World of Warcraft: Forever, Blizzard’s next evolution of WoW Classic that will see significant changes and content additions, is fully playable on controller.
I got to experience WoW: Forever’s new Skyborne elf starting zone with the control scheme during a hands-on demo at BlizzCon 2026. A prompt outlining the controls noted controller support was in an “alpha” state, but despite supposedly still being in early development, it worked surprisingly well.
That’s a first for Blizzard’s MMORPG. Though Blizzard has added barebones support for controllers in recent years, an entirely mouse-and-keyboard-free setup relies on unofficial, player-made add-ons like ConsolePort to deliver a true console-like experience.
From what I played at BlizzCon, Blizzard adding a fully featured controller option could be a game-changer. Despite having played WoW on a mouse and keyboard for 22 years, I was shocked at how natural it felt. Cycling through friendly or enemy NPCs is done with the shoulder buttons. Interacting and jumping are done with the face buttons. Abilities and spells are bound to both the d-pad and the face buttons, with additional keybinds accessible by pressing one or both triggers. Each trigger provides access to eight keybinds, with another eight from holding down both triggers at the same time. Combined with the d-pad, you have 28 buttons at your fingertips.
That sounds like a lot of buttons, but in some scenarios, particularly in WoW Classic or WoW: Forever, it might not be enough. Certain classes, particularly spellcasters, are notorious for having access to an almost comical number of skills and abilities in WoW Classic. This is largely due to many spells having multiple ranks, with lower ranked versions doing less damage or healing but also costing less mana. That makes them still useful in certain situations, but definitely clutters up one’s action bars.
Outside of the actual basics of using combat abilities and talking to NPCs, WoW: Forever’s controller support felt a little more cumbersome. On keyboard and mouse, opening your inventory is as easy as hitting the “b” key and then clicking what you want. On a controller, it requires bringing up a radial menu, sliding over to the inventory section, and then cycling through all the items in your bag until you reach the one you’re looking for. Considering players can have dozens of items in their bags at once, trying to select what you want definitely feels slower and less straightforward than is ideal.
Ultimately, full controller support for WoW: Forever might be more suited for some classes or particular playstyles over others. The modern “retail” version of WoW, currently in the middle of its most recent Midnight expansion, would arguably benefit from controller support even more than WoW Classic or Forever. Modern WoW generally has fewer buttons to press and less inventory management to do, and I could see this controller setup working wonders for those who want to run some delves on their couch or casually complete world quests.
Blizzard’s full plans for WoW controller support aren’t currently clear. The demo labeled controller support as an alpha, and Blizzard announced during the show Forever will be fully playable with a controller come launch on November 4. It made no announcements regarding if the feature will eventually come to retail, though considering how much DNA is now being shared between the multiple versions of WoW, it seems safe to assume it will. GameSpot has reached out to Blizzard for comment and clarification about its plans for controller support, and will update this post if we hear back.
The elephant in the room is whether Blizzard’s controller initiative will pave the way for an eventual console version. Blizzard is, of course, currently owned by Microsoft, the owner of Xbox. Fans have speculated given WoW: Midnight’s user-made add-on restrictions (something that will carry over into Forever) and its pruning of many class abilities last year that Blizzard was setting the table for a console version.
It wouldn’t be too shocking to see WoW at long last make its debut on Xbox, though Blizzard made clear last year that if it were making a console version, it would tell fans about it. Handheld PCs, including Xbox-branded ones, are also more popular than ever before, and WoW receiving full controller support would open the way for the MMO to be officially playable on those devices as well.
Regardless of whether a console version eventually happens, having a fully functioning controller option still feels long overdue from a simple accessibility standpoint on PC. Seeing that Blizzard is finally hard at work delivering one is nothing but good news. From what I played, it’s simple, intuitive, and perhaps even easier in some ways than playing on mouse and keyboard, though I’m sure there are scenarios, like inventory management, where it might leave something to be desired. Whatever Blizzard’s full plans for controller support are, it can’t come soon enough.
