A $100,000 dueling tournament, and Blizzard's WoW Forever changes, fill Esfand's shelf
Fifteen uploads in seven days ran from a Blackrock Mountain surprise to a podcast with the developers, ahead of an October 17 event in the beta.
Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
Preparing for my $100k WoW Forever Beta Dueling Tournament! October 17th | Esfand Live 10/05/2026
Esfand is getting ready for a $100,000 dueling tournament in the WoW Forever beta, set for October 17, and nearly everything else he posted in the past seven days points the same way: at Blizzard's new take on classic World of Warcraft.
There were fifteen uploads in all. The most watched was his complaint about dungeon leveling, which we reported on here, and its comment section kept going all week. Tanks and healers say they would happily level slower, just not the run-it-twenty-times kind of slow. Several want a full-clear bonus for repeat runs. One viewer simply wants to stop feeling guilty asking friends for help.
Then came the lighter stuff. An undead paladin went mining in Duskwood and walked into the sort of unplanned Horde-Alliance brawl the title calls the World of Warcraft "we've been missing." In another video, Blackrock Mountain turned out to have hotter lava and a famous jump toward Upper Blackrock Spire that is no longer quite where veterans remember it.
The newest uploads carry the most momentum. A long podcast stream about dungeons, recorded with the developers, is drawing the biggest crowd, and close behind are his reactions to Blizzard's new PvP ranks and to its promise of classic-style models for the Skyborne race in early 2027.
As a whole, the channel ran below its usual daily pace, but about 3,000 new subscribers came along. Among the streamer channels nearest its size, none gathered more views across the week. DougDoug Clips and Scotty both ran ahead of their usual days, while ZerkaaLive was quiet.
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Where next?
What viewers say
The comments under "Blizzard Has A Problem To Fix BEFORE Launch"
Dungeon running is such an important learning experience at low levels. It needs to be encouraged and therefore rewarded
@ActuallyWoogieSee it on YouTubeAs a prot warrior who plays classic because he just loves being a tank, dungeon nerfs feel bad 😭
@just_DehxsSee it on YouTubeThere has got to be some middle-ground of xp that makes running a dungeon where you don't get any gear NOT feel like a waste of time while also making it not the most efficient min-max way to level. I don't want to feel guilty asking friends to help me with a dungeon I need when they've already done the quests.
@bawfulsSee it on YouTube
5 more comments
I love questing on my warlock, so that's how I always level him. I love healing on my holy paladin, so that's how I always level her. It's bizarre to me that so many people don't want players who like tanking and healing to level by tanking and healing. I don't mind it being 25% slower than questing, but the current "run the dungeon 20x per level" just makes me want to only quest on my warlock and forget the Sisyphean task of leveling by healing.
@SattorinSee it on YouTubeTotally agree. I think nerfing AoE was enough to nerf dungeon boosting. There’s no reason to nerf XP to the point where it’s a one time dungeon.
@fardrivesSee it on YouTubeI like running dungeons more than I like questing, regardless if it was best way to level or slower or whatever. But now I don’t really want to run a dungeon twice even if I want the gear, I get like 25% of a level lol.
@hoonplaySee it on YouTubeAdd a full clear bonus (xp, mats, currency, items, rep, achieve… something that is desirable and makes sense..) for runs beyond the first.
Limit the bonus to some number of times for each dungeon that resets on daily reset.@stompstevensson1792See it on YouTubePretty strange how I experience something, than I open the YouTube and you talk exactly about that thing
@ZansilveiraSee it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
The videos drawing views on Esfand right now
Blizzard Has A Problem To Fix BEFORE Launch200,179 views · 2026-10-05
This Is The World of Warcraft We’ve Been Missing100,571 views · 2026-10-06
Blizzard Secretly Changed Blackrock Mountain In WoW Forever94,435 views · 2026-10-07
Dive into Dungeons with Devs The WoW: Forever Podcast | Esfand Live 1…93,348 views · 2026-10-08
Blizzard Realized WoW Forever Was Losing Its Classic Look71,633 views · 2026-10-08
Blizzard Just Revealed WoW Forever's NEW PvP System67,391 views
- Channel
- Esfand
- Subscribers
- 361,000 ▲ 3,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 4,410,189
- Videos published this week
- 15
- Video published
- October 6, 2026
- Video views so far
- 79,470
- Views on its first day
- 69,388
The numbers
Here is how Esfand's channel moved over the past seven days.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which villain waits at the top of Blackwing Lair, deep inside Blackrock Mountain?
Nefarian, son of Deathwing, is the final boss of Blackwing Lair in Upper Blackrock Mountain.



