WoW: Forever beta raises its level cap to 30; testing ends 21 October before the 4 November launch

Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Forever, the official Classic+ game announced at BlizzCon on 12 September, is in its last weeks of beta.

Dates

• 1 October: after maintenance, the beta resumes with the level cap raised from 20 to 30
• 21 October: the last full day of beta testing. Before then, Blizzard plans a time-limited "Server Slam" that anyone can join
• 27 October to 3 November: Early Name Reservation for buyers of upgrade editions
• 4 November 2026, 3:00 p.m. PST (23:00 UTC): global launch

What the subscription covers

Access to Forever is included with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time. The new Skyborne race and its Zephras Isle starting zone, however, come with the paid Skyborne Heroic Pack and the more expensive editions: the Skyborne Epic Pack, which also includes beta access and 30 days of game time, and the limited Warcraft Forever Collection. The Heroic Pack also includes Early Name Reservation and a mount.

Rulesets instead of realms

• Forever has no traditional realms. Players pick a ruleset: Normal, PvP or Roleplaying at launch, with Hardcore coming sometime after launch
• Grouping, dungeons and raids work only within a ruleset. Battlegrounds can mix rulesets, except Hardcore
• Horde and Alliance still cannot group together
• Character names have two parts, like a first name and a surname, and the full name must be unique within a region

And the private servers?

Project Alterac named the Forever beta among its reasons for closing in September. Project Epoch Reborn is sticking to its own launch on 23 October, less than two weeks before Forever.

Sources: Blizzard News: "World of Warcraft at BlizzCon 2026 News Round-Up", "The World of Warcraft: Forever Beta Now Live", "Choose Your Ruleset in World of Warcraft: Forever" and "Create a Name of Your Own in WoW: Forever" (September 2026), and the Blizzard forum post "Beta Update Maintenance - October 1".