World of Warcraft: Forever Beginner’s Guide: How to Start and Level Up

World of Warcraft: Forever has been live since November 4, and the first hour is mostly decisions. Pick the Enhanced preset, take the Normal ruleset, create one character, then follow the quest markers. Blizzard published its own starter guide, so here is the same information in the order you will actually meet it, with the level milestones attached.

Before you install: account, time and client

World of Warcraft: Forever is not a standalone download. Blizzard says it is covered by a World of Warcraft subscription or prepaid Game Time, and it installs through the Battle.net desktop app on Windows or Mac. So create a Battle.net account, verify the email, consider two-factor authentication, then install the app and pick World of Warcraft: Forever from the game versions it lists.

Two official details matter on day one. Controller support exists, but Blizzard describes it as “in a beta state”, and you still need a keyboard for typing in chat. If your GPU is a few years old, check our system requirements guide before you start the download.

Step 1: Choose the Enhanced experience preset

The first screen asks for an Experience Preset, and you pick it before the ruleset. It only sets defaults, and Blizzard says you can change each one later under Game Menu > Options.

For a first login, take Enhanced. Blizzard’s own advice for anyone unsure is the same: it gives you quest guidance, a single bag view and transmog from the start, and the client treats it as a starting point you can change, not a locked-in choice. Classic is there if you want the older look, not because it is harder.

Step 2: Choose a ruleset, and pick Normal if you are new

A ruleset decides how player-versus-player combat works and what community rules apply. Blizzard lists four at launch: Normal, PvP, Roleplay and Roleplay PvP. Hardcore, where a character can die for good, arrives after launch.

One consequence is worth sorting out before you invite your friends. Blizzard says characters can group, join guilds, run dungeons and raid only with players on the same ruleset and faction. Agree on both with your group before anyone creates a character, or you will start in a different community than the people you came with. Our rulesets guide goes deeper on how each one plays.

Step 3: Create your character

Three picks: faction, race and class. Faction sets your starting cities and stories, race sets your starting location and racial abilities, class sets how you fight.

Forever also adds combinations that did not exist in the original game: Orc Mages, Troll Warlocks, Undead Paladins, Human Hunters, Gnome Priests and Dwarf Shamans. The new race, the Skyborne, is the gated one. You choose between Horde-aligned Windshapers, who can become Shamans, and Alliance-aligned High Order, who can become Mages. Zephras Isle is the Skyborne starting zone, a level 1 to 12 area that mixes Classic Warcraft looks with architecture inspired by Skywall. Blizzard gates Skyborne access behind the Heroic Pack digital upgrade or higher, which our editions guide compares in full.

Two smaller choices: characters use a two-name system, and every new character can pick High Definition or Standard Definition models, which changes appearance and nothing else.

Step 4: The first 12 levels

Questing is the job, and Blizzard’s starter guide is specific about the interface. An exclamation point above a character means they have a quest, a question mark means it is ready to turn in. L opens your quest log, M opens the map, P opens the spellbook, C opens your character panel and K opens professions. Read the quest text when you can, because it carries the story of each zone.

Combat advice is short because it has to be. Pull one enemy at a time while you learn, keep an eye on your health, and eat. Innkeepers sell food and drink and will bind your Hearthstone to their inn so you can return later. When you die, your spirit appears at a nearby graveyard. Use the corpse marker on your minimap and select Resurrect to come back near your body, or speak to a Spirit Healer at the graveyard, which damages your equipment’s durability and can apply Resurrection Sickness until it expires. Vendors with an anvil icon repair gear for a fee.

Professions are the other system worth learning early, because that is where the game’s social layer starts. Each character can learn two primary professions, from Herbalism, Mining and Skinning through Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Engineering, Leatherworking and Tailoring, plus all three secondary ones: Cooking, Fishing and First Aid.

What opens as you level

The cap stays at 60, so Forever is a complete journey, not an endless climb, and Blizzard says it ships with more than 1,000 new quests across levels 1 to 60. Nine five-player dungeons run from level 13 through 60, which means there is group content the whole way instead of a long solo stretch followed by endgame.

The Legacy System adds a second track alongside levels. It is Blizzard’s account-wide progression system, and it splits into Legacy Challenges, Legacy Perks and Legacy Rewards. Legacy Points are its currency: at launch each character can spend up to 16 of them, split across Professions, Adventure and Resourcefulness. Blizzard is explicit that alternate characters are not required to benefit from it. Camping is the other new system worth knowing: sit or craft at a campsite for at least a minute to pick up the camp features nearby players contribute.

The first raids land December 9

Three raids open on December 9 for level 60 characters. Barrow Deeps takes 10 players, Hyjal Summit takes 20, and Onyxia’s Lair takes 40. Onyxia needs one extra step, since every raider has to earn the Drakefire Amulet through a faction-specific attunement questline before they can enter, and Blizzard recommends starting that early. Our World of Warcraft: Forever hub keeps the dates in one place.

Playing with a controller

Blizzard’s gamepad overview is specific. Any XInput-compatible controller works, with Xbox and PlayStation button icons. Switch to it from Escape, then Options, then Gamepad under Gameplay. LB targets a friendly character and RB a hostile one, and the triggers pull up different action bars. Holding both shoulder buttons plus left or right on the directional pad moves between three action bar sets of four bars each, which is 84 slots in total. A keyboard is still needed for typing in chat, and Blizzard calls the whole setup a beta.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a subscription to play World of Warcraft: Forever?

Yes. Blizzard says access is covered by a World of Warcraft subscription or prepaid Game Time, so it is not a free standalone client. Blizzard’s paid digital upgrades, and what each one adds, are in our editions guide.

Can I play on a Mac, PS5 or Xbox?

On a Mac, yes: Blizzard’s starter guide says you can play on Windows or Mac with a keyboard and mouse. On PS5 or Xbox, not yet. The game installs through the Battle.net desktop app, and no console version appears in Blizzard’s launch materials, so there is no cross-play or console Game Pass to switch on.

How long does it take to reach level 60?

Blizzard does not publish a completion time. It says Forever takes you across the original continents to level 60 with more than 1,000 new quests and nine five-player dungeons spread from level 13 to 60, so plan around questing and not a fixed number of hours.

What happens if my character dies?

Your spirit shows up at a nearby graveyard. Resurrect near your body with the corpse marker on the minimap, or speak to a Spirit Healer to return to the graveyard itself, which damages your gear’s durability and can cause Resurrection Sickness until it wears off. Repair at a vendor with an anvil icon.

Start here

• World of Warcraft: Forever hub
• Rulesets: Normal, PvP, Roleplaying and Hardcore
• Editions compared: Heroic, Epic and Collection
• Can your PC run it? GPU requirements
• Release time: when it unlocked in your time zone
• What to do before November 4
• How Forever’s classes differ from modern WoW
• The Release Calendar

We read Blizzard’s own New Player’s Starter Guide end to end and cross-checked it against the launch post, the dungeon overview and the raid overview, which turned a 2,300-word reference manual into a plan for the first week. The count that matters most for a new player: four rulesets are open on day one, nine five-player dungeons come with published level ranges from 13 to 60, and the level cap is 60, so the path from Zephras Isle to the December 9 raids can be planned from the official numbers instead of from forum guesswork. The one choice worth getting right before anyone logs in is the ruleset and faction, because Blizzard locks grouping, guilds, dungeons and raiding to matching ones.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report