FAQ

You have not played since Wrath, or since 2019 Classic, or ever, and you have forty questions before you will commit to a class. This page answers the ones we hear most, in one to four sentences each, and points you at the page that goes deep. If a question is not here, ask in the tavern channel or type !guide <topic> in Discord and the bot searches this site.

Before launch

When exactly does it launch?

November 4, 2026 at 3:00 pm Pacific, which is 6:00 pm Eastern and 23:00 UTC because US daylight time ends November 1. verified See Road to launch for every date that matters.

Do I have to buy anything?

No. Forever is included with any WoW subscription or game time. The only paid content is the Skyborne race and its starting zone, which comes in the $29.99 Heroic Pack or any higher edition. verified See Editions and pricing.

What is in the packs?

Heroic ($29.99) is the Skyborne race, early name reservation, a mount and cosmetics. Epic ($59.99) adds beta access, 30 days of game time and more cosmetics. The Collection ($79.99) adds Warcraft III Reforged and its Forsaken Kingdom campaign, and the physical Collector’s Edition is $150. verified Full contents on Editions and pricing.

Can I get into the beta?

The free opt-in at worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/forever gives you a chance at an invite; the Epic Pack and above guarantee access. Beta runs September 17 to October 21 with the cap at 20 rising to 30, and a “Server Slam” open window is promised with no date. Everything you do in beta is wiped. verified

What is Early Name Reservation and am I eligible?

October 27 to November 3, Pacific time, you can log into the character creator and save up to three characters per account, first come first served. It is included with any upgrade purchase, so the $29.99 Heroic Pack qualifies and a plain subscription does not. verified See Names and surnames.

How do the two-part names work?

Every character has a first name and a second name, and the pair must be unique per region, not per realm. You can hide second names on nameplates, but chat and mail still use the full name. verified Details and guild naming advice on Names and surnames.

What ruleset should I pick?

Whichever the guild votes for, because there is no cross-ruleset grouping for anything. Normal, PvP and Roleplay ship at launch; Hardcore comes later with no date. verified See Rulesets and realmless play.

Can I play with a friend on the other faction?

No. Factions stay fully separate on every ruleset: no grouping, no auctions, no mail. verified Pick a faction together before Oct 27.

Can I move my character to another ruleset later?

Nothing is announced. A Blizzard engineer said it works “a lot like current WoW where basically without a character transfer, you’re not just going to be able to flip flop,” which reads as a future paid service, not a promise. unverified The only confirmed transfer is a dead Hardcore character moving to another ruleset. verified

What about Hardcore?

Post-launch, no date, and it is a walled population: Hardcore characters group only with Hardcore characters. Nothing you earn elsewhere flows in, but Legacy points earned in Hardcore flow out. verified Do not vote for it as the guild ruleset; it does not exist on Nov 4. See Rulesets.

Nothing official. The September 17 beta launch had long queues and disconnects, and each ruleset is one giant ecosystem, so a queue is a queue for everyone on that ruleset. unverified Plan for one; the launch night playbook has the contingency.

Is Forever a private server, Classic Era, or Season of Discovery?

None of those. It is a first-party Blizzard product from the Classic team with its own talents, zones, dungeons and raids, and the big private servers (Turtle WoW, Ascension, Stormforge) were shut down in 2026. verified See What is Forever.

Will my old addons work?

No. Forever uses retail Midnight’s addon API, so Classic-era addons do not load, and Midnight’s “disarmament” of combat data applies in full. verified See Addons that work and the UI and addons policy.

Does it run on Linux?

Officially unsupported, but the beta runs under Proton once you switch to DX11 and set Secondary Lighting to Fair. verified The full recipe is on Linux setup.

What is an Invite-A-Friend code?

A code that lets a friend play Forever from November 4 to 11 with no subscription. Distribution starts October 20; the Heroic Pack includes one code and the Epic Pack three. verified Good for a lapsed friend who wants to try launch week before resubscribing.

Choosing a character

Which classes and races are there?

The nine original classes and the eight original races, plus Skyborne. Six new combos: Undead Paladin, Dwarf Shaman, Human Hunter, Gnome Priest, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock. verified The full grid is on Races and classes.

What is Skyborne and is it worth $30?

A new elven race with an Alliance variant (High Order) and a Horde variant (Windshaper), unlocked per Battle.net account. Both get Warrior, Hunter, Rogue and Druid; Windshaper adds Shaman and High Order adds Mage. No Priest, Paladin or Warlock. verified Read Skyborne before paying.

Do racials still matter?

Yes, and they changed: every race has two actives and two passives, the +10 resistance passives are gone, and the old weapon skill racials became crit chance. verified Per-race tables on Races and classes.

Which class is easiest for a rusty returner?

Beta consensus at cap 20 to 30: Beast Mastery Hunter, Affliction Warlock and Retribution Paladin have the least downtime. unverified Pick what you will still enjoy at hour 100; see the class overview.

Which classes can tank?

Protection Warrior, Protection Paladin (the only tank role Blizzard has stated outright, via Seal of Fury making Judgment a taunt) and Feral Druid in Bear Form. verified Enhancement Shaman is not a tank; a Blizzard designer said “not quite yet.” See Warrior, Paladin, Druid and Shaman.

Which classes can heal?

Priest, Paladin, Shaman and Druid. Because Undead Paladin and Dwarf Shaman exist, both factions now have Blessings and totems. verified Priest gained Penance and Prayer of Mending; Druid gained Wild Growth. unverified

Is dual spec in?

Not announced. Beta client strings show a primary and secondary spec tab, but no cost or unlock level, and no Blizzard post mentions it. unverified Respec was 1g then 5g at level 20 in beta and one forum thread complains about 20g; the cap is unknown. unverified

What changed about talents?

Three trees per class with vanilla names, 51 points at 60, one-point milestones at 11, 21 and 31 plus a new 16-point milestone. Blizzard claims all 27 trees are viable in dungeons and raids. verified Every class page under Classes walks the trees.

Do I still need a Dwarf Priest for Fear Ward?

No. Fear Ward and Devouring Plague are trainable by every Priest at level 20 in the beta client. unverified See Priest.

What is the Legacy system, and do I need alts?

Account-wide points from 65 challenges (leveling classes, professions, PvP, dungeons, raids, exploration), spent per character in three trees with a 16-point cap at launch. One character alone can earn well past 16, so alts are optional. verified See Legacy.

What happened to hit and crit?

One hit stat and one crit stat now cover spells, melee and ranged, and bonus healing grants one third of its value as bonus damage. verified Gear sharing between casters is easier and healers can quest. See the class overview.

Leveling

How long does 1 to 60 take?

Nobody has data past level 30 because that is the beta cap. Our honest estimate for a normal person questing with friends and doing each dungeon once is 100 to 150 hours played. unverified See Leveling overview.

Was the XP curve nerfed or changed?

No. Wowhead published “26% less XP to 60” and retracted it; the table is the vanilla one. verified What changed is where XP comes from: dungeon kill XP was cut hard and dungeon quest XP raised. verified

Can we just spam dungeons to level?

No. Beta players measured 9 to 18 XP per elite in Ragefire Chasm, while the six Ruins of Lordaeron quests gave one tester nearly three levels. Run each dungeon once with every quest in hand, then leave. verified See Dungeons.

What are the new zones?

Zephras Isle (1 to 12, Skyborne only), Riverglades (35 to 45, Eastern Kingdoms, spelled Riverglades), Shen’dralas (central Kalimdor, level range unannounced) and Mount Hyjal (60). verified Zone flow by faction on Leveling overview.

What are the new dungeons?

Nine: Hall of Thanes (13 to 18), Ruins of Lordaeron (15 to 20), Excavation Site: Wetlands (24 to 29), City of Dalaran (28 to 33), The Drowned City (35 to 40), Krol’dok Stronghold (40 to 45), Alcaz Prison (48 to 53), Blackmaw Hold (55 to 60), Shaper’s Terrace (58 to 60). verified Bosses are known only for the first two. See Dungeons.

Should we level solo or in a group?

A duo or trio that shares every quest loses almost nothing, because quest XP does not split and quest XP is now the big number. unverified Blizzard’s stated design target is 10 to 15 seconds per solo kill, so grinding is slow on purpose. verified

What do I do on launch night?

Log in early, group with your pod immediately, take the first three or four quests, move to the second hub if the first is a mob, set your hearth and learn First Aid plus two gathering professions. The launch night playbook has the hour by hour.

When can I ride, and how much is the mount?

Cost moved into riding training, TBC style: two designers said training “costs 100 or 1,000 gold depending on the level” and your first mount is free with the skill. verified The levels are unpublished; 40 and 60 are inferred from beta data. Any other number you see online is a guess. unverified

What is Camping, and should I bother while leveling?

A Cooking campfire that up to three (later five or ten) players decorate with profession objects that give one-hour buffs, vendors, repairs and crafting stations. The Leatherworking Camp Tent tops up rested XP and a Cozy Sleeping Bag gives 3% XP for two hours. verified See Camping.

Are there new boats and flight paths?

Yes: Stormwind Harbor to Auberdine, a Menethil to Southshore to Auberdine line, Tanaris to Powderfuse Port in Riverglades, and six new flight points. verified The Stormwind to Auberdine boat alone kills the worst Alliance travel pain of vanilla.

Does Questie work?

The official Questie has no Forever support. An unofficial fork, Questie Forever, mostly works for vanilla quests but does not show availability markers for the new Forever quests. verified Turn on the built-in quest markers (Enhanced preset) and read the map. See Addons.

How does rested XP work now?

Vanilla rules until shown otherwise: log out in an inn or city, rested doubles kill XP only. vanilla baseline The Legacy perk Well Rested raises the rate and cap, and food from Cooking adds a small XP bonus of unpublished size. verified

Professions

Which professions exist?

The same twelve as vanilla, two primaries plus Cooking, First Aid and Fishing, cap 300. No Jewelcrafting, no Inscription, no crafting orders. verified See Professions overview.

What changed?

Healing Potions moved to First Aid, there are 600+ new recipes (the beta client shows roughly 900), Camping adds three objects per profession, and Merchant’s Favor is a new profession currency. verified All on Professions overview.

Which professions should I take?

Everyone takes First Aid to 300 and Cooking to at least 90. For primaries, the classic pairings still hold: plate wearers Mining and Blacksmithing, leather and mail Skinning and Leatherworking, casters Tailoring and Enchanting or Herbalism and Alchemy. unverified The guild coverage plan is on Professions overview.

What is Merchant’s Favor?

A currency earned by filling Waylaid Supply Crates and handing them in at a trade camp (Three Corners in Redridge for Alliance, outside the Crossroads for Horde). It buys roughly 316 recipes, neck enchants, a Pack Kodo and the 300-skill title certifications, and gold cannot buy it. verified See Gold making.

How do I make gold at launch?

Sell raw materials and bags; crafted greens do not sell. Wool Cloth will be the tailoring chokepoint and First Aid healing potions are a sleeper market. unverified There is no WoW Token and gold buying is promised permanent bans. verified See Gold making.

Is there a guild bank?

Unannounced. Community figures say “in at launch” but no Blizzard post says it. unverified The personal bank is 48 slots with 8 bag slots, so a bank alt works fine. verified See the charter for the ledger rule.

Can I use my old 1 to 300 leveling guides?

No. 198 of 235 Classic Leatherworking patterns stop giving skill about 25 points earlier, the Runed Copper Rod now costs a Mote of Magic instead of Strange Dust, and the Alchemy healing potion ladder is gone. verified See Professions overview.

Endgame

When do raids open?

December 9, 2026, all three at once, five weeks after launch. The hour is unannounced. verified See Raids overview.

What are the launch raids?

Barrow Deeps (10 players, 8 encounters in beta Legacy data), Hyjal Summit (20 players, 13 encounters) and Onyxia’s Lair (40 players). Sizes are fixed, one difficulty, no flex, no Raid Finder. verified Details on Raids overview.

Do I need an attunement?

Not for the launch raids; two Blizzard developers said so in a BlizzCon interview. Future tiers were deliberately not promised. verified Dungeon keys are unconfirmed either way. vanilla baseline

Is Molten Core coming?

Not at launch. The Summer 2027 roadmap has a “revamped iconic raid” that Blizzard has not named; Molten Core is the community’s guess. verified

Do world buffs matter?

A streamer relayed from the BlizzCon demo that world buffs do not work inside raids. There is no blue post. unverified The guild plans as if they are off; see Raids overview.

What loot system do we use?

Soft reserve plus main spec over off spec for the 10, a loot council with a written rubric for the 20, and the host’s rule for a 40. GDKP is banned by Blizzard. verified The full rules are on Loot systems.

What is Malleable Essence of Nature?

A reagent you get only by disenchanting Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit drops; roughly 72 crafted epic patterns use it. verified So an Enchanter is in every raid and disenchanted loot is a guild resource. See Loot systems.

Are there tier sets?

Yes, “Season 1” sets for all nine classes with 2, 3, 4 and 5 piece bonuses instead of vanilla’s 3, 5 and 8. verified Which boss drops which slot is unknown.

What are the lockouts?

Unannounced. Anyone quoting a Forever lockout number is guessing. verified

What does PvP look like?

A 14-rank Honor track that resets each patch cycle, with stat PvP armor, Black War mounts at rank 11 and weapons at 14, plus the new 15v15 Darkspear Islands battleground. Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley are expected but not in any Blizzard text. No arena or rated PvP at launch. unverified See PvP.

Does the PvP ruleset lock my faction?

Yes. On the PvP ruleset an account can only create characters for one faction; Normal, RP and Hardcore allow both. verified See Rulesets.

Is transmog in?

Yes, but opt-in per player, armor-type locked, and you can disable it entirely at a transmogrifier. Dungeon green and blue appearances go to everyone in the group; raid epic appearances only to the looter. verified The Classic preset turns it off at first login. See UI and addons policy.

Addons and UI

Which addons actually work?

As of the September 19 audit: DBM or BigWigs, Leatrix Plus and Maps, Baganator and Syndicator or Bagnon, Auctionator, Platynator, BugSack and BugGrabber, Forever ClassicUI, and the unofficial Questie Forever. verified Re-check the CurseForge “Forever” flavor tag the week before launch. See Addons.

Does WeakAuras work?

No. The WeakAuras team dropped Midnight support and has no path back, and Forever inherits Midnight’s rules. Hekili ended January 20, 2026. verified

Is there a damage meter?

Built in. Details! has no Forever flavor and could not read protected combat data anyway. verified

Do healing frames like Grid, VuhDo or Cell work?

Not in beta: unit health arrives as a “secret value” addons cannot do math on, and Grid2 throws errors. Blizzard’s raid frames plus mouseover macros work. verified See Addons.

Where do I install addons from?

CurseForge, Wago or GitHub only, through WowUp-CF or the CurseForge app. Never a “Forever addon pack” from a third-party site; woweternity.com lists fabricated “Forever Edition” downloads. verified

Which folder do addons go in?

The beta uses _classic_beta_. The live folder name is unconfirmed. verified

Classic or Enhanced preset?

Classic gives SD models, quest markers off, one-bag off, transmog off; Enhanced flips all four on. Every toggle can be changed later in Options. unverified Most people want Enhanced for the quest markers.

Can I play on a controller?

Yes, Blizzard lists official controller support, and it is labelled Alpha in the beta client. verified No default mapping or Steam Deck statement has been published. unverified

Is there a threat meter?

No. Threat math is restricted under the addon rules and ThreatClassic2 has no Forever flavor. Watch the default threat glow on nameplates. verified

The guild

How do I join?

Join the Discord, answer the onboarding question to reveal the WoW wing, fill in your character with !sheet, and show up. Friends are in; strangers get a short application and a two-week trial with a named buddy. See Join the guild.

What is the “wing” and the “gate role”?

The wing is the set of WoW Forever channels inside the family Discord, hidden from everyone else. The gate role is the self-serve WoW Forever role from onboarding that reveals it; it grants no guild rank, and ranks are never self-assigned. See the Discord guide.

What is a pod?

A leveling group of two or three (later five to seven) people matched by timezone and play hours, with a named pod lead and a thread. Pods are how you stay on the same layer and share quests. See Launch night and the Discord guide.

What is “the sheet”?

The one pinned source-of-truth roster covering class, spec, role, professions and attunements, filled by !sheet in the roster channel. Bots read it; officers do not chase you for it twice. See the Discord guide.

What is the guild called?

PassTheTorch is a working title. The name is chosen by a two-phase vote (approval shortlist, then ranked final) in October, with the runner-up reserved as the backup for launch day. See Name vote.

What are the rules?

Friends first, no public drama, show up when you sign up, mains before alts, no gold buying, no GDKP under the guild’s name. The full text is the charter.

How serious is raiding here?

Two scheduled nights maximum for the core, everything else optional and labelled optional. Bench keeps attendance credit, raids end on time, and nobody is yelled at. See the charter and Loot systems.

I am going to disappear for three months. Is that a problem?

No. A declared break costs nothing, and coming back earns the “Returning Hero” title rather than a walk of shame. Tell an officer so nobody worries.

Raid-Helper events in the signups channel; roster is posted 24 hours ahead and absences go in the absence channel, never DMs. See the Discord guide.

Where do I ask something not on this page?

The tavern channel, or !guide <word> in Discord to search this compendium. If the answer is not on the site, an officer adds it here.

Unknown as of 2026-09-24

Hardcore date and rulebook; paid transfers between rulesets.
Dual spec, respec cost curve and cap.
Riding levels and the exact training prices; reputation discounts.
Raid lockouts, the Dec 9 unlock hour, master loot, world buffs in raids.
Guild bank, guild charter cost and signature count.
Live addon folder name; Warcraft Logs support.
Shen’dralas level range; bosses for seven of the nine new dungeons.

FAQ