Beta closed: where things stand 11 days before launch

The WoW Forever beta closed on Friday, October 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT. Kaivax thanked players for five weeks of testing and said the next few days go to priority issues and the game service. Beta characters don't carry over; everyone starts fresh at launch. According to Warcraft Tavern, Blizzard also put up a page showing players their own beta stats.

Layering was the beta's most criticised issue. Players were suddenly moved to another copy of the world after leaving a group, crossing a zone border or riding a boat or zeppelin. In PvP, big fights fell apart at zone borders and some players swapped layers to avoid dying. Blizzard's Clay Stone promised for launch: players on the same ruleset will be kept together more, with a better chance of running into people you've met recently; groups will no longer be split after the loading screen on boats and zeppelins; large groups won't change layers when entering or leaving capitals. Stone says some layering will remain and work continues after launch. There's no concrete promise about layer changes at zone borders, which is what PvP players care about most.

The schedule until launch:

- October 27, 18:00 CET: character creation and Early Name Reservation begin. Accounts with an upgrade pack can make three characters in total across all rulesets. Blizzard aims to have RP-PvP selectable by then. - November 3: name reservation ends. - November 4, 3:00 p.m. PST: WoW Forever launches, NA and EU at the same time. A regular WoW subscription or Game Time is enough to play. - December 9: the first raids open: Barrow Deeps (10), Hyjal Summit (20) and Onyxia's Lair (40).

A few notes about after launch. Hardcore isn't there at launch and comes later. Blizzard's roadmap runs to summer 2027 with new raids, dungeons and quests; the developers said returning raids like Molten Core will have new mechanics but gave no date. Holly Longdale called the paid Skyborne pack "something we're trying right now", so it's not a settled model for future content. The official podcast continues next week.

A short prep list for guilds:

- Settle your ruleset now. Characters on different rulesets can't group or raid together. - If you're planning a shared surname or naming theme, prepare a list with backups; good names will be gone within minutes on October 27. - Download the game before October 27: in Battle.net pick World of Warcraft and install World of Warcraft: Forever from the version menu. - Register your guild on the site now so you're on the board when raids open on December 9.

Sources: Blizzard forums, "Thank You For Testing the WoW Forever Beta" (October 23, 2026) — https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/thank-you-for-testing-the-wow-forever-beta/2390465 · Warcraft Tavern, "The WoW Forever Beta Has Ended" — https://www.warcrafttavern.com/forever/news/the-wow-forever-beta-has-ended-see-your-stats/ · GameSpot/Yahoo, layering and launch improvements (October 23, 2026) — https://tech.yahoo.com/gaming/articles/wow-forever-divisive-layering-see-162906726.html · GameSpot, "How WoW: Forever Is Pushing The Envelope, And What Comes After Launch" — https://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-wow-forever-is-pushing-the-envelope-and-what-comes-after-launch/ · Blizzard, "Claim Your World of Warcraft: Forever Character Names" — https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24303866/claim-your-world-of-warcraft-forever-character-names