WoW Forever Roadmap Overview

Along with the announcement of the long-awaited Classic Plus in the form of WoW Forever, the developers traditionally shared their plans for the development of the next iteration of the original World of Warcraft — both the things to expect after this year's launch and ideas for the year 2007. In this article, we'll break down what to expect from the game and when, and take a close look at the WoW Forever Roadmap.

WoW Forever Launch

World of Warcraft Forever will launch on November 4, 2026. At launch, players will be able to level their characters to 60 and explore four new or expanded zones:

• Zephras Isle
• Riverglades
• Shen'Dralas
• Mount Hyjal

Along with them, which we also covered in detail in the WoW Forever New Zones guide, the game will have nine dungeons covering most of the leveling process. The first dungeons become available in the early levels, while Blackmaw Hold and Shaper's Terrace are intended for characters close to level 60.

• Hall of Thanes — 13–18
• Ruins of Lordaeron — 15–20
• Excavation Site — 24–29
• City of Dalaran — 28–33
• The Drowned City — 35–40
• Krol'Dok Stronghold — 40–45
• Alcaz Island Prison — 48–53
• Blackmaw Hold — 55–60
• Shaper's Terrace — 58–60

You can learn more details about the new dungeons and how the ones already existing in the game will change thanks to our WoW Forever Dungeons guide.

The release will also introduce the Skyborne race, new race and class combinations, profession novelties, more than 1,000 quests, and additional class abilities and talents.

Finally, the last big novelties in the form of exclusive new raids will reach players closer to the end of the year — the first raids are planned for December 9, while more content will follow throughout 2027. Here is what is currently planned for WoW Forever.

Skyborne Race

Skyborne is the new race coming with WoW Forever, being another representative of Elves in World of Warcraft, visually extremely resembling Blood Elves. It will be available to both factions, but Alliance and Horde characters will have different names and one different racial ability.

Alliance Skyborne are known as High Order, while Horde Skyborne are called Windshapers. Both versions can be Warriors, Hunters, Rogues, or Druids. Alliance players can also create a Skyborne Mage, while Horde players can choose Shaman.

The three racial abilities shared by Skyborne are:

• Walk on Air lets the character glide downward for a limited time.
• Wind Blessed provides 1% melee, ranged, and spellcasting Haste.
• Elemental Insight increases damage dealt to Elementals by 5%.

High Order characters get Read Ley Line, which greatly increases Health and Mana regeneration. Windshapers instead have Skysight, increasing movement speed by 10%. You can learn more about the new race in our separate Skyborne Race guide.

New Race and Class Combinations

WoW Forever will expand the number of available race and class combinations without adding any new core classes. There are still nine classes in the game.

The new combinations are:

The Dwarf Shaman and Undead Paladin are the most notable additions from a faction perspective. Shaman becomes available to Alliance Dwarves, while Horde players can finally create an Undead Paladin. You can find more details about the class rework in the WoW Forever Class Changes guide.

First Raids

The classic raids that previously existed in the game will not be available at the launch of WoW Forever — and the new ones plus one already familiar but probably reworked one will only open a month later, on December 9, 2026.

Three raids are planned for this date:

• Barrow Deeps — 10-player raid
• Hyjal Summit — 20-player raid
• Onyxia's Lair — 40-player raid

Not much information about the Forever version of Onyxia's Lair has been announced yet, so its current confirmed details are limited to the raid size and its place in the first raid release. You can find the first known information about the new PvE content in our WoW Forever Raids guide.

Hardcore

As is known, in WoW Forever the developers abandoned the huge number of realms for players — only one per region will be available, but with a new ruleset system that will allow PvE, PvP, and Roleplay players to enjoy the game separately from each other. Hardcore is also not forgotten by the developers, but is planned for Winter 2026.

There is no exact release date yet, so it is currently only possible to place the mode somewhere after the November launch and before the end of winter.

WoW Forever Spring 2027 Update

The next larger content update is planned for spring 2027. It will add another group of PvE and world content rather than simply extending the existing dungeon lineup. The announced additions include two raids, with one designed for 10 players and the other for 20 players. There will also be two new dungeons and another playable area.

The update will add more quests and a new legendary questline. PvP will receive a season refresh as well.

WoW Forever Summer 2027 Update

The summer update will continue the roadmap with another raid and two more dungeons. One of the planned raids will be a revamped version of an iconic raid, although its identity has not been announced yet. The update will also bring more world content and another PvP season refresh.

Professions and the Legacy System are scheduled to receive updates during this period.

WoW Forever Content Schedule

The launch will provide the main leveling and endgame foundation for WoW Forever, with the first raids arriving a little over a month later. The roadmap then moves into larger content updates in spring and summer 2027, adding new raids, dungeons, world areas, quests, and system updates.