Blizzard announced World of Warcraft Forever during the BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony on September 12, confirming the long-rumored new version of the classic MMO that players had been calling Classic Plus. Polygon, GameSpot and MassivelyOP reported that a beta begins September 17 and that the full game launches November 4. IGN said the project is developed by the World of Warcraft Classic team and that its announcement closed the ceremony.
Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president for World of Warcraft, introduced Forever as a version of the game that is "friendly, familiar, and new," according to Polygon. MassivelyOP quoted her describing it as "a new permanent home, a new beginning that never ends."
Polygon reported that Forever follows the core principles of World of Warcraft Classic and exists in a "time bubble" set during the first year of the original game, with the level cap held at 60. GameSpot said it stays on the original continents of Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor rather than progressing into later expansions, and that the standard version of WoW Classic remains playable. Wowhead reported that Forever is included with an active World of Warcraft subscription, as Classic is. Eurogamer reported that the game sits between two fixed points in Warcraft lore — after the events of the new Forsaken Kingdom campaign for Warcraft 3: Reforged, but before the original Molten Core raid — and described it as a new permanent home alongside modern WoW and Classic rather than a replacement for either.
New zones, dungeons and a race
The announced content, as listed by Polygon, GameSpot and IGN, includes three new zones, overhauled existing zones and nine new dungeons, along with a new PvP battleground, Darkspear Islands; Polygon and IGN put the quest count at more than 1,000, while GameSpot said up to 1,000. Polygon said the two new max-level raids are built for groups of 10 and 20 players, and MassivelyOP named Hyjal Summit and Barrow Deeps among the raids. Wowhead reported that the roadmap places both in December, with Barrow Deeps as a 10-player raid and Hyjal Summit as a 20-player raid. In its report from a follow-up deep dive, MassivelyOP named four new regions for launch: Mount Hyjal, Zephras Isle, Riverglades and Shen'Dralas. GameSpot said classes are getting new talents and skills, new class and race combinations are coming, and players will be able to toggle between HD and original visuals.
The new race is the Skyborne, whose starting area is one of the new zones, according to GameSpot. Skyborne characters choose a faction at character creation and can play Druids with new forms; in two separate reports, Wowhead said Horde Skyborne gain access to the Shaman class and Alliance Skyborne to Mage, while MassivelyOP's write-up reversed the two. Wowhead said the race and its Zephras Isle starting experience are unlocked through the Skyborne Heroic Pack, listed at $29.99 on the Battle.net shop with early name reservation and cosmetics, and called it the first time a race has been paywalled outside a new expansion. Wowhead's first report listed beta access with the pack, while Eurogamer placed guaranteed beta access in the pricier Skyborne Epic Pack alongside a month of game time; Wowhead said players can also opt in for a chance at beta access on Battle.net for free. Wowhead also reported that the launch cinematic revealed Undead Paladins, and PC Gamer listed new race and class combinations including Gnome Priests, Human Hunters, Dwarf Shamans, Orc Mages and Troll Warlocks.
In the deep dive, Ion Hazzikostas described Season of Discovery as an experiment to find how much change the Classic experience could take, and Wowhead and MassivelyOP both reported that Blizzard committed to pursuing the project by mid-2024. The team said Forever will have no flying mounts and no level scaling, and will add a camping feature, according to both outlets. Wowhead and MassivelyOP also described a Legacy system of challenges that award points to spend on perks across Professions, Adventure and Resourcefulness trees, with MassivelyOP reporting 16 spendable points at launch out of 65 total.
Rulesets instead of realms
Blizzard also detailed how the game will be structured. Wowhead reported that Forever is realmless: instead of picking a server, players choose a ruleset — Normal, PvP, Roleplay, or Hardcore after launch — and PC Gamer said that means running into far more players than on other versions of WoW. Wowhead said players cannot group across factions or rulesets, and that each player will have two names. Transmog is coming, but optional: Wowhead and MassivelyOP reported that players can opt in or out, and that rare items dropped in dungeons unlock their appearance for everyone in the group, while raid loot works as usual. Wowhead also reported more than 600 new recipes across professions, food buffs that now increase experience gains from kills, and full controller support, which it called the first time Blizzard has developed a World of Warcraft game with controller support in mind. Polygon reported the game will support Xbox and PlayStation controllers, and quoted developers saying gamepad support is not aimed at bringing the game to consoles.
Hardcore mode is confirmed but will not be available at launch, Wowhead reported, with PC Gamer saying developers have set it for the winter season; MassivelyOP reported it will follow several months after launch, and that hardcore characters who die will be able to transfer to PvE, PvP or Roleplay play, carrying their legacy points with them. On the economy, MassivelyOP reported that developers said there are "no plans" for the WoW Token or paid character boosts, and that dungeon XP has been rebalanced — kill XP brought way down and dungeon-quest XP raised much higher — a change the outlet read as targeting instance spamming and paid boosting services.