Coming to WoW Forever from Retail

Included with your subscription

Forever is part of World of Warcraft. The subscription or game time you already have covers it, so you can try it without buying anything else.

The Skyborne are an upgrade

To play the new Skyborne race, as a Windshaper for the Horde or one of the High Order for the Alliance, and their Zephras Isle starting zone, you need the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a bigger edition. The eight original races need nothing extra.

Meet the WindshapersMeet the High Order

Level 60 is the cap

You level from 1 to 60 on the original continents, and leveling is meant to matter as much as the endgame.

Slower, more careful fights

A normal mob takes about 10 to 15 seconds to kill. Pulling one group at a time, crowd control like Polymorph, Banish and Fear, and holding threat all matter, and area damage is limited.

No level scaling

Zones and mobs keep their level. A zone above your level stays dangerous until you’ve caught up.

Where to level at each level

No flying

You travel on the ground, by flight path and by ship, like the new route from Stormwind Harbor to Auberdine. Your first mount comes when you learn riding.

Nine classes

Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock and Warrior. There are no Death Knights, Monks, Demon Hunters or Evokers.

The original races, plus the Skyborne

The eight races from the original game and the new Skyborne, who play as Windshapers for the Horde or the High Order for the Alliance.

See every race and class combination

Classic talent trees

One tree per specialization that you put points into, with milestone talents at 11, 16, 21 and 31 points, instead of Retail’s class, specialization and hero talents. You change talents at a class trainer in a major city, and Dual Specialization comes at level 40.

Classic stats

Gear uses Classic stats such as hit, critical strike, weapon skill, spell damage and bonus healing. Spell, melee and ranged hit are one stat, and so are spell, melee and ranged critical strike.

Four racial abilities

Every race has two active and two passive racial abilities.

The factions stay apart

Horde and Alliance can’t group together. On the PvP ruleset all your characters are on one faction.

Rulesets instead of realms

You pick a ruleset, Normal, PvP, Roleplay or Roleplay PvP, and each one is a single large world. Hardcore comes later. Characters on different rulesets can’t do dungeons or raids together. You can set a language preference to meet players who share it.

PvP ranks from the original game

PvP progress is the original rank system, up to High Warlord or Grand Marshal. Battlegrounds earn Honor for PvP gear and Rank Points toward the next rank, with a weekly cap, and Darkspear Islands is a new 15 against 15 battleground.

How PvP ranks work

A first name and a surname

Every character has two names, and the full name has to be unique in your region. You can hide the surname above your character in the Nameplates options, though it still shows in chat.

Find a first name and surname that fit

Fixed raid sizes

Each raid is built for one group size, with no flexible sizing like Retail’s Normal and Heroic raids. Every raid tier has at least one 10-player and one 20-player raid, and some add a 40-player one. The new raids are the Barrow Deeps for 10 players and Hyjal Summit for 20, with new tier sets and a legendary reward. They unlock on 9 December, together with Onyxia’s Lair for 40 players.

Onyxia attunement, step by step

Camping

Light a campfire to make a campsite where you can rest, repair, visit vendors, use profession tools and pick up one-hour buffs.

Legacy

Forever’s account-wide progression. Challenges earn Legacy points, and each character spends them on perks, like more rested experience or more gathered materials, up to 16 points at launch. Collections and Legacy points are shared across every ruleset except Hardcore, which keeps its own.

How Legacy works

Transmog is optional

Epic raid drops give their appearance only to the player who loots them, while dungeon greens and blues give it to everyone who could use them. The Classic preset switches transmog off completely. Armor takes only looks of its own type, so plate stays plate, and high-level looks unlock at level 60.

Pick the Enhanced preset

The first time you log in, you pick a preset. Enhanced keeps what you’re used to: HD models, quest markers on the map, a single bag, transmog and strafing keys. Classic switches them off for the original look. You can change any setting later, and gamepads are supported.