Story and zones

Forever is set in year one of the original World of Warcraft, and it stays there. There is no Burning Crusade coming, no Dark Portal, no level 70. Instead the story grows sideways: the year-one map gets new zones in the gaps vanilla left empty, new dungeons in the cities and coasts, and a raid tier on Mount Hyjal that asks what happened after Archimonde fell. For the guild, this page is the “where are we and why” companion to Leveling overview and Raids overview. verified

Timeline and framing

Forever sits after Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core. Holly Longdale calls it “essentially year one of vanilla WoW.” The wiki dates it to 25 ADP. verified setting unverified Longdale quote via gameloop
Its own continuity. The wiki, citing a Blizzard Twitch clip from September 13: “Forever does not exist in the same continuity as retail World of Warcraft.” Fans call it a “time bubble”: year one is the permanent foundation and the story builds outward without ever advancing to Burning Crusade. verified wiki; clip not loaded unverified fan framing
Level cap stays 60 indefinitely and there is no expansion roadmap. verified
Stated pillars: “approachable and familiar, the world as the main character, the journey before the destination, and protecting social experiences.” No flying, no level scaling. See Design philosophy. verified
The Warcraft Forever Collection bundles the Forsaken Kingdom campaign that Forever follows, which is why Undead Paladin and the Lordaeron Forever tabard read as story setup. See Editions. unverified inference

Blizzard’s framing from the Riverglades presenter: “This isn’t a story about saving Azeroth, it’s a story about living in Azeroth.” verified, outputlag

New zones

Zone	Level	Where	Instances
Zephras Isle	1 to 12	Skywall, a flying island	none
Riverglades	mid 30s to mid 40s (wiki: 35 to 45)	Eastern Kingdoms, east of the Badlands and Burning Steppes	Krol’dok Stronghold (40 to 45)
Shen’dralas	unknown; neighbors are 30 to 40	Central Kalimdor, southeast of Desolace	none announced
Mount Hyjal	max level	Kalimdor, above Winterspring and Felwood	The Barrow Deeps (10), Hyjal Summit (20)
Dalaran (Alterac Mountains)	dungeon 28 to 33	The pre-Wrath city in the Alterac hills	City of Dalaran
Expanded original zones	various	Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor	1,000+ new quests, no new continent

verified

Zephras Isle (1 to 12)

The Skyborne starting island inside Skywall, the Elemental Plane of Air. The wind spirits that protected the island have vanished, the pylons anchoring it are failing, the sister islands Anvilas and Siroccas have already collapsed, and refugees are pouring into Zephras as it starts to come apart. The Skyborne split over what to do: the High Order turn to the Kirin Tor and the Alliance; the Windshapers turn to the Earthen Ring and the Horde. A cult called Al’Aketh, devoted to Al’Akir the Windlord, revealed the Skyborne’s existence to him and forced the exodus. Sanctuary zone, no PvP, paid unlock. Full lore on Skyborne. verified, Blizzard post plus wiki beta text

Riverglades (mid 30s to mid 40s)

A frontier of rivers, grasslands, and trade routes east of the Badlands and Burning Steppes, bordering Redridge and the Swamp of Sorrows, in a space where vanilla had nothing. Humans chased retreating orcs here after the First War; settlers left without reinforcements built their own communities. verified, wiki plus outputlag

Alliance: Farholde Keep under Knight Commander Demar Brant of the Brotherhood of the Horse.
Horde: Rog’mar.
Neutral: Powderfuse Port, a Steamwheedle goblin port.
Enemies: gnoll camps; an ogre clan with Twilight’s Hammer ties.
Content: 150+ quests, new reputations.
Dungeon: Krol’dok Stronghold (40 to 45), a huge outdoor ogre dungeon. The presenter: “another option besides running Scarlet Monastery for the 25th time.”

Shen’dralas (level unknown)

Central Kalimdor, southeast of Desolace, between Feralas and Mulgore, roughly where Lake Dumont was. A hidden Highborne (Shen’dralar) mystery tied to Eldre’Thalas and Dire Maul, with Magram centaur and Bristleback quilboar fronts. Subzones: Evenshade Overlook, Outcast Hideaway, Valley of Bones. Its neighbors are 30 to 40, so expect that bracket. No instance announced. The Skyborne are also Eldre’Thalas exiles, so the two stories share a root. verified, wiki

Mount Hyjal (max level)

Above Winterspring and Felwood. The aftermath of Archimonde’s defeat: how the mountain recovers, how the forests heal, what happened to the Wild Gods, what dangers remain. Includes Darkwhisper Gorge. New stories, reputations, solo and group content, and both launch-tier raids with tier sets and a teased legendary. The wiki’s Mount Hyjal page has no Forever section yet. verified, What’s Next recap

Dalaran, Alterac Mountains

The pre-Wrath city in the Alterac hills, a “mysterious magical location requiring investigation,” now a 28 to 33 dungeon (City of Dalaran). It is also where Alliance Skyborne first land on Azeroth. verified

Nine new dungeons (5-player)

From the wiki overview and a Kaivax bluepost of September 15 relayed by wow-anniversary.fi. verified

Dungeon	Level	Location
The Hall of Thanes	13 to 18	Ironforge
Ruins of Lordaeron	15 to 20	Undercity
Excavation Site: Wetlands (Whelgar’s)	24 to 29	Wetlands
City of Dalaran	28 to 33	Alterac Mountains
The Drowned City	35 to 40	Stranglethorn Vale
Krol’dok Stronghold	40 to 45	Riverglades
Alcaz Prison	48 to 53	Dustwallow Marsh
Blackmaw Hold	55 to 60	Azshara
Shaper’s Terrace	58 to 60	Un’Goro Crater

Hall of Thanes and Ruins of Lordaeron were live in beta week 1. Boss lists and loot for the rest are unindexed by any source we could load. See Dungeons. verified

Raids at the launch tier

The Barrow Deeps (10-player) and Hyjal Summit (20-player), both in Mount Hyjal, with tier sets and a legendary reward teased. verified
Onyxia’s Lair returns as a 40-player raid. verified
All three open December 9, 2026, five weeks after launch. Blizzard: “December 9, 2026: New raids unlock.” The earlier fan note that the 10 and 20 might open at launch is contradicted. verified
Fixed sizes, no flex, one difficulty, no attunement at launch. verified, zockify and masterofwarcraft Boss counts of 8 (Barrow Deeps) and 13 (Hyjal Summit) appear on one fan site only. unverified
Molten Core is not a launch-tier raid. The Summer 2027 “revamped iconic raid” is the obvious candidate but is unnamed. See Roadmap. verified as unnamed

PvP places

Darkspear Islands: a new 15 vs 15 battleground combining control points with Arathi Basin-style flag play; the wiki compares it to Eye of the Storm. verified
Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, Alterac Valley: listed alongside Darkspear Islands in the Kotaku interview. Warsong Gulch is expected in beta once the cap rises to 30. verified list unverified beta timing
A seasonal Honor track with 14 ranks; no rated PvP at launch. verified ranks unverified “no rated”

Item and world changes that carry story

Every dungeon drop was re-examined: unique blue boss items, improved set bonuses, and expanded quest rewards for more classes. Mor’ladim now offers a two-hander plus a Ladimore Heirloom Ring; the Nesingwary quests include a Master Hunter’s Spellsword. Hundreds of new rare-creature drops. verified
Some item stats are hidden until players discover the drops. unverified
The Adventure Legacy challenges (explore the whole map, finish the Lord Valthalak questline) tie the old world’s story into the new progression. See Legacy. verified

Unknown as of 2026-09-24

Shen’dralas level range and whether it has an instance.
Mount Hyjal’s quest count and the Wild Gods storyline detail.
The name of the Summer 2027 revamped raid.
Boss lists and loot for seven of the nine new dungeons.
Whether the Forsaken Kingdom campaign’s events are referenced in-game.
The legendary reward teased for the Hyjal tier.
Where the “1,000+ new quests” land by zone.