World of Warcraft Forever launches November 4, 2026, and its beta starts this Thursday, September 17. Blizzard president Johanna Faries gave the date on the BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony stage moments after confirming that Forever is Classic Plus, as a countdown reading 52 days appeared behind her.
“I’ll say that again, November 4th. November 4th, everybody,” Faries said. “So beta starts this Thursday, and if you’re here, you could play Forever on the show floor.”
Faries described Forever as a permanent third way to play. “World of Warcraft Forever is your new permanent home. It’s a new beginning that never ends,” she said. “We’re giving you another way to play WoW that’s friendly, familiar, and new. It’s going to live right alongside our modern and Classic games.”
The pitch is vanilla-first. “Forever is focused on what made vanilla so memorable in the first place. The world as the main character,” Faries said, adding that players “will carve your own path” and that “there’s no rush here. It’s the journey that counts, not the destination.”
How to get into the beta, pricing, and whether Forever needs a separate subscription were not stated before this was written.