Classic+ · Launching 4 November 2026
World of Warcraft:
Forever
Blizzard's Classic+ launches 4 November 2026. Vanilla Azeroth kept at level 60, with more than 1,000 new quests, four new zones, nine dungeons, new raids and a new playable race. The beta is over; this hub links every one of our 45 Forever pages.
Latest patch notes: build 1.60.1.70707 · 30 October 2026 →
Launch countdown · 4 November, 3:00 p.m. PST
Launch day · 4 November
Forever gold, levelling and accounts
Levelling 1–60 takes about 150 hours by community estimates, and Blizzard has announced no WoW Token and no paid boost for Forever — every level and every gold piece is player-made.
WoW Forever gold, leveling and accounts — prices on launch day, 4 November. Tell us what you need now and we'll contact you when it's ready.
Before launch
What to do and when
Reserve your names
Up to three characters across all rulesets, with any upgrade pack, until 3 November.
Rulesets and times →4 November, 3:00 p.m. PSTLaunch
23:00 UTC; midnight CET on 5 November in Europe. Have addons updated and the client patched before then.
Launch-night fixes →9 DecemberRaids open
Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia’s Lair together. Start the Onyxia attunement early.
Raids and attunement →News
Latest WoW Forever news
31 October · Wowhead
WoW Forever podcast phrase sparks player theories about a hidden bladeOn the sixth WoW Forever podcast, Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield read a Darnassian-style phrase, "SHEN'SERRAR LEZAL MELOR'NA ADALA FAL". A forum post reads "Shen'Serrar" as "Hidden Blade", drawing on the Skyborne's "Shen" and the "Serrar" in Quel'Serrar, and suggests the full line could mean the Hidden Blade is a guiding light. This is player speculation only, nothing has been confirmed, and the word "Lezal" remains untranslated. Players note the link to Onyxia, whose 40-player raid is in the first WoW Forever raid tier and is where Quel'Serrar was obtained, and the Secret Finding Discord is investigating.
31 October · Wowhead
Applejack Still XP exploit fixed ahead of WoW: Forever launchBlizzard has fixed an Alliance quest exploit found in the WoW: Forever Beta, where Applejack Still, just outside Stormwind City, could be turned in repeatedly for experience. The quest needed 4 Shiny Red Apples from a vendor, and a Level 21 character in a Classic WoW subreddit video earned 170 experience per turn-in. Aggrend confirmed on X that the farm is fixed before launch, so players will need to level the intended way.
30 October · Wowhead
Druid and Paladin talent trees overhauled in pre-launch WoW: Forever hotfixesHotfixes on live Forever servers have reworked the Druid and Paladin talent trees, with smaller tuning changes for Hunter, Mage, Priest, Warlock and Warrior ahead of the November 4th launch. Examples include a faster Shifting Power cooldown for Druids and several new talents for Paladins such as Boundless Light and Shieldsworn. These changes are not confirmed in development notes and may change going forward.
30 October · Wowhead
Blizzard shares WoW: Forever beta stats, with over 8.8 million characters createdBlizzard has published statistics from the now-finished WoW: Forever beta, which logged 8,862,354 characters created and 9,959,014 PvP kills. Other figures include 1,248,125 duels fought and 1,157,204 deaths from falling. The Hall of Thanes was the deadliest dungeon, Kobold Miner the deadliest creature, and Hillsbrad Foothills the zone with the most PvP, while launch is set for November 4th.
30 October · Wowhead
Blizzard asks Oceanic players how day and night should work in WoW: ForeverOn the WoW: Forever Podcast, Blizzard said Australian players can share a server with North American players, which raises questions about which time of day they see. Lead Software Designer Ana Resendez explained that grouping with a friend means the server must pick one world for the group, and using Australian time zones could mean switching from night to day within seconds after accepting an invite. Aggrend asked Oceanic players for feedback on whether their day and night should change depending on the group leader's location, since the developers worry it could be too jarring.
29 October · Wowhead
Blizzard outlines WoW: Forever launch on November 4 with zones, Skyborne and presetsBlizzard has published a launch overview saying WoW: Forever goes live on November 4 at 3:00 PM PDT. It is set between Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and Molten Core, with a level 1 to 60 journey that adds more than 1,000 new quests and zones such as Mount Hyjal, Shen'dralas, the Riverglades and Zephras Isle. The Skyborne debut as a new playable race, and new players first pick a Classic or Enhanced experience preset and then a Ruleset instead of a traditional realm.
Every page
The WoW Forever guide, by topic
Start here
Dates, prices, rulesets and what to do on launch night.
Classes & builds
All nine classes now have a Blizzard class deep dive.
Levelling 1–60
Routes, zones, quests and the addons that work.
Dungeons, raids & PvP
Nine dungeons from level 13; three raids on 9 December.
Professions & gold
Camping, Merchant’s Favor and the Legacy tree.
News & patch notes
What changed, build by build, with sources.
Classes
All nine classes
PriestRacial spells become universal, Shadow Word: Death arrives baseline, and Shadowform stops being a damage-only cage.
WarriorRage is rebuilt from the ground up, the big three cooldowns stop sharing a timer, and weapon specialisations collapse into one talent.
HunterTraps work in combat, Aimed Shot is baseline, and Marksmanship gets a pet-free build.
DruidForms finally scale with your weapon, consumables work while shifted, and Tiger’s Fury is gone.
PaladinHoly Strike at level 6, a tanking Seal of Fury, Judgement that keeps your Seal, and Seal Twisting moved into a Retribution talent.
MageFrostfire Bolt at level 40, a scroll-reading Comprehension skill, and Arcane Blast, Ice Lance and Missile Barrage as talents.
RogueAxes, Sap that keeps you in Stealth, Mutilate and Venom for Assassination, and the four weapon specialisations folded into one talent.
ShamanTotem sets on one cast, hour-long weapon imbues, and Lava Burst, Stormstrike on 8 seconds and Riptide as headline talents.
WarlockCurses split into Banes, pets scale with you, and Wrack, Demonic Pact and Incinerate cap the three trees.No realms
The four rulesets
| Ruleset | When | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Launch | PvP only by consent; both factions on one account. |
| PvP | Launch | Open-world PvP; one faction per account; camps can be attacked. |
| Roleplaying | Launch | Normal rules, for players who want to roleplay; both factions. |
| Roleplay-PvP | Launch (added 22 October) | Roleplaying with open-world PvP. |
| Hardcore | After launch | One life. A dead character can move to another ruleset; nothing flows back in. |
No grouping across rulesets; battlegrounds mix them, except Hardcore. Source: Choose your ruleset (updated 22 October: Roleplay-PvP).
Group content
Dungeons and raids at a glance
| Dungeon | Levels | Where |
|---|---|---|
| The Hall of Thanes | 13–18 | Beneath Ironforge, Dun Morogh |
| Ruins of Lordaeron | 15–20 | Above the Undercity, Tirisfal Glades |
| Excavation Site | 24–29 | Wetlands, near Thelgen Rock and Dun Algaz |
| City of Dalaran | 28–33 | Alterac Mountains |
| The Drowned City | 35–40 | Off the coast of Stranglethorn Vale, west of Grom’gol |
| Krol’dok Stronghold | 40–45 | The Riverglades |
| Alcaz Prison | 48–53 | Alcaz Island, Dustwallow Marsh |
| Blackmaw Hold | 55–60 | Azshara |
| Shaper’s Terrace | 58–60 | Northern hills of Un’Goro Crater |
Only Onyxia needs attunement (the Drakefire Amulet). Raids guide · Dungeons guide
Timeline
Every confirmed date
12 September 2026 · done
Announced at BlizzCon
17 September 2026 · done
Beta opened (Epic Pack and above)
21 October 2026 · done
Stress test, open to every WoW account
23 October 2026, 10:00 a.m. Pacific · done
Beta closed (extended from 21 October)
27 October – 3 November 2026 · done
Name reservation, up to three characters (any upgrade pack)
4 November 2026, 3:00 p.m. PST
Launch (midnight CET on 5 November in Europe)
9 December 2026
All three raids unlock: Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit, Onyxia’s Lair
Winter 2026/27 (roadmap label)
Hardcore ruleset (“sometime after launch”)
Spring 2027
First major update
Editions
What each edition costs
The distinction that catches people out: the game comes with a subscription, the Skyborne race does not, and beta access did not either.
| Edition | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription or Game Time | — | The base game from 4 November. Nothing else. |
| Skyborne Heroic Pack | $29.99 | Skyborne race and its starting zone, Cerulean Prideclaw mount, transmog set, Windwell toy, early name reservation. |
| Skyborne Epic Pack | $59.99 | Everything above, plus beta access from 17 September, 30 days of Game Time, extra pets and tabards, three Invite-A-Friend codes. |
| Warcraft Forever Collection | $79.99 | Everything above, plus Warcraft III: Reforged and the Forsaken Kingdom campaign. |
| Collector's Edition | Gear Store | 13-inch Dwarf and Bear statue, Zephras Isle mousepad, art prints, pins, companion journal, plus the full digital Collection. |
Content
What is actually new
- 1,000+ new questsAcross revamped and entirely new zones.
- Four new zonesZephras Isle (Skyborne start, 1–12), the Riverglades, Shen’dralas and Mount Hyjal.
- The SkyborneA new playable race: winged elves who can play warrior, hunter, rogue, druid, shaman and mage.
- Nine dungeons, three raids on 9 DecemberDungeons from level 13 to 60; Barrow Deeps (10 players), Hyjal Summit (20) and Onyxia’s Lair (40).
- CampingCooking lights a campfire and every other profession adds a camp object: Stamina, stats, mana, crit, rested XP.
- A new battlegroundOn the Darkspear Islands.
- Class revampsNew talents and abilities, plus class and race combinations vanilla never allowed.
Why a permanent level 60 changes what an account is worth
In retail WoW every expansion raises the cap, and a geared character stops mattering within a patch. Forever's roadmap has no next cap: Blizzard calls it “not a mode, a season, or a new version of Classic” but an evergreen Azeroth, and every announced update adds raids, dungeons and zones at 60.
The practical consequence: time invested in a Forever character is not written off by the next release. That is unusual, and it is the reason this version is worth preparing for rather than waiting out.
Long reads
WoW Forever guides
From the changes database · client build 1.60.1.70707
Answers
WoW Forever FAQ
When does WoW Forever release?
World of Warcraft: Forever launches on 4 November 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST, which is 23:00 UTC and midnight CET on 5 November in Europe. The beta ran from 17 September to 23 October, followed by an early name-reservation window from 27 October to 3 November.
When is WoW Forever name reservation?
The early window is 27 October to 3 November 2026; it opened at 1:00 p.m. Pacific in the Americas, 18:00 CET in Europe and 07:00 on 28 October in Korea and Taiwan. Owners of the Skyborne Heroic Pack, Skyborne Epic Pack or Warcraft Forever Collection get up to three characters across all rulesets, first come, first served. From launch on 4 November everyone creates characters as normal.
Does WoW Forever have servers or realms?
No realms. You pick a ruleset: Normal, PvP, Roleplaying or Roleplay-PvP at launch, with Hardcore after launch. You cannot group across rulesets, battlegrounds mix them (except Hardcore), and on the PvP ruleset you can only play one faction.
Is WoW Forever included with a WoW subscription?
The base game is included with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time from 4 November. The Skyborne race is not: it requires the Skyborne Heroic Pack at $29.99 or higher. Beta access required the Skyborne Epic Pack at $59.99.
What is the level cap in WoW Forever?
The level cap is 60. Blizzard calls Forever an evergreen version that grows with new content rather than a new version of Classic, and no level increase appears on its 2026/2027 roadmap. Raids unlock on 9 December 2026, Hardcore arrives sometime after launch, and major updates follow in Spring and Summer 2027.
How much does WoW Forever gold cost?
METAMMO prices for WoW Forever gold go up on launch day, 4 November 2026. No gold can be delivered before realms open. Tell us what you need now and we will contact you when it is ready.
How long does it take to reach level 60 in WoW Forever?
Around 150 hours of play for a first character, by community estimates; Blizzard says the experience curve is unchanged from Classic. Blizzard has not announced a WoW Token or a paid level boost for Forever. METAMMO levelling opens on launch day, 4 November.
Can I buy a WoW Forever account now?
Not yet. The game launches 4 November 2026 on fresh rulesets, so no levelled Forever account exists anywhere; one offered today is a Classic account or a scam. From launch METAMMO sells Forever accounts with a lifetime warranty against recovery, and you can send a request now. Full answer: metammo.com/guides/where-to-buy-wow-forever-account-safely-2026.
How is WoW Forever different from WoW Classic Era?
Classic Era is vanilla frozen permanently with no new content. Forever continues vanilla Azeroth forward with more than 1,000 new quests, four new zones, nine new dungeons, new raids and the Skyborne race, while keeping the level cap at 60.
Do WoW Forever raids need attunement?
Only Onyxia’s Lair, which needs the Drakefire Amulet in your bags. Barrow Deeps (10 players, 8 bosses) and Hyjal Summit (20 players, 13 bosses) have none. All three open on 9 December 2026 and reset weekly.
Will my Classic characters transfer to Forever?
Blizzard has not announced character transfers from Classic Era, Season of Discovery or any other version. Assume they are not possible until Blizzard says otherwise.
Is it safe to buy a WoW Forever account?
On a launch server no seller has a trading history yet, which makes escrow and a warranty the only real protection. Every METAMMO account is checked by hand before listing and carries a lifetime warranty against recovery: if the original owner ever recovers the account you get a refund or a replacement, with verified claims resolved within 48 hours.
Launch day
Get told when Forever services go live
Gold, levelling and accounts open on 4 November. Join the Discord and we will tell you the hour they do.
Facts checked: 24 October 2026 · Sources: Blizzard News, Forever forum