WoW Forever Leveling Guide: 1 to 60 Route, Zones, Dungeons and XP Rules

World of Warcraft: Forever launches on 4 November 2026 at 3:00 PM PST: 23:00 UTC, or midnight CET on 5 November. Every region opens at that moment, there is no early access, and everyone starts at level 1. The beta opened on 17 September at a level cap of 20 and went to 30 on 1 October. Its last full day is 21 October, and nothing from it carries over. Early name reservation runs from 27 October to 3 November PST: up to 3 characters, with any upgrade, the Heroic Pack included. Names go to whoever claims them 1st.

The level cap is 60, and Blizzard is not planning cap increases that invalidate what you earn. The raids open on 9 December 2026, 5 weeks after launch: Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20 and Onyxia’s Lair for 40. Blizzard has not published the entry level of any raid yet, so plan on a level 60 character. Those 5 weeks are the calendar this guide is written against. 1 to 60 is about 150 hours of play, so the real question is how many of those hours you play yourself.

The stress test runs on 21 October at 2:00 PM PDT (21:00 UTC), moved from 19 October. No subscription is needed, and characters, names and guilds are wiped after it. 21 October is the beta's last full day.

The hour-by-hour breakdown, the fastest classes and the small XP edges are in the leveling speed guide.

Blizzard confirmed 3 XP facts. The curve from 1 to 60 is unchanged from Classic. Dungeon mob-kill XP is reduced. Your 1st clear of a dungeon pays raised quest XP. Together they end the Classic habit of chain-running the same instance to 60.

The route that replaces it is quest-led. Forever adds 1,000 new quests across the whole 1 to 60 journey, on top of the Classic quests you remember. There is no level scaling, so a zone is as dangerous as its level says, and there is no flying. Groups form in the world, in cities and at campfires, and through the Looking for Group tool. That tool is a listing board where you invite players by hand, and there is no automated dungeon finder. Since the 1 October beta build, every listing picks a playstyle, as observed on the beta: Learning, Relaxed, Competitive or Carry Offered. Blizzard has confirmed there is no WoW Token and no paid level boost.

The 1 October beta build trimmed the dungeon bonus. Dungeon quests now pay 50% less extra XP on top of their normal quest value, because testers were leveling too fast. Blizzard’s 8 October beta build raised dungeon kill XP by about 20%, and party kill XP now follows each player’s own level instead of the highest-level member’s. Blizzard is still collecting feedback, so dungeon XP values can still move.

The practical rule for every bracket below: quest in the zone, clear each dungeon of the bracket once for its quest XP and blue gear, then go back to the quests.

New players get a new tutorial in the 15 October build, and the in-game tutorials are updated.

1 to 20. Every starting zone has new NPCs, quests and profession hooks. Skyborne characters start on Zephras Isle from 1 to 12 and need the Skyborne pack. Hall of Thanes under Ironforge and the Ruins of Lordaeron are the 2 dungeons of this bracket.

20 to 40. The Wetlands has new quests and its own dungeon, the Excavation Site, at 26 to 31 on the beta. Then comes the City of Dalaran. From the mid 30s the Riverglades takes over, with nearly 200 quests for both factions by Blizzard’s count. It adds new reputations, a neutral goblin port and Krol’dok Stronghold, an outdoor dungeon full of ogres. The Drowned City off the Stranglethorn coast closes the bracket.

40 to 60. The Riverglades runs into the mid 40s. Then come Alcaz Prison and the Classic 45 to 55 zones, Un’Goro with the Shaper’s Terrace, and Hyjal, Blizzard’s endgame leveling zone with new reputations and 2 raid entrances. Shen’dralas, the new area between Mulgore and Desolace, has no announced level range yet.

The route above is about 150 hours of play, from the 1st starting-zone quest to Hyjal. Who plays those hours decides the week you reach 60.

Our boosters play these zones in the same order, with the same 1 clear of each dungeon. They are human Pros who play every minute by hand in our own gaming hubs. Each order gets a PC dedicated to your account and a unique residential IP in your city, so to the game it looks exactly like a family member playing from your home.

Blizzard published the level range of every new dungeon. Every dungeon boss item is blue, and bosses drop Blueprint recipes for camping objects, so the 1st clear of each instance belongs in the route. A repeat clear pays kill XP only, and Blizzard tunes that to come close to questing without overtaking it.

Dungeon	Levels	Where
Hall of Thanes	13 to 18	Under Ironforge
Ruins of Lordaeron	15 to 20	Tirisfal Glades
Excavation Site: Wetlands	26 to 31	Above Whelgar’s Excavation
City of Dalaran	28 to 33	Alterac Mountains
The Drowned City	35 to 40	Off the Stranglethorn coast
Krol’dok Stronghold	40 to 45	The Riverglades, outdoors
Alcaz Prison	48 to 53	Alcaz Island
Blackmaw Hold	55 to 60	Furbolg hold
Shaper’s Terrace	58 to 60	Un’Goro Crater

The beta cap went to 30 on 1 October. Hall of Thanes, the Ruins of Lordaeron and the Excavation Site can be tested now, along with the Classic Razorfen Downs from 25 and Uldaman from 30. The City of Dalaran dungeon became available to test in the 8 October build. Since the 15 October build, members of the Horde are attacked on sight in Dalaran, though the City of Dalaran dungeon stays open to them. Blizzard listed the Excavation Site at 24 to 29 on 15 September, and the beta opened it at 26 to 31. Blizzard has not announced the group size of the new dungeons yet. At Blizzard’s PAX Aus keynote on 8 October, Clay Stone gave an in-depth look at 1 of the new Forever dungeons. A run with a Pro in any of the 9 is from $12. The full tour is in the dungeons guide.

RestedXP is a paid 3rd-party addon that shows a leveling route step by step. It sells a WoW Forever guide pack for $30 per faction or $45 for both, and lists Forever as compatible. Its speedrun route comes 1st, and a dungeon leveling route follows. Its Forever routes for levels 35 to 60 arrive after launch, and until then it serves its Classic Era routes for those levels. An addon can break after a patch, and the zone and dungeon route on this page works without it. The rest of the install list for launch day is in WoW Forever addons.

Rested XP builds while you are logged out in an inn or a city. Each mob kill then pays extra XP until the bonus runs out. The Legacy Adventure talent Well Rested raises the rested XP cap and builds it faster, which helps alts. For the sit-to-buff at a Basic Campfire, including Boosted Rest from the intro quest The Great Outdoors, see the camping guide. A Leatherworker's Camp Tent also builds rested XP at camp, up to 5% of a level; how to unlock it. Cooked food adds 5% XP from kills, so see the foods to cook on the way.

Rather skip the route? Our team plays it for you as a 1 to 60 boost.

3 new ship routes cut the longest runs: Stormwind Harbor to Auberdine, Menethil to Southshore and Auberdine, and Tanaris to Powderfuse Port in the Riverglades. An Alliance character can sail from Stormwind to Darkshore at low level, and the Menethil boat now calls at Southshore on the way.

4 more edges stack on top of the quests. Rested XP: log out in an inn or a city, and the Legacy talent Well Rested raises the rested cap for your alts. Campfire buffs: sit at a campsite and the crafted objects there give 1-hour buffs. Crafted food: the new recipes add a small XP bonus. 1st dungeon clears: the extra quest XP on a 1st run is half its old size since the 1 October build, and still worth every turn-in.

The mount comes with the riding skill. Blizzard designer Kris Zierhut said in September that riding training costs 100 or 1,000 gold depending on the level. There is no flying.

1 to 60 is about 150 hours of play on the quest-led route: 20 hours for 1 to 20, 50 for 20 to 40 and 80 for 40 to 60. 3 hours a night spreads the climb across about 7 weeks, so 60 lands near 24 December, 2 weeks after the raids open. The 1 October beta build halved the extra XP from dungeon quests. We re-check the figure against it on 22 October, after the beta’s last full day, and publish every change here.

The 15 October notes touch the climb for 4 classes: Druids learn Shred at 20 (was 22), Mages get Frost Blast at 24, Elemental Shamans can take Lava Burst at the level 30 beta cap, and Hunters stand still for 0.5 seconds before Auto Shot fires. The 150 hours hold.

With 1 booster on your character 12 hours a day, you hit 60 in 14 days, around 18 November, with 3 weeks left for dungeon gear before 9 December. 2 boosters in shifts cut that to about 7 days. A pre-order placed now keeps its price whatever the re-check says.

Legacy Points are the account-wide help with a 2nd 1 to 60. You earn them with Legacy Challenges, such as leveling a class or reaching a profession milestone. Every character on the account spends its own 16 points at launch across 3 trees: Professions, Adventure and Resourcefulness. The system unlocks with your 1st point, usually around level 25. Up to 65 points are earnable at launch, and the surplus feeds a cosmetic reward track.

For an alt the pick is Well Rested in the Adventure tree, which raises how much rested XP a parked character banks. Points flow across Normal, PvP and Roleplaying characters. Hardcore arrives after launch, in winter on Blizzard’s roadmap. Nothing flows into it. The full system is in the Legacy guide.

A 2nd 60 is still a 2nd 150 hours. The builder links for the new combos, Undead Paladin and Dwarf Shaman, follow the same route with the class set in advance.