WoW Forever

World of Warcraft: Forever is Blizzard's Classic+: the original Azeroth and its level-60 cap, with new zones, dungeons and raids, a new race, and the talent trees rebuilt. It runs alongside Classic Era rather than replacing it — and this site covers Classic Era, so here is what Forever changes.

Checked on 19 September 2026, against the beta client build 1.60.1.69913 and the announcements. The beta changes things; sources are at the bottom.

Beta

17 September to 21 October 2026Blizzard

Name reservation

27 October 2026Edition owners · reported

Launch

4 November 20263:00 p.m. PST · Blizzard

What the beta client says

The Forever beta client's own data tables have been published since 16 September 2026. Everything in this section is read out of them, at build 1.60.1.69913 — the same kind of evidence every Classic Era number on this site rests on, and the thing that settles what the coverage disagreed about.

• 51 talent points, one per level from level 10 — the same as Classic Era. The gates are unchanged too: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 points spent in a section.
• 471 talents across the nine classes, against 432 in Classic Era — 141 of them under a name Classic Era never had. Every tree, class by class.
• The “talent at 16 points” is not a new gate. It is three one-point talents per class behind the 15-point gate — one for each specialisation — taken with the sixteenth point, the way Classic's “11-point” talents sit behind the 10-point gate.
• The Skyborne are two races, one per faction, and the faction decides the caster class: High Order Skyborne (Alliance) — Druid, Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Warrior; Windshaper Skyborne (Horde) — Druid, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior. Their passives, and the 24 racial passives that are new across all 10 playable races, are on the races page.
• 56 race and class combinations, against 40 in Classic Era.
• Legacy is three more talent trees on a separate currency of up to 16 points, earned by reaching level 25, 45 and 60 for the first time on each class: Professions (Dedicated Study, Bartering, Master Chef, Bountiful Harvest, Luremaster); Adventure (Thrill of Adventure, Talented, Frequent Flier); Resourcefulness (Reagent Economy, Gourmand, Diplomat, The Quick and the Dead).

Talents per class

“Not a Classic Era talent” and “new” compare names within the class, so a talent renamed in Forever counts as new. Talents that kept their name may still work differently.

What the client holds, in detail

This page is the summary. Four pages under it list what build 1.60.1.69913 actually contains — every figure on them read from the same tables, and stored apart from this site's Classic Era data so nothing else counts it.

• Classes and talents — 471 talents, 141 of them new names, with what each new one does.
• Races and passives — the two Skyborne races, and the 24 racial passives that Classic Era does not have. The Tauren and the Gnome changed too.
• Professions — 1,029 new recipes with their reagents, which is rather more than the “600 new recipes” the previews quoted.
• Items — 4,871 new items: the materials, the flasks and potions, and the gear.

How to get it

• Included with a World of Warcraft subscription or game time — no separate purchase to play.
• The Skyborne need one of the three editions: the Skyborne Heroic Pack, the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection.
• Guaranteed beta access comes only with the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection. Opting in on the World of Warcraft site does not guarantee it.

What is new

• New zones: Mount Hyjal, The Riverglades, Shen'dralas, Zephras Isle — Zephras Isle is where the Skyborne start.
• A new race: the Skyborne, on either faction.
• 9 new dungeons: Hall of Thanes, Ruins of Lordaeron, Wetlands Dig Site, Dalaran, The Drowned City, Krol'dok Stronghold, Alcaz Prison, Blackmaw Hold, Shaper's Terrace.
• Raids: Hyjal Summit (20 players) and The Barrow Deeps (10 players).
• A new battleground: Darkspear Islands.
• More than 1,000 new quests, with the original zones expanded as well as new ones added.
• Systems: Transmogrification; Legacy — progress shared across an account; Camping — player-built campsites with rest, vendors and profession workspaces. The campsite objects are profession recipes in the client — a tent from leatherworking, a campfire from cooking — and they are listed with the rest of the new recipes.
• No realms. Players choose a ruleset — Normal, PvP or Roleplaying — instead of a server.
• The level cap stays at 60.

What changes from Classic Era

Each change below is set against this site's own Classic Era data, read from the 1.12 game files — so what you see is not only that something changes, but exactly what it was.

New race and class pairings In the client

Talents leaving the trees In the client

Talents that did nothing but strengthen a group buff are gone from the Forever trees, so no build has to spend points on them. Reports named four and disagreed about which was the fourth; the client shows five — no rank of any of these is a talent in any Forever class tree. In Classic Era each cost this much to reach:

Hit and critical strike merged Reported

Hit and critical strike are merged into single stats rather than split between melee, ranged and spells. In Classic Era, 677 of the 7,856 pieces of equipment in this site's gear planner carry at least one of the stats being merged — 185 with hit, 366 with critical strike and 206 with spell critical strike. Their totals will not read the same way in Forever.

Dungeon loot Reported

Every dungeon drop has been re-examined, with hundreds of new or adjusted items. The drop tables on this site describe Classic Era and will not match Forever's dungeons. What the client does carry is the items themselves — 4,871 of them that Classic Era has no row for.

Not confirmed yet

• When Hardcore arrives. One report says it is available at launch, another that it follows later; Blizzard's own article does not say.
• Raid dates. Several guide sites give 9 December, with Onyxia's Lair returning as a 40-player raid beside the two new ones; none of that is in anything Blizzard has published in writing.
• Whether the five buff talents that left the trees became abilities every character has. The client shows they are no longer talents; its tables do not say where the effects went.
• What the new recipes and items are *for*. The client lists every recipe, its reagents and the item it makes — see /forever/professions — but where a pattern drops, who sells it and which zones hold the new materials are server data, and there is no Forever server dump.

What this site covers

Everything else on WoW Guides is Classic Era, patch 1.12.1. The talent calculator, rotation trainer and gear planner are built from the Classic Era client's own data tables, which is how they avoid guessing. The Forever beta client publishes the same kind of tables — the figures above come from them — so Forever versions of those tools can be built the same way. They have not been yet.

Some of the site cannot have a Forever version at all. Drop chances, trainer positions, fishing waters and gathering spawns come from a 1.12 server database, and there is no equivalent for Forever. See how this site is built.

FAQ

• When does WoW Forever come out?

  World of Warcraft: Forever launches worldwide on 4 November 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST. The beta runs from 17 September to 21 October 2026.

• Is WoW Forever free with a subscription?

  Yes. Access is included with a World of Warcraft subscription or game time. The paid editions add the Skyborne, beta access with the two higher tiers, and cosmetics.

• How do I get into the WoW Forever beta?

  The Skyborne Epic Pack and the Warcraft Forever Collection guarantee beta access. Opting in on the World of Warcraft site enters you for a chance at an invite but does not guarantee one.

• How many talent points and talents are there in WoW Forever?

  51 talent points, one per level from level 10, as in Classic Era — but the trees are new: 471 talents across the nine classes in the beta client against 432 in Classic Era, five buff talents gone, and three one-point talents per class behind the 15-point gate.

• Which classes can the Skyborne play?

  The Skyborne are two races in the client, one per faction. High Order Skyborne (Alliance): Druid, Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Warrior. Windshaper Skyborne (Horde): Druid, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior.

• How many new recipes and items does WoW Forever add?

  Read from the beta client: 1,029 recipes the professions do not have in Classic Era, and 4,871 items. Leatherworking gains 294, Blacksmithing gains 208, Tailoring gains 191. The per-profession lists, with reagents, are at /forever/professions.

• What are the Skyborne racial passives?

  5 in the beta client, shared by both Skyborne races: Elemental Insight, Read Ley Line, Skysight, Walk on Air, Wind Blessed. The eight Classic races changed too — 24 racial passives across all 10 races are new. See /forever/races.

• Does WoW Guides have a Forever talent calculator?

  Not yet. The data it needs has been readable since the beta client shipped on 16 September — this page reads it — but the talent calculator on this site is still the Classic Era one.

Sources

• wago.tools — the Forever beta client's own tables (wow_classic_beta 1.60.1)
• Blizzard — Pre-purchase World of Warcraft: Forever upgrades
• Warcraft Wiki — World of Warcraft: Forever
• Blizzard Watch — Forever unveiled, launching November 4
• Blizzard Watch — Forever will be realmless
• Blizzard Watch — Skyborne classes and factions
• classicwow.gg — Forever vs Classic Era, announced changes