WoW Forever at BlizzCon 2026: Every Announcement, the Dates and the Roadmap

Blizzard opened BlizzCon 2026 on Saturday 12 September with World of Warcraft: Forever. It is a permanent home for Classic Azeroth at level 60, included in the WoW subscription, next to modern WoW and Classic. BlizzCon placed the story in the chapter after Warcraft III. Blizzard calls it neither a season nor a new version of Classic.

4 panels covered it. What's Next on Saturday set the launch date, the beta, the new zones, the 9 dungeons, the raids and the roadmap. The Deep Dive on Sunday covered realmless rulesets, the Legacy system, camping, racials and the Paladin rework. Found Photographs walked through the new zones, and the Go Again! panel introduced Hardcore for Forever.

3 trailers went out the same weekend: the New Horizons cinematic, a gameplay trailer and the Warcraft Forever Collection trailer. The beta opened 5 days later, on 17 September, with a live developer Q&A the same morning.

Forever launches worldwide at 1 moment, on PC and Mac, and needs a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time. There is no box. The beta needs the Skyborne Epic Pack ($59.99), the Warcraft Forever Collection ($79.99) or the $150 Collector's Edition code, and it runs at a level cap of 20 rising to 30. Name reservation works with any pack, the Skyborne Heroic Pack ($29.99) included, for up to 3 characters.

The Collection is on sale through 11 January 2027. Hardcore is a ruleset that opens after launch, and Blizzard has not given it a date. Blizzard's roadmap slide notes that timing can change. Every date with the time zones and the gaps between them: the release date guide.

Of the 4 dates, the 9 December raid unlock is the 1st that asks for a level 60 character. 1 to 60 is about 150 hours of play, and launch leaves 5 weeks for it.

More than 1,000 new quests run through the 1 to 60 journey. 4 new areas were named. Zephras Isle is the Skyborne start at levels 1 to 12. The Riverglades is a zone for the mid 30s to the mid 40s, with more than 150 quests and the goblin port of Powderfuse. Shen'dralas lies between Mulgore and Desolace. Mount Hyjal is the level 60 zone where both new raids sit. 3 new ship routes link the continents, including Stormwind to Auberdine.

9 new dungeons come with Blizzard's own brackets. Hall of Thanes 13 to 18, Ruins of Lordaeron 15 to 20, Excavation Site 24 to 29 and City of Dalaran 28 to 33 cover the 1st half of the journey. The Drowned City 35 to 40, Krol'dok Stronghold 40 to 45, Alcaz Prison 48 to 53, Blackmaw Hold 55 to 60 and Shaper's Terrace 58 to 60 cover the 2nd. Crowd control matters, there is no level scaling, and unique dungeon boss items are blue now.

The raids unlock on 9 December: Barrow Deeps for 10 players and Hyjal Summit for 20, with Onyxia's Lair for 40 on the roadmap slide. New tier sets and a legendary come with them. Darkspear Islands is a new 15v15 battleground with control points and flag capture. Boss lists and raid details: the raids guide.

The Skyborne are high elf exiles who fled Eldre'Thalas after the War of the Ancients and found refuge in Skywall. They pick Horde or Alliance at creation and need the Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher. Every race now has 2 active and 2 passive racials. Blizzard has said more race and class combos are planned for later updates.

Realmless means you choose a ruleset instead of a server. You group, dungeon and raid only with players on your ruleset, and factions stay separate. Collections and Legacy Points are account-wide across rulesets except Hardcore, where progress flows out and nothing flows in. Character names use 2 parts and stay unique inside a region.

The Undead Paladin story starts at Bandarion Keep in Tirisfal and ends in a level 60 epic mount quest. Class kits and the 2 builder links we level: the classes guide.

Camping turns the Cooking Fire into a Basic Campfire. Placing 1 creates a campsite with vendors, repairs, profession workspaces and 1-hour buffs. Up to 3 crafted objects sit at a campfire, 1 per player, and the 1st ones are learned at profession skill 20. Advanced objects come from Blueprint recipes that dungeon bosses drop.

The Legacy system is account-wide progression. Legacy Challenges earn Legacy Points, spent per character in 3 trees: Professions, Adventure and Resourcefulness. Each character spends up to 16 points at launch, up to 65 are earnable, and the surplus feeds a cosmetic reward track.

A mount is granted when you learn the riding skill, and there is no flying. Transmog is opt-in, and epic raid looks unlock only for the player who loots them. Talent trees keep the Classic rows with a new 16-point milestone. Professions get more than 600 new recipes, and crafted food gives a small XP bonus.

The new lighting pass adds global illumination, volumetric fog, god rays, flowing water and terrain shadows to the old zones. Rivers flow in Elwynn, mist sits on Darkshore and moonlight falls on Ashenvale.

You choose between Modern and Classic visual presets and between HD and SD character models, with the Classic animations restored on the HD models. Gamepad support is official. Hardware and settings: the graphics guide.

Everything after launch starts at level 60. On 9 December the raids unlock: Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20 and Onyxia's Lair for 40. In spring 2027 Blizzard plans 2 new raids for 10 and 20 players, 2 new dungeons, new quests and a playable area, a new legendary questline and a PvP season refresh. In summer 2027 a revamped iconic raid returns, with 1 more new raid, expanded world content, 2 dungeons, a PvP refresh and updates to professions and Legacy.

Hardcore fills the winter gap on the slide, after launch, with no date. Blizzard said nothing is off the table for the future, including a new class, and that plans can move with player feedback.

Level 60 is about 150 hours of play. From launch day that is 7 weeks at 3 hours a night, so a solo character meets the 9 December raids 2 weeks late. The full calendar: the roadmap guide.

Pick the pack. A subscription plays Forever. The Heroic Pack adds the Skyborne race and name reservation, the Epic Pack adds beta and 30 days of game time. The editions guide compares all 4.

Pick the class before 27 October. Name reservation creates the character, so the class is locked with the name. The 2 builder links we level from launch day are the Undead Paladin and the Dwarf Shaman, both on the same route as the general leveling above.

Book the raid for 9 December. A raid spot is a full clear with our group, self-play or piloted: Barrow Deeps $419, Hyjal Summit $439, Onyxia's Lair $299. Your character needs to be 60. Any booking is refunded in full if you cancel before the 1st session. An Onyxia's Lair pre-order is refunded if Blizzard moves Onyxia out of the 9 December wave.