The WoW Forever release date is Wednesday 4 November 2026 at 3:00 PM PST, which is 23:00 UTC, and Blizzard says it launches globally at that moment. There is no separate box to buy: World of Warcraft: Forever is included with any active WoW subscription or Game Time. The three packs on the Battle.net Shop are optional upgrades. If you top up with a gift card, a Blizzard $20 US gift card plus a $10 card covers 60 days of Game Time.
WoW Forever release date and time
World of Warcraft: Forever comes out on Wednesday 4 November 2026 at 3:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, on Windows and Mac through the Battle.net desktop app. Blizzard gives one global time, and its pre-purchase announcement repeats it twice. Some guides call it 3 PM PDT, but US clocks go back on Sunday 1 November, so on 4 November Los Angeles is on PST (UTC−8). That makes the launch 23:00 UTC, which is 6 PM on the US East Coast and already Thursday morning in Asia and Australia.
Launch time in your time zone
| City | Local launch time | Day |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 3:00 PM PST | Wed 4 Nov |
| New York | 6:00 PM EST | Wed 4 Nov |
| São Paulo | 8:00 PM BRT | Wed 4 Nov |
| London | 11:00 PM GMT | Wed 4 Nov |
| Berlin / Paris | 12:00 AM (midnight) CET | Thu 5 Nov |
| Dubai | 3:00 AM GST | Thu 5 Nov |
| Seoul / Tokyo | 8:00 AM KST / JST | Thu 5 Nov |
| Sydney | 10:00 AM AEDT | Thu 5 Nov |
Dates before launch
| Date (2026) | What happens | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Sep – 21 Oct | Beta (now over) | Skyborne Epic Pack and Warcraft Forever Collection buyers |
| From 20 Oct | Invite-A-Friend Launch Codes start arriving by email | Anyone who bought an upgrade pack (not as a gift) |
| 27 Oct – 3 Nov | Early Name Reservation: create up to three characters | Any upgrade pack |
| 4 Nov, 3:00 PM PST | Launch; 30 days of Game Time added for Epic/Collection owners | Everyone with a subscription or Game Time |
| 4 – 11 Nov | Invited friends play free with a Launch Code | Friends without a subscription |
| Until 11 Jan 2027 | Warcraft Forever Collection on sale | Limited-time bundle |
Early Name Reservation is first come, first served: Blizzard says desired names cannot be guaranteed, and the benefit applies only to the WoW account the pack was bought for. If a particular name matters to you, have a pack on your account before the window opens on 27 October.
Do you need a subscription for WoW Forever?
Yes. WoW Forever is not free to play. The Battle.net Shop listing says plainly that “a subscription or game time is required to play World of Warcraft: Forever”, and that access “is included with your active World of Warcraft subscription or game time”. The same subscription also covers modern World of Warcraft and WoW Classic, so if you already pay for WoW you can log in on 4 November without buying anything else.
When we opened the US shop on 25 October, the subscription page listed these prices:
| Option | Price | Per 30 days | Renews? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription, 1 month | $14.99 | $14.99 | Yes |
| Subscription, 3 months | $13.99 a month | $13.99 | Yes |
| Subscription, 6 months | $12.99 a month | $12.99 | Yes |
| Subscription, 12 months | $155.88 a year ($12.99 a month) | $12.99 | Yes |
| 60 Days of Game Time | $29.99 | ≈ $15.00 | No, one-off |
| WoW Token (bought with gold) | Gold on the Auction House | 30 days of Game Time | No |
Game Time costs about the same as a 1-month subscription, but it never renews by itself, which suits anyone who wants to try WoW Forever’s launch month without a recurring charge. The 6- and 12-month plans are the cheapest per month and come with extra mounts and pets, some of them for WoW Forever, according to the shop’s comparison table.
Paying with a Blizzard gift card
This is the catch most launch guides skip. A Blizzard gift card loads Battle.net Balance, and Blizzard’s own support article says that balance cannot be used for World of Warcraft subscriptions, “but can be used for Game Time”. So with a gift card you buy 60 days of Game Time, not a monthly plan. The upgrade packs can be paid with balance like most shop products.
Two more rules from the same article matter before you buy a card: the balance currency must match the shop (US dollar balance will not work in the euro-priced European shop), and balance can be combined with a credit card at checkout to cover a gap. Blizzard also notes that additional taxes may apply to balance purchases. Our Blizzard gift card redeem guide shows where to enter the code.
“From our checks: we read Blizzard’s balance article and the WoW Forever shop page side by side on 25 October. The shop says Forever needs “a subscription or game time”; the support article says balance works for Game Time but not for subscriptions. Put together, a gift card gets you into WoW Forever only through the $29.99 60-day Game Time.”
— Rayyan Omar, Games editor, Virtwave
WoW Forever price: the three upgrade packs
| Pack | US | Europe | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skyborne Heroic Pack | $29.99 | €29.99 | Skyborne race and Zephras Isle start, Early Name Reservation, Cerulean Prideclaw mount, Skyseer’s Garb transmog, rucksack, toy, housing decor, 1 Invite-A-Friend code |
| Skyborne Epic Pack | $59.99 | €59.99 | Everything in Heroic + 30 days of Game Time from 4 Nov, a second ground mount, outfit, four pets, two tabards, 3 invite codes in total (beta access has ended) |
| Warcraft Forever Collection | $79.99 | €79.99 | Everything in Epic + Warcraft III: Reforged and the new Forsaken Kingdom campaign, figurine decor; on sale until 11 Jan 2027 |
The only gameplay content locked behind a pack is the Skyborne, a new elven race that starts on Zephras Isle: the shop says that race and its questline need the Heroic Pack or higher. The new Dwarf Shaman and Forsaken Paladin race-class combinations are part of the game itself. The rest is cosmetics and mounts; Blizzard notes the Heroic Pack’s Cerulean Prideclaw still needs the riding skill bought in-game. The housing decor only works in modern WoW and needs the Midnight expansion.
Is the Skyborne Epic Pack worth it now?
Until 21 October, the Epic Pack’s main draw was beta access. With the beta over, the extra $30 over the Heroic Pack now buys 30 days of Game Time, which you would otherwise pay about $15 for, plus a mount, an outfit, four pets, tabards and two more friend codes. If you would buy Game Time anyway and want the cosmetics, it works out at roughly $15 for the extras. If you only want the Skyborne race, the Heroic Pack and a 60-day Game Time ($59.98 together) give you twice the play time for the same money. That is our arithmetic from the shop prices, not a Blizzard recommendation.
WoW Forever questions, answered
When is the WoW Forever release date?
Is WoW Forever free?
Do I need to buy WoW Forever separately?
Can I buy WoW Game Time with a Blizzard gift card?
What time does WoW Forever come out in the UK?
Is WoW Forever on console?
Which Blizzard card amount covers what
Battle.net Balance adds up, so several cards can be stacked on one account (Blizzard caps the balance at $350, or $110 without an Authenticator). In our store, Blizzard cards come as US $5, $10, $20 and $50 US gift cards for the Americas shop, and €20 and €50 Europe cards for the euro shop. The smallest combination for each WoW Forever purchase, before any tax:
| What you want | US price | US cards | Euro price | Euro cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 days of Game Time | $29.99 | $20 + $10 (1¢ left) | €25.98 | €50 (€24.02 left) |
| Skyborne Heroic Pack | $29.99 | $20 + $10 | €29.99 | €50 (€20.01 left) |
| Heroic Pack + 60 days of Game Time | $59.98 | $50 + $10 | €55.97 | €50 + €20 |
| Skyborne Epic Pack (incl. 30 days) | $59.99 | $50 + $10 | €59.99 | €50 + €20 |
| Warcraft Forever Collection (incl. 30 days) | $79.99 | $50 + $20 + $10 | €79.99 | €50 + €20 + €20 |
| Monthly subscription | from $12.99/mo | Not payable with balance | n/a | Not payable with balance |
Which region you need depends on your Battle.net account, not on where you live today. Our gift card region guide explains how to check it before buying.
What WoW Forever is
WoW Forever is a third permanent version of World of Warcraft, alongside modern WoW and Classic. Blizzard calls it “a reimagined original Azeroth”: the 2004 world with new and expanded zones, updated class design, revamped systems, visual updates and “over 1000+ new quests”, according to the shop listing. New race and class options include Dwarf Shaman and Forsaken Paladin, and the Skyborne are a new playable elven race.
Reporting from BlizzCon, TechSpot (14 September 2026) says the level cap stays at 60, and that launch brings nine new dungeons, two new raids and new zones including Zephras Isle, Mount Hyjal and Riverglades. TechSpot also lists a $150 physical Collector’s Edition. We did not see its price on the US shop page, so check Blizzard’s Gear Store before relying on it.
PC and Mac requirements
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit (May 2019 Update or newer) | Windows 10 64-bit |
| CPU | 4 cores, 3.0 GHz: Intel Core 4th gen (Haswell) / AMD Ryzen (Zen) | 6 cores, 3.5 GHz: Intel Core 8th gen (Coffee Lake) / AMD Ryzen Zen 2 |
| GPU | DirectX 12, 3 GB: GeForce GTX 900 series / AMD GCN 4th gen / Intel Iris Xe | DirectX 12, 8 GB: GeForce RTX / AMD RDNA 2 / Intel Arc 7 Graphics |
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB |
| Storage | SSD, 128 GB available | SSD, 128 GB available |
| Display | 1280 × 720 | 1280 × 720 |
Blizzard lists a keyboard and mouse as required (a multi-button mouse with a scroll wheel is recommended) and a broadband connection. The same shop page lists Mac as a supported platform. The 128 GB figure is for World of Warcraft as a whole; Blizzard has not published a separate download size for WoW Forever.
Sources & how we checked this
We read every date, price and rule on 25 October 2026, between 03:00 and 03:30 UTC, in a browser set to the US Battle.net Shop, and checked the euro prices on the European shop. Our own Blizzard card pages were checked the same morning. Nothing here comes from the beta, which we did not play.
- Blizzard News: Pre-Purchase World of Warcraft: Forever Upgrades (launch time, packs, beta, name reservation, invite codes)
- Battle.net Shop: World of Warcraft: Forever (prices, compare table, subscription requirement)
- Battle.net Shop: World of Warcraft Subscription and 60 Days of Game Time (prices, system requirements)
- Blizzard Support: Battle.net Balance (subscription limitation, currency rule, balance caps)
- Blizzard Support: Using a WoW Token (30 days of Game Time or $15 of balance)
- TechSpot: World of Warcraft: Forever launches November 4 (level cap, dungeons, raids, Collector’s Edition)
Time-zone conversions and card combinations are our own arithmetic. How we choose and check sources is set out in our editorial policy. We will update this page after launch on 4 November.
Before 4 November: a checklist
- Already subscribed? You need nothing else. WoW Forever opens on your account at 3:00 PM PST on 4 November.
- Want a particular character name? Buy any upgrade pack before 27 October so Early Name Reservation is open to you from the first minute.
- Paying with a Blizzard gift card? Buy 60 days of Game Time ($29.99), not a subscription: balance cannot pay a recurring plan.
- Match the card to your shop: US dollar cards for the Americas shop, euro cards for the European shop.
- Have a friend with a pack? Ask for an Invite-A-Friend Launch Code and play free from 4 to 11 November.
- Only after the Skyborne race? The $29.99 Heroic Pack unlocks it. The Epic Pack’s beta access is gone.
- Make room on an SSD: Blizzard lists 128 GB of free space for World of Warcraft.
Other big releases in the weeks after WoW Forever are in our GTA 6 release date guide (19 November) and our biggest game releases of late 2026. If you also play Diablo IV on the same Battle.net balance, our Diablo 4 Platinum calculator works out what each pack costs.
