Classic-style WoW lives in three places this fall. World of Warcraft: Forever is Blizzard's new permanent version: the old Azeroth up to level 60, with new zones, dungeons and raids built on top of it. Classic keeps earlier expansions as they were, from vanilla Classic Era to Mists of Pandaria Classic. Private servers are unlicensed, and in 2026 two big projects, Turtle WoW and Project Ascension, shut down after a lawsuit and a settlement with Blizzard.

The short version: new adventures in the old world mean Forever, vanilla as it was means Classic Era or Hardcore, and custom rates mean a private server that may close. Forever and Classic come with the same World of Warcraft subscription, so the choice costs nothing extra. The launch date is on the game page in our catalog.

How is WoW: Forever different from Classic?

Classic preserves the game as it was, and Forever writes new chapters for it. Blizzard draws that line: its What's Next panel recap from BlizzCon says Forever is neither a mode nor a season, and it isn't a new version of Classic either.

Forever is set after the Forsaken Kingdom campaign for Warcraft III: Reforged and before Molten Core. The level cap is 60, and there are no flying mounts and no level scaling.

In an interview summarized by Wowhead, the developers say they will expand the game horizontally. For the foreseeable future, the world stays within levels 1-60, and players won't be going through the Dark Portal.

Version What it is Levels What's next
Forever vanilla Azeroth with new zones, quests, dungeons and raids 1-60 raids from December 9, then regular updates
Classic Era, Hardcore, Season of Discovery vanilla Classic realms 1-60 Blizzard has announced no new plans
Anniversary realms that played through vanilla from scratch and moved on to The Burning Crusade as in The Burning Crusade Zul'Aman opens October 22, no plan announced after that
Mists of Pandaria Classic Pandaria on the original Classic realms 1-90 the final phase arrived June 2
Private server an unofficial server without a Blizzard license any depends on the project

Blizzard Watch noted the June 2 date of the last MoP Classic phase; the other rows come from Blizzard's announcements.

How much does WoW: Forever cost, and do you need an edition?

The game itself is part of the regular WoW subscription: one month costs $14.99 in the US Battle.net shop and €12.99 in the European one. The same subscription covers modern WoW, Classic and Mists of Pandaria Classic.

Editions only add bonuses:

Edition US / EU What you get
Skyborne Heroic Pack $29.99 / €29.99 the Skyborne race and their Zephras Isle starting area, early name reservation, cosmetics
Skyborne Epic Pack $59.99 / €59.99 everything in Heroic, beta access and 30 days of game time from November 4
Warcraft Forever Collection $79.99 / €79.99 everything in Epic plus Warcraft III: Reforged with the Forsaken Kingdom campaign, on sale through January 11, 2027

No need to buy the Epic Pack just to get into the game. It makes sense if you want the beta or were going to pay for a month anyway. The Skyborne are only available with the Heroic edition or higher.

Purchases include Invite-A-Friend codes: one with Heroic, three with Epic and the Collection. A friend with a code can play Forever without a subscription from November 4 to 11. Emails with codes start going out October 20. In-game items from the editions do not work in Classic.

Every date from the beta to launch is on the game page.

When does Forever launch, and what can you do before then?

Forever goes live in every region at once on November 4, 3:00 p.m. PST (23:00 UTC). Before that, note a few dates:

  1. The closed beta runs through October 21. Players who opted in are invited in waves, and Epic Pack and Collection owners get in right away. Beta characters are temporary: everyone starts at level 1 on launch, the developers said in an interview summarized by Wowhead.
  2. Invite-A-Friend codes reach edition buyers from October 20.
  3. Early name reservation runs October 27 through November 3: any paid edition lets you create up to three characters in advance.
  4. November 4 is launch day.
  5. On December 9 the first raids open, among them Hyjal Summit for 20 players and Barrow Deeps for 10.

Forever has no realms in the usual sense. You pick a ruleset instead: Normal, PvP or RP, with Hardcore added after launch. In the Q&A, the developers said you can't switch rulesets without a character transfer, so decide before launch. Character names have two parts and are unique within a region.

What does Forever have at launch?

At launch Forever brings more than a thousand new quests along the 1-60 journey and nine new dungeons. Its new zones include Zephras Isle, the Riverglades and Mount Hyjal.

The new Skyborne race picks a side: on the Horde they get the Shaman class, on the Alliance the Mage, and both factions can play Warriors, Hunters, Rogues and Druids. There are also six race and class combinations vanilla never had, among them Dwarf Shaman and Forsaken Paladin. PvP gets a new 15 vs 15 battleground, and we covered PvP ranks and rewards separately.

Legacy Points (the Legacy System) are shared across the account. Each character spends them in its own trees on small perks such as more rested experience or extra gathered materials, up to 16 points at launch. Rewards on the separate Legacy track are cosmetic and give no gameplay advantage.

Blizzard says it will act against gold buyers. GDKP raids, where loot is sold for gold, are banned in Forever, according to the Q&A as summarized by Wowhead. There are no plans for a WoW Token or a paid level boost either, the developers said in an interview summarized by Wowhead. Selling in-game currency outside the game is also against Blizzard's license agreement.

Which Classic versions are live, and what happens to them?

According to Blizzard's October 6 hotfix list, five branches are live: Classic Era, Hardcore, Season of Discovery, Burning Crusade Classic on the Anniversary realms, and Mists of Pandaria Classic. Blizzard has announced no closures tied to Forever's launch and calls Forever a permanent home alongside modern and Classic WoW.

Anniversary already has its next date: phase four with Zul'Aman opens on October 22, 3:00 p.m. PDT, or 22:00 UTC. Blizzard hasn't said what comes after it. The developers, in an interview summarized by Wowhead, describe Season of Discovery as an experimental seasonal mode that was always meant to be temporary, though no closure has been announced.

BlizzCon didn't say a word about the future of Classic, as Blizzard Watch also pointed out. On Blizzard's forums players are already asking whether TBC Anniversary has only weeks left, and there is no official answer yet. WoW Classic has its own page in our catalog too.

What about language and region?

Forever drops language-based realms. Instead, you set a language preference, and the game groups you with players who chose the same one. Regions stay, so you still play in the Americas, Europe or another region. Blizzard officially suspended new sales in Russia on March 4, 2022; we couldn't find any official reversal of that decision.

What do you risk on a private server?

The main risk is the project shutting down, taking your characters and any money you spent with it. Blizzard's license agreement forbids connecting to unauthorized servers that emulate its platform, and Blizzard pursues such projects with demands and lawsuits.

A thread on Blizzard's forums describes Classic+ as an old version of WoW, mostly vanilla, that gets a fresh future of its own. For years the closest things were private servers such as Turtle WoW and Blizzard's own Season of Discovery. Blizzard Watch notes that Forever was long called Classic Plus as a meme. Here is how the big projects ended:

  • Nostalrius closed on April 10, 2016, after Blizzard sent a cease and desist letter.
  • In Blizzard's lawsuit against Turtle WoW, a California court entered judgment in Blizzard's favor in April 2026, PCGamesN reported. The project's servers were set to go offline on May 15.
  • Project Ascension shut down its emulated WoW realms on September 4, 2026, after a settlement with Blizzard, Massively OP reported.

Private WoW servers listed by their projects on MMOHUB.GG: 15, of them in the Classic 1.12 section: 4. Openings in the next 30 days: 3. If you still go private, check four things:

  1. How many servers the project ran before and how long they lasted: our project pages show all of its servers, closed ones included.
  2. The language and region on the server page, since some projects run in English only.
  3. What the project's shop sells: cosmetics, boosts or gear.
  4. Where the client comes from: only the project's own site, as builds from other sites may carry malware.

Until it's clear the server will outlive its first few weeks, it's too early to spend money there.

Which one fits your playstyle?

It comes down to what you want from classic WoW: new content, the game as it was, or your own rules.

What matters most to you Where to go
New zones, dungeons and raids at level 60 Forever, launching November 4
Vanilla exactly as it was Classic Era or Hardcore
Replaying the expansions phase by phase Anniversary, Zul'Aman opens October 22
Pandaria Mists of Pandaria Classic
Custom rates and unusual rules a private server, with the risk of closure
Still undecided one month of subscription unlocks both Forever and Classic

You can turn on a launch reminder for Forever on the game page, and fresh private realm openings are collected under New WoW servers.

Sources