The Forever beta kicked off on September 17, 2026 and runs through October 21. Here's how to get into the test, where to report bugs, and what's already known about issues in the first build.

The World of Warcraft: Forever beta officially launched on September 17, 2026. The test runs for almost five weeks — through October 21 — with the game's release scheduled for November 4 at 23:00 UTC.

How to get into the test

Two paths are available:

• Apply through Battle.net and wait for an invitation — invites are sent in waves.
• Buy the Forever bundle — the bundle comes with guaranteed beta access.

If your opt-in is already active, buying the bundle just makes your chance 100%.

Where to report bugs

Blizzard has opened a dedicated Beta Discussion Forum on the official forums. There are separate threads for technical issues and balance feedback. The more specific the report (zone, level, abilities, steps to reproduce), the faster the team will work through it.

What's already known about bugs

The team published a list of known issues for the first build and promised to keep updating it as things get fixed. We picked out the ones that affect gameplay the most:

• Glancing Blow — for casters, chance and damage reduction are calculated incorrectly; for melee, reduction is wrong against higher-level targets. If you're a warrior or rogue and see strange numbers on your character panel, it's not on you — that's how it is right now.
• Legacy system up to level 25 — opening it with the Y key crashes the interface with a LUA error. Simple workaround: don't open Legacy before level 25.
• Guild charters — you can't sign a charter yet. Temporary workaround: a charter can be turned in without signatures. Guild leaders, take note.
• Arcane Missiles — the mage's channel fires a full charge instead of a clipped one when the mage takes damage. This is a balance issue, not a visual one.
• "Next attack" abilities — Heroic Strike, Cleave, and Raptor Strike cancel the cast-queue window. Until it's fixed, alternate melee and magic more carefully.
• Character panel currently doesn't show level, class, or titles. A visual issue with no gameplay impact.
• Pets — warlock and hunter pets on the character panel don't show mana, health, hit, and expertise scaled by the owner's coefficient. Also a visual issue.

Smaller ones: chairs in the barber shop crash LUA, the Coldridge Valley starter zone map doesn't open when scouted, the minimap partially goes off-screen, and disease duration after resurrection is wrong at low levels. These are slated to be fixed in upcoming builds.

What this means for you

• If you're already in the beta — the first few days aren't representative: the UI is rough, the numbers on the character panel still lie, and the Glancing Blow mechanic isn't fully tuned. Wait for build updates.
• If you're waiting for the November 4 release — you have five weeks to read tester reports and figure out which classes look strongest at launch.
• If you're still on the fence — bundles with guaranteed access are on sale until the test ends.