WoW Forever Name Reservation: 27 October to 3 November, Any Pack, 3 Characters

The window sits in the 6 days after the beta closes and ends the day before launch. A subscription or Game Time plays Forever on 4 November. It does not open this week.

Pack owners create and customize characters here. The class and the ruleset you pick stay on that character when the servers open. The full calendar is on the release date guide.

During the window, each name goes to the 1st player who creates a character with it.

Every upgrade pack includes early name reservation. The Skyborne Heroic Pack at $29.99 is the cheapest that qualifies. The Epic Pack and the Collection add beta access, game time and extra invite codes. They do not add extra name slots.

You create and customize up to 3 characters. Names are not guaranteed. The earliest creation keeps the name. Pack benefits apply to the WoW account you buy them for. 2 game accounts need 2 packs. A gift purchase gets no invite codes. Full pack list: the editions guide.

Invite-A-Friend launch codes start emailing from 20 October 2026. They give invitees launch-week play from 4 to 11 November without a subscription. They do not include beta.

Forever has no realm list. A name has to be unique per region, so Blizzard gave every character a 2-part name. The official example is Ana Forever: a given name and a surname.

The full pair is what is unique. Ana Forever and Ana Stormwind can both exist. Blizzard has not announced whether the surname field is required, or how many letters each field allows.

The window closes on 3 November, 1 day before launch. The class you create is the class you level from 3:00 PM PST on 4 November.

At creation you also pick a ruleset: Normal, PvP or Roleplaying. You group only with your own ruleset. Hardcore opens after launch and is not a choice in this window. Blizzard has not announced a way to move a living character between rulesets.

So reserve the class you want to raid with. It starts at level 1 on launch day, about 150 hours of play from 60, and the raids open on 9 December.

The same pack that opens the window unlocks the Skyborne race and the Zephras Isle start. A Skyborne counts as 1 of your 3 characters. You pick Horde or Alliance at creation.

Heroic is enough. The race, the Cerulean Prideclaw mount and the cosmetics all sit on that pack. A subscription-only account cannot roll a Skyborne at all. Race details: the Skyborne guide.

A reserved name does not skip the grind. Blizzard has no plans for a paid character boost or a WoW Token, so every reserved character still logs in at level 1 on 4 November.

Plan the calendar around the name you lock. A self-played evening schedule of about 3 hours lands near late December. If you want that character at 60 well before the 9 December raids, 2 boosters in shifts finish the climb in launch week. Book both in 1 chat. You can cancel for a full refund until the 1st session starts.