What is WoW Forever

World of Warcraft: Forever is a new version of World of Warcraft announced at BlizzCon 2026 on September 12, 2026 (Blizzard: Discover What’s Next). It launches November 4, 2026, uses the original continents with a level cap of 60, and is included with an existing subscription.

This page covers what Forever is, where it sits in the timeline, what it costs, and the headline systems. Individual systems have their own guides.

Blizzard describes Forever as “built as a new permanent home alongside modern and Classic WoW.” It is explicitly not a mode, a season, or a new version of Classic; the official page frames it as “a promise to keep building this world with the community… made to last” (Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever).

According to the general community, this makes Forever “Blizzard’s third version of WoW” next to the modern game and Classic.

Not by name. Classic+ is what players have called, for years, a Classic that keeps changing and moving forward instead of replaying the original patches, and none of the Blizzard posts this site holds uses that name. Blizzard calls the game World of Warcraft: Forever, and it is Blizzard’s take on that idea: the What’s Next panel recap opens with “For years, players have wondered what new adventures could still unfold in original Azeroth” and says the panel shared “how that dream is taking shape in World of Warcraft: Forever” (Blizzard: What’s Next Panel Recap). How close it comes to what each player meant is still argued on the forums (Blizzard forums: What the heck is WoW Forever?).

Forever is set after Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core. It takes place on the original continents at level cap 60, in a separate continuity (a “time bubble”) from modern WoW’s Year 1 of Classic Azeroth (Blizzard: Carve a New Path).

Four zones are new or expanded: Mount Hyjal, Shen’dralas (south of Desolace, connecting to Eldre’Thalas), Riverglades (mid-30s to mid-40s, reached via Powderfuse Port), and Zephras Isle (the Skyborne starting zone, levels 1–12). New travel routes link Stormwind Harbor and Auberdine, run Menethil/Southshore/Auberdine, and connect the Steamwheedle Cartel to Riverglades (Blizzard: Found Photos Panel Recap; Blizzard: Carve a New Path).

According to the general community, the level range 1–60 gets 1,000+ new quests.

Release date: November 4, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. PDT/PST globally (Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever; Blizzard: Carve a New Path).

Access is included with an existing WoW Subscription or Game Time. There is no separate box price for the base game. Paid editions (Skyborne Heroic Pack $29.99, Skyborne Epic Pack $59.99, Warcraft Forever Collection $79.99) are optional cosmetic and beta-access upgrades (Blizzard: Pre-Purchase Upgrades). See the editions and pricing guide for the full breakdown.

Name reservation runs October 27 – November 3, 2026, with early reservation from October 27 for pre-purchasers of the Heroic, Epic, or Collection editions (Blizzard: Pre-Purchase Upgrades).

• New race: the Skyborne, a neutral race choosable by both factions (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap). Build 1.60.1.69913 stores it as two race records with their racial abilities: Skyborne guide, Races.
• Six new race-class combinations: Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock, Undead Paladin (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap). All six, and the ten Skyborne combinations, are in build 1.60.1.69913, with none beyond them: new race and class combinations.
• Class talent trees keep the seven-row layout with milestone talents at 11, 21 and 31 points, plus a new 16-point milestone (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap). In build 1.60.1.69913 the trees hold 469 talents, 122 of them not in Era’s talent table, and every tab has a one-point talent in tier 4: talent trees overview, talent calculator.
• The Legacy System, an account-wide progression layer earned through achievement-like challenges, separate from class talents (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap). The three trees and all 65 challenges come from our own game data: Legacy, Legacy System guide.
• Camping: crafted campfires in the open world that other players rest at and contribute to via professions (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap). See the Camping guide.
• Professions: 600+ new recipes, with campsite objects gated behind Blueprint recipes from dungeons (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap). Build 1.60.1.69913 has 2,547 recipe spells, 963 of them flagged as absent from Era 1.15.9.69722: Professions.
• Nine new dungeons, two new raids (Hyjal Summit 20-player, Barrow Deeps 10-player), and one new battleground, Darkspear Islands (15v15) (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap). Four of the nine dungeons are in build 1.60.1.69913 with boss lists; the raids are not yet: Dungeons, Raids.
• Class baseline changes, for example Paladin gets Holy Strike at level 6 and Consecration baseline at level 20 (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap). Both levels match build 1.60.1.69913; abilities by level are on the class pages.

Forever has no traditional named realms. Players pick a ruleset at character creation: Normal, PvP, Roleplaying, or Hardcore. A two-part character naming convention works around account-wide name uniqueness (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap).

Transmog is opt-in and disabled by default under a “Classic Mode” display toggle. There is an HD/SD character model toggle with “restored Classic animations” on updated models, official gamepad/controller support, and no flying mounts (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap).

Blizzard’s roadmap states that new raids unlock on December 9, 2026, followed by more raids, dungeons, PvP updates and world content, plus a Hardcore mode and a revamped iconic raid later, without exact dates (Blizzard: What’s Next Panel Recap). The roadmap guide lists the dated phases.

The beta started on September 17, 2026, at level cap 20 (raised to 30 later); see the beta overview.