World of Warcraft: Forever: What Blizzard Announced at BlizzCon 2026

Blizzard used BlizzCon 2026 to reveal World of Warcraft: Forever, the long-rumored “Classic Plus” branch of World of Warcraft. It is designed as a permanent Vanilla-era game that sits alongside Modern WoW and WoW Classic rather than replacing either one. 513

Release date and beta timing

• Global launch: November 4, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time. 1725
• Beta: Starts September 17, 2026 and remains available through October 21. Blizzard’s official page conflicts with the commonly repeated October 19 end date; October 21 is the official date. 2023
• How to play at launch: Forever is included with an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time. Blizzard is also selling optional Skyborne upgrade packs and the time-limited Warcraft Forever Collection. 1920

The launch version is therefore not a separate base-game purchase for existing subscribers. Blizzard’s announced beta-access offers include the Skyborne Epic Pack and the Warcraft Forever Collection. 7

What “Classic Plus” means for Forever

Forever returns to the first year of World of Warcraft, using the original Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor as its foundation. Blizzard places its setting after Warcraft III: Reforged — Forsaken Kingdom and before the opening of Molten Core. Characters can reach level 60, but the cap is intended to remain permanent; future advancement is meant to come through new stories, activities and systems rather than another level-cap increase. 1421

That is the central distinction from a traditional expansion cycle: Blizzard is proposing a long-running version of early WoW that can grow without leaving its original level band behind. The approach recalls the appeal of Old School RuneScape—an enduring older-era game that receives new additions—while extending experiments from WoW Classic’s Season of Discovery. That comparison is interpretive, not a promise that the games will follow the same development model. 7

New Azeroth content at launch

Blizzard confirmed a substantial amount of new and reworked material for the Vanilla world:

• Three new zones and additional revamped or expanded areas of original Azeroth
• More than 1,000 quests across the level 1–60 journey
• Nine dungeons and two raids
• A new battleground
• The new Skyborne race
• Additional race-and-class combinations, including Undead Paladins
• Changes to skills, talents, reputations, professions and racial abilities 713

The team also outlined systems intended to make the 1–60 game more durable for both mains and alternate characters. These include Legacy progression and Camping, which allows players to establish outdoor campfires where others can contribute through professions and share buffs. 17

Blizzard has also discussed an SD/HD visual toggle. Reporting from BlizzCon indicated that some animation work was still being refined to match the updated presentation. 7

Content after launch: raids, updates and expansions

The first new raids are scheduled to unlock on December 9, shortly after launch. Blizzard says additional raids, dungeons, PvP updates, outdoor content and new leveling quests will follow. 17

Its broader plan, as presented at BlizzCon, called for a first major content update in March 2027, subsequent updates roughly every four months and larger expansions on an annual cadence. As with any live-service roadmap, those timings are plans rather than guarantees. 7

Where Forever fits in the WoW ecosystem

Forever is Blizzard’s third way to play World of Warcraft: Modern WoW, WoW Classic and Forever are meant to coexist. Classic progression servers remain separate, so players who prefer established Classic formats are not being asked to migrate to Forever. 6713

Blizzard’s deeper design presentations also said Forever will be “realmless,” an approach intended to help friends play together without making a realm choice at character creation while retaining community-oriented play. 22

The announcement has drawn mixed early reactions. Supporters see a chance to inhabit a continually expanded Vanilla-style world without losing the level-60 format; skeptics have raised questions about monetization, the pace of updates and how far the new systems can go before the game stops feeling like early WoW. Blizzard indicated that more detail would come through BlizzCon panels and follow-up announcements. 47

Other major BlizzCon opening-ceremony news

Forever closed an opening ceremony that also included Blizzard’s announcement of an original open-world StarCraft shooter targeted for spring 2030, Diablo V planned for spring 2029, and an animated Diablo series in development with Netflix. 1

For Warcraft, Blizzard also released Warcraft III: Reforged — Forsaken Kingdom and the Reforged 3.0 update that same day. The company previewed The Last Titan as the conclusion to WoW’s Worldsoul Saga, while saying more information would arrive in early 2027; the available official announcement did not confirm a 2027 release date. 15