World of Warcraft: Forever

Developer and publisher

Blizzard Entertainment (the WoW Classic team)^[1][2]

Platform

PC^[3]

Announced

Sep 12, 2026, at BlizzCon 2026^[2]

Released

Nov 4, 2026, 3:00 p.m. PST, worldwide^[1][18]

Level cap

60, with no increases planned^[4]

Access

Included with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time ($14.99 a month in the US as of Oct 31, 2026)^[17][25]

New at launch

Mount Hyjal, Shen'dralas, the Riverglades and Zephras Isle; more than 1,000 quests; nine dungeons; the Skyborne race^[18]

First raids

The Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia's Lair, Dec 9, 2026^[19]

Overview

World of Warcraft: Forever is a version of Blizzard Entertainment's online role-playing game World of Warcraft that stays permanently in the game's first year, with a level cap of 60.^[1] Blizzard presents it as a third way to play, beside modern World of Warcraft and WoW Classic, and it is set after the events of the Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom campaign and before the Molten Core raid.^[1] Instead of reproducing the original game as Classic does, Forever keeps its world and quests and adds new zones, dungeons, raids, a playable race and reworked classes.^[2][3] Kotaku described it as the long-rumored "Classic+" when Blizzard revealed it at BlizzCon on Sep 12, 2026.^[2] It launched worldwide on Nov 4, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. PST, and it is included in a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time rather than sold as a separate box.^[1][17] As of Nov 7, 2026, the game is out, while its first raids, its Hardcore ruleset and later updates are still to come.^[18][19]

1:47 Not like WoW Classic GameSpot's BlizzCon preview shows Forever with HD character models and the new lighting and says it looks like a new game rather than Classic.

Development

Forever was made by Blizzard's WoW Classic team.^[2] Opening the What's Next panel at BlizzCon 2026, senior game director Ion Hazzikostas said players had asked since about 2020 to stay in the original world at level 60, but that the Classic team of the time was built to restore the old game, not to add to it.^[4] Season of Discovery, a time-limited Classic season announced in 2023, served as a test of how much change the original game could take, and Hazzikostas said the team was convinced by the middle of 2024 that a permanent version was worth building.^[4] Associate production director Clay Stone later told PC Gamer that an early version of the idea was little more than vanilla World of Warcraft with a few class changes, and that the scope grew over time.^[8] Executive producer Holly Longdale recalled at PAX Australia in October 2026 that the team doubted it had enough time or people, and that she told them it would find a way.^[8]

1:08 The wish to stay at level 60 Ion Hazzikostas traces Forever to players who, from around 2020, wanted to remain in the original game at level 60, and explains why the Classic team could not do it then.

Setting and design

Blizzard places Forever in Azeroth's first year and says it will keep adding to that period rather than moving on to later expansions.^[1][6] At the Found Photographs panel, the developers said Forever has its own continuity, separate from modern World of Warcraft, so its new stories do not have to be answered in the main game.^[6] The What's Next panel set out four design pillars: approachable and familiar, the world as the main character, the journey before the destination, and protecting social experiences.^[5] Under them Blizzard ruled out flying mounts and level scaling, and said rewards should come from playing the game across all levels, not only at the level cap.^[5] The panel also said Blizzard is not planning level cap increases that would make players' earlier achievements obsolete.^[4] The developers sort new content into the anticipated (places players knew but could never visit, such as Mount Hyjal), the new but familiar, and the unexpected, which they plan to use sparingly.^[6]

6:21 Four pillars, no flying Blizzard lists Forever's four design pillars and draws two lines the audience cheers: no flying mounts and no level scaling.

Content at launch

At launch Forever added Mount Hyjal, Shen'dralas, the Riverglades and Zephras Isle as new destinations, more than 1,000 new quests across levels 1 to 60, and nine new five-player dungeons for levels 13 to 60.^[18] The dungeons include the Hall of Thanes, the Ruins of Lordaeron, the City of Dalaran and Krol'dok Stronghold in the Eastern Kingdoms, and Alcaz Prison, Blackmaw Hold and Shaper's Terrace in Kalimdor.^[17] The new playable race is the Skyborne, whose players pick the Horde or the Alliance at character creation; Horde Skyborne can be Shamans and Alliance Skyborne can be Mages.^[18] Original races also gained new race and class combinations.^[17] Game Informer listed a new battleground on the Darkspear Islands, new reputations and account-wide perks among the other additions.^[3] Blizzard kept the original art style but added new lighting, water and shadows, and a switch between the original character models and high-definition ones.^[3]

16:39 The Skyborne The What's Next panel introduces the Skyborne, descendants of highborne exiles from the elemental realm of Skywall, and explains that they join the Horde or the Alliance.

Rulesets and systems

Forever has no realm list.^[24] Players pick a ruleset instead (Normal, PvP, Roleplay or Roleplay PvP), and each ruleset works as one large community rather than a single server.^[24] Players can group, run dungeons and raid only with others on the same ruleset, and the Horde and the Alliance still cannot group together.^[24] A fifth ruleset, Hardcore, in which a character's death is permanent, was not available at launch and is due "sometime after launch", Blizzard said on Nov 4, 2026.^[18] The first time they log in, players are asked to choose an experience preset before they select a ruleset.^[18] The Deep Dive panel at BlizzCon described the realmless design along with the new campsite and Legacy systems, the latter rewarding progress across all of a player's characters, although Blizzard says leveling alternate characters is not required to benefit from it.^[7][17]

21:57 Going realmless The Deep Dive panel announces that Forever has no realm list and that players choose a ruleset instead.

Price and editions

Forever has no purchase price of its own: access is included with an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, while the Skyborne race and its starting zone require the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher upgrade.^[17] Blizzard sold three optional upgrades: the Skyborne Heroic Pack, the Skyborne Epic Pack, which added beta access and 30 days of Game Time, and the Warcraft Forever Collection, which added Warcraft III: Reforged and the Forsaken Kingdom campaign.^[1][27] The Heroic Pack also brought early name reservation, a mount, cosmetics and one Invite-A-Friend code, and the Epic Pack's 30 days of Game Time began on Nov 4, 2026.^[27] Every pack still requires a subscription or Game Time to play, and the Collection is on sale only until Jan 11, 2027.^[27] The Battle.net Shop listed the subscription at $14.99 a month in the US and the three upgrades at $29.99, $59.99 and $79.99, as read on Oct 31, 2026.^[25]

Beta

A closed beta opened on Sep 17, 2026, for players selected after opting in and for buyers of the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection, with a level cap of 20 that was later raised to 30.^[9] PC Gamer reported long login queues and disconnections on the first day.^[10] Josh Greenfield, a senior game designer, called the demand "the craziest numbers I've seen in 17 years working at Blizzard", and senior game producer Tom Ellis explained that the beta environment used only one regional realm and was not built for that load, GamesRadar+ reported.^[11] Blizzard did not release player numbers, but a statistics sheet it shared after the test counted more than 8.8 million characters created, 1.88 million of them Skyborne and about 612,000 Undead Paladins.^[15] In late October, Xbox chief executive Asha Sharma wrote that Forever had "set records" ahead of its launch.^[16]

Launch

The servers opened on Nov 4, 2026, a little later than scheduled and with a login queue, but Blizzard Watch reported that the launch had gone "relatively smoothly".^[20] PC Gamer's Harvey Randall waited about five minutes, then eight more after the ruleset screen briefly showed grayed out, and played into the night without disconnections.^[21] Kotaku's Rebekah Valentine was online within five minutes and wrote that she agreed with players calling it the best World of Warcraft launch ever.^[22] On Nov 5, Eurogamer counted about 385,000 viewers watching World of Warcraft on Twitch, the most of any game on the service at the time.^[23] Overseas players raised one complaint before launch: the rulesets' day and night cycle follows North American time, so players in Australia and New Zealand often play in darkness, and Blizzard said it was looking into it.^[15]

Reception and controversies

Before release, GameSpot's hands-on preview from BlizzCon praised the visuals and the option to switch off modern features, and noted that the Skyborne come with a price tag.^[26] That price drew the most criticism, since the rest of Forever is included with a subscription.^[17][26] Testers also found the high-definition Skyborne jarring beside the original world, and on Oct 7 Blizzard agreed, promising standard-definition Skyborne models, Druid forms included, for early 2027.^[12] Gold buying was another issue: on Oct 1 Blizzard said it was acting on beta accounts that botted for gold or bought it, with penalties ranging from removing the gold to permanent account closure.^[13] The beta's most-discussed community story was Olympus, the streamer Asmongold's guild, which drew thousands of players; some complained of lag and harassment and called for him to be banned, and he answered that the allegation that he wanted everyone to join it was "true", Dexerto reported.^[14]

Roadmap

Blizzard's first raids open on Dec 9, 2026, for level 60 characters: the Barrow Deeps for 10 players with eight bosses, Hyjal Summit for 20 players with 13 bosses, and the 40-player Onyxia's Lair, all resetting weekly.^[19] Entering Onyxia's Lair requires the Drakefire Amulet from a faction questline.^[19] The What's Next panel promised more raids, dungeons, PvP updates and Hardcore after December, and a revamped iconic raid that Blizzard has not named.^[5] Clay Stone told the panel that the roadmap could change with feedback and that nothing was off the table, not even a new class.^[4] As of Nov 7, 2026, none of these later updates has a firm date beyond the December raids and the standard-definition Skyborne models due in early 2027.^[12][19]

43:04 The year ahead Clay Stone walks through the roadmap after launch: new raids on Dec 9, then more raids, dungeons, PvP updates and world content, and a revamped iconic raid in the summer.

1. 2026-09-12 Forever announced at the BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony.^[2]
2. 2026-09-17 Closed beta opens at level 20.^[9]
3. 2026-10-01 Blizzard announces action against gold botting and buying in the beta.^[13]
4. 2026-10-07 Blizzard promises standard-definition Skyborne models for early 2027.^[12]
5. 2026-11-02 Beta statistics: more than 8.8 million characters created.^[15]
6. 2026-11-04 Worldwide launch at 3:00 p.m. PST.^[1][18]
7. 2026-12-09 The Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia's Lair are due to open.^[19]
8. 2027-01-11 Last day to buy the Warcraft Forever Collection.^[27]