WoW: Forever Explained: What's New and How to Start Playing

WoW: Forever is a separate, permanent version of World of Warcraft that runs alongside modern and Classic WoW, capped at level 60, and it has been live since Nov. 4, 2026. It is not a numbered expansion. Fans often call it “Classic+”, but that is not Blizzard’s name for it. To play, you need an active subscription or Game Time.

This page is pinned to 7:20 a.m. UTC on Nov. 6, 2026 (2:20 a.m. EST). Prices are US prices.

What is WoW: Forever, and is it an expansion?

WoW: Forever is not an expansion: Blizzard calls it a “permanent home alongside modern and Classic WoW”. It has its own version in the Battle.net app, and you start with a new character.

• Setting: after the events of Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core, across the original continents, the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor.
• Level range: 1 to 60. Blizzard says the game stays at that cap and does not go beyond it.
• Launch: Nov. 4, 2026, at 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST, 23:00 UTC), at the same moment in all regions.
• Platforms: Windows and Mac.

Do you have to pay to play WoW: Forever?

Yes: Blizzard requires an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, and the paid upgrades are optional. One month is $14.99 on the US shop. The listed price is $41.97 for three months ($13.99 a month), $77.94 on the 6-month special offer and $155.88 on the 12-month special offer (both $12.99 a month). These prices come from an archive capture dated Nov. 4, because we could not read the live shop page. Check them at checkout.

The same subscription or Game Time also covers modern WoW and WoW Classic progression. Blizzard’s WoW: Forever page lists WoW: Midnight as sold separately, in a note saying its Housing feature requires it.

We found nothing on Blizzard’s WoW: Forever pages offering a free trial, so don’t plan around one.

The one exception we found is an Invite-A-Friend Launch Code. Here is how Blizzard describes it:

• An eligible invitee can redeem a code through Battle.net and play WoW: Forever without a subscription or Game Time.
• Access runs from Nov. 4 through Nov. 11, 2026, PST.
• Codes come with qualifying upgrade purchases: one with the Skyborne Heroic Pack, three in total with the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection.
• Gift purchases are excluded, and Blizzard adds that other restrictions apply.
• Blizzard keeps the eligibility details in a support article. It requires a login and we could not read it, so we can’t list who qualifies.

If you joined with a code on launch night and were stuck at level 10 or locked out of parties, guilds, trading or some chat channels, Blizzard said a hotfix resolved that on the evening of Nov. 4 PST. It suggests logging out and back in.

The upgrades themselves are optional. A Nov. 1 capture of the US shop listed them at $29.99 (Skyborne Heroic Pack), $59.99 (Skyborne Epic Pack) and $79.99 (Warcraft Forever Collection), and our pre-order guide covers what each one includes. The Epic Pack and the Collection include 30 days of Game Time, and after that Blizzard requires a subscription or more Game Time. The beta closed at 10 a.m. PDT on Oct. 23, so our beta guide is now only background.

What’s new in WoW: Forever?

Blizzard’s list includes more than 1,000 new quests, four named new destinations, a new race and six new race/class combinations, plus new systems for settings, names and progression. These are the features it names:

• Quests: more than 1,000 new ones across the level 1-60 journey.
• Mount Hyjal: the aftermath of Archimonde’s defeat, including Darkwhisper Gorge.
• Shen’dralas: a long-hidden area between Mulgore and Desolace.
• The Riverglades: more than 150 new quests, covering much of the mid-30s to mid-40s.
• Zephras Isle: the level 1-12 starting zone for the Skyborne. Its starting questline requires the Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher.
• Skyborne: a new race that picks a side at character creation. Horde-aligned Windshapers can be Shaman, and Alliance-aligned High Order can be Mages. Both can also be Druids, Hunters, Rogues and Warriors. Playing one requires the Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher.
• Six new race/class combinations: Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman and Gnome Priest for the Alliance, and Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin for the Horde.
• Experience Presets: Classic or Enhanced, which set your starting visuals and interface.
• Rulesets: these replace the traditional realm list.
• Two-part names: a main name and a secondary name, with the full combination unique within your region. You can hide the second name on nameplates, but it still appears in chat.
• Camping: the Cooking profession’s Basic Campfire becomes a shared campsite. Nearby players can each add one profession-crafted Camp Feature, up to three in total, and you sit or craft there for at least a minute to get the benefits.
• Legacy System: account-wide horizontal progression through Legacy Challenges, Perks and Rewards. Each character can spend up to 16 Legacy Points at launch, and you can reach that cap without making alts.
• Nine new five-player dungeons, levels 13-60: Hall of Thanes, Ruins of Lordaeron, Excavation Site, City of Dalaran, The Drowned City and Krol’dok Stronghold in the Eastern Kingdoms, plus Alcaz Prison, Blackmaw Hold and Shaper’s Terrace in Kalimdor.
• Darkspear Islands: a 15v15 battleground for levels 30-60 with four capture points and a central flag. The first team to 2,000 points wins.
• Gamepad support: available in a beta state. You still need a keyboard for tasks such as chat.

How do you start playing WoW: Forever?

Make a Battle.net account, get a subscription or Game Time, install the game through the Battle.net app, then choose a preset, a Ruleset and a character. These are Blizzard’s steps for new players:

1. Create a Battle.net account. Sign up at the Battle.net login page, or go to the Battle.net Shop and select Account, then Create Account. Verify your email, choose a secure password and consider turning on two-factor authentication.
2. Subscribe or buy Game Time.
3. Install the game. Review the system requirements first. The game runs on Windows or Mac with a keyboard and mouse. Then download the Battle.net desktop app, sign in, install World of Warcraft and select WoW: Forever from the game versions.
4. Choose an Experience Preset. This comes at your first login, before the Ruleset. Blizzard advises starting with Enhanced if you aren’t sure.
5. Choose a Ruleset. Blizzard says Normal is a welcoming place to learn if you’re unsure.
6. Create your character. Your faction sets your communities and cities, your race sets your appearance, starting location and racial abilities, and your class sets how you play. You also pick HD or SD models and a two-part name, and you begin at level one.

If you’re playing with friends, agree on your Ruleset and faction before anyone creates a character. Characters can group, join guilds, run dungeons and raid only with players on the same Ruleset and faction.

Which preset and Ruleset should you choose?

If you’re unsure, Blizzard advises Enhanced and Normal. The presets differ only in their starting settings, and neither one decides your Ruleset:

• Enhanced: HD character models, quest markers and objective areas on, one-bag view on, transmog on, strafe keyboard binds and a centralized screen layout.
• Classic: SD character models, quest markers and objective areas off, one-bag view off, transmog off, camera-turning keyboard binds and the classic screen layout.

The preset screen appears only at your first login, but you can change the settings later under Game Menu > Options. HD or SD is also a per-character choice that affects appearance only.

The Ruleset matters more, because you can’t hop between them. To play under a different one, you create a new character there.

• Normal: adventure and fight monsters, with PvP at your own discretion.
• PvP: you are almost always at risk of attack from opposing players.
• Roleplay: strict naming conventions and behavior rules.
• Roleplay-PvP: the same conventions and rules, with almost constant risk of attack from opposing characters.
• Hardcore: death carries lasting consequences. It is not available yet.

Two details can catch groups out:

• One faction on PvP: once you create an Alliance character on the PvP Ruleset, you can’t create a Horde character there, and vice versa. Normal, Roleplay and Hardcore allow both factions. Blizzard’s Ruleset post doesn’t say how this works on Roleplay-PvP.
• Faction balance: Blizzard says PvP Rulesets will have systems to keep Horde and Alliance numbers closer together. It compares them to Season of Discovery, where new character creation could be temporarily limited for a faction. This is no longer hypothetical. On Nov. 5, in a thread about the EU PvP Ruleset, a Blizzard forum representative described “the automatic and temporary lock on Horde characters” and said the lock “can change pretty quickly”: in staff testing, they created Horde characters and then hit the lock within a few minutes. The same representative said on Oct. 29 that Customer Support can’t unlock it manually. Players on the US forums report the same “population imbalance” message, though we found no US Blizzard post about it. We can’t tell you the lock’s state at any given moment, so if your group wants Horde on PvP, make characters early and expect to retry.

Battlegrounds may include players from other Rulesets, except Hardcore.

What should returning WoW players do first?

Make sure you can sign in first, and use Blizzard’s account recovery if you can’t, because everything else depends on it. Blizzard’s advice for returning players goes in this order:

1. If you can’t sign in, start with the “Can’t Log In?” account recovery page to locate the account, reset a password, unlock access or fix authenticator issues.
2. If you think the account was hacked, secure your computer and email, request restoration, change your password and add a Battle.net Authenticator.
3. If self-service doesn’t solve it, contact a Game Master through the Blizzard Support portal.
4. Confirm the WoW account’s region, license, contact details and security settings.
5. In the Battle.net desktop app, choose WoW: Forever under the Game Version menu. If you have more than one WoW account, a second dropdown lets you pick the active one.
6. Click Install, then Play.

You still need an active subscription or Game Time. Blizzard’s posts describe making new characters and beginning at level one, and we found no post offering a way to bring over a modern or Classic character.

Don’t assume your old class plays the same, either. Blizzard says classes have talent and ability updates rooted in original WoW, so the toolkit can differ from the modern game.

What PC or Mac do you need for WoW: Forever?

The Windows minimum is a 4-core, 3.0 GHz processor with a 4GB DirectX 12 GPU and 8 GB of RAM, and the Mac minimum is an Apple M2 or a 9th-generation Intel Core. Windows and Mac, minimum and recommended, all list 128GB of SSD space. These specs come from the WoW: Forever tab in a Nov. 1 archive capture of the US shop.

• Windows minimum:
  • OS: Windows 10 64-bit (May 2019 Update or newer)
  • Processor: 4 cores at 3.0 GHz (Intel Core Haswell, AMD Ryzen Zen)
  • GPU: DirectX 12 capable with 4GB (GeForce GTX 10 series, AMD RDNA 1, Intel Iris Xe2-LPG Lunar Lake)
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Windows recommended:
  • OS: Windows 11
  • Processor: 8 performance cores with a 5.2 GHz boost clock (Intel Core Ultra Series 2, AMD Ryzen Zen 5)
  • GPU: DirectX 12 capable with 8GB (GeForce RTX 40 series, AMD RDNA 3, Intel Arc B-Series)
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Mac minimum:
  • OS: macOS 12
  • Processor: Apple M2 or 9th-generation Intel Core (Coffee Lake)
  • GPU: Metal capable with 4 GB, or Apple M2 with 8 GB
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Mac recommended:
  • OS: macOS 15
  • Chip: Apple M4 with 16 GB
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM

Blizzard also advises updating your operating system and graphics drivers before installing.

When do raids and Hardcore arrive?

Three raids open on Dec. 9 for level 60 players, and Blizzard’s launch posts give no date for Hardcore. The table shows each raid and how many players it takes.

Every player entering Onyxia’s Lair must carry the Drakefire Amulet, which comes from a faction-specific attunement questline. Blizzard suggests starting it early, because it involves elite quests and several trips into high-level dungeons.

On Hardcore, Blizzard’s launch posts say it will follow a little after launch and that timing will be shared later, and we found no date.

Can you buy a WoW Token or a character boost in WoW: Forever?

Developers reportedly said not at launch, but this comes from an interview rather than a Blizzard article. Warcraft Tavern reported on Sept. 14 that Clay Stone and Nora Mills told YouTuber Destin in a BlizzCon interview that WoW: Forever would have no WoW Token or character boosts at launch, with “no plans” to add them. That is a statement of current plans, not a permanent ban, and we did not watch the interview ourselves.

What launch problems has Blizzard acknowledged?

Blizzard’s Known Issues thread, last edited at 22:07 UTC on Nov. 5, lists problems such as unavailable PvP vendors and a disabled quest in Ashenvale. Blizzard says the list isn’t comprehensive and will be updated regularly, so some of these may already be fixed:

• PvP vendors are temporarily unavailable in Orgrimmar, Stormwind and Dalaran.
• The quest “Vorsha the Lasher” in Ashenvale is disabled until a crash bug is fixed.
• Players can fall into a cauldron near Roogug in Razorfen Kraul and get stuck.
• Bank tabs can appear outside the bank frame.
• The Stormwind Keep entrance may show flashing textures.
• Stormwind guards send players to the wrong NPC name for Transmogrification. The correct name is Fyrenz Vishonar.
• On gamepad, deleting more than one rare or epic item may produce an error, and push-to-talk keyboard instructions may appear when you join a voice channel.

Two more Blizzard posts are useful for new characters:

• Transports: at 06:39 UTC on Nov. 5 (10:39 p.m. PST on Nov. 4), a Blizzard developer said boats and zeppelins were getting lost for extended periods. Temporary portals were placed near most docks and inside zeppelin towers, with a proper fix “going out in the morning” and the portals to be removed after it was verified. We couldn’t confirm that the fix had shipped.
• Nov. 5 hotfixes: Lotheluum Starbreeze now offers Druid training in Zephras, trade supply vendors on Zephras Isle now sell apprentice tradeskill bags, and Deathstalker Erland respawns much more quickly for “Escorting Erland”.

Sources

• Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever Now Live!
• Blizzard: New Player’s Starter Guide
• Blizzard: Return to Azeroth in World of Warcraft: Forever
• Blizzard: WoW: Forever, What’s New and What Feels Familiar
• Blizzard: Choose Your Ruleset in World of Warcraft: Forever
• Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever Raid Overview
• Blizzard: Purchase World of Warcraft: Forever Upgrades
• Blizzard: Carve a New Path with World of Warcraft: Forever
• Blizzard: 12-month subscription offer
• Blizzard: WoW: Forever Hotfixes, November 5, 2026
• Blizzard: WoW: Forever page
• Blizzard forums: Launch Time
• Blizzard forums: Known Issues, updated Nov. 5
• Blizzard forums: Issues Resolved for Invite-a-Friend Players
• Blizzard forums: Transports post
• Blizzard EU forums: faction lock on the PvP Ruleset, Nov. 5
• Blizzard EU forums: faction lock and Customer Support, Oct. 29
• Blizzard forums: player report of the population imbalance message
• Blizzard forums: Beta closing time
• Battle.net Shop subscription page, archive capture of Nov. 4, 2026
• Battle.net Shop WoW: Forever page, archive capture of Nov. 1, 2026
• Warcraft Tavern: no plans for WoW Token or character boosts