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PassTheTorch

UI and addons policy

Forever runs on retail’s client and inherits retail Midnight’s addon “disarmament” in full: combat data reaches addons as secret values they cannot do math on, WeakAuras is dead, and the built-in damage meter is the only meter that can see the numbers. For a guild full of returning players who remember a 2019 Classic UI stack, this is the biggest adjustment in the game. This page is the policy as it applies to Forever and the standard the guild installs. The install-and-configure detail lives on Addons that work. verified

The policy, as applied to Forever

Section titled “The policy, as applied to Forever”
  • Modern API. Engineer Nora Mills, September 17 Q&A: “We did opt for the modern API approach.” A Blizzard rep in the WoW UI Discord: Forever “shares Mainline WoW’s UI architecture, including the vast majority of APIs available in 12.1.5.” unverified Mills quote verified Discord statement, addons baseline
  • Disarmament applies in full. Combat data such as unit health arrives as “secret values” addons cannot compare or do math on. Restrictions stay synchronized with retail patch to patch. Blizzard’s framing: Forever’s encounters are simpler so the limits “should hurt less,” and the objective is “a game that plays fine without addons at all.” verified mechanism unverified framing quote
  • Blizzard’s Mike Nuthals: “players will not have access to those kind of computational add-ons,” and no one-button rotations. verified, Kotaku
  • Standard addon rules still apply: free, open code, no in-game ads or donation prompts, Blizzard may disable anything. No official approved or banned list exists. unverified
  • Live addon folder: beta uses _classic_beta_; the live path is unconfirmed. verified

Secret values, concretely

Section titled “Secret values, concretely”

What addon authors found in beta build 69913 (September 18): verified

  • UnitHealth returns a “secret” value. h + 1 throws “execution tainted by addon.”
  • GetSpellInfo, GetItemInfo, GetTalentInfo are gone in favor of C_Spell, C_Item, C_Traits.
  • WOW_PROJECT_ID returns 1 (retail), so Classic-only libraries silently skip loading.
  • Secure snippets fail because loadstring_untainted is missing, which breaks Clique-style click casting and secure group headers. The author reads that as a bug, not policy.

Consequences: verified

  • WeakAuras is dead. The team dropped Midnight support.
  • Hekili ended January 20, 2026.
  • Threat meters and heal-prediction math are restricted.
  • Classic-era addons do not load without a port.

Built-in replacements

Section titled “Built-in replacements”
Tool Status Evidence
Damage meter Built in, confirmed by Blizzard, present in beta. Shows party members ranked by damage unverified, wowguide.net plus Wowhead and Icy Veins snippets
Cooldown manager In beta interface options, “still incomplete for some classes.” One snippet says it is “planned to arrive after launch, with no date.” Both can be true. Do not promise it for day one unverified
Swing timer Developers said “maybe soon”; not promised. A PLAYER_SWING event exists in the client. One fan piece lists it as built in; the careful source says not yet unverified
Saved equipment sets Reported in beta unverified
Combined bags (“one bag”) Built in, on by default in the Enhanced preset unverified
Craftable reagent bags Reported in beta unverified
Auction House Modern searchable AH with commodity-style listings unverified
Quest log 40 quests, with optional quest markers and objective indicators unverified
Ping system Reported in beta unverified
Character sheet Modern, still shows weapon skills unverified
Macros Standard secure macros and conditionals (@mouseover, @target, @focus, exists, nodead, help, harm, mod:) work in beta. Cast by name uses the highest rank; add (Rank 1) to downrank. New ranks do not replace old ones on your bars. /castsequence survival is unverified verified

A community “Forever Cooldown Manager” on CurseForge (Forever flavor, updated September 22) reads the spellbook and auras directly, is display only, and shows “?” for buffs others apply during combat. That is what “display only” looks like under secret values. verified

Classic versus Enhanced presets

Section titled “Classic versus Enhanced presets”

Official: “HD/SD character models, modern and Classic presets, restored Classic animations” are player-choice features. Environmental rendering was upgraded (rivers, mist, moonlight, new lighting, global illumination, volumetric fog) while keeping the original art direction. verified

On first login the game asks Classic or Enhanced. Per the fan explainer: unverified

Setting Classic preset Enhanced preset
Character models SD HD
Quest markers and objective indicators Off On
Combined bags Off On
Transmog Off On

These are starting settings only; every toggle can be changed later in Options. HD and SD share a skeleton, and HD models got restored Classic animations, so the feel does not change. Transmog appearances are still collected while the system is off, so you lose nothing by starting Classic. unverified

Guild recommendation: pick Enhanced if you want quest markers and combined bags; turn transmog off per character at a transmogrifier if you want the 2004 look. Members who want the 2004 frames can add Forever ClassicUI on top.

Gamepad

Section titled “Gamepad”
  • Blizzard lists “official controller functionality” among Forever’s built-in features. It is the first WoW version with first-party gamepad play. verified
  • Beta: the gamepad interface is labelled Alpha in client strings. Build 69977 (September 23) added controller navigation on the character select screen and quest-item interaction on a gamepad. unverified
  • Observed scheme: left stick move, right stick camera, face buttons and D-pad for actions, trigger modifier layers for more bindings, a radial menu for UI. No final default mapping, device list, or official Steam Deck support has been published. unverified

Linux

Section titled “Linux”

Officially unsupported. Proton works with DX11 and Secondary Lighting set to Fair. verified, addons baseline

What the guild standardizes on

Section titled “What the guild standardizes on”

Principle: built-in first, then only CurseForge projects carrying the Forever flavor tag, installed via WowUp-CF or the CurseForge app. Never install “Forever addon packs” from third-party sites; woweternity.com’s “Forever Edition” downloads are fabricated. Re-check flavor tags the week before November 4; this list is from the September 19 baseline audit. verified

Need Guild standard Why
Damage meter Built-in meter Details! has no Forever flavor yet and cannot read protected data anyway
Cooldowns Built-in cooldown manager (WIP), or the community Forever Cooldown Manager as a display Only things that can see the data
Boss mods DBM (BigWigs is the alternative; the guild picks one so timers match in voice) Both Forever-flagged; timers use the encounter API
Quest help Built-in quest markers (Enhanced preset), or Questie Forever (an unofficial fork, label it as such) Official Questie has no Forever flavor
Bags Baganator + Syndicator, or Bagnon, or built-in combined bags Forever-flagged
Auction Auctionator Forever-flagged; TSM has no Forever flavor
Nameplates Platynator “Designed for Midnight and Forever”
Quality of life Leatrix Plus, Leatrix Maps Forever-flagged
Errors BugSack + BugGrabber For reporting breakage
Classic look Forever ClassicUI (optional) For members who want the 2004 frames
Loot none yet Gargul and RCLootCouncil have no Forever flavor; use soft-reserve sheets plus screenshots until something ports. See Loot rules
Healing frames none standardized VuhDo, Cell, Clique, HealBot had no Forever flavor as of September 19, and secure click-casting is currently broken

Do not standardize on: WeakAuras, Hekili, ElvUI (status unknown), TSM, Details! (until flagged), any threat meter (restricted data).

Full install steps, settings exports, and the breakage report thread are on Addons that work.

Unknown as of 2026-09-24

Section titled “Unknown as of 2026-09-24”
  • Live addon folder name.
  • Whether the cooldown manager and swing timer ship at launch or after.
  • Whether Blizzard publishes a Forever API namespace or an approved list.
  • Whether Warcraft Logs adds Forever before December 9, and what a log can contain under secret values.
  • Whether the loadstring_untainted break (click casting, secure group headers) is fixed before launch.
  • Final gamepad mapping and Steam Deck status.
  • Whether /castsequence survives the secure restrictions.

Sources

Section titled “Sources”