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: Forever goes live worldwide on November 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST. Base access is included with any active WoW subscription or game time, so no separate box purchase is required to play at launch.
Release time: November 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST
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 ships 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, plus expanded existing areas |
| New dungeons | Nine (starting around level 15) |
| New raids | Two, including the eight-boss Barrow Deeps |
| 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 and its Zephras Isle opening questline are included in the Skyborne Heroic Pack and editions above it, which cost $29.99. A base subscription by itself does not grant access to the race.
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 reworked, and plans also include Hardcore mode.
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 about level 15. The Drowned City is one of them: an underwater troll dungeon accessed by diving from Stranglethorn into submerged ruins.
Raids support flexible groups of 10 or 20 players, with some launch encounters also offering 40-player content, including Onyxia’s Lair. Barrow Deeps, the eight-boss raid beneath Mount Hyjal, is also part of the launch lineup.
Access, editions, and beta
An active WoW subscription or game time is all you need to play Forever at launch, with no additional purchase required. Pre-purchasable upgrades through the Battle.net Shop add extras such as cosmetics, the Skyborne race, and beta access.
| Edition | Notable contents | Beta |
|---|---|---|
| Skyborne Heroic Pack | Skyborne race, Zephras Isle start, Early Name Reservation, Cerulean Prideclaw mount, cosmetics, 1 Invite-A-Friend code | No |
| Skyborne Epic Pack | Everything above, plus 30 days of game time, extra cosmetics, pets, tabards, 3 Invite-A-Friend codes | Yes |
| Warcraft Forever Collection | Everything in the Epic Pack, plus Warcraft III: Reforged, the Forsaken Kingdom campaign, and Housing decor | Yes |
Owners of the Epic Pack or Warcraft Forever Collection can enter the beta between September 17, 2026 and October 21, 2026. The Early Name Reservation window is October 27 to November 3. Tied to BlizzCon 2026, the Warcraft Forever Collection is available for a limited time, through January 11, 2027. A physical Collector’s Edition is also sold through the Blizzard Gear Store while stock lasts.
In the Battle.net desktop app, Forever appears in the version selector beside modern WoW and Classic. Its presence there means your account can access it; the original level-60 world is ready for another visit, with new locations, heroes, and further additions planned.
