At this year's BlizzCon, Blizzard announced a new version of World of Warcraft Classic, called World of Warcraft Forever. Blizzard says WoW Forever is "built as a new permanent home alongside modern and Classic WoW." It's set after the events of Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom but before Molten Core, and sends players back to the original continents with a cap at level 60. There are new stories, a new class, and over 1,000 new quests in the title.
With World of Warcraft Forever launching on November 4, a beta is due to start this week. There are a few ways you can gain access, so here's all you need to know.
WoW Forever beta start and end times
The World of Warcraft Forever beta will run from Thursday, September 17, to October 21, 2026.
There are no official start times just yet, although Blizzard often rolls its updates out between 11 AM and 2 PM ET, so we'd expect the beta to become available around then.
How to access the WoW Forever beta
There are a few ways you can gain access to the WoW Forever beta, although preordering and buying specific packs are the only guaranteed ways.
Beta access is including with the Skyborne Epic Pack and Warcraft Forever Collection. The Skyborne Epic Pack is priced at $59.99 / £51.99, and the Warcraft Forever Collection is priced at $79.99 / £69.99, and both can be bought from the Battle.net store.
You can also head to the WoW Forever website and opt-in to the beta, although this is not a guaranteed method of entry. The only way to guarantee entry is by preordering one of the above packs. However, you don't need to buy these packs to get entry to WoW Forever when it releases. That's included with your World of Warcraft subscription or game time. However, if you want access to the new Skyborne race, you'll have to upgrade.
WoW Forever early name reservation
You'll be able to reserve your WoW Forever name from October 27 through November 3, 2026, and that's included with any upgrade purchase. You can create and customize up to three characters during this period, and character names are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.
WoW Forever beta level cap
While WoW Forever will be capped at level 60, the beta will initially be capped at level 20, increasing to level 30 after a few weeks.
There's a host of new content coming with WoW Forever, including the Skyborne race, new dungeons, new raids, and an additional PvP battleground. It'll be released on November 4.
