WoW Forever Roadmap 2026 to 2027: Beta, Launch, Raids on 9 December, Hardcore and 2027

Blizzard showed this roadmap on the What's Next stage at BlizzCon 2026 and stamped it with a note that timing can change. 4 dates are firm: the beta, name reservation, launch and the raid unlock. The 2027 updates carry a season and no day. Hardcore sits in the winter gap with no date at all.

Blizzard describes the plan as frequent major updates for years, all inside Classic Azeroth at level 60. This guide is updated the day a milestone moves.

The beta runs 5 weeks, from 17 September to 21 October 2026. Access comes with the Skyborne Epic Pack ($59.99), the Warcraft Forever Collection ($79.99) or the $150 Collector's Edition code. The Heroic Pack and a plain subscription do not include it.

The level cap starts at 20 and rises to 30, so the test covers the 1st 4 new dungeons and the reworked classes. Nothing carries over. The beta closes 2 weeks before launch, and every character in it is gone on 21 October. Who gets in and what to test: the beta guide.

Invite codes are emailed from 20 October to pack owners: 1 with the Heroic Pack, 3 with the Epic Pack or the Collection. Each lets a friend play Forever from 4 to 11 November without a subscription.

Early name reservation runs from 27 October to 3 November with any pack. You create up to 3 characters with 2-part names, unique per region. Each name goes to whoever creates it 1st. The window closes 1 day before launch, so the class you reserve is the class you level from day 1. The full walkthrough: the name reservation guide.

Forever launches worldwide on 4 November 2026 at 3:00 PM PST, 23:00 UTC, on PC and Mac, inside the WoW subscription. Open on day 1: more than 1,000 new quests, 9 new dungeons, the Riverglades and Mount Hyjal, and 6 new race and class combos. Also live: the Skyborne race for pack owners, camping, the Legacy system, the Darkspear Islands battleground and the new lighting pass.

Creation picks a ruleset, Normal, PvP or Roleplaying, in place of a realm list. The roadmap names no dungeon finder, and Forever has no WoW Token and no paid boost. Everyone starts at level 1.

Level 60 is about 150 hours of play. At 3 hours a night that is 7 weeks, which puts a solo character at 60 around 24 December. The next milestone on this roadmap is 5 weeks after launch, and everything on it starts at 60. The 9 December chapter below is built on that calendar.

On 9 December 2026, 5 weeks after launch, Blizzard unlocks 3 raids at once: Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20 and Onyxia's Lair for 40. New tier sets and the 1st legendary come with this tier. Boss lists, loot tables and lockouts are still to come from Blizzard.

Barrow Deeps is a night elf prison with 3 entrances in the open world. Hyjal Summit is the largest raid in Forever and the place where the legendary was teased. Onyxia's Lair is the only classic raid in the 1st wave. The 3 raids, the loot rules and the 5-week plan: the raids guide.

Legacy Challenges count all 13 Hyjal Summit bosses and all 8 Barrow Deeps bosses.

Hardcore is the 4th ruleset and it opens after launch. Blizzard has not announced a date. On the roadmap it sits in the winter gap between the 9 December raids and the spring update.

What Blizzard has confirmed: Hardcore is a fully enclosed ecosystem. Nothing flows into it from the other rulesets. A dead Hardcore character can transfer to another ruleset, including PvP, and what it earned goes with it. Death rules and appeals are still to come.

Do not roll a launch-week character and call it Hardcore. Our Hardcore 1 to 60 at $349 opens the day the ruleset does and is refunded in full before the 1st session.

Spring 2027 brings 2 new raids, 1 for 10 players and 1 for 20. It adds 2 new dungeons, new quests and a playable area, a new legendary questline and a PvP season refresh. That makes the legendary teased with Hyjal Summit the 1st of at least 2 in the game's 1st year.

Summer 2027 brings a revamped iconic raid, 1 more new raid, expanded world content, 2 dungeons, a PvP refresh and updates to professions and Legacy. Blizzard has not named the iconic raid. The story starts before the classic raids opened, so the ones you remember return this way, rebuilt for Forever.

A new raid tier roughly every 6 months means the gear from 9 December stays best in slot until spring. Blizzard has also said more race and class combos are planned, and that a new class is not off the table.

Before 27 October: pick the class. The name reservation locks it. Before 4 November: pick who plays the 150 hours. On your own you are 60 around 24 December, with 1 booster around 18 November, with 2 boosters around 11 November. Before 9 December: pick the raid. 10 players is the easiest group to fill, 20 is where the legendary was teased, 40 is the classic experience.

A raid spot is a full clear with our group, self-play or piloted. Your character needs to be 60. Every order is refunded in full before the 1st session, and the Onyxia's Lair pre-order is refunded if Blizzard moves it out of the 9 December wave. Book the leveling and the raid together and both sit in 1 chat.