WoW Forever goes live on 4 November: launch times by region and what to choose at your first login

Between 28 and 30 October 2026 Blizzard published four articles for the launch of WoW Forever: the official launch times by region in World of Warcraft: Forever Goes Live Globally November 4! (29 October), a New Player's Starter Guide (28 October), a guide for returning players, Return to Azeroth (29 October), and a WoW Weekly with the numbers of the beta (30 October). Here is what you need before logging in. Everything below comes from those articles; where we add a conversion of our own, we say so.

Launch times by region

WoW Forever goes live on Wednesday 4 November 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST, which is 23:00 UTC. This is Blizzard's table:

Our conversion from 23:00 UTC, outside the table: 6:00 p.m. EST on the US East Coast, and noon on 5 November in New Zealand (NZDT), which Blizzard groups with Australia under AEDT, the time of Sydney and Melbourne. US daylight saving time ended on 1 November, so the Pacific time is PST, not PDT.

Before your first login

You can play on Windows or Mac with keyboard and mouse. Controller support exists, but Blizzard describes it as "in a beta state". WoW Forever is included with an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, and you install it from the Battle.net app by choosing WoW: Forever in the game version menu.

Experience Preset: Classic or Enhanced

The first time you log in, before you choose a ruleset, the game asks you to choose an Experience Preset. It sets a group of options at once:

Blizzard's advice is to start with Enhanced if you are unsure. The preset is a starting point, not a lock: you only see this screen at your first login, and afterwards you can change the preset or single settings from the Options (Game Menu > Options in the Starter Guide, System > Preset in Return to Azeroth).

Separately, each time you create a character you choose HD or SD models and animations. It only changes the look, not abilities or progression, and you can switch later in the Options or at a Barbershop in game.

Rulesets and factions: decide with your friends

At launch there are four rulesets: Normal, PvP, Roleplay and Roleplay-PvP. Hardcore will come "sometime after launch", with no date. The Starter Guide is clear: characters can group, join guilds, run dungeons and raid only with players on the same ruleset and the same faction. If you want to play with friends, agree on both before you create your characters. For anyone unsure, Blizzard suggests Normal.

The differences between rulesets are in our rulesets guide. The limits on the PvP ruleset seen during name reservation are in our article of 1 November.

Names and professions

• Names: each character has a main name and a secondary name, and the complete combination must be unique within your region, not within a ruleset. You can hide the secondary name above your character under Options > Nameplates > My Secondary Name, but it still appears in chat.
• Professions: two primary professions plus all three secondary ones, Cooking, Fishing and First Aid. More in our camping and professions guide.

Return to Azeroth, for those coming back

The article for returning players adds the background:

• the setting is the early "Year 1" of the original game, before Kazzak reopened the Dark Portal;
• nine new five-player dungeons, levels 13–60: six in the Eastern Kingdoms (Hall of Thanes, Ruins of Lordaeron, Excavation Site, City of Dalaran, The Drowned City, Krol'dok Stronghold) and three in Kalimdor (Alcaz Prison, Blackmaw Hold, Shaper's Terrace);
• new race and class combinations: Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman and Gnome Priest for the Alliance, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin for the Horde;
• the Skyborne can be Druids, Hunters, Rogues and Warriors, plus Mages on the Alliance side and Shamans on the Horde side; playing them requires the Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher;
• PvP with Honor and Rank, and the Darkspear Islands battleground: 15 against 15, levels 30–60, four capture points and a central flag, first team to 2,000 points wins;
• Hardcore "coming later".

What is in the game at launch

From the launch article: more than 1,000 new quests from level 1 to 60, and the Riverglades alone have more than 150, across much of the mid-30s to mid-40s. On 9 December the first three raids open to level 60 characters: Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia's Lair. The dungeons and raids are in our zones, dungeons and raids guide, all the dates in our calendar.

The beta in numbers

On 30 October the WoW Weekly published "Beta by the numbers", an image with the official statistics of the beta that ended on 23 October:

• 8,862,354 characters created, of which 1,889,084 Skyborne and 612,096 Forsaken Paladins;
• 9,959,014 PvP kills and 1,248,125 duels; the zone with the most PvP was Hillsbrad Foothills;
• 1,157,204 deaths from falling;
• the deadliest dungeon was Hall of Thanes, the deadliest creature a Kobold Miner.

In Italian and Spanish

The Starter Guide and Return to Azeroth have complete Italian and Spanish versions. The launch article exists in both languages too, but the Italian page has no times table and its summary says "00:01 CET", while the Spanish page has the table without the Brazil and UK rows. The beta numbers are only in the English WoW Weekly. The official time is the one in the table: midnight CET.