World of Warcraft Forever REVEALED: Classic+ Arrives November 4th 2026

WoW Forever AKA Classic + has been fully revealed at Blizzcon 2026, and in this article we’ll explain all the biggest, newest and most exciting things you need to know!

World of Warcraft: Forever is based around the original vanilla experience, with familiar gameplay and locations, but with new zones, quests, dungeons, raids, stories and systems.

Blizzard describes WoW Forever as a ‘permanent home’ rather than a temporary experiment like the Season of Discovery, and aims to develop and expand on WoW Forever over time, running alongside the existing Retail & Classic timelines.

Is WoW Forever Classic+?

Essentially Yes. The focus is to build on the original WoW feel, focused on keeping the core pillars of the game intact. Azeroth remains the games main focus, with leveling, class identity, world design, and pacing.

This game is positioned after the events of Warcraft 3 Reforged and before the events surrounding Molten Core. Instead of automatically following the original path towards The Burning Crusade, Blizzard can now explore stories and locations that weren’t developed during WoW’s original history.

It’s pitched as the beginning of a potential alternate evolution of Azeroth, visiting unresolved or untold stories, abandoned concepts and unfinished locations.

World of Warcraft Forever launches November 4th 2026, with the Beta starting on September 17th (PST). 

You can gain access to the Beta by purchasing the Skyborne Heroic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection which includes the addition of Warcraft III: Reforged and it’s new Forsaken Kingdom Campaign. For more information, check out our WoW Forever Release Date, beta & pricing guide

WoW Forever introduces over 1,000 new Quests with a huge focus on improving the 1-60 Leveling content across Azeroth.

Existing regions are being expanded, unfinished areas are being developed and entirely new locations are being added to the original continents. 

There’s also 9 new Dungeons to enter throughout your leveling journey, and 2 confirmed raids launching just over a month after the release of WoW: Forever.
Barrow Deeps as a 10 player Raid, and Hyjal Summit as a 20 player Raid.

For the full list of new Dungeons & Raids and their Locations, check them out here.

Blizzard has also teased the first New Legendary Item to be revealed during Blizzcon 2026.

Revamped Iconic Raids

Blizzard has also teased a future revamps of iconic raids. 

WoW Forever's roadmap includes additional raids, dungeons, PvP updates, world content and levelling quests, meaning the initial release is intended to be only the foundation.

WoW Forever introduces a completely new playable race called the Skyborne.

The Skyborne originate from Zephras Isle, where new Skyborne characters experience their own Level 1-12 starting adventure.

The island combines the visual identity of Classic Warcraft with elemental architecture. Skyborne can be both Alliance or Horde, and you choose your Faction during character creation. This new race is not a ‘Neutral’ race

Horde Skyborne embrace elemental traditions and can become Shamans, while Alliance Skyborne pursue their ancestors' arcane traditions and can become Mages.

Both Factions can create Skyborne Warriors, Hunters, Rogues and Druids.

Skyborne Druids also receive completely new racial Druid forms designed specifically for them.

The Skyborne aren't the only change being made to character creation, WoW: Forever will introduce additional race and class combinations.

You can check out a full list of all the new Race/Class Combos here.

WoW Forever is also changing Racial abilities, with adjustments to existing racials, and some brand new additions too. 

You can find all Racial Ability changes here.

Class Specializations are receiving updates and changes too, with new abilities and talents to hopefully bring weaker specs more love and help them become more viable, aswell as addressing the more overpowered specs and classes from Vanilla, so maybe this time we won’t be seeing 80% of raid comps filled with Warriors. 

Blizzard's intention is to bring classes and specs into a more balanced state, whilst keeping class identity intact, and maintaining clear strength and weaknesses between Classes, without giving every single one, every tool possible.

New Classes?

There are no confirmed new classes with the release of WoW Forever, but several teasers indicate this is something they will explore in the future.

PvP players are getting completely new content as well. The Darkspear Islands will become a new 15v15 Battleground located off the coast of Kalimdor.

Its gameplay combines control points with Capture the Flag and defence mechanics reminiscent of Arathi Basin & Warsong Gulch.

WoW Forever will continue receiving additional PvP content and rewards after launch, so the Darkspear Islands are only the beginning of Blizzard's plans.

Let’s see how much they change the original PvP Ranking System & Honor Grind. No more 12 hours a day in Alterac Valley?

One major decision in WoW Forever is that the level 60 cap isn’t going anywhere. 

Traditionally in the past, with new expansions comes more levels, but Blizzard wants to continue expanding Azeroth, whilst keeping players within the 1-60 structure.

Future updates can add new zones, dungeons, raids, quests and progression, without simply adding another 5 or 10 levels every few years.

This is a strong indicator that Blizzard aim to focus on ‘Horizontal Progression’ as many fans have been asking for.

With more than 1,000 additional quests alongside new zones, raids and dungeons, Forever will naturally introduce a huge number of new items and rewards.

New reputations will also give players additional factions to interact with and progress through.

WoW Forever is also introducing a new ‘Legacy’ System, particularly aimed at players who enjoy completionism, leveling characters and alts, and collecting Achievements.

This Legacy system also has its very own account bound talent system, with various perks, like profession efficiency and earlier talent points.

Another brand new feature coming to WoW Forever is Camping.

Players will be able to create campfires whilst adventuring out in the world and professions can be used to craft something to players in the campsite, granting buffs.

Camping is also designed with the intention to encourage socializing with other players, friends, and guild members.

Profession Changes

Professions will continue to be an important part of the game, and will include updates to recipes and items, while features such as Camping create additional opportunities for professions to interact with the open world.

This fits the broader goal of making Azeroth feel like an interconnected world rather than a collection of isolated endgame activities.

One incredibly divisive topic is Transmogrification.

Transmog WILL exist in World of Warcraft: Forever, but, it’s entirely optional from a visual perspective. Players who want to customize their appearance can enable it, but if you don’t want this setting on, you will not see anyone else’s Transformed appearances at all.

This helps those who prefer to judge a player by their gear visually, for world PVP, wearing items like Trophies, or just Aura farming.

The same philosophy applies to WoW Forever's graphics.

Players will be able to choose between different visual options, including HD and SD character models, classic style animations, UI and interface options and more, allowing players to use higher-resolution characters without necessarily adopting every aspect of modern WoW's animation style.

The world itself is also receiving subtle graphical improvements. Examples shown by Blizzard include flowing rivers through Elwynn Forest, mist appearing over Darkshore's waters and moonlight shining through the forests of Ashenvale. Blizzard wants to enhance the original art direction while maintaining the recognisable Classic aesthetic.

World of Warcraft: Forever will also feature official gamepad support. Players who prefer controllers will therefore have a supported way of playing rather than relying entirely on third-party addons or complicated configurations, which has always been a difficult process for players to set up and likely puts a lot of people off giving it a try.

Combined with the various visual settings, it's another attempt to make original Azeroth accessible to a broader audience without fundamentally redesigning the game itself.

Hardcore gameplay is also part of Forever's longer-term roadmap and seems to be coming sometime around Winter 2026.

There will be no flying mounts in World of Warcraft Forever.

There will be no level scaling in World of Warcraft Forever