WoW Forever for brand-new players

A world you share

World of Warcraft is an online role-playing game, an MMORPG, where thousands of players are in the same world at once. You play one hero and grow them over time.

You grow stronger as you go

You fight monsters, which players call mobs, and finish quests to earn experience and better gear. Each new level brings new abilities.

Alone or together

You can play most of the way on your own, or team up with other players for harder fights and better rewards. Looking for people to play with? Blizzard’s official Discord server, the WoW Portal Room, has experienced players who help newcomers find groups and guilds.

How to join the WoW Portal Room

One of three ways to play

Retail (currently Midnight) is the ongoing, modern game, and Classic Era is the original game as it was. Forever keeps the original journey and adds new places, the new Skyborne race and a lot of smaller changes.

The road to 60 is the game

You level from 1 to 60 on the original continents, and the road there is meant to matter as much as what comes after.

Slower and more social

A normal mob takes about 10 to 15 seconds to kill, so you fight a few enemies at a time, and working with others matters. There is no flying, and zones keep their level instead of scaling to yours.

More to discover

Over 1,000 new quests, four new zones and nine new dungeons, spread through the whole journey from level 1 to 60.

Play your way

Play with keyboard and mouse or a gamepad. The first time you log in, you pick a preset: choose Enhanced, which marks quest goals on your map and keeps the interface modern. You can change it later.

A World of Warcraft subscription

Forever is part of World of Warcraft. A monthly subscription or prepaid game time covers it, along with Retail and Classic Era.

The Skyborne are an upgrade

To play the new Skyborne race, on either side, and their Zephras Isle starting zone, you need the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a bigger Forever edition. The eight original races need nothing extra.

Meet the WindshapersMeet the High Order

Two factions

Every character fights for the Alliance or the Horde. The two sides can’t group together, so if you want to play with friends, pick the side they play.

Races to choose from

The eight races from the original game, plus the new Skyborne race. A Skyborne joins the Horde as a Windshaper or the Alliance as one of the High Order. Your race decides your look and where you start.

Meet the ten racesSee every race and class combination

Nine classes

Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock and Warrior. Your class decides how you fight, and not every race can play every class.

Read about the nine classes

Three roles in a group

The tank keeps the enemies’ attention, the healer keeps everyone alive, and the rest deal damage. Some classes can fill more than one role.

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

Quests

People around the world give you tasks and reward you with experience, gold and gear. They are the main way to level.

Where to level, zone by zone

Dungeons

Harder places built for a group of five, with a tank, a healer and damage dealers, and better loot at the end.

See the new dungeons

Raids

The biggest group fights. Each set of raids has at least one for 10 players and one for 20, and some add one for 40. Onyxia’s Lair first needs a quest chain on your own character.

See the new raidsOnyxia attunement, step by step

Getting around

You travel on foot, by flight path between towns and by ship between the two continents. Your first mount comes when you learn to ride.

Professions

Gather materials and craft gear, potions or food to use or sell. Forever adds over 600 new recipes.

See every profession

Camping

Light a campfire to make a campsite where you can rest, repair, visit vendors, use profession tools and pick up bonuses that last an hour.

Four rulesets at launch

Before you make a character, you pick a ruleset: Normal, PvP, Roleplay or Roleplay PvP. Each one is a single large world. Characters on different rulesets can’t do dungeons or raids together. Hardcore, where a character that dies stays dead, comes later.

Fighting other players

On the PvP and Roleplay PvP rulesets, players of the other faction can attack you out in the world, and on PvP all your characters are on one faction. Battlegrounds, where two teams fight over a map, are open on every ruleset at launch.

How PvP ranks work

Not sure? Pick Normal

If you’re unsure, start on Normal. If your friends already play, join them on their ruleset so you can do dungeons and raids together. You can also set a language preference to meet players who speak yours.