WoW: Forever launches November 4: beta, Skyborne race, editions
Blizzard has revealed World of Warcraft: Forever, a separate game set in original Azeroth that the studio plans to keep building for years. According to the What’s Next panel recap, it is not a mode, a season or another version of Classic. It will run alongside modern WoW and Classic.
Release date and beta
- Launch: 4 November 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST, globally at the same time (23:00 UTC).
- Beta: 17 September to 21 October 2026.
- Name reservation: from 27 October to 3 November 2026 you can create and customise up to three characters. Names are first come, first served.
Access is included with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, so there is no separate game to buy. Details are in the pre-purchase announcement.
What’s inside
The game starts in the early era of Azeroth, across the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, with levelling from 1 to 60. Blizzard lists:
- more than a thousand new quests on the road to level 60;
- new and reworked regions: Mount Hyjal, Shen’dralas, the Riverglades and the Zephras Isle starting area;
- nine new dungeons, including the Hall of Thanes beneath Ironforge and the Ruins of Lordaeron;
- raids: Hyjal Summit for 20 players and the Barrow Deeps for 10, with new raids unlocking on 9 December 2026;
- a battleground: Darkspear Islands, 15 vs 15.
The core rules stay classic: no flying mounts and no level scaling.
The new Skyborne race
Skyborne is a new playable race. At character creation you pick a faction:
- Horde Skyborne get the Shaman class;
- Alliance Skyborne get the Mage class;
- both can also play Warriors, Hunters, Rogues and Druids.
Access to the race and its starting zone comes with the Skyborne Heroic Pack.
New systems
The Deep Dive panel recap describes three new systems.
- Camping. The simple Cooking Fire becomes a campsite where players rest, get one-hour buffs, repair and place profession objects.
- Legacy. Points from challenges are shared across all alts, but each character spends them separately, up to 16 points per character at launch.
- Realmless play. Instead of a realm list, you choose a ruleset: Normal, PvP or Roleplaying.
Editions
- Skyborne Heroic Pack: the Skyborne race, early name reservation, a mount and cosmetics, plus one Invite-A-Friend code.
- Skyborne Epic Pack: everything in the Heroic Pack, beta access, 30 days of Game Time and two more invite codes.
- Warcraft Forever Collection: everything in the Epic Pack plus Warcraft III: Reforged and the Forsaken Kingdom campaign. It is a limited-time bundle, available until 11 January 2027.
Invite codes let a friend play without a subscription from 4 to 11 November 2026. We don’t list edition prices here because we haven’t verified them.
Everything about the game lives on the World of Warcraft: Forever page. Guides will follow once the beta starts.
Frequently asked questions
When does World of Warcraft: Forever come out?
On 4 November 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST, globally at the same time (23:00 UTC), per the [official Blizzard announcement](https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24301508/pre-purchase-world-of-warcraft-forever-upgrades-and-begin-your-next-journey-in-azeroth).
Do I need to buy the game separately?
No. Access is included with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time. Only the optional upgrade editions are sold: Skyborne Heroic Pack, Skyborne Epic Pack and Warcraft Forever Collection.
How do I get into the beta?
The beta runs from 17 September to 21 October 2026. Access comes with the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection.
Is this a new WoW Classic server?
No. Blizzard says plainly it is not a mode, a season or a new version of Classic, but a separate game that lives alongside modern WoW and Classic.