NEWS · UPDATED 29 OCTOBER 2026
Half-confirmed: what's still not certain
Here is everything about WoW Forever that is not fully confirmed yet: hints Blizzard has dropped, things announced without details and what comes out of the beta files. That way we don't mix it with what is certain. Once Blizzard confirms it, it moves to its own page.
Dawn Waker: a long secret quest chain that starts on Zephras Isle
Players have found a very long secret quest chain called Dawn Waker. It starts on Zephras Isle, requires the Night Watchman's Torch from Duskwood and takes you across half the map. What it gives at the end is still unknown. After finishing the first part you can claim Eluvi'ana, an uncommon one-handed sword; it's worth keeping in case it can be upgraded later. Some people link it to the message written on the board in the sixth podcast episode, but that is only a theory. Blizzard has said nothing official.
Source: Wowhead
Interview on Forever raids: difficulty, pace and a single mode
An interview with Joardee, from the team, covered how the raids will work. Fights will be approachable, roughly at the level of Season of Mastery raids and base Naxxramas, with no addons needed, though there will still be hard bosses and secrets with gear to show off in the capital cities. An average guild would take two to three weeks to clear each raid. Raid content will have a single difficulty: they do not want to split it into normal and heroic. Gear will not be flat between phases: you will be able to go back to older raids for specific items, and future shortcuts like the one in Naxxramas are not ruled out. No new dates or player counts were given; the Scarlet Enclave from Season of Discovery, which may have been too hard, could return later.
Source: Interview with Blizzard (Wowhead)
Shaman and Druid talents: a revisit early next year
A Blizzard developer said he wouldn't be surprised if Shaman talents are revisited early next year, and that it won't be sooner: it would come with a patch. He admits some of the Shamans' complaints are legitimate. They are watching Enhancement in particular, which pushes players to chase too much spell power: they want it to wear Strength, Intellect and spell power, like Retribution Paladins, and not run around in cloth. They are also looking closely at Elemental; he admits Lava Burst shipped with a bit too little "cooking". In the meantime there will be tuning once they have raid data. According to Wowhead, Druid talents are also on the radar for that date. There is no fixed date and no concrete changes.
Source: Interview with Blizzard (Wowhead)
Faster Alliance quest: the Seal of Wrynn
The Alliance event quest that used to make you wait for the scene to finish changes in Forever. After starting it there is a dialogue option to confirm your group is ready, and the quest can be picked up and shared even while the event is running. This ends the long queues seen in Classic, and you can add players if there is room in the group. It is a change seen in the game; Blizzard has not announced it separately.
Source: Seen in game (Wowhead)
Auction House: minimum deposit will drop to 1 copper
When Forever launched, putting an item on the auction house cost a minimum deposit of 1 silver, even for very cheap items, and it was lost if you cancelled or the auction expired. Blizzard's Kris Zierhut announced that this minimum would change to 1 copper, and the November 10 hotfix has already applied it (see Launch alerts).
Source: Blizzard announcement (Wowhead)
Forever, the biggest launch in WoW history
Blizzard has said that the Forever launch was the biggest in the game's history. As far as we could check, no specific figures were given. There is also already a first level 60 player less than three days after release. This is background colour: it changes nothing in the game, but it explains the queues and the layers the team is tuning.
Source: Blizzard (Wowhead)
Blizzard interview: raid difficulty, flying and the black market auction house
Kris Zierhut and Josh Greenfield, from the team, spoke in an interview today. The raids are close to Naxxramas in difficulty: harder than Molten Core, but not as hard as the Four Horsemen, with fights longer than usual in Classic, though far from Retail's Mythic raids. Barrow Deeps is compared to Karazhan, and they say that after a few weeks or months it will be easy to run with random groups. Flying mounts will never be added. The black market auction house starts with few mounts and pets, and Rivendare's mount has been removed from it. There is a vendor of rare materials, such as Black Lotus, that sets a price ceiling. Dungeon items are sold there and are needed for Lord Valthalak's quest. The raid date is already known: December 9.
Source: Interview with Blizzard (Wowhead)
Blizzard interview: likely PTR, quest help and hidden loot
The team thinks opening a test realm (PTR) for stability is likely, but raids will normally not go through it and some quest chains will stay hidden. They want light quest help so Questie is not needed, as they find it too directive. Some item data does not reach the client until someone obtains the item, and this will continue with future dungeons and raids, so there will be no best-class lists until the loot is discovered. Each boss has a low chance of dropping special items (about 10 in total in the raid) and a new legendary staff has been shown. No dates were given for any of this.
Source: Interview with Blizzard (Wowhead)
World books and the mage's Research
Books you find around the world are handed in to a librarian (in the Stormwind Mage Tower for the Alliance and in the Undercity for the Horde) and give experience. At book milestones you choose rewards: first a necklace (stamina and spirit, or agility and stamina), then a ring, and around level 40 a bow, a healer shield or a fire off-hand. It is not clear how many books each milestone needs. Mages also learn to research once a day with a light feather and get scrolls; levelling it up unlocks rewards, including a weapon for melee mages.
Source: Seen in the beta
An account-wide bank
Blizzard is looking into a bank shared between your characters, like Retail's Warband bank, to move items without the mail. They see it as possible «in the relatively near future», without promising it.
Source: Blizzard interview
The tank shaman
The team says they want it too and talk about it often, but there is no date or design.
Source: Blizzard interview
Mounts in the data that are not for Forever
In the beta, the files contained a pack of spectral wolves, a green sea turtle, a crimson rooster, pets and transmog sets. Blizzard has clarified that they are not for Forever. The shop appears disabled in character creation.
Source: Blizzard · beta data
Azshara Crater, rebuilt
In the map data, Azshara Crater appears rebuilt and nearly finished: most likely it is Blackwing Bastion, although it could be a battleground. There is also new terrain south of Uldum and a complete Gilneas.
Source: Game data
Day and night for Oceanic players
Players in Australia share a server with North America, so the in-game time of day doesn't always match theirs. Blizzard could set the world time based on where the group leader is, but going from night to day in a second when you accept an invite might feel jarring. They have asked the community what it prefers before deciding. If you play from Europe or the Americas, this doesn't affect you.
Source: Official podcast, episode 6 · Wowhead
Armies of 80 to 120 players
After the huge battles in the beta (Orgrimmar, Ashenvale), Blizzard is looking into linking several groups into an «army» of 80 to 120 people for guild, RP or PvP events. Also into servers detecting large world PvP fights and giving them more capacity. Nothing announced: the maximum is still a 40-player raid.
Source: Official podcast, episode 6
Events for later
Ideas they are considering: more large PvP events, fishing contests, something like the Blood Moon, the Mak'gora arena and seasonal fairs like the Darkmoon Faire. World bosses and community events could be adapted to the new phasing system. No dates.
Source: Official podcast, episode 6
Two battlegrounds and an arena hidden in the game
In the game's battleground list, besides the four that open at launch (Alterac, Warsong, Arathi and Darkspear Islands), there are three unannounced ones: Battle for Blackrock, 15v15 for levels 50-60, with placeholder texts ("[PH]"); Battle for Gilneas, rated (10 players) with no levels assigned, so it's switched off; and the Mak'gora Arena, a rated arena of up to 5 per team for levels 1-60. Blizzard has only mentioned a Mak'gora arena as an idea for later. Being in the data doesn't mean they're coming soon.
Source: Game data (BattlemasterList table in build 1.60.1.70755, seen on wago.tools). Not announced.
Now official: Blizzard changes all nine classes
The talent changes that showed up unannounced at the end of October (druid, mage, paladin, hunter, priest) are now in Blizzard's November 2 notes, along with many more: every class deals more damage and high-level enemies have more health. Rogues get Shank and shamans get Call of Thunder (goodbye Lava Burst), warriors and bears generate much more threat, Blessing of Salvation is gone and warlock pets have far less health. Everything, class by class, in Changes and in each guide.
Source: Blizzard: WoW Forever development notes (November 2)
Items: glider and elixir
Ultralight Goblin Glider: 5-minute cooldown (was 3). Elixir of Wisdom: 3 Intellect for 30 minutes (was 6 for one hour). The Corrupted Gemstone requires level 60.
Source: Game build of 28 October (launch realms). Blizzard has not published notes · compiled by ForeverChanges
The bosses of the new raids
Blizzard confirms more than 20 new bosses across Barrow Deeps (8) and Hyjal Summit (13), but has not given their names. On the podcast they admit some names can already be seen in the Legacy system. Hints they gave: in Barrow Deeps, a boss where you give yourself a damage buff with a price (go too far and you die) and a pair of spiders; in Hyjal, a possessed undead wild god in the shape of a crocolisk (body first, then spirit, and back again) and a «body horror» boss.
Source: Official podcast, episode 5
The names going around
They come from a BlizzCon demo and the beta files. Barrow Deeps: Deepscar Matriarch, Khalith the Dreadspinner, Amethrax, Ravus and Darlissa, Elder Tangleclaw, Well of Sorrow, Del'lynar Songwood and Sonya Darkhallow. Hyjal Summit: Bandalar, Ancient of Decay, Time-Lost Battalion, Sylvestris Dusksong, Old Gloomlurker, Gharalis the Abyssal, Kathris the Haunted, Anara Chillwind, Elder Minderel, Tracker Stillwind, Council of Thorns, Nythus the Dreambound and The Wild King. They may change before December.
Source: Conquest Capped and Quissy (beta data)
A «revamped» Molten Core
For summer 2027 Blizzard announces a «revamped classic raid», without saying which. On the podcast, when asked about Molten Core, they wouldn't give details, but hinted that it won't just be standing still hitting Golemagg: there will be something more. No date and no confirmation that it is that raid.
Source: Official podcast, episode 5 · Blizzard: roadmap
The spring legendary quest
Confirmed for spring 2027, along with two new raids (10 and 20) and two dungeons. Blizzard has not said which weapon it will be or for which class.
Source: Blizzard: roadmap
Rumor: worgen, dark elves and Gilneas in a paid pack
An anonymous 4chan post talks about a first paid content pack, "Shadows of Lordaeron", shortly after launch: worgen for the Alliance and dark elves for the Horde, Gilneas as a new zone, two raids, two dungeons (Mistmantle Manor in Duskwood and some catacombs in Riverglades) and a legendary weapon for healers. There's no proof at all and Blizzard hasn't said anything. What is true: Gilneas and Mistmantle Manor are already in the game, closed off (see "Hidden manors and portals" above).
Source: Anonymous 4chan post, covered by AlterTime (Nov 2). No confirmation at all.
The zombie plague in Forever?
The spells from the 2008 zombie plague event (the one before Wrath of the Lich King) show up in the October 28 server data. Blizzard hasn't announced any event: it may just be leftover files.
Source: Server data collected by ForeverChanges (Oct 28). Not announced.
The beta in numbers: 8.8 million characters
Blizzard has published the beta figures: 8,862,354 characters created (1,889,084 Skyborne and 612,096 Forsaken paladins), 9,959,014 PvP kills, 1,248,125 duels and 1,157,204 deaths from falling. The deadliest dungeon was the Hall of Thanes, the deadliest enemy the Kobold Miner and the zone with the most PvP, Hillsbrad Foothills. These are characters, not players: Blizzard hasn't said how many accounts played. Still, it hints at the day-4 queues.
Source: official infographic from World of Warcraft on X (Oct 30)
A new road north from the Swamp of Sorrows
On the original map there was no way through from the Swamp of Sorrows towards Redridge and the lands to the north. In Forever there's a new road in the north of the swamp that leads to Redridge and to Riverglades, the new zone: a shortcut for travelling through that part of the Eastern Kingdoms. On PvP realms, watch out for ambushes.
Source: Seen in the beta and reported by AlterTime (Oct 30). No Blizzard note.
Inside Riverglades
In Riverglades (35-45), the Alliance has the Brotherhood of the Horse on its side, based at Farholde Keep, and the Horde has the Boulderrock ogre clan, who used to serve the Twilight's Hammer. There's an ogre fighting ring and the Bloodmasters Ring, a challenge arena similar to Nagrand's Ring of Blood, from around level 36.
Source: Blizzard video, via Wowhead
Hidden mansions and portals
On the podcast, Blizzard hinted that there are manors and instance portals hidden around the world that will become content «in the future», without saying when or what. Icy Veins went looking for them in the beta: a huge new manor at Manor Mistmantle (Duskwood); dungeon portals at Bael Modan (The Barrens), at the Rustmaul Dig Site (Thousand Needles), next to Farholde Keep (Riverglades) and at the dwarven farm in the Wetlands; a raid portal inside Shaper's Terrace (Un'Goro); a new closed-off area at Windshear Crag (Stonetalon Mountains); leftovers of Season of Discovery's Scarlet Enclave in New Avalon (Eastern Plaguelands); and Gilneas, surrounded by level 63 sharks and worgen. None of them can be used yet.
Source: Official podcast, episode 5 · Icy Veins (beta)
Jewelcrafting and Inscription?
In the beta there is a jewelcrafting apprentice in Dalaran and a scribe in Durotar who tell you to come back later, and the Inscription skill already shows up on the character sheet. Blizzard has not announced it.
Source: Beta client
Hardcore realms
Blizzard has said they will come, but later and with no date. At launch there will be Normal, PvP, Roleplay and Roleplay-PvP.
Source: Blizzard
Campfires will do less damage
In the beta people were using campfires to kill other players. They say they will review it without removing all the damage. They haven't said how it will end up.
Source: Official podcast, episode 5
Quest loot for the whole group
It was asked on the podcast: that quest items show up for the whole group. Answer: «never say never». They have already improved it somewhat and don't rule out tuning it further.
Source: Official podcast, episode 5
Playing with people from the Americas
Not at launch: Europe and the Americas are separate. They don't rule it out for later, but it has technical complications. Within Europe you can choose your preferred language in the options.
Source: Official podcast, episode 5
Something like an attunement in the new raids
Onyxia's Lair keeps its usual chain, per character. Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit won't have an attunement that stops you from entering, but they will have «something similar» that you'll have to discover by investigating to get the full experience. And for later: «there is no world in which we don't do attunements», each raid in its own way.
Source: Official podcast, episode 3
World bosses: instanced or not?
In Season of Discovery they put them in instances. For Forever they haven't decided: they want to bring back the fight over a scarce resource, without promising anything.
Source: Official podcast, episode 4
PvP events in the world
They would like to bring Season of Discovery events like the Battle for Ashenvale or the Stranglethorn Blood Moon. The Eastern Plaguelands towers and the war in Silithus will not be there at launch; they would want to redo them later.
Source: Official podcast, episode 4
Duel arena and group challenges
A duel arena already exists in a crater on Mount Hyjal (it was used in the tournament), with vendors and maybe an NPC that resets cooldowns, but «it's not ready». It could open in a future patch or seasonally, like the Darkmoon Faire. Group-versus-group challenges in battlegrounds (no honor) would come «soon after» launch.
Source: Official podcast, episode 4
Arenas and rated PvP
Very reluctant: they don't want arenas like in Burning Crusade or PvP-only stats. They prefer 10-vs-10 and 15-vs-15 fights. They don't completely rule it out.
Source: Official podcast, episode 4
New zones and «open dungeon» zones
They want to go to Gilneas, Uldum and Quel'Thalas (shown at BlizzCon), with no date. They also talk about zones like Stromgarde, turned into high-level open zones, and dungeon entrances in high-level zones: «there may already be one and nobody has found it».
Source: Official podcast, episodes 1 and 3
Hidden loot and recipes
Items don't appear in the files until someone gets them: nobody knows yet what each boss drops. And there will be rare undiscovered recipes, for example Engineering bombs, that will only drop by farming.
Source: Official podcast, episodes 4 and 5
New Skyborne models
After the criticism of their models, new ones will arrive in the first big update, in early 2027. There will be a blog post.
Source: Official podcast, episode 3
Dual specialization
It now activates at level 40. They are discussing whether to change that level.
Source: Official podcast, episode 3
Skyborne priests in the Horde
Horde Skyborne can't be priests. Players ask for it a lot and the answer was «never say never».
Source: Official podcast, episode 1
The Darkmoon Faire comes first to Elwynn Forest
The fair can already be seen set up in Elwynn Forest, so in Forever the first stop goes to the Alliance. According to the in-game calendar, it starts this Monday and lasts one week. It brings minigames, reputation to farm and rare items. The fair's blessings will work differently from Classic: they won't be usable in raids, but they will in the open world. Blizzard has not published a note with the dates.
Source: Seen in game (Wowhead)
Quests give no gold at level 60
Once you reach max level, quests stop giving gold, unlike Era and Retail. According to the first player to reach level 60, a developer told them it is an intentional change and that perhaps a weekly quest will give a random amount of gold. Blizzard has not commented officially, so take it with caution.
Source: Message from a developer, according to a player (Wowhead)
Broken layers in the Thousand Needles harpy cave
In Freewind Post's harpy cave the layers are not working well and too many players are crammed into a small space. This causes disputes over the quest mobs and lengthens the quests "Test of Endurance", "Stop the Screeching" and "Stolen Freewind Supplies". Also, "Test of Endurance" can get stuck if the objective doesn't update after looting the talon: the fix is to relog. Best to leave those quests for later, until they fix it.
Source: Seen in game (Wowhead)
And this is already certain: they said it on the podcast
- Dungeons without a map or journal, and without meeting stones that summon: the journey is part of the dungeon.
- Dungeons give 20% more experience per enemy, but running them on repeat won't be the fastest way: they want you to go out into the world.
- More than a thousand new quests, mostly from Riverglades (level 40) onward.
- Rank 14 returns with its armor. Alterac Valley will give less honor and the other battlegrounds quite a bit more, so that rotating them pays off.
- Premade groups face premade groups: if you go solo or with a few friends you shouldn't land against one.
- On PvP realms they won't protect low-level players from level 60s: they only step in if there is cheating.
- No world buffs inside the raids. All the classic consumables remain, and resistances count.
- Tough on bought gold: in the beta they closed more than 2,100 buyer accounts and about 1,600 seller and bot accounts.
Podcast 6 (29 October): how the servers work
- No old-style realms: you choose a ruleset (Normal, PvP, RP or RP-PvP) and play. You can play with friends from all over Europe; America stays separate.
- Fewer phase jumps when crossing zones: in the beta people vanished when moving from one zone to another. It improved a lot at the end of the beta and there will be more fixes for launch, although they warn that some «world» changes will still happen.
- Joining a group no longer moves you to another world instantly: you get a prompt and choose when to move.
- You are placed with people you know: the game tries to put you in the same phase as your guild, your friends and people you have played with, to build community. Your client language also counts.
- Busy zones, but not crowded: in the beta Westfall and the Barrens got too full and they lowered the cap. On day one there will be more new players in Durotar than in Orgrimmar.
- Faction balance: they aim for about 50% in each ruleset. If a faction goes over the limit, they can block character creation for that faction.
- PvP and PvE stay separate, each with its own economy.
- Ignoring someone does not remove them from your world: you just stop seeing their messages.
- No housing in Forever.
- Launch does not bring big new events: first everything has to work, and content will arrive gradually. They rebuilt the event system after the problems with the Battle for Ashenvale.
- The podcast takes launch week off and returns two weeks later with a lore episode.
Curiosities seen in the beta
Things spotted while playing the beta. They may change at launch and we do not know some of the names in Spanish yet.
- Secret pet in the Undercity: with a Horde character, buy slime food in the Apothecarium, find the excitable ooze in the green pool and dance (/dance) at it several times until it becomes friendly. It gives you a quest and you learn the pet, which is account-wide.
- The Duskwood torch: next to the dead Night Watch members around the zone, a quest starts that gives you the torch.
- Singing frogs on Zephras Isle (the Skyborne starting zone): target one of the five frogs, type /sing and in the end one appears that gives you a pet. A nod to Zelda.
- Shortcut to Bogpaddle Marsh: in the north of the Shimmering Flats area (Thousand Needles) there is a new subzone, with a burnt tree and planks along the map edge, that leads to the marsh without crossing the Barrens.
- Black Market Auction House: like Retail's. In the beta a turtle mount appeared starting at about 3,000 gold, and only one person gets it.
- Martyr's Chain (chest piece, dropped by mobs in Blackfathom Deeps): if you die wearing it, it deals holy damage to nearby enemies.
- Grave robber's shovel (dropped by Dextren in the Stockade, 20 uses): to dig graves in Raven Hill and in the Scarlet Monastery graveyard. Mostly gives grave moss.
- Careful with the goblin mortar: reloading it with Engineering can go wrong, launch you into the air and kill you.
- Feign Death can kill you: if you let it run to the end, the hunter really dies.
- Classic race icons: if you choose the classic models, the race icon is the old one too.
- Real storms: rain comes with thunder and lightning that lights up the zone.
- The GM island can be seen on the horizon from Teldrassil thanks to the new view distance. You cannot get there.
- A goblin next to an empty arena in the Riverglades says it does not work yet. Blizzard still does not want arenas like in The Burning Crusade.
The certain stuff, here
Sources: official WoW Forever podcast, episodes 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 (September and October 2026) · Blizzard: the raids · Conquest Capped: Barrow Deeps · Quissy: Hyjal Summit.