Launch checklist
Servers open November 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST; name reservation opens October 27. Everything below is a line to tick, not a paragraph to read. Firm dates are marked; the rest is judgement.
Account, not character
- Subscription or game time covering November 4. Forever comes with the ordinary WoW subscription; there is no separate box to buy.
- Decide about an upgrade pack. The packs are what unlock early name reservation. The Skyborne race is reported at $29.99 to unlock. Neither is required to play on the day.
- Pre-download before November 3. A three o'clock launch with a patch still downloading costs you the first evening.
- Do not buy beta gold. Every listing on sale this month sits on a character deleted October 21. The numbers →
Name reservation
- Be there early on the 27th. No opening hour has been published.
- Write nine names, not three. Three characters, three candidate pairs each. Names are two parts and unique across the whole region, so the name space is far larger than Classic's — but a slot spent staring at a generator is a slot wasted.
- Pick the playstyle before the class. Normal, PvP and Roleplay are separate ecosystems with separate populations and separate markets. Nothing announced lets you switch later.
- Pick the faction deliberately. Mail and trade are same-faction only, so it decides who can hand you anything at all — including anything you buy.
The day
- Expect layering, not a queue. One world per region spreads the crowd across layers of the same zone. Two people in one spot may not see each other; a party invite puts them on the same layer.
- Take the gathering manual. A quest around level 3 or 4 hands out Herbalism, Mining or Skinning free. It is the single best money decision in the first hour.
- Leave the auction house alone. There is nothing in it and the prices are nonsense in both directions.
- If you rolled Skyborne, Zephras Isle is the starter zone and carries you to about level 12.
Nine dungeons, spread across the climb
They are not stacked at the end, and their bosses drop the blueprints that unlock the better profession recipes. A group that runs them on the way up arrives at 60 with recipes nobody who skipped them can buy.
| Dungeon | Levels |
|---|---|
| Hall of Thanes | 13–18 |
| Ruins of Lordaeron | 15–20 |
| Excavation Site | 24–29 |
| City of Dalaran | 28–33 |
| The Drowned City | 35–40 |
| Krol'Dok Stronghold | 40–45 |
| Alcaz Island Prison | 48–53 |
| Blackmaw Hold, Shaper's Terrace | endgame |
Riverglades is built for the mid-30s to mid-40s and Mount Hyjal is the endgame levelling zone. Six new race–class combinations open at launch, Undead Paladins among them.
What to keep in reserve
| What | Cost | In dollars today | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riding, first tier | 100g | $79.00 | level not announced |
| Riding, top tier | 1,000g | $790.00 | level not announced |
| Consumables, one raid night | ~500g | $395.00 | from December 9 |
Riding figures are confirmed; the consumable line is an order-of-magnitude estimate from previous versions, not a Forever number — there is no raid to measure yet. Dollar column at $0.79 a coin, today's cheapest board price. Most people farm this rather than buy it, and at launch-week prices that is the right call: supply is at its thinnest on opening day.
Sources
- Content roadmap, zone and dungeon lists, Skyborne details — Wowhead roadmap, updated September 15, 2026.
- Beta window and level cap — PC Gamer and the September 17 Q&A.
- Riding costs — Sportskeeda interview with the developers, September 18, 2026.
- Name reservation window and pack requirements — reported by several outlets from the BlizzCon announcements; no opening hour has been published.