World of Warcraft: Forever — everything we know

Blizzard announced World of Warcraft: Forever at BlizzCon 2026 on September 12. It is the long-rumored “Classic+”: a third branch of the game, built by the Classic team, that starts from the original world at level 60 and keeps adding to it. This page holds everything Blizzard has said or shown, with a source on every line, and a separate section at the end for what is still only reported. For the differences from Classic in one place, see what’s different from Classic; for the short orientation first, see What is Forever?

Dates and how to play

When	What
September 12–13, 2026	BlizzCon. Forever playable on the show floor; the What’s Next, Deep Dive and Found Photos panels, whose recaps Blizzard published, are the sources for most of this page.
September 17, 2026	Beta opened, right after Blizzard’s live Q&A, at a level cap of 20.
October 23, 2026	Beta closes at 10:00 a.m. PDT, two days later than first planned.
October 1, 2026	Beta cap raised to 30, with Excavation Site: Wetlands, Razorfen Downs and Uldaman opened.
October 27 – November 3, 2026	Early Name Reservation for paid editions, up to three names, first come first served.
November 4, 2026, 3:00 p.m. PST	Launch.
December 9, 2026	New raids unlock: Barrow Deeps (10-player) and Hyjal Summit (20-player), per Blizzard’s panel recap.

Launch in other time zones: 6:00 p.m. Eastern and 11:00 p.m. UTC on November 4; midnight Central European Time and 10:00 a.m. Sydney time on November 5.

You do not buy Forever. Access is included with an existing World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time. The paid editions add the Skyborne race, beta access, name reservation and cosmetics; see Editions below. One hardware note: at launch Forever drops support for GPUs older than AMD Graphics Core Next 1 (2012), NVIDIA Maxwell (2014) and Intel Skylake (2015) Confirmed Blizzard, because its new lighting needs a compute-shader feature those generations introduced; the beta FAQ lists Blizzard’s example cards.

What Forever is

Forever is set in the first year of World of Warcraft, and the level cap stays at 60 “for the foreseeable future” Confirmed PC Gamer. Instead of raising the cap with an old expansion, Blizzard is filling in the original map and adding stories that sit alongside the events of vanilla. New content spans the whole 1–60 bracket, not only the endgame, and many of the new dungeons and quests are for characters well below 60.

Blizzard’s own description of the design is “the world as a main character” Confirmed PCGamesN: carve your own path, no rush. It is developed by the Classic team and intended to embody the principles of the original game, while borrowing two decades of quality-of-life improvements where they do not change what made vanilla work.

Forever begins from the same point in canon as the original game. Senior Encounter Designer Michael Nuthals told The Sun that everyone starts from the same line the original game did in November 2004 Confirmed The Sun, and Principal Designer Kris Zierhut said the world then evolves indefinitely, with each update meant to carry something for every kind of player rather than for raiders alone.

Forever runs alongside the current retail game and Classic as a third version. Blizzard has not said what, if anything, changes for existing Classic realms.

The world

Three new zones ship at launch, several existing zones are overhauled to “fill in the blank spaces” Confirmed Game Informer of the vanilla map, and more than 1,000 new quests are spread across the 1–60 bracket. Every zone of the original world, with its quests and NPCs, is indexed under Zones; the new zones get pages as the beta shows them.

A GameSpot interview with Senior Game Designer Josh Greenfield and Senior Art Director Jeff Parrot put numbers on the quests: original Classic had roughly 3,000 to 3,500 quests and Forever adds about 1,000, with 50 to 200 in each of the four new zones, many more in the Wetlands and Azshara, and new content appearing from about level 5 Confirmed Wowhead, summarizing GameSpot.

New zones

The What’s Next panel named them. Blizzard’s own recap confirms the Riverglades at the mid-30s to mid-40s with more than 150 quests, and Zephras Isle at levels 1 through 12 Confirmed Blizzard; the rest of the detail is as reported by Wowhead Confirmed Wowhead:

• Mount Hyjal — set after Archimonde’s defeat, includes Darkwhisper Gorge. Blizzard’s Found Photos recap has players “explore the aftermath of the Battle for Mount Hyjal, meet emerging factions, form alliances” Confirmed Blizzard.
• Shen’dralas — south of Desolace through the Valley of Bones, exploring the characters and stories connected to Eldre’Thalas Confirmed Blizzard; Wowhead ties it to the Shen’dralar, Dire Maul and the region’s centaur tribes.
• The Riverglades — a frontier of rivers, grasslands and trade routes for the mid-30s to mid-40s. Blizzard’s Found Photos recap sizes it: roughly the size of Stranglethorn Vale, built from a previously inaccessible part of the Classic world, with nearly 200 quests for both factions Confirmed Blizzard, connected to the Burning Steppes, Redridge, the Swamp of Sorrows and the Badlands, with its port at Powderfuse Port, gnoll camps, ogres, the Powderfuse goblins, the Twilight’s Hammer and the Brotherhood of the Horse.
• Zephras Isle — the Skyborne starting experience, levels 1 through 12, with architecture inspired by Skywall. The Found Photos recap tells the story: rebels who fled Eldre’Thalas after the War of the Ancients found refuge in Skywall; now their elemental benefactors have vanished, the island’s pylons are failing, and the Windshapers, the High Order and the Al’Aketh vie for control.

New ship routes make the world smaller, per the Found Photos recap: Stormwind Harbor to Auberdine; Menethil, Southshore and Auberdine on one line; and a route from the Steamwheedle Cartel in Tanaris to the Riverglades Confirmed Blizzard. The starting zones gain NPCs, quests, profession hooks and recipes; the Wetlands gains quests; Desolace’s centaur factions gain quests and rewards.

Each of the new places, the nine dungeons, the two raids and the battleground among them, has a page under New in Forever holding what Blizzard has said, until the beta fills it in.

Wowhead notes the full zone list is not yet public, so this is the highlight reel rather than the whole map. Which of the four count among “three new zones” and which are reworked has not been spelled out.

Visuals

The world gets updated lighting and visuals, and characters get a toggle between HD models and the old-school look. Game Informer’s summary lists new lighting and global illumination, volumetric particle effects, a new water renderer and real-time shadows Confirmed Game Informer. Blizzard’s recap spells out the character options: modern and Classic visual presets, High-Definition and Standard-Definition character models, restored Classic animations for the HD models, and official gamepad support Confirmed Blizzard.

At BlizzCon’s “Evolving a Timeless World” panel, Lead Environment Artist Matt Heyman and Lead Software Engineer Jason Scott showed the work: fog reworked in Dustwallow Marsh and the Wetlands, where the mountains near Ironforge now show in the distance; a day-and-night lighting pass in the Badlands, where shadows follow the sun; and water in Ashenvale that flows downstream Confirmed Wowhead, with before-and-after views of Duskwood, Theramore, the Barrens, Darkshore, Felwood and Durotar.

Game Director Ion Hazzikostas told But Why Tho? that the relighting is not only an engine change but was done by hand by environment artists across the zones Confirmed But Why Tho?; his example was Duskwood at night, where torches and lanterns carried by players now cast real-time light. In the September 17 live Q&A Blizzard added that the HD and SD models share the same skeletons, with running, casting and other animations updated in a Classic style so the toggle works either way Confirmed Wowhead liveblog.

Dungeons and raids

Nine new dungeons ship at launch, and Blizzard’s Kaivax has since posted their level ranges on the forums, correcting a wrong one for Krol’dok Stronghold that had circulated since BlizzCon: Hall of Thanes 13–18, Ruins of Lordaeron 15–20, Excavation Site: Wetlands 24–29, City of Dalaran 28–33, Drowned City 35–40, Krol’dok Stronghold 40–45, Alcaz Prison 48–53, Blackmaw Hold 55–60, Shaper’s Terrace 58–60 Confirmed Blizzard. Each has a page under New in Forever. Blizzard’s own recap of the What’s Next panel names all of them: the Hall of Thanes beneath Ironforge, the Ruins of Lordaeron, an excavation site above Whelgar’s Excavation, the City of Dalaran, Blackmaw Hold, the Drowned City, Krol’dok Stronghold, Alcaz Prison and the Shaper’s Terrace Confirmed Blizzard. Blizzard sketches a few of them: the Forsaken reclaiming the Ruins of Lordaeron, magical trouble in Dalaran, titan mysteries in Un’Goro, naga and pirates around the Drowned City, and corruption stirring in the depths of Blackmaw Hold. Many are aimed below 60, and dungeon quests are on the post-launch roadmap. The places two of them sit in, Ironforge and Un’Goro Crater, and the Ruins of Lordaeron in Tirisfal are in the world index; the dungeons themselves get pages when the beta opens them, next to Classic’s own, from the Deadmines to Naxxramas.

Dungeon experience has moved to the first clear. Kris Zierhut told The Sun that experience from killing monsters in dungeons has been brought way down while experience for completing dungeon quests is much higher, and the experience curve to 60 is unchanged Confirmed The Sun. A dungeon’s first run pays very well and repeat runs do not; Blizzard would rather players head for Shen’dralas, the Riverglades or Hyjal than grind one instance. In the September 17 live Q&A, Josh Greenfield said Tarnished Undermine Reals, Season of Discovery’s dungeon currency, are coming to Forever Confirmed Wowhead; how they are earned has not been said.

Raids unlock after launch. Blizzard’s recap gives the date: new raids unlock on December 9 Confirmed Blizzard. Barrow Deeps is planned as a maximum-level 10-player challenge and Hyjal Summit brings 20-player encounters to the mountain, with new tier sets and a legendary reward Blizzard says it will reveal in full later. The roadmap after that lists more raids, dungeons, PvP updates, world content, more quests across 1–60, Hardcore, and “a revamped iconic raid” Blizzard has not named. Wowhead describes the wider plan as new 10- and 20-player raids over the next year alongside returning old favorites. An earlier report of three raids Community Windows Central has not been borne out by the roadmap.

How raiding is structured. From the September 17 live Q&A: every tier has both a 10-player and a 20-player raid; flexible raid sizes are not planned for launch; dungeons and raids have a single difficulty; and 40-player raids return, starting with Onyxia’s Lair, though not with every tier Confirmed Wowhead liveblog. The Sun’s interview adds that Barrow Deeps is the prison that held Illidan, with more than one entrance, one of them in Hyjal, and that tier pieces can be earned across all three raid sizes Confirmed The Sun.

Chase items and slower item progression. Blizzard wants a raid to stay worth running after the next one opens. Zierhut told The Sun that every boss’s loot table carries at least one chase drop, a very strong item with a lower than normal drop chance Confirmed The Sun, and compared them to the Dragonspine Trophy of The Burning Crusade. Michael Nuthals and Tim Jones told IGN Nordic how the rest of the gear chase runs sideways: some items carry biome buffs, such as a speed bonus in a desert, others add damage against a creature type such as dragons, and later raid tiers raise player power carefully so that earlier raids’ gear stays useful Confirmed IGN Nordic, Season of Discovery having gone too far. Blizzard also told MMORPG.com that raid item stats stay hidden until an item drops, with no Dungeon Journal to look them up in advance Confirmed Wowhead, summarizing MMORPG.com, so loot priorities get worked out live.

Molten Core is not part of launch. Molten Core will open at some point, not at launch Confirmed The Sun, Zierhut said; Forever starts with something new instead.

GDKP is not allowed. Blizzard said in the live Q&A that gold-bid raids will not be allowed in Forever, that it will watch the economy actively, and that it means to be far harsher on gold buyers than in the past Confirmed Wowhead. Its reasons were social: GDKP tends to crowd out guild raiding and raises the bar for newer players. The penalty for buying gold was not spelled out in what we read.

PvP. The Darkspear Islands is a new 15-versus-15 battleground off the coast of Kalimdor, combining strategic control points with Arathi Basin-style flag captures and defense Confirmed Blizzard. No date is attached beyond “PvP updates” on the roadmap. Blizzard told Kotaku that players can reach rank 14 within each season or patch cycle, earning cosmetics and PvP armor with stats Confirmed Kotaku. The September 17 live Q&A added that there is no rated PvP, the track resets every season or tier, and Honor is being tuned so that sitting in Alterac Valley is not the best plan Confirmed Wowhead liveblog. Blizzard also mentioned a new battleground that comes with a new reputation.

Honor and Rank Points. Blizzard’s PvP progression article of October 7 splits progression in two: Honor is a currency from PvP such as player kills, battlegrounds and PvP quests, and buys two PvP sets, a blue one and an epic one; each epic piece is its blue piece upgraded with an Emboldened Seal, and a Seal can be bought only once its required rank is reached. Rank Points, from PvP such as battlegrounds and PvP quests, carry players up the original ranks toward High Warlord (Horde) or Grand Marshal (Alliance), with a weekly cap on ranks, and a battleground’s holiday week pays extra of both Confirmed Blizzard. The same article says Blizzard reviewed Honor gains so they are more consistent from one battleground to another, since it wants players to enjoy every map, not to feel they must queue Alterac Valley because it is efficient for Honor; each rank unlocks item rewards, from a tabard at rank 1 through mounts at 11 to epic weapons at 14 Confirmed Blizzard. Our entry lists every rank.

Races and classes

Skyborne Elves are the new playable race, starting on Zephras Isle. A Skyborne chooses the Horde or the Alliance at character creation, and the choice sets the class list: all Skyborne can be Warriors, Hunters, Rogues or Druids; Horde-aligned Skyborne add Shaman, Alliance-aligned Skyborne add Mage Confirmed Wowhead. Skyborne Druids have their own sky-blue Bear, Cat, Travel and Moonkin forms; no Tree form was shown. Customization is described as extensive. The race and its starting experience require the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition; they are not included with a plain subscription.

Where the Skyborne come from. From Blizzard’s live Q&A: the Skyborne ended up in Skywall, the elemental plane, and with no Sunwell they have suffused themselves with elemental magic Confirmed Wowhead liveblog. Asked why the new race is not the high elves of Quel’Thalas, the developers said players can expect both in time: their plans for Quel’Thalas were too large for a low-level zone, and the timing was wrong for launch.

Skyborne racials. The Alliance variant is the High Order, the Horde variant the Windshapers. Both have Walk on Air (a ten-second downward glide), Wind Blessed (passive 1 percent Haste) and Elemental Insight (5 percent more damage to Elementals); the High Order add Read Ley Line (100 percent increased Health and Mana regeneration), the Windshapers add Skysight (10 percent run speed) Confirmed Blizzard.

Changes to existing racials. Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap sets the shape: each race has two active and two passive abilities, reworked to be stronger and more distinct Confirmed Blizzard. Its examples: Dwarf Stoneform now reduces Physical damage taken instead of raising Armor, Find Treasure runs alongside other tracking, Mace Specialization adds crit to all spells and abilities with a mace, and Big Game Hunter adds damage against Beasts; Undead Will of the Forsaken removes Charm, Fear and Sleep but no longer grants immunity, Cannibalize restores Mana as well as Health, and Touch of the Grave gives attacks a chance to drain life. Blizzard’s full list confirms what Wowhead’s earlier coverage reported: Tauren Cultivation grows bonus herbs that need no Herbalism to gather, Orc Axe Specialization adds 1 percent critical chance to spells and abilities with an axe, Gnome Expansive Mind raises maximum Mana, Rage or Energy by 5 percent, and the new Gnome ability Eureka! cuts the cost of the next three spells or abilities and adds 10 percent to their damage or healing Confirmed Blizzard.

New racials for five races. Blizzard’s race and class post lists every race’s four racials, and five races get an ability no earlier post described: Human Will to Survive removes stuns; Orc Shatter Curse gives immunity to curses and banes and reduces magical damage taken for 8 seconds; Troll Rapid Regeneration regenerates 50 percent of maximum Health over time; Night Elf Elune’s Light raises critical chance by 10 percent for 15 seconds; and the Tauren passive Plainsrunning adds movement speed the longer they keep moving Confirmed Blizzard. The same list gives the rest of those races’ abilities: Human Perception detects stealthed enemies for 20 seconds, Sword Specialization adds 2 percent critical chance with a sword and The Human Spirit 5 percent Spirit; Orc Blood Fury raises Attack Power and Spell Power by 10 percent for 15 seconds and Hardiness shortens stuns by 20 percent; Troll Berserking adds 10 percent casting and attack speed for 10 seconds, Beast Slaying 5 percent damage to Beasts, and Regeneration keeps 10 percent of Health regeneration going in combat; Tauren War Stomp stuns nearby enemies for 2 seconds and Endurance adds 5 percent Health and 1 percent Hit Chance; Night Elf Shadowmeld gives stealth while standing still, Quickness adds 1 percent Dodge and 2 percent run speed, and Wisp Spirit 75 percent run speed while dead; Gnome Escape Artist gives brief immunity to roots and snares, and Engineering Specialization makes engineering devices more reliable Confirmed Blizzard.

New race and class combinations. Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap names six: Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock, and Undead Paladin, with more planned for future updates Confirmed Blizzard. The class picker shows all nine classes with the new pairings marked, filterable by faction, role and race, and each class has a guide that holds Classic’s design as the baseline and what Blizzard has said for Forever.

Talents and combat. Talent trees keep the same number of rows, with milestone talents at 11, 21 and 31 points and a new 16-point milestone; some talents are unchanged from patch 1.12, some adjusted, and Divine Spirit, Blessing of Kings and Improved Mark of the Wild are baseline Confirmed Blizzard. Combat keeps Classic’s pace: an ordinary creature takes a solo player roughly 10 to 15 seconds, crowd control still matters in dungeons, and threat still has to be respected. Zierhut told The Sun that the goal is for all 27 talent trees to be viable in dungeons and raids Confirmed The Sun, and that making the old buff talents baseline is what freed room for new ones.

Paladins, the first class detailed. Holy Strike at level 6, Seals no longer consumed by Judgment, Consecration baseline at 20, and Seal of Fury, a Protection Seal that favors fast weapons, grants small absorbs and makes Judgment a taunt Confirmed Blizzard, plus new talents in all three trees, from Infusion of Light and Light’s Vigil for Holy to Templar’s Bulwark for Protection and Twist of Light for Retribution. Paladins still lack an interrupt and a slow. Other classes follow “through future videos and articles”. The full detail is on the Paladin guide.

Itemization. Spell, melee and ranged hit chance are combined, as are the three crit chances; weapon skill gives less per item; bonus healing includes a third as much bonus damage; new stats reduce the chance to be parried or dodged; caster weapons carry spell damage and healing Confirmed Blizzard. Every dungeon drop has been re-examined, hundreds of new drops added, unique dungeon boss items are now blue quality, set bonuses improved, and quest rewards widened, with Mor’ladim’s quest now also offering the Ladimore Heirloom Ring for casters as the recap’s example.

Class quests. Josh Greenfield told MMORPG.com that some of Season of Discovery’s class quests are in Forever as they were, some expanded, and new ones added, with anything that missed launch still on the table Confirmed Wowhead, summarizing MMORPG.com, since Forever is not a time-limited season.

Systems

The Legacy system. Legacy Challenges in six categories (exploring, leveling classes, tradeskills, PvP ranks, reputations, dungeons and raids) award one Legacy point each, spent in a perk tree across Professions, Adventure and Resourcefulness Confirmed Wowhead. The perks apply to every character on the account, are mostly passive, and none affect combat power; examples from the BlizzCon demo build include faster rested experience, talent points from level 9, more reputation, less durability loss on death, and tradeskill bonuses. A separate reward track pays out cosmetics by total points, including a Replica Ironforge Air Rifle toy, a Spectral Bear Cub pet, a Spectral Bear tabard and a Spectral Bear mount. Numbers come from a demo build and may change.

Realmless rulesets. There is no realm list. Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap: players choose a ruleset, Normal (PvP by mutual consent), PvP, Roleplaying, or Hardcore after launch; each functions like its own large ecosystem, cross-ruleset grouping is not supported, and factions stay separate Confirmed Blizzard. Collections and Legacy Points are account-wide across rulesets, except that nothing flows into Hardcore. Players can set a language preference, and the PvP ruleset gets faction-balance systems like Season of Discovery’s. The September 17 live Q&A added that battlegrounds are the one activity shared between rulesets, and moving a character to another ruleset needs a character transfer Confirmed Wowhead liveblog.

Realmless, not regionless. Oceanic players are hosted on Oceanic datacenters and share the US-wide auction house; when a group spans datacenters, the game picks the one that suits the whole group Confirmed Wowhead liveblog, so playing with friends overseas can mean higher ping. Ion Hazzikostas told But Why Tho? that the new server infrastructure does not connect regions, and updates will be staggered region by region around weekly resets and off-peak hours Confirmed But Why Tho?. Tim Jones told IGN Nordic that a system behind the scenes keeps steering you toward players you have met before, so someone seen in Elwynn Forest may turn up thirty levels later in Desolace Confirmed IGN Nordic.

Addons. Blizzard confirmed through its UI Discord, as reported by Wowhead, that Forever runs on the same UI code as the modern game and inherits Midnight’s addon changes, including the “secrets” system that limits what addons can read in combat Confirmed Wowhead; addons built for the old Classic API need rewriting. In the September 17 live Q&A Blizzard added that Forever’s boss encounters are simpler, which should make the shared API easier to live with.

Bank space. The default bank is two to four times the size of the original game’s, while starting bag size is unchanged Confirmed Wowhead, summarizing MMORPG.com, and Blizzard says more storage comes when players need it.

Two-part names. Every character has a Full Name made of a Main Name and a Secondary Name; both are required, and whether the second shows is a settings toggle Confirmed Wowhead. Blizzard’s recap adds that names are unique per region Confirmed Blizzard, its example being “Ana Forever”. The live Q&A added that a full name cannot be reused on another ruleset Confirmed Wowhead liveblog, so one name is held once per region.

Transmog, optional. Forever has transmogrification, and a setting decides whether you see other players’ transmogs or the base look of their gear Confirmed Wowhead, for everyone you see. The Deep Dive recap fills in the rules: a transmogrifier in certain cities configures outfits or disables the system; Classic Mode disables it automatically; a bind-on-pickup Uncommon or Rare dungeon drop grants its appearance to every eligible looter, epic raid drops only to the player it binds to; Poor and Common items grant their look on loot; plate stays plate and cloth stays cloth; high-level appearances unlock at 60 Confirmed Blizzard. The live Q&A added that a saved outfit can hold more than one appearance per slot and switches by the armor type worn Confirmed Wowhead liveblog, so the silhouette rule does not force a rebuild when gear changes.

Camping. Craft a campfire in the outdoor world; other players can stop by, contribute through their professions, and share the campsite buffs Confirmed Blizzard. How long a campfire lasts, which professions count and the size of the buffs are not stated.

Camping, in detail. The Deep Dive recap: a Basic Campfire creates a campsite with vendors, repairs, profession workspaces and one-hour buffs for players who sit and get rested; up to three crafted objects from nearby players, one each, on a shared one-hour cooldown; every profession has three objects, the first at skill 20 and the advanced ones from Blueprint recipes that drop from dungeon bosses Confirmed Blizzard. Its examples: a Blacksmith’s Sharpening Wheel for Attack Power, a Tailor’s Faction Banner for Spirit, an Herbalist’s Incense Candle for Intellect, variants of class buffs that do not stack with them; Alchemy Labs, Tanning Racks, and Cooks’ upgraded Campfires for five or ten objects.

Professions. Over 600 new recipes across professions and level ranges, crafted food that can grant a small experience bonus with its stats, and Blueprint recipes from dungeon bosses Confirmed Blizzard.

Hardcore is a ruleset, available after launch, a fully enclosed ecosystem; a Hardcore character that dies can transfer to another ruleset, including PvP, and progress earned in Hardcore can become available in the others, never the reverse Confirmed Blizzard. No date beyond “after launch”.

Account-wide perks were confirmed at the announcement; the Legacy system is what they turned out to be. The Deep Dive recap gives the numbers: Legacy Points are shared across all characters and spent separately in each one’s trees; at launch each character can spend up to 16 points, up to 65 are earnable at the start, and points beyond the cap feed a Legacy Reward Track of cosmetics such as the Spectral Bear Cub Confirmed Blizzard. Its example perks: Well Rested (Adventure) raises rested experience and its cap, Bountiful Harvest (Professions) increases gathered materials, and Reagent Economy (Resourcefulness) removes reagent costs from class abilities. Forever also adopts the Burning Crusade approach to mounts: the cost moves into riding training, and learning the skill grants a mount.

Editions and what they unlock

Everything below comes from Blizzard’s pre-purchase post and the Battle.net Shop.

Edition	What it adds
Subscription or Game Time	Forever itself: the zones, dungeons, raids, quests and the new race/class combinations. No purchase needed.
Skyborne Heroic Pack	The Skyborne race and the Zephras Isle starting experience, Early Name Reservation, the Cerulean Prideclaw ground mount, the Shen’dorei Skyseer’s Garb, the Veteran Adventurer’s Rucksack, the Shen’dorei Windwell toy, Skyborne housing decor, and one Invite-A-Friend launch code. No beta access.
Skyborne Epic Pack	Everything in the Heroic Pack, plus beta access, 30 days of Game Time from launch, more cosmetics, tabards and pets, and three Invite-A-Friend launch codes in total.
Warcraft Forever Collection	Everything in the Epic Pack, plus Warcraft III: Reforged, its Forsaken Kingdom campaign, and Forsaken and Human figurine decor for housing in the current game.

Prices, the physical Collector’s Edition and a plain recommendation for each kind of player are in the edition guide.

Beta and name reservation

The beta opened on Thursday, September 17, 2026, right after Blizzard’s live Q&A, and runs through the Battle.net app until 10:00 a.m. PDT on Friday, October 23 Confirmed Blizzard, two days later than the October 21 in Blizzard’s pre-purchase post. Blizzard’s beta-live post sets its shape: a level cap of 20, rising to 30 later in the test; the Skyborne and Zephras Isle, the Hall of Thanes and the Ruins of Lordaeron and every zone up to level 20 in week one, with more zones, dungeons and the new battleground to open; invitations to opted-in players in waves; and a Server Slam window later in the test when anyone can play for a few hours Confirmed Blizzard. The step to 30 came with the October 1 build: the cap rose to 30, and Excavation Site: Wetlands (levels 26 to 31), Razorfen Downs and Uldaman opened beside the eleven dungeons already in the beta Confirmed Blizzard. Access otherwise comes with the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection. Guides on this site are written from what we see in the beta and marked “verified in beta” when they are. How access is delivered, the free sign-up route, the known issues and what Blizzard has not said yet are on the beta FAQ.

Early Name Reservation runs October 27 through November 3, 2026 (Pacific time). It is for paid editions, allows up to three character names per account, and is first come first served, so a wanted name is not guaranteed. We will send a reminder to the email list the morning it opens.

Seen in the data

Found in the game’s files by Wowhead’s datamining, not confirmed by Blizzard. Names, numbers and rewards seen this way can change before launch, and not everything in the client ships. Each item moves up into its section, with its tag changed, when Blizzard confirms it.

• Eight new loading screens: Kalimdor with Mount Hyjal, the Darkspear Islands and the ship route to the Riverglades; the Eastern Kingdoms with Karazhan, Blackrock Mountain, Dalaran and Stormwind’s harbor; Zephras Isle; Dalaran; and Old Ironforge, Excavation Site: Wetlands, the Ruins of Lordaeron and the Darkspear Islands battleground Datamined Wowhead. Our entry.
• New reputation factions: Cenarion Scouts, the Kirin Tor as a faction of their own, Barkskin Burrow and Nightclaw Druids around Hyjal and Zephras Isle, and the Guardians of Hyjal; Timbermaw Hold, the Ravasaur Trainers and the Shen’dralar carry over Datamined Wowhead. Our entry.
• Legacy points come from reaching 150, 225 and 300 in each of the six original professions, levels 25, 45 and 60 on each class, clearing Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit and defeating Onyxia, each of the 14 Honor ranks, exalted with any of the four original PvP reputations, completing a continent’s map or the Explore Azeroth achievement, and two questlines; no more than 16 can be spent at launch Datamined Wowhead. Our entry.
• Reward previews: Legacy point totals unlock a replica Ironforge air rifle at 15, a spectral bear cub at 25, a spectral bear tabard at 40 and a spectral bear mount at 55, from Innkeeper Wiley in Ratchet; the PvP rank rewards carry closer names than Blizzard’s list gives them: a faction tabard and insignia early, an elite tabard, elite armor upgrades, faction black war mounts at 11 and a weapon arsenal at 14 Datamined Wowhead. What each PvP rank unlocks is now confirmed by Blizzard and sits in the PvP lines under Dungeons and raids. Our entry.
• A barbershop in Stormwind, seen in beta and BlizzCon demo footage, re-customizes a character after creation, body type and hairstyle included, with an HD-model toggle; whether it costs gold is not known Datamined Wowhead. Blizzard’s known-issues list mentions barber chairs. Our entry.
• A new Dun Morogh quest, Grund and Gozwin, available around level 3, rewards a bind-on-pickup six-slot bag, and a bag reward moves into an empty bag slot on its own Datamined Wowhead. Our entry.
• A branch for Forever’s retail client appeared on Blizzard’s CDN on September 16, with no build contents yet Datamined Wowhead. Our entry.

What we are still checking

Nothing in this section is confirmed. Each item says who reported it.

• Skyborne as a neutral race with Paladin and Shaman access, from a zone called Skyvale. Community MMO-Champion The panel contradicts most of this: the Skyborne home is Zephras Isle, they choose a faction, and their class list has Shaman or Mage, not Paladin.
• A leaked zone list: Blackrock Depths as an open zone, Dragonspine Canyon, Gilneas, Skyvale and the Nazdo Isles. Community MMO-Champion None of these names appeared in the panel coverage; the named zones are above.
• New specializations for Shaman and Warlock. Community MMO-Champion Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap describes talent trees with the same rows as Classic and says nothing about new specializations.
• A first expansion titled “Lands of Conflict”. Community MMO-Champion

When one of these is confirmed or debunked, it moves up into the right section with its tag changed and the confirming source added, and the change is logged below.