WoW Forever Beginner's Guide: What It Is and How to Start

World of Warcraft: Forever launches on 4 November 2026, and everyone starts fresh at level 1. If you’ve been thinking about trying WoW, this is a good moment. The game is still in beta, so details can change before launch (last checked 7 October 2026).

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What is it?

WoW is an MMORPG: one huge fantasy world shared with thousands of other players. You pick Alliance or Horde, a race and a class, then level from 1 to 60.

Forever is the original Azeroth, still being added to, with no expansions to make your progress obsolete. For the full rundown, see What Is WoW Forever?

What can you do?

• Quests: over 1,000 new ones.
• Dungeons, raids and PvP. Dungeons · Raids · PvP tier list
• Fishing, cooking and crafting. Professions
• Camping: build a campfire for crafting and buffs.
• Collect mounts, pets and transmog. Mounts

What’s new in Forever

• A new race: the Skyborne.
• New zones and 9 new dungeons. Zones
• Classes aren’t locked to one faction any more. Alliance vs Horde
• Gamepad support.

Picking a server

There are no realms. Instead you choose a ruleset: Normal, PvP or Roleplaying. Rulesets explained →

Cost

Included with a normal WoW subscription. See editions for the packs on offer.

Why play?

• A classic world that keeps growing.
• Everyone’s new together, so it’s easy to start.

Next steps: check the release date and beta schedule, then pick a class in our class guides.

Sources: First-hand testing by Lynqoid (Team Overpowered), screenshot taken on the beta on 7 October 2026; Blizzard: What’s Next panel recap, Blizzard: Carve a New Path, Warcraft Wiki.