Whitemane opened its new Cataclysm realm Gilneas on 6 June 2026 at 18:00 CEST. Name reservation ran from 4 June and the first raids opened two weeks after launch, on 20 June. The realm is the first major release of the reorganised "Whitemane 2.0" project announced in April.
On 1 May 2026 Whitemane announced that a community vote had chosen Cataclysm as the next expansion over other options, released a new unified launcher covering both Gilneas and the legacy WotLK realm Maelstrom, and opened a PTR the same week. A detailed launch guide on 2 June covered experience rates, the Ancestral Wisdom system, Path of War, profession and honour rates and the raid schedule.
Whitemane's planned Mists of Pandaria realm, Stormstout, was delayed on 30 June, while a rebuilt WotLK+ realm, Frostmourne, entered beta on 22 August and was scheduled to launch on 19 September 2026.