(Image credit: Blizzard)

World of Warcraft: Forever has proven extremely popular —and while I was preparing for the launch last night, I was bracing for the same experience I had in the beta. Namely: Long queue times, connection errors, and disconnects . At least I wouldn't have to use a VPN this time , I thought, that is some small saving grace.

Turns out I needn't have worried. There was a brief panic, mind, when I finished a breezy five minute queue and landed on a ruleset selection screen that was completely greyed-out. But one eight minute queue later, and I was in—and proceeded to quest until 4 am with nary a disconnection or lagspike to be seen.

Granted, I am playing on both the EU realms and the roleplay ruleset, both of which are bound to be less populous.…