World of Warcraft: Forever launches on 4 November 2026 at 3:00 p.m. Pacific, worldwide, per Blizzard's announcement and its panel recap. The beta (the test version) runs until 21 October. You don't buy the game itself: it comes with a World of Warcraft subscription or with Game Time, which is subscription time paid for up front.

The dates Blizzard has given

Where Blizzard's wording carries no year, the year is ours. Early name reservation has its own row on our calendar.

Converting the launch hour, and this part is our maths rather than Blizzard's. Clocks on the US west coast go back an hour on 1 November, so launch day falls on Pacific Standard Time. That makes 3:00 p.m. PST 23:00 UTC, 6:00 p.m. in New York, 11:00 p.m. in London, and midnight going into 5 November in Paris. Blizzard's announcement wrote the hour as PDT once and PST once. The panel recap and the 24 September post, the other two that give the launch hour, both say PST, which is the label that matches the date.

What Forever is

Blizzard calls it a permanent home that sits alongside modern World of Warcraft and WoW Classic (the re-released original game). It says Forever is neither a mode, nor a season, nor another version of Classic. The story sits after Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core. Players go back to the original continents, Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, and level to 60.

The design rules are blunt about what is missing: no flying mounts and no level scaling (monsters quietly adjusting to your level). Blizzard's four stated pillars are being approachable and familiar, treating the world as the main character, putting the journey before the destination, and protecting the social side of the game.

Watch the panel yourself

Blizzard's panel recap embeds the BlizzCon replay (BlizzCon is Blizzard's own convention), and the recording below is that same one: "World of Warcraft: Forever - What's Next Panel | BlizzCon 2026", published on the World of Warcraft YouTube channel.

What is in it

More than a thousand new quests are woven through the level 1 to 60 journey, and Blizzard names four places to go.

Hyjal deals with the aftermath of Archimonde's defeat. Shen'dralas is a hidden mystery between Mulgore and Desolace. The Riverglades is a frontier of rivers and trade routes with more than 150 quests, across much of what Blizzard calls the mid-30s to mid-40s experience. Zephras Isle (a starting area in the sky) covers levels 1 to 12.

Zephras Isle is home to the Skyborne, a new playable race. You pick a Skyborne character's side when you make it, and the side decides one class: Horde Skyborne get the Shaman, which Blizzard ties to elemental traditions, and Alliance Skyborne get the Mage, tied to an arcane legacy. Both sides can also play Warriors, Hunters, Rogues and Druids.

There are nine new dungeons, and eight are named: the Hall of Thanes beneath Ironforge, the Ruins of Lordaeron, the City of Dalaran, Blackmaw Hold, the Drowned City, Krol'dok Stronghold, Alcaz Prison and the Shaper's Terrace.

Two raids are named (the Barrow Deeps, planned as a challenge for ten players at the level cap, and Hyjal Summit, built for twenty). Across the two, Blizzard names new tier sets and a legendary reward it has not detailed.

For player versus player fights there is a new 15 versus 15 Battleground (on the Darkspear Islands), and Blizzard says updates to that side of the game carry on after launch.

Blizzard names two new systems among others. It pitches Legacy progression at players who love levelling alternate characters; our Legacy System piece covers how it works for a player with just one. Camping, which is new, lets you build a campfire out in the world so other players can stop by, help through their professions and share campsite buffs. Transmog is opt-in. There are also modern and Classic visual presets, high and standard definition character models, and controller support.

What it means for your wallet

Blizzard names three optional digital packs (our reading: Heroic in the first name is a product label, not a difficulty) plus a physical Collector's Edition.

Each digital pack starts with everything in the one above it. Blizzard's 24 September post adds that orders from its Collector's Edition restock are expected to ship in February 2027, after launch, with a limit of one per household on its store. No Blizzard post we read gives a price for any of them, that one included.

Our reading of that table, in three parts. First, the good news, and it is genuinely good: anyone already paying to play owes nothing extra on 4 November. Nothing Blizzard lists in those packs is described as a stat, damage or gear boost, and that is worth saying out loud.

Second, that is still not the same as saying the packs are all paint. The base pack carries a playable race, and Blizzard's panel recap says the Skyborne come with class access that depends on the side you pick, plus racial abilities of their own. Whether those abilities are any stronger than another race's is a thing none of the posts we read says, so we are not saying it either. What we will say is that a playable race reaches into how a character plays, and calling these packs cosmetic would be wrong.

Third, the Cerulean Prideclaw. It comes with the base pack, and Blizzard's own line says players will need to purchase the riding skill in-game to access and use the mount. So it is a mount you paid real money for, with a second purchase inside the game between you and riding it. A small thing, and the kind of small thing that reads badly on launch day.

And the question none of the posts we read answers. Blizzard lists Skyborne access as a pack benefit, and the beta includes the Skyborne and Zephras Isle. None of the Blizzard posts we read, the latest from 24 September, says whether they can be reached after launch without buying a pack. That is the question we would put to Blizzard.

What comes after launch

New raids arrive on 9 December. Past that Blizzard lists more raids and dungeons, player versus player updates, more world content, more quests through the 1 to 60 journey, and a revamped iconic raid (Blizzard does not say which). None of those has a date.

It also lists Hardcore. Forever moves away from picking a realm: each character picks a ruleset instead, which is the kind of world it lives in, and Hardcore is the one where death carries lasting consequences. Blizzard's ruleset post says Hardcore arrives sometime after launch, and that a Hardcore character who dies can move to another ruleset, player versus player included. Our rulesets piece covers all four rulesets.

The beta, the invite codes, the launch and the December raids are on our calendar, and the launch is on our release tracker too. For the beta itself, see our talent calculator, hunter pet reference and patch notes.