Blizzard has officially opened the beta for World of Warcraft: Forever, giving players their first opportunity to experience this new interpretation of the original World of Warcraft formula. Announced during BlizzCon 2026, the project initially fueled speculation about a possible "Classic Plus" version of the MMORPG. However, Forever is shaping up to be something considerably more ambitious, combining the foundations of vanilla WoW with selected modern systems, redesigned progression and new playable content.

The beta is available through Battle.net from September 17 until October 22, 2026. Access is currently reserved for players who purchase either the Skyborne Epic Pack, priced at $59.99, or the Warcraft Forever Collection at $79.99. The initial level cap is set at 20 and will later increase to 30 during the testing period. Blizzard has also confirmed that characters and progression created during the beta will not transfer to the final servers when World of Warcraft: Forever officially launches on November 4. Once released, players with an active World of Warcraft subscription will be able to access the game without purchasing these beta packages.

One of the biggest changes comes from Forever's long-term progression philosophy. Instead of following the traditional Classic model and gradually moving through expansions such as The Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King, the game is designed to remain centered on the original World of Warcraft era. The maximum level will stay at 60, while Blizzard plans to expand the experience horizontally with new zones, abilities, talents, race and class combinations and potentially even additional classes or races. The new Skyborne elf race is already among the major additions, while players can also select PvE, PvP or roleplaying-oriented experiences without being restricted by the traditional realm structure.

Blizzard is also giving players considerable control over the game's presentation. Character models can use either the classic vanilla appearance or their modern retail equivalents, while transmog filtering can be enabled or disabled according to player preference. Classes and racial abilities are receiving significant adjustments as well, potentially opening the door to unconventional builds such as tank-focused Shamans. With Forever, Blizzard appears to be creating a parallel version of World of Warcraft that preserves the identity and level structure of the original game while giving its systems room to evolve through future updates rather than traditional expansions.