World of Warcraft: Forever launch

Launch time where you are

What you need to play

Forever is included with an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, and it is not a separate purchase.

The dates, from beta to launch

• The Forever beta runs September 17 to October 21, 2026.
• Invite-A-Friend launch codes arrive by email beginning October 20, 2026.
• Early name reservation runs October 27 to November 3, 2026.
• An Invite-A-Friend code lets a friend play from November 4 to November 11, 2026 without a subscription or Game Time.
• The Warcraft Forever Collection is on sale through January 11, 2027.
• Collector's Edition codes can be redeemed by December 31, 2027.

Early name reservation

• Early name reservation covers up to three characters, first come first served, and it is tied to the WoW account the edition was purchased for.
• Forever character names come in two parts and are unique per region.

The beta

• The beta level cap starts at 20 and rises to 30 later in the beta.
• Week one of the beta opened with the Skyborne race, the zone Zephras Isle, and two dungeons: Hall of Thanes for levels 13 to 18 and Ruins of Lordaeron for levels 15 to 20, with all zone content through level 20 available.
• The free route in is the opt-in on Blizzard's Forever page, which enters an account for selection-based invitations that arrive by email, so it is a chance rather than a guarantee.
• Beta access is guaranteed with the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection, and the Skyborne Heroic Pack does not include it.
• To install the beta once invited, update graphics drivers, update the Battle.net desktop app, pick WoW: Forever Beta under the In Development game versions, install it, and create a new test character.

Editions, and what each one includes

Where to buy

• The digital editions are sold on the Battle.net Shop.
• The Collector's Edition is sold on the Blizzard Gear Store.
• Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Forever page carries its own summary of the game and the free beta opt-in.

We do not print prices. They vary by region and by sale, and each store shows the reader's own.

System requirements

• An AMD card has to be built on Graphics Core Next 1 (2012) or newer.
• An NVIDIA card has to be built on Maxwell (2014) or newer.
• An Intel card has to be built on Skylake (2015) or newer.

Forever relies on RGBA16F UAV support in compute shaders, a GPU feature introduced around 2012, to carry its updated visual look.

• To check which GPU is in the machine, open Settings, select System, then Display, and choose Advanced display, or open Device Manager and expand Display adapters.
• The full minimum system requirements are published on the Battle.net Shop.

Forever at launch

• Forever is a permanent version of World of Warcraft that sits alongside modern WoW and Classic, and players return to the original continents and adventure to level 60.
• Forever is set after the events of Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core.
• Forever's new playable race is the Skyborne, also called the shen'dorei or hidden people, who start on Zephras Isle.
• Forever's new zones are Zephras Isle, the Riverglades and Mount Hyjal, and the Riverglades is a mid-level zone roughly the size of Stranglethorn Vale with nearly 200 quests.
• Players pick a ruleset instead of a realm: Normal, PvP, Roleplaying or Hardcore. A Hardcore character that dies can transfer to another ruleset.
• Professions gain more than 600 new recipes, and with Camping a Basic Campfire holds up to three crafted objects, one per player, on a one-hour cooldown.
• The account-wide Legacy System lets each character spend up to 16 Legacy Points at launch, out of up to 65 that can be earned, and a Legacy Reward Track adds cosmetics such as the Spectral Bear Cub.

Questions about the launch window

When does WoW Forever launch in my timezone

Blizzard published one launch instant and applied it globally, so there is no staggered regional rollout to look up. The table above converts that single instant into local time for sixteen places. Read your own row rather than a rounded "launch day": west of the Atlantic the game opens on the afternoon or evening of November 4, and from Europe eastward it opens in the small hours or the morning of November 5. If your city is not listed, take the UTC row and add your own offset.

Do I need to buy anything to play Forever

No. Forever is included with an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, the same account access that covers modern WoW and Classic. It is not sold as a separate game. The paid editions on the Battle.net Shop are upgrades: they add the Skyborne race, cosmetics, early name reservation and, on two of them, beta access. A player who only wants to log in on launch day and level to 60 needs nothing beyond the subscription.

How do I get into the Forever beta

There are two routes and one edition that does not include it. The free route is the opt-in on Blizzard's Forever page, which enters an account for selection-based invitations that arrive by email. That is a chance, not a guarantee. The guaranteed route is the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection. The Skyborne Heroic Pack does not carry beta access. Once invited, update graphics drivers, update the Battle.net desktop app, pick WoW: Forever Beta under the In Development game versions, install it, and create a new test character.

When can I reserve my character name

Early name reservation runs October 27 to November 3, 2026, first come first served, and it is tied to the specific WoW account the edition was bought for. It covers up to three characters. All three paid editions include it. Forever names come in two parts and are unique per region, so the first part you want may still be reachable with a different second part after the reservation window closes.

Which edition should I buy

Work down the list by what each one adds, not by rank. The Skyborne Heroic Pack is the floor for the Skyborne race, early name reservation and the Cerulean Prideclaw mount, and it stops there. The Skyborne Epic Pack is the first tier with beta access and 30 days of Game Time. The Warcraft Forever Collection adds Warcraft III: Reforged and its Forsaken Kingdom campaign and is limited time. The Collector's Edition is the physical box and carries a Collection code inside it. We do not print prices here: they vary by region and by sale, and the store shows yours.

Will my PC run Forever

Blizzard raised the graphics floor for Forever specifically. A GPU has to be built on AMD Graphics Core Next 1 (2012), NVIDIA Maxwell (2014) or Intel Skylake (2015) or newer. The reason is a single feature the new lighting depends on, RGBA16F UAV support in compute shaders, which arrived in GPUs around 2012. To check your own card, open Settings, select System, then Display, and choose Advanced display, or open Device Manager and expand Display adapters. The full minimum requirements are published on the Battle.net Shop rather than in the announcement.

What is in Forever at launch

Forever is a permanent version of World of Warcraft that runs alongside modern WoW and Classic, set after the events of Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core. Players return to the original continents and level to 60. Zephras Isle, the Riverglades and Mount Hyjal are the new zones, and the Riverglades alone is roughly the size of Stranglethorn Vale with nearly 200 quests. Instead of picking a realm, players pick a ruleset: Normal, PvP, Roleplaying or Hardcore. Professions gain more than 600 new recipes. The account-wide Legacy System lets each character spend up to 16 Legacy Points at launch, out of up to 65 that can be earned.

Where to read the rest on this site

Our WoW Forever database carries the items, spells and zones read from the beta client, and the Forever Auction House carries player-scanned prices for them. Classes and talents sets every Forever talent against its vanilla version. Profession guides cover the crafting lines, and the BlizzCon 2026 hub holds our write-up of every announcement this page is built from.

Forever on TheWoWDB

• WoW Forever database: Items, spells and zones read from the beta client.
• Forever Auction House: Player-scanned prices for Forever items.
• Classes and talents: Every Forever talent against its vanilla version.
• Forever items: The item database for the Forever client.
• Forever zones: Every zone the Forever client carries.
• Profession guides: The crafting lines, profession by profession.
• BlizzCon 2026 coverage: Our write-up of every announcement this page cites.

Sources

Every date, edition and requirement above traces to one of our write-ups of Blizzard's own posts.

• Blizzard opens pre-purchase for World of Warcraft: Forever upgrade editions
• World of Warcraft: Forever beta runs September 17 to October 21; name reservation opens October 27
• The World of Warcraft: Forever beta is live: level 20 cap, the Skyborne, Zephras Isle and two dungeons
• How to get World of Warcraft: Forever beta access: the dates, the free opt-in, and the two editions that guarantee it
• After BlizzCon 2026: every WoW date to know
• Blizzard opens pre-purchase for World of Warcraft: Forever Collector's Edition
• World of Warcraft: Forever requires newer GPU architectures at launch
• Blizzard announces World of Warcraft: Forever, launching November 4