Beta Overview

The World of Warcraft: Forever beta opened on Thursday, September 17, 2026, and runs through October 21, 2026 (Blizzard: Beta Now Live). It starts with a level cap of 20 and a subset of the launch content.

This page covers the dates, the level cap schedule, the three ways in, what is testable, and the official known-issues list.

The beta began September 17, 2026. Blizzard names October 21, 2026, as “the last full day of testing” (Blizzard: Beta Now Live).

According to the general community, the window is September 17 – October 22, 2026, which is one day later than the official end date. Use October 21.

The cap is 20 at launch and will be “raised to 30 later in the beta” (Blizzard: Beta Now Live). According to the general community, the raise to 30 comes “after a couple of weeks”. Blizzard has not published the date of the raise.

There are three routes into the beta (Blizzard: Beta Now Live):

1. Opt in on the WoW Forever site. Invitations go out “regularly” and are not guaranteed.
2. Buy an eligible digital bundle: the Skyborne Epic Pack ($59.99) or the Warcraft Forever Collection ($79.99). Access is automatic.
3. Play during the limited-time “Server Slam” event, which opens the beta more broadly.

The $29.99 Skyborne Heroic Pack does not include beta access (Blizzard: Beta Now Live). According to the general community, players bought the Heroic Pack expecting a beta key and did not get one. Pricing details are in the editions and pricing guide.

Blizzard lists the following as open from day one (Blizzard: Beta Now Live):

• The Skyborne race and its starting zone, Zephras Isle. Racials and class lists: Skyborne guide.
• Two new dungeons: Hall of Thanes (levels 13–18) and Ruins of Lordaeron (levels 15–20).
• All zone content up to level 20.

Additional zones, dungeons, and the new battleground (Darkspear Islands) are stated to open later in the beta. The battleground is not available in week 1 and “will open for testing” later (Blizzard: Beta Now Live). The other seven launch dungeons are not in week 1. Two of the seven, Excavation Site: Wetlands and City of Dalaran, already have maps and boss lists in build 1.60.1.69913, at tuning levels 26 and 28; see the dungeons overview.

Blizzard’s Known Issues thread for September 17 lists the following (Blizzard forums: Known Issues – September 17):

UI

• Barber Chairs cause a Lua error.
• The character Friends list is disabled in beta.
• The minimap is partially off-screen.
• The character pane is missing the Level/Class/Titles display.
• The Legacy System panel (“Y” hotkey) throws Lua errors if opened before level 25. The game’s own tooltip for the locked button reads “This feature becomes available when your first character reaches level 25.” (from build 1.60.1.69913; trees and challenges are on Legacy).
• Coldridge Valley does not reveal on the map when explored.

Quests and world

• Waylaid Crates malfunction with small stack sizes.
• The Apprentice Curiosities crate accepts the wrong essence type.
• A Teldrassil quest NPC, Sentinel Lynessa Duskblossom, runs too fast and spams her ability.
• Players cannot sign guild charters.

Classes and combat

• Starshards (Night Elf Priest racial) does not benefit from the Twilight Focus talent.
• Retribution Paladin’s Vengeance talent incorrectly procs from periodic crits.
• Holy Strike‘s per-rank scaling “doesn’t feel satisfactory”.
• Create Firestone ranks 3–4 are missing a tooltip.
• Warlock pet resource and scaling display bugs: mana, health-to-stamina, hit, expertise, movement speed.
• Glancing blow mechanics and display are incorrect for both casters and melee.

The beta was on build 1.60.1.69913 on September 18, 2026, and database records on this site come from that build. Against Era 1.15.9.69722 it has 4,905 added items, 5,381 added spells, 160 added zones and 14 added maps; every change is in the changelog.