The Forever beta ends October 21. Launch is November 4 at 3 p.m. PST. That gives you a 38-day window to make decisions, and most of the useful decisions have to be made before launch day rather than during the queue.
This is a runbook, not a prediction. Every date and system below is from Blizzard. Where a claim is still contested, it is marked and left open rather than guessed.
Before the beta closes
Test the things beta values will not tell you
The beta build guide has the class-by-class detail. The short version of what is worth your remaining test time:
- Class identity, not class performance. Balance numbers move weekly. Decide which spec you actually enjoy, because that survives the patch cycle and your numbers will not.
- Two or three specs, not one. The 24 September notes moved Shaman rows, Warrior rows, and Paladin talents in a single build. Breadth is insurance.
- The systems that are not numbers. Campfire placement, Legacy challenge progress, and Mythic+ affix behaviour will shape launch more than your crit cap.
- A known-bug baseline. There is a confirmed bug where the 0.5-second cast before a Hunter auto-shot or wand shot does not fire, and Blizzard has said the fix is coming but has not shipped it. If you are comparing ranged damage this week, you are measuring a bug, not a class.
Get your addons in place early
We maintain a running addon ecosystem census and a full addons guide. The state of play is that the modern API ships, several addons have Forever releases, and the biggest casualty is WeakAuras, whose authors have stopped porting. Blizzard's answer is bundled functionality: a damage meter, a Cooldown Manager, and a swing timer ship with the game, and the September 24 notes put the Cooldown Manager in testing for five classes with spell-rank support still pending.
Practical order: install what already has a Forever release first, then decide what you still need from a bundle, then treat anything else as optional until launch week.
Legacy is the system that rewards planning
The Legacy guide covers the 65 Challenges and 21 perks. The part that matters for launch prep is the structure: points are account-wide, spending is per character, 16 points spendable per character at launch, and up to 29 earnable on one character.
Blizzard's stated design intent is that Legacy gives you reasons to make alts. Combined with a post-launch plan that may add sub-cap zones, that points at a deliberate multi-character launch. Worth deciding now whether you are levelling one character properly or seeding several, because the two produce very different first weeks.
Reserve names early
Two-part names are required, unique per region. Early name reservation runs October 27 to November 3 for qualifying upgrades, up to three characters.
Do not wait for launch day. The reservation window is before the queue, which is the only time you can guarantee a name. And note that beta naming enforcement has already bitten testers: Blizzard has forced changes on beta characters and removed access from some accounts, with no appeals. Pick something you would be happy to keep.
The four dates still unresolved
These are open on our verification hit list and we are not going to invent them:
- The Server Slam window. Blizzard confirmed the beta opens to everyone for several hours later in the test. No date.
- Level-30 activation. The cap rises from 20 during the test. No date.
- The beta close date. Purchase terms say October 21, the roadmap graphic says October 22. Unresolved as of our last check.
- Onyxia's Lair timing. Blizzard's explainer video says the 40-player raid is available at launch. The official recap says new raids unlock December 9. Both are first-party and they disagree. Four signals lean launch, one says December 9, and no source names a date.
If your plan depends on any of these, plan for the later date.
Launch day itself
Launch is a 3 p.m. PST release, which is 11 p.m. UTC and past midnight in Central Europe. Plan the session around your own timezone rather than assuming the date rolls over cleanly.
Server Slam, if it lands before the close, is the one window where a large population is likely to be in the same world. If you are playing at all during the beta, that is when to test the things that only break under load: layering, group invites, and whether your addon survives a busy zone.
The short checklist
- Pick two or three specs, not one.
- Install addons that already have Forever releases; treat the rest as optional.
- Decide now whether you are levelling one character or seeding alts, because Legacy is built for the second.
- Have your name ideas ready before October 27.
- Baseline the known bugs so you do not mistake them for balance.
- Plan for December 9 on raids and for a level-30 cap that might not arrive before the beta closes.
SOURCES: Blizzard's official Forever site, the September 24 development notes, the What's Next and Deep Dive recaps, the September 23 Legacy article, the 2026-2027 roadmap, the official explainer video, and Kaivax's September 23 auto-shot confirmation, all cross-referenced through our Forever hub. Last checked September 26, 2026.