World of Warcraft: Forever goes live worldwide at 3:00 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, Blizzard says. That’s 6:00 p.m. Eastern and 11:00 p.m. in the UK. It’s one global launch, so Europe gets it at midnight going into Thursday, November 5, and Asia and Australia get it on Thursday morning.
One time for every region
Unlike console games that roll out at midnight in each country, WoW: Forever turns on at the same moment everywhere. The box above shows the launch in your own time zone, plus a live countdown.
A note on the time zone label: Blizzard’s announcement labels the time as Pacific daylight time in one line and Pacific standard time in another. US clocks fall back on November 1, so on November 4 the Pacific coast is on standard time (PST), which puts the launch at 23:00 UTC. That’s the time we use here. If Blizzard posts a correction, we’ll update this page.
What you need to play
The base game comes with an active World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time. There’s no separate box to buy just to get in. Blizzard’s upgrade packs add extras on top:
| Pack | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Skyborne Heroic Pack | The new Skyborne race and its Zephras Isle starting area, early name reservation, the Cerulean Prideclaw mount, cosmetics, housing decor, one Invite-A-Friend launch code |
| Skyborne Epic Pack | Everything in Heroic, plus beta access, 30 days of Game Time starting November 4, more cosmetics, pets and tabards, three launch codes in total |
| Warcraft Forever Collection (limited time) | Everything in Epic, plus Warcraft III: Reforged, the Forsaken Kingdom campaign and two housing figurines |
| Collector’s Edition | Physical box from the Blizzard Gear Store, while supplies last |
The Skyborne are WoW: Forever’s new playable race, and their Zephras Isle starting zone is locked to Heroic Pack owners and up. If you want to start as one on launch night, buy a pack before November 4.
Beta and early access
The beta started on September 17 for Skyborne Epic Pack and Warcraft Forever Collection owners. Blizzard hasn’t announced any head start for the full game, so every account goes live at 3 p.m. Pacific together.
Before you log in
- Install or update the Battle.net app ahead of time. Blizzard hasn’t posted a separate preload date for Forever. If it does, we’ll add it here.
- Expect queues for the first few hours. Big WoW launches almost always have them, and the global launch means everyone arrives at once.
- Check that your subscription or Game Time is active before launch day, not at 2:59 p.m.
What WoW: Forever is
WoW: Forever is Blizzard’s new take on classic WoW. It goes back to the original world with new content on top: new quests, dungeons, raids and the Skyborne race. Blizzard says classes won’t be modernized wholesale, but some Classic Era classes are getting changes because they were “too simple” (our earlier report). For dates and editions in one place, see our WoW: Forever pre-purchase guide.
Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report
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