World of Warcraft: Forever is a lasting new version of WoW built on Azeroth as it stood in 2004, with ongoing additions and a level ceiling fixed at 60. It operates on dedicated realms beside current WoW and Classic, completing unfinished parts of the world and adding new narratives to familiar regions. In the “Your Adventure Begins” trailer, the focus is the path from level 1 through level 60: every character starts equipped with a weapon and a handful of coins before setting out from revamped starting areas.
Quick answer: Players worldwide could play World of Warcraft: Forever starting November 4, 2026, at 23:00 UTC (3:00 p.m. PST). A World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time provides access, with no extra purchase required.
What World of Warcraft: Forever is
Forever offers a complete game experience, though its story does not extend into a new expansion. The level cap stays at 60 indefinitely. Players instead make progress within the original level range through new narratives, activities, equipment, abilities, and systems.
Forever’s events begin in Azeroth’s first year, after Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before the fall of Molten Core. Regular updates will expand the world without advancing into later expansions. Modern WoW, Classic, and Forever run at the same time as distinct offerings on separate servers. Developers from the Classic team created the mode, drawing on Season of Discovery’s approach to community secrets.
What shipped at launch on November 4
The release version takes players through the complete leveling path to the maximum, adding content in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. These are the features available at launch.
| Addition | Details |
|---|---|
| New quests | More than 1,000 |
| New zones | Zephras Isle, Riverglades, Mount Hyjal, Shen’dralas, plus expanded existing areas |
| New dungeons | Nine (levels 13 to 60) |
| New raids | Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit, opening December 9 |
| New race | Skyborne (Shen’dorei) |
| Level cap | 60 (unchanged) |
All classes and specializations have been reworked, giving players a wider range of combat builds. Upgraded graphics and transmog are optional, and each has its own switch to preserve the classic appearance. Classic dungeons receive revamped rewards and itemization, including fresh gear for familiar runs like Molten Core and Blackrock Depths.
The Skyborne race and Walk on Air
With their luminous turquoise and purple details and celestial style, the Skyborne, known as the Shen’dorei in their own tongue, are a wind-swept elven people. This neutral race lets you choose Windshaper Horde or High Order Alliance during character creation.
The Skyborne racial ability is Walk on Air. Following a fall, it gives you controlled horizontal gliding across open ground and over cliffs. Existing races also get racial changes in the update.
The Skyborne race is not part of the base game. It comes with any of the three optional packs: the Skyborne Heroic Pack, the Skyborne Epic Pack, or the Warcraft Forever Collection. Each pack also includes the Zephras Isle starting experience, which covers levels 1 to 12.
A subscription on its own does not unlock Skyborne. Pack prices vary by region, and the Battle.net Shop lists the price for yours.
New race and class combinations
Forever introduces combinations unavailable in the original game. A striking trailer scene has an undead character casting radiant holy magic in a graveyard as skeptical Forsaken look on, establishing the lore behind Paladins among the dead. Here are all the new combinations:
- Forsaken (Undead) Paladins
- Dwarf Shamans
- Gnome Priests
- Human Hunters
- Orc Mages
- Troll Warlocks
New and reworked zones
Zephras Isle
Home to the Skyborne, Zephras Isle is a skybound floating island that also serves as the race’s starting area. Outside forces now endanger this formerly secluded refuge, and the opening quests task players with protecting it and ensuring it has a future.
Riverglades
Riverglades, in the Eastern Kingdoms, ranges from lush slopes to the ruins of old keeps. Entry is possible through a fork in Redridge Mountains that was once closed off. Alliance players may join the Brotherhood of the Horse; Horde players can side with the Boulderok Ogre Clan. The Twilight’s Hammer poses a danger to both factions.
Mount Hyjal
At the end of the leveling path, high-level characters return to a renewed Mount Hyjal. Its slopes hold familiar and unfamiliar threats, while Horde and Alliance forces share a camp under a strained truce. Beneath the peak, Barrow Deeps is a raid featuring eight bosses.
Quests, pets, and the starter zones
New quests, lore, and discoveries await in every race’s starting zone, giving new and returning players reasons to revisit Mulgore, Dun Morogh, Teldrassil, Durotar, and elsewhere. Familiar regions also gain new stories and NPCs.
The trailer highlights two examples. In the Wetlands, Corma Villard gives out Hearts of the Lost, sending you to find Corma’s partner Essene; the reward includes gold and an item named Essene’s Hope. Close to Dun Algaz, Ashlan Stonesmirk offers Bring Back a Bang. Retrieve three stolen explosives from Dark Iron dwarf camps to earn Ez-Thro Dynamite.
Players can find new pets during their travels, including a red fox that can be tamed, and take on class-specific weapon quests while leveling. In one example, a dwarf demonstrates using fist weapons in both hands.
Camping, travel, and reworked systems
A number of features support the more deliberate, social pace of early WoW. With the Cooking profession, players can set down a campfire to establish a campsite; others who pass by may contribute tents, banners, and relaxation fixtures there. Honor and the professions have been overhauled. Hardcore was absent at launch; Blizzard says the ruleset will be added a little later, and the roadmap lists it for winter.
Ship and airship travel now includes additional routes and stops. The Wetlands-to-Darkshore line gains a Hillsbrad stop where players can disembark, and Stormwind Harbor joins the network. A mage class quest takes players to the Southshore docks, where they pass through a teleport. The revised parchment map depicts new sea links between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.
Progress through the Legacy system applies across your account. As each character advances, the system grants rewards usable account-wide and factors in completed challenges, letting alternate characters benefit from your earlier efforts.
Dungeons and raids
The game adds nine entirely new dungeons, with the first becoming available at level 13. The Drowned City is one of them: an underwater troll dungeon accessed by diving from Stranglethorn into submerged ruins.
No raid is open yet. On December 9, three raids open for level 60 players. Barrow Deeps is a 10-player raid with eight bosses, and its entrances connect to Mount Hyjal, Winterspring and Blackmaw Hold. Hyjal Summit is a 20-player raid with 13 bosses. Onyxia’s Lair is a 40-player raid.
Onyxia’s Lair has an extra requirement. Every member of the raid needs the Drakefire Amulet, which comes from a faction-specific attunement questline. All three raids are planned to reset weekly.
Access and editions
A World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time provides access to both modern WoW and WoW Forever, with no other purchase required. Optional Battle.net Shop packs come with the Skyborne race, Cerulean Prideclaw mount, cosmetics, and pets. The Epic Pack also grants 30 days of Game Time.
You can’t ride the Cerulean Prideclaw straight away. You first need to buy the riding skill in the game.
| Edition | Notable contents |
|---|---|
| Skyborne Heroic Pack | Skyborne race, Zephras Isle start, Early Name Reservation, Cerulean Prideclaw mount, cosmetics, 1 Invite-A-Friend code |
| Skyborne Epic Pack | Everything above, plus 30 days of game time, extra cosmetics, pets, tabards, 3 Invite-A-Friend codes |
| Warcraft Forever Collection | Everything in the Epic Pack, plus Warcraft III: Reforged, the Forsaken Kingdom campaign, and Housing decor |
Beta access for Epic Pack and Collection owners started on September 17, 2026, and has now concluded. The pre-launch Early Name Reservation period is closed as well.
This limited-run edition is called the Warcraft Forever Collection. The Blizzard Gear Store offers a physical Collector’s Edition until supplies run out.
In the Battle.net desktop app, pick World of Warcraft: Forever from the version selector, where it sits beside modern WoW and Classic. The first time you log in, the game asks you to Choose Your Experience Preset, either Classic or Enhanced. Enhanced is the suggested starting point, and you can change any setting later in Game Menu > Options.
Next, you choose a Ruleset instead of a realm: Normal, PvP, Roleplay or Roleplay PvP. Grouping, guilds, dungeons and raids work only between characters on the same Ruleset and the same faction.
