At BlizzCon on September 12, 2026, Blizzard officially confirmed the World of Warcraft: Forever project — a separate Classic+ branch in which the familiar Azeroth develops along its own, alternate history. The beta opened the same week, with the release set for November 4.

On September 12, 2026 at BlizzCon, Blizzard officially confirmed the project the community had been speculating about for months: World of Warcraft: Forever. It is neither a Classic remaster nor a continuation of the current retail — Forever follows its own, alternate timeline of the familiar world, in which Azeroth develops along its own storyline.

The key framing is "Classic+" in the strictest sense: the developers return to the lore and mechanics of the vanilla era, but do not repeat its script. Confirming the rumors in exactly that format is the substance of the announcement.

Timeline

The dates are already confirmed and locked into the project's calendar:

• Beta: September 17 through October 21, 2026 — five weeks of open testing with a level 20 cap.
• Release: November 4, 2026 at 23:00 UTC (November 5 at 18:00 EST / 15:00 PST).
• Raids: opening December 9, 2026 — about five weeks after launch.

What this means for players

Forever is positioned not as a nostalgic copy of Classic, but as a standalone project with its own story. For players, that means three practical things:

• Old expectations are out the window. You cannot simply carry over your knowledge of Classic quest chains and vanilla-era raids — the story plays out differently.
• Short beta. Just five weeks of testing with a reduced level cap. If you were planning to "just pop in and see" — the window is narrow, now or never.
• Fast endgame after launch. Raids open five weeks after the general launch, meaning November is already time to assemble a group and prep gear.

In practice

• Beta access is already running from September 17 through October 21, 2026 — if you have a key, you can log in and check out the starting zones and the level 20 cap for yourself.
• About a month remains until release from the moment of publication: now is the time to refresh your knowledge of vanilla-era classes and professions and pick a faction.
• Raids will open December 9, 2026 — that is the milestone for those planning their endgame roster in advance.