WoW Forever Launch: Time in Your Zone, How to Start Playing, Packs and Name Reservation

WoW Forever opens on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 3:00 PM PST, which is 11:00 PM UTC. Blizzard runs one global launch: Europe, Asia and the Americas start at the same moment, and everyone, beta testers included, logs in at level 1.

The countdown above runs on your local clock. Press Copy code to put the same timer on your own site or guild page.

Contents

1. Launch time in your time zone
2. No realms: four rulesets
3. How to start playing
4. Packs: what each one adds
5. Reserve your names before November 3
6. No account yet? Ask a friend for a launch week code
7. What to do in the first hour
8. Frequently asked questions
9. Useful resources

Launch time in your time zone

Zone	Local time
US Pacific (PST)	November 4, 3:00 PM
US Central (CST)	November 4, 5:00 PM
US Eastern (EST)	November 4, 6:00 PM
Brazil (BRT)	November 4, 8:00 PM
UK (GMT)	November 4, 11:00 PM
Central Europe (CET)	November 5, 12:00 AM
Moscow (MSK)	November 5, 2:00 AM
Türkiye (TRT)	November 5, 2:00 AM
Sydney (AEDT)	November 5, 10:00 AM

US clocks fall back on November 1, so the launch runs on PST, not PDT. Blizzard's countdown on the official Forever page ends at 23:00 UTC.

No realms: four rulesets

Forever has no realm list. When you create a character you choose a ruleset, and your character lives there:

• Normal: PvP only by flagging yourself.
• PvP: open world PvP in contested zones; on this ruleset you can create characters for one faction only.
• Roleplaying: Normal rules plus naming and roleplay policies.
• Roleplay-PvP: added on October 22, arrives at launch.

Hardcore is announced for later, after launch, and Blizzard keeps Hardcore characters apart from the rest, including in battlegrounds. Raids open on December 9.

How to start playing

WoW Forever has no box price. A World of Warcraft subscription ($14.99 for one month in the US) or Game Time covers it, the same subscription that runs modern WoW. If you keep paying the subscription, you never need to buy anything else to play Forever.

1. Create a Battle.net account, if you do not have one, and install the Battle.net app.
2. Buy a subscription or Game Time, or get an Invite-A-Friend code from a friend (see below).
3. In the Battle.net app, pick World of Warcraft, switch the version to WoW: Forever and install the live client. The beta client is a different install and no longer works.
4. Log in on November 4 at 3:00 PM PST.

Packs: what each one adds

The three packs are optional. They add a race, cosmetics and early perks, not power.

	Skyborne Heroic Pack	Skyborne Epic Pack	Warcraft Forever Collection
Price (US)	$29.99	$59.99	$79.99
Skyborne race and Zephras Isle start	Yes	Yes	Yes
Early Name Reservation, 3 characters	Yes	Yes	Yes
Invite-A-Friend launch codes	1	3	3
Game Time included	No	30 days from November 4	30 days from November 4
Mounts and cosmetics	Cerulean Prideclaw mount, transmog set, toy, back item	Heroic items plus a bear mount, transmog, tabards, pets	Epic items plus Warcraft III: Reforged and the Forsaken Kingdom campaign

EU prices are the same numbers in euros. The Collection is on sale until January 11, 2027. A physical Collector's Edition costs $150: its emailed beta key does not unlock name reservation, the Collection key in the box does. A pack bought as a gift comes without Invite-A-Friend codes, so buy it on the account that will play.

The Skyborne race is only available with a pack. Everything else in Forever, every class, zone and dungeon, is in the subscription.

Reserve your names before November 3

Early Name Reservation is open until November 3 for any pack owner. You can create up to 3 characters on your account: pick the race, class, ruleset and full appearance. You cannot enter the world until launch.

Forever has no realms, so every character gets a two-part name, a given name and a surname, like Ana Forever. Only the full pair has to be unique in your region. The reservation opened on October 27 with server errors and a bug that blocked any name containing "con"; Blizzard says the fix comes with the next realm restarts, so a name refused in the first days is worth trying again. The perk works only on the WoW account the pack was bought for.

No account yet? Ask a friend for a launch week code

Every pack comes with Invite-A-Friend launch codes: 1 with the Heroic Pack, 3 with the Epic Pack or the Collection. Blizzard emails them to buyers from October 20. Each code lets one friend play WoW Forever from November 4 to November 11 without a subscription or Game Time.

If you have never played WoW, ask in your guild, Discord server or among friends who bought a pack. A week is enough to reach the high teens or low twenties and decide if the game is for you. To keep playing after November 11, you need a subscription or Game Time; your character stays.

What to do in the first hour

1. Log in before 3:00 PM PST and sit in the queue; launch-hour queues happen on every fresh start.
2. Pick the ruleset once. Characters do not move between rulesets.
3. Settle the class and the profession pair before you click Create: Choosing a Class in WoW Forever and Choosing a Profession in WoW Forever.
4. If you plan to buy leveling, compare prices first.

Frequently asked questions