Published Sep 12, 2026, 3:04 PM EDT
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World of Warcraft has been through a lot. I remember signing up for the pre-release testing period with a group of friends and the explosive release of Vanilla WoW. Since then, I've been making my way through every expansion, slowly following the game's history from within the game itself. Now, it's set to evolve quite a bit given some new BlizzCon 2026 announcements.
Live in Anaheim, California, Blizzard gave us a tease of what's to come for the World of Warcraft franchise, including a brand-new way to play. More details are still to come, but for now, Classic fans will be pumped.
Everything Coming To World Of Warcraft: Forever
As the last major announcement for World of Warcraft, Blizzard has announced World of Warcraft: Forever. This is what the community has been calling "Classic Plus," Blizzard muses. It's made by the World of Warcraft Classic team, and follows the "core principles of Classic." Two concepts drive Forever: the world is a main character, and the journey matters morethan the destination.
Of course, the "Plus" implies new content, and here's what we can expect from Forever:
- Three new zones
- Several overhauled existing zones (which fill in the blank spaces of the Vanilla map),
- Over 1,000 new quests
- Nine new dungeons
- A new battleground
- Two new raids
- A new race (the Skyborne Elves)
- SD/HD character toggle
- New race/class combinations
It's going to be playable on the showfloor at BlizzCon, and a beta will be coming this Thursday. It'll launch in early November in roughly six weeks. We also got a brief look at Eclipse, the new update coming to World of Warcraft: Midnight.
Warcraft Will Never Die
Blizzard is also giving players a chance to jump into Warcraft as a whole through a new bundle. The "Warcraft Forever Collection" combines Warcraft 3: Reforged and World of Warcraft: Forever, giving them access to two very different eras of the series. It's somewhat of a definitive view of the franchise, since you'll be able to see the rise of many classic characters in Warcraft 3, then continue your adventures with them in WoW.
Whether you're a fan of the RTS or MMO aspect of the franchise, World of Warcraft is here to stay. It's maintained its image as one of the biggest MMOs on the planet for decades, and it looks like it has a lot more juice left in it, as there are now three distinct ways to play (Retail, Classic, Forever).
Released November 23, 2004
ESRB T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)
Engine Unreal Engine
Multiplayer Online Multiplayer
Cross-Platform Play pc, ps
Cross Save yes
Expansions World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic
Steam Deck Compatibility yes









English (US) ·