Blizzard saved World of Warcraft: Forever for the end of the BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony, with a release date of November 4, less than two months out, and a beta starting September 17. Forever is a third World of Warcraft experience running alongside Modern and Classic, set during the game’s first year, and rather than a straight re-release of Vanilla it adds three new zones, more than 1,000 new quests, nine new dungeons, two new raids, and a new playable race called the Skyborne. Blizzard describes it as a way to carve new paths and explore corners of Azeroth the original era never showed, with the world itself treated as the main character.
An existing World of Warcraft subscription or game time gets you into Forever at launch, while pre-purchasing either the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection unlocks the September 17 beta along with the Skyborne race and its starting experience, early name reservation, and in-game cosmetics. The Collection also bundles Warcraft III: Reforged with its new Forsaken Kingdom campaign, which went live today as a surprise alongside Reforged’s 3.0 update, a graphics overhaul, and a revamped World Editor. Forsaken Kingdom covers the fall of Lordaeron and its transformation into the Undercity, the first new story in Warcraft III in more than 23 years, and given that I consider Warcraft III one of the best games I’ve ever played, that announcement was pretty exciting for me.
Modern World of Warcraft got its own updates during the ceremony. Midnight, the middle expansion of the Worldsoul Saga, is getting its next major update in Eclipse (12.2), which has Xal’atath closing in on Azeroth’s Worldsoul, and Blizzard gave a brief look at The Last Titan, the saga’s final expansion, with more details promised early next year.
Forever is playable on the show floor in Anaheim this weekend, and Blizzard has dedicated Warcraft panels scheduled through Sunday for more on how it works. The Warcraft Forever Collection is $79.99, the Skyborne Epic Pack is $59.99, and the Skyborne Heroic Pack is $29.99.
