Blizzard announced World of Warcraft: Forever on September 12, with a global release scheduled for November 4, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. PST and a September 17 beta start. The pitch is a permanent game built around original Azeroth and the journey to level 60, running alongside modern and Classic WoW rather than as a season. The dates and positioning come from Blizzard’s launch announcement.
Blizzard places Forever after the events of Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core, framing it as a return to the original continents with new stories and continued updates.
For Classic players, the bigger news is not another trip through the same raid order. Forever has new regions, dungeons, raids and class updates, while keeping the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor at the center of the game.
New regions and the Skyborn
Blizzard has named four new regions for Forever: Mount Hyjal, Shendralas, Riverglades and Zephris Isle. Zephris Isle is also the starting area for the new playable Skyborn race.
Skyborn characters choose Horde or Alliance at character creation rather than joining a neutral faction. Both factions can play Skyborn warriors, hunters, rogues and druids. Horde Skyborn also have shaman access, while Alliance Skyborn can be mages.
Blizzard also announced six additional race-and-class combinations: Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin.
The panel also announced nine new dungeons, two new raids and the Dark Spear Islands, a 15-versus-15 battleground. Blizzard described Dark Spear Islands as using control-point gameplay, with flag captures that must be defended. Hardcore support is also planned for Forever, though the panel did not provide its full ruleset.
Dalaran and Drown City dungeon details
A BlizzCon creator showcase offered a closer look at two of Forever’s dungeons. Dalaran City is entered through the city’s sewers, with players fighting through undead and other threats before reaching the city proper. Developers said the dungeon will lean on resistances, immunities and crowd-control challenges more heavily than players may expect: arcane enemies can be immune to arcane damage, while fire elementals can be immune to fire damage. That makes party composition and damage types a practical consideration rather than a purely theoretical one.
The showcase also detailed Drown City, a new level 35–40 leveling dungeon off Stranglethorn’s western coast. Developers described it as a troll-focused city raised from the ocean floor and as an expansion of the unfinished story around the Vile Reef. The dungeon draws on the tale of the sunken city of Ili and its witch doctor, Minloth.
Skyborn players also have an exclusive Dalaran area overlooking Lord Lake near the Violet Citadel. The showcase said it is reached by skyship from Zephris.
Four dates for your calendar
Blizzard has scheduled a World of Warcraft: Forever Deep Dive livestream for September 13 at 10:00 a.m. PDT, with the development team set to discuss the reimagined Azeroth’s philosophy, systems and design choices.
The official upgrade details list beta from September 17 through October 21. The game launches globally on November 4 at 3:00 p.m. PST. Blizzard has said new raids will begin unlocking on December 9.
That separates testing, launch and raiding into distinct stretches. If you are gathering a guild, the launch date is not the announced new-raid opening. Hyjal Summit is described as 20-player content, while the Barrow Deeps is planned as a maximum-level 10-player challenge. Encounter details and a complete gearing route are not in the recap.
A subscription gets you the base game, not every upgrade
Blizzard says launch access is included with a WoW Subscription or Game Time. The optional Skyborne Heroic Pack adds Skyborne race access, its starting experience and other extras. The Skyborne Epic Pack and Warcraft Forever Collection add beta access; the Heroic Pack does not list beta as a benefit.
That distinction matters more than the edition names. If you only want the base game on November 4, an upgrade is not required. If you want to test in September, check the beta and edition breakdown before purchasing.
Familiar rules, a different world to learn
Forever will not use traditional realm selection. Players will instead choose between Normal, PvP and Roleplaying rulesets, with Hardcore planned for after launch. Blizzard said its new Hardcore systems will be tested during beta.
The Hardcore panel outlined safeguards and progression tailored to one-life characters. When the game needs to refresh the surrounding world, a planned warning interface will provide a countdown and allow players to confirm that they are somewhere safe before the refresh proceeds. The team said the feature is intended to prevent deaths caused by sudden nearby respawns.
Hardcore players will also have access to Forever’s expanded crafting and itemization: Blizzard cited more than 600 new crafting recipes, improved food and consumables, stronger dungeon rewards, and new items from elite enemies and rare spawns. A character that dies in Hardcore can transfer to a Normal, PvP or Roleplaying ruleset.
Hardcore progression will remain separate from progression earned elsewhere. Collections and Legacy Points earned outside Hardcore will not transfer into it, while collections and Legacy Points earned in Hardcore can move with a character transferred out after death. Blizzard also plans Hardcore-specific Legacy challenges and perks, so runs that end before level 60 can still contribute toward future attempts.
Blizzard describes each ruleset as a separate mega-realm: characters can only group for dungeons and raids with players on the same ruleset, and Horde and Alliance remain separate. That makes a ruleset choice important for friends planning to level and raid together.
The panel recap commits to no flying mounts and no level scaling. Blizzard also says Forever is not being planned around future level-cap increases that would invalidate existing accomplishments.
Camping will allow players to create campsites in much of the open world. Other players can use professions at a campsite to grant a buff to everyone there. The Legacy system, meanwhile, is intended to unlock leveling perks across alternate characters as players complete goals during new leveling journeys.
Combat and itemization are also being reworked rather than copied directly from Classic. Melee, ranged and spell hit chance will be unified into one hit stat, and critical-strike chance will be unified as well. Weapon skill returns, but Blizzard says it will be reduced and rebalanced compared with Classic.
Blizzard says healing gear will also provide bonus damage, while spellcaster weapons will grant spell damage and healing from level 10. Items can have effects linked to particular environments or creature types. Every dungeon boss’s loot is being re-examined, with rare-quality upgrades alongside new or improved quest, dungeon and world-drop rewards planned.
Transmog will be opt-in: players who turn it off will see other characters’ equipped appearances rather than transmogrified outfits. Character models will also be selectable game-wide between HD and Classic versions, and Blizzard says it has restored Classic animations for the HD models.
This is not a complete class or systems reference yet, but it is enough to see why an old Classic guide will not answer every Forever question. The practical next step is to choose whether you want beta access and which friends are interested, not to lock in a BiS list or a best-spec claim. Blizzard has also opened a WoW: Forever Community Connections forum for players to post about their communities, find new friends and reconnect with former guildmates. Our Forever overview collects the current basics; changes from Classic Era and the raid overview separate announced features from the details still needed to plan around them.