Like many other always-online games, World of Warcraft: Forever is bringing a server stress test before launch, and it’s allegedly dropping on October 19.
For the uninitiated, a server stress test is a diagnostic process a company or developer uses to determine possible breaking points in a server (in this case, an MMORPG). Basically, a developer releases the test to push the limits of their server and find issues (or stress) the server experiences before players can see them in-game when the title launches.
In some cases, a developer might go wild and ask fans to “slam” the server during beta periods. These are intentional, over-invited events that are intended to try to break the server before launch to determine server integrity, and although World of Warcraft: Forever doesn’t currently have an event like this planned, the other big Blizzard Entertainment franchise’s latest release, Diablo IV, initiated a server slam beta before launch. While that event was invitational, the new stress test for World of Warcraft: Forever has not released any information on how intensive the stress test will be.
Instead, WoWHead has only uncovered the World of WarCraft: Forever stress test, with no other information beyond the forecast that it will run on October 19. The stress test was posted on the official World of WarCraft forums and is available directly in the Blizzard launcher. If fans check the Battle.net launcher, they can find a new game mode on World of Warcraft titled: WoW: Forever – Stress Test. Selecting this option lets players download the client, and it indicates the test will become available on October 19th.
As of this posting, Blizzard Entertainment has not confirmed the validity of the forecasted stress test for October 19, but because the option is present in the Blizzard launcher, it may happen. Regarding any test, fans should wait for an official Blizzard Entertainment announcement before clearing their schedule. It wouldn’t hurt to download the test in preparation, though, or check out our early preview impressions of Forever here.
