New zones

Blizzard’s headline is “New & expanded zones”. The verified list is four new zones (Zephras Isle, Riverglades, Shen’dralas, Mount Hyjal), a handful of expanded vanilla zones, six new flight points and three new boat lines. Most web summaries list three new zones because Blizzard has never given Shen’dralas a level range. This page has what is known for each, with the level bands, hubs and exits you need to route a pod through them. The route pages (Alliance, Horde) show where they slot in.

Summary table

Zone	Level	Where	Faction	Hubs and flight points	Instances
Zephras Isle	1 to 12	Skywall (Elemental Plane of Air), a flying island	Skyborne only, both factions start here	Valanaar (major, airship skydocks), Thendal Village, Shen’dar Village, Falaath Village, Shrine of Akir	none
Riverglades	35 to 45 (“mid-30s to mid-40s” per Blizzard)	Eastern Kingdoms, SE Khaz Modan, east of Badlands and Burning Steppes, borders Redridge and Swamp of Sorrows	Contested, both factions	Alliance: Farholde Keep (FP). Horde: Rog’mar (FP). Neutral: Powderfuse Port (FP, boat to Steamwheedle Port in Tanaris), Bolder’ok. Also Sunnyglade, Wheeler’s Grange, Windstead	Krol’dok Stronghold (40 to 45)
Shen’dralas	not announced	Central Kalimdor, where Lake Dumont sits in vanilla; SE of Desolace between Feralas and Mulgore	Neutral or contested	Shen’dralas (capital), Bristleback Retreat, Evenshade Overlook, Outcast Hideaway. No flight master in the client	none announced
Mount Hyjal	60	Kalimdor, north of Winterspring and Ashenvale, original-Azeroth timeline	Both	Summit of Eternity (FP), Tainted Foothills (FP). One flight path into the zone in the client	Barrow Deeps (10-player raid), Hyjal Summit (20-player raid), both open 12-09

Sources: warcraft.wiki.gg zone pages, wowforeverbuilds client datamine, mmonerds Riverglades explainer, Blizzard Watch roadmap. verified

Zephras Isle (1 to 12)

Lore. The Skyborne descend from Highborne exiles who forged a pact with elemental wind spirits and built a civilization on Zephras Isle inside Skywall, the Elemental Plane of Air. They call themselves shen’dorei, “hidden people”. The air elementals “vanished several centuries ago, and now the magic sustaining the island is slowly fading.” Two sister islands, Anvilas and Siroccas, have already collapsed and their refugees are crowding onto Zephras, which is itself failing. Ruler: High Elder Talaanis Shadowsong. Factions: Windshapers (Horde side), High Order (Alliance side), Al’Aketh. verified

Practical.

Sanctuary zone, no PvP. verified
Requires the Skyborne Heroic Pack ($29.99) or any higher edition. Everything else in Forever is included with the subscription. verified
Exit: airship from the Valanaar Skydocks. Alliance Skyborne fly to Dalaran in the Alterac Mountains. Horde Skyborne fly to Skywatcher Plateau in Mulgore. verified
No flight path connection to the mainland except the airship. A level 20 friend cannot come rescue a Skyborne on day one.
Alliance Skyborne land in a zone with no Alliance hub for their level. Expect to hearth or walk to Hillsbrad or Loch Modan. Inference, not documented. unverified
Horde Skyborne land next to Bloodhoof Village, which is fine.
Launch night: the emptiest starting zone in the game because it is paywalled. A real argument for anyone who bought the pack.

Beta status: Zephras Isle and the Skyborne were in the first beta week. verified

Riverglades (35 to 45)

Lore. Riverglades “historically been territory of the Kingdom of Stormwind.” The Old Horde burned Sunnyglade in the First War but left a mage tower standing. Humans chased the retreating orcs here; settlers left without reinforcements built their own communities. The region fell, and “the people of Farholde Keep have been fighting to retake their home lands ever since under Knight Commander Demar Brant” of the Brotherhood of the Horse. Factions in play: Alliance, Horde (Rog’mar), Steamwheedle Cartel (Powderfuse goblins), Twilight’s Hammer, gnolls, and the Krol’dok ogre clan. The tone is deliberately small-scale: “trade routes, local grudges, and survival between neighbors”, and the presenter’s line, “This isn’t a story about saving Azeroth, it’s a story about living in Azeroth.” verified

Facts.

Level: mid-30s to mid-40s per Blizzard; the wiki says 35 to 45. verified
Quests: “more than 150” officially, “nearly 200” in other Blizzard presentations. New reputations. verified
Size: “roughly the size of Stranglethorn Vale.” verified
Wildlife: boars, coyotes, crawdads, crocolisks, harvest golems, murlocs, vultures. verified
Dungeon: Krol’dok Stronghold, 40 to 45, a “large outdoor ogre dungeon” in the Dire Maul mould. The presenter pitched it as “another option besides running Scarlet Monastery for the 25th time.” Listed as 40 to 55 in early coverage, corrected to 40 to 45 on 09-15. verified

Getting in and out.

By road from Redridge Mountains. verified
By foot from Swamp of Sorrows (Stonard side) or Badlands and Burning Steppes, which it borders. verified for the borders
By boat: Steamwheedle Port in Tanaris to Powderfuse Port. verified
Flight points: Farholde Keep (Alliance), Rog’mar (Horde), Powderfuse Port (neutral). verified

Why it matters. Vanilla’s 35 to 45 band is the worst-designed stretch of the game. Riverglades is a full second zone for that band with its own dungeon, a neutral port and hubs for both factions. Expect it to be the most crowded new zone on launch week and the natural guild rendezvous around day 5 to 10. On PvP ruleset it will also be the first serious world PvP zone, since both faction hubs sit in one contested space with a neutral port in the middle.

Beta status: not yet in the beta as of the cap-30 phase; the cap would have to reach 35+. unverified

Shen’dralas (level not announced)

Lore. “A long-hidden mystery connected to the Shen’dralar, Eldre’Thalas, Dire Maul, and the centaur tribes.” Inhabitants: Highborne, centaur (Magram clan), quilboar (Bristleback tribe). Subzones named in the client: Evenshade Overlook, Outcast Hideaway, Valley of Bones, Bristleback Retreat. verified

Facts.

Location: central Kalimdor, southeast of Desolace, between Feralas and Mulgore, roughly where Lake Dumont was. verified
Entry: on foot via Desolace’s south road and the Valley of Bones. Desolace itself picks up centaur faction quests. verified
No flight master in the client. verified
Level: not announced. Developer Kris Zierhut is quoted calling it “middle of the leveling journey”, attribution unverified. Some Shen’dralas quests reportedly “lead players beyond the zone itself into Maraudon and Razorfen Downs”. unverified Given Desolace is 30 to 40, RFD 40 to 50 and Maraudon 46 to 55, a 35 to 45 or 40 to 50 band is the obvious guess. Blizzard has not said.
Dungeon: none announced.

Practical. Until the beta reaches it, treat Shen’dralas as a bonus zone that a pod detours into from Desolace when Riverglades is overcrowded, not as a planned stop. If it turns out to be 40 to 50, it fills the gap between Riverglades and Tanaris.

Mount Hyjal (60)

Lore. “The aftermath of the Battle for Mount Hyjal and Archimonde’s defeat”: how the mountain recovers, how the forests heal, what happened to the Wild Gods, what dangers remain. Includes Darkwhisper Gorge and a corruption theme. This is the original-Azeroth timeline, not the Cataclysm version. New stories, reputations, solo and group content. verified

Facts.

Level: endgame, 60. No client level range yet. verified
Flight points in the client: Summit of Eternity, Tainted Foothills. One flight path into the zone. verified
Raids: The Barrow Deeps (10-player) and Hyjal Summit (20-player), both open 12-09, both with tier sets, a legendary teased. No attunement for either. verified See raids overview.
Only one new quest marker datamined for Hyjal in the beta client so far, which means the zone is not in the beta build in any real form yet. verified for the count
Blackmaw Hold’s tunnels “run deep enough to reach the Barrow Deeps”. A geography link, not an attunement. unverified

Practical. Nothing to route around before 60. Hub names beyond the two flight points are unknown.

Gilneas: not a launch zone

foreverchanges.pro’s interactive map lists “Gilneas, Riverglades and Mount Hyjal” as explorable regions, and Gilneas appears on Blizzard’s “creative opportunities” tease list alongside Grim Batol, Emerald Dream, Caverns of Time and Uldum. No level range, no quests, no Blizzard statement that it is a launch zone. verified for the map and the tease; the zone itself is vapor for launch.

Expanded vanilla zones

Blizzard’s phrase is “New & expanded zones”. The concrete, sourced list is short. expcarry’s own caveat applies: these examples “should not be counted as evidence that every named area has a completely new quest campaign.”

Zone	What changed	Evidence
Wetlands	“Over 25 quests and a new route”, updated lighting and art; new dungeon Excavation Site (24 to 29) above Whelgar’s Excavation	verified
Desolace	Centaur faction quests “with new rewards”; south road opens into Shen’dralas	verified
Azshara	“A serious expansion”, “including its large unused crater”; “additional Azshara quests” (Josh Greenfield, MMORPG.com); Blackmaw Hold (55 to 60) behind the furbolg gate	verified
Alterac Mountains / Dalaran	Dalaran rebuilt as a “failing city”, shield down, City of Dalaran dungeon (28 to 33); Alliance Skyborne airship lands here	verified
Dun Morogh	New flight point Tidegear Coast; Hall of Thanes (13 to 18) under Ironforge	verified
Tirisfal Glades	Ruins of Lordaeron (15 to 20) above Undercity	verified
Dustwallow Marsh	Alcaz Island opens as Alcaz Prison (48 to 53)	verified
Un’Goro Crater	Shaper’s Terrace (58 to 60)	verified
Stranglethorn Vale	The Drowned City (35 to 40) off the coast	verified
Elwynn, Darkshore, Ashenvale	Visual only: “flowing river effects”, “mist over Darkshore’s water”, “moonlight through Ashenvale’s trees”	verified
Starting zones generally	Boost sites claim “dozens of new quests” per starting zone. Datamine: 2 new quest markers in Elwynn, 8 in Westfall. Overstated	unverified claim, verified datamine

New flight points and boats

Six new flight points in the client: Farholde Keep, Powderfuse Port and Rog’mar (Riverglades), Summit of Eternity and Tainted Foothills (Mount Hyjal), Tidegear Coast (Dun Morogh). verified

Three new boat lines from Blizzard’s panel: verified

Stormwind Harbor to Auberdine
Menethil to Southshore to Auberdine
Steamwheedle Port (Tanaris) to Powderfuse Port (Riverglades), Steamwheedle Cartel, neutral

Two tools show all of this on a map: wow-travelcraft.com (flight masters, ship routes, zone bands, an “only what is new in Forever” filter) and foreverchanges.pro/map (2D and 3D, dungeon entrances, boats). verified See addons and tools.

Unknown as of 2026-09-24

Shen’dralas level range, quest count, flight path, and whether it is in the launch build with content.
Mount Hyjal hubs beyond the two flight points, quest count, and whether any of it is available below 60.
Whether Gilneas is playable at launch.
Where Alliance Skyborne go after landing at Dalaran at level 12.
Whether the Wetlands, Desolace and Azshara expansions are fully in the launch build.
Whether Horde can ride the new Alliance-side boat lines.
Riverglades reputation names and rewards.