you spend together.
Jens: Enjoy everything in moderation – WoW included. But also take the time to explore the world instead of just racing through the game as fast as possible.
Now it's your turn: Horde or Alliance?
How long did it take you to get your first mount, and what was your most embarrassing moment in Azeroth? Will you be trying World of Warcraft: Forever? Let us know in the comments!
If you want to gear up for launch, you'll find fan merchandise in our World of Warcraft range – for example T-shirts for the Horde and the Alliance. And you can find out how three students became Elbenwald on our About us page.
By the way, if you celebrate fantasy not just online but in real life too, you're in good company with us: back in 2006, the three invited fans to the first Elbenwald Spektakel at Burg Bilstein castle, with 210 fantasy fans, cosplay and a real-world Quidditch variant developed by Alex. Its unofficial successor is now called the Elbenwald Festival.
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