Launch timeline

Every date Blizzard has confirmed, shown in your own time zone.

1. Oct 27 – Nov 3

   Early name reservation

   Players with the Forever Digital Upgrade, Collector's Edition or a Skyborne pack can create up to three characters across all rulesets to reserve their names. Opens Oct 27 at 1:00 p.m. PDT in North America and 18:00 CET in Europe.

   How name reservation works

2. Nov 4, 3:00 p.m. PST

   WoW Forever launches

   Worldwide launch on PC and Mac, included with a WoW subscription or Game Time. Normal, PvP and Role-Play rulesets open, along with nine new dungeons, Darkspear Islands, camping and the Legacy system.

   What's new in WoW Forever

3. Nov 10

   First class tuning

   Blizzard's first class tuning landed on November 10: Enhancement Shaman moves back to Windfury and melee, Wrack now makes Affliction damage over time tick faster, Warlock demons get more health, and the Beast Mastery hawk hits harder. More balance changes may follow on later Tuesdays.

   Buffs and nerfs

4. Dec 9

   Raids unlock

   Barrow Deeps (10 players), Hyjal Summit (20) and Onyxia's Lair (40) open for level 60 characters. Blizzard hasn't announced the hour yet.

   Raids and Onyxia attunement

5. After launch

   Hardcore ruleset

   Permanent death, in its own closed world. Blizzard says it arrives after launch but hasn't given a date.

6. Later

   More raids, dungeons and zones

   Blizzard plans more raids, dungeons, PvP updates, world content and quests from level 1 to 60, including a revamped iconic raid. Principal designer Kris Zierhut says major updates should come about every four months (roughly three a year), timed around new raid tiers, with some content unlocking one to three months into each update.

Blizzard can move dates. We update this page when they do; if you spot a change first, use the report button below.