WoW Forever launch hour, beta and the 2026–2027 roadmap
WoW: Forever launches November 4 at 3:00 p.m. PST. Beta starts September 17, new raids open December 9, and Hardcore arrives after launch.
Editorial record
Responsible editor: Max · low risk · automated review · AI assistance: draft
Blizzard now publishes an exact WoW: Forever launch hour. The game goes live on November 4, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. PST, with beta beginning September 17. The earlier, provisional 23:00 UTC page-data target is superseded by the written panel recap.
What the roadmap names
The What’s Next recap lists the first run of post-launch content without attaching dates to most of it:
- New raids unlock on December 9.
- More raids, dungeons, PvP updates, world content and additional level 1–60 quests follow.
- Hardcore arrives after launch.
- A “revamped iconic raid” is coming; Blizzard does not name it here.
Blizzard describes WoW: Forever as an evergreen version of Azeroth that keeps expanding, not a mode or a season. The roadmap slide gives the order and the first raid date; the rest is a direction, not a schedule.
Live Q&A on September 17
Blizzard announced a live Q&A for Thursday, September 17, at 10:00 a.m. PDT on the official Warcraft Twitch and YouTube channels. Wowhead reports the stream covers both Midnight and Forever and follows a question call on the North American and European forums.
Wowhead later reported that the Forever beta will open after the Q&A. Realm First could not read the linked Reddit announcement directly, so the sequencing remains attributed secondary reporting. A session listing does not confirm which questions will be answered.
Beta window
The September 17 beta start is confirmed in the recap. Blizzard has not published the beta’s end date or its exact content gates in the panel write-up. Realm First’s separate beta-access article carries the store terms, including which packs include guaranteed access.
Wowhead also observed a new CDN branch labelled for Forever’s retail distribution. That is an infrastructure signal, not evidence about Retail WoW and not proof that the beta or launch build is ready. The report did not include a gameplay build number, content manifest, or release receipt.