WoW Forever launch guide: price, launch time and rulesets

World of Warcraft: Forever is Blizzard's new take on original Azeroth, set before Molten Core, with a level cap of 60 and new zones, dungeons and raids.¹ It launches on 4 November 2026. Everything below comes from Blizzard's own pages, checked on 21 October 2026. We'll add what players say about it once they've played.

When does WoW Forever launch?

On 4 November 2026 at 3:00 p.m. Pacific, globally.¹ That's 23:00 UTC. The beta ran from 17 September through 21 October, and early name reservation opens on 27 October and closes on 3 November.³

Is WoW Forever free?

It's included with a WoW subscription or Game Time, so you don't buy the game itself. An active subscription gets you in on 4 November.²

Three upgrade editions are optional:^1,2

• Skyborne Heroic Pack, $29.99. The new Skyborne race and its Zephras Isle starting zone, early name reservation, a mount, cosmetics and one Invite-A-Friend code.
• Skyborne Epic Pack, $59.99. Everything in the Heroic Pack, plus 30 days of Game Time from launch, more cosmetics and three Invite-A-Friend codes.
• Warcraft Forever Collection, $79.99. Everything in the Epic Pack, plus Warcraft III: Reforged and its new Forsaken Kingdom campaign. It's on sale until 11 January 2027.

You only need an upgrade to play as a Skyborne or start on Zephras Isle.³

PvP or Normal? How servers work

WoW Forever has no realm list. You pick a ruleset, and each one works as its own large world:⁴

• Normal. Cooperation first. Fighting other players needs both sides to agree.
• PvP. Contested zones carry real danger, and Blizzard is adding systems to keep Horde and Alliance in balance.
• Roleplaying. For players who want to lean into the fantasy of Azeroth.
• Hardcore. Arrives after launch. Death is permanent, though a fallen character can move to another ruleset.

You can group, run dungeons and raid with anyone on your ruleset and faction, but not across rulesets or factions. Names have two parts, like a first and last name, and you can set a language preference to meet players who share it.⁴ Asmongold's guild, Olympus, plays on the PvP ruleset.⁶

What's new in WoW Forever?

• More than 1,000 new quests, new dungeons and new zones, including Zephras Isle, the Riverglades and Mount Hyjal.³
• Six new race and class pairs: Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin.⁴
• Camping. Players build campsites where they can rest, repair and pick up one-hour buffs from crafted objects.⁴
• The Legacy System. Account-wide points from challenges like levelling a new class, spent in trees that help every character.⁴
• Optional transmog. Players who'd rather see the world as it was can switch it off entirely.⁴
• Classic pacing. An ordinary enemy still takes 10 to 15 seconds to defeat solo, and crowd control still matters in dungeons.⁴

How big can a guild be?

A guild holds up to 1,000 members, which is why the biggest communities run several guilds under one name.⁶

What PC do you need?

Blizzard lists these requirements for World of Warcraft on PC. The minimum is Windows 7 64-bit, a 4-core 3.0 GHz processor such as a 4th-generation Core or first-generation Ryzen, a DirectX 12 GPU with 3 GB such as a GeForce GTX 900 series card, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB on an SSD. It recommends Windows 10, a 6-core 3.5 GHz processor, an 8 GB GPU such as a GeForce RTX card and 16 GB of RAM.⁵