Blizzard published the operational details for Early Name Reservation on October 20, in a post titled "Claim Your World of Warcraft: Forever Character Names". The window was already known. The start times, the ruleset counting rule and the install steps were not.
When it opens
| Region | Opens |
|---|---|
| Europe | October 27 at 18:00 CET |
| North America | October 27 at 1:00 p.m. PDT |
| Korea | October 28 at 07:00 KST |
| Taiwan | October 28 at 07:00 CST |
North America and Europe open on the same day, and the Asian regions open the following morning at the same local hour. The window closes on November 3, the day before launch.
Three characters, counted across every ruleset
This is the detail that changes how you plan. The post says players can "create and reserve names for up to three characters total across all Rulesets", and gives the example: reserve two on a PvP ruleset and you have one left for a Normal or Role-Play ruleset.
Two consequences follow. The cap is on your account, not on each ruleset, so splitting your three across PvP, Normal and Role-Play does not buy you more. And the limit applies only to Early Name Reservation, so it does not restrict how many characters you can create after launch.
The ruleset choice is made at creation time, which is the first official mention of the three ruleset types as a player-facing choice.
Who qualifies
The footnote is explicit: purchase of a World of Warcraft: Forever Digital Upgrade or Collector's Edition is required, and the benefit applies only to the specific WoW account it was purchased for. The body of the post names the eligible pre-purchases as the Skyborne Heroic Pack, Skyborne Epic Pack and the limited-time Warcraft Forever Collection.
Names are first come, first served and Blizzard says outright that desired names cannot be guaranteed. That is the whole risk of a reservation window: it is a queue, not a claim.
You need the Forever game version installed
The post's own checklist is short:
- Update your graphics drivers.
- Install the Battle.net desktop app and let it update.
- Select World of Warcraft from the games list.
- In the Game Version menu above the Play button, select World of Warcraft: Forever, then Install.
- When the install finishes, select Play and choose your Ruleset.
- Create up to three characters with your chosen names.
That is the same Game Version path as the stress test client, which opens today, so anyone who installed the stress test is already most of the way there.
What to do with the weekend
Reservation opens in six days and closes the day before launch, which means the useful part is preparation rather than speed. Names on the popular list are gone in minutes, and the ones left after the first hour are usually either obscure or already taken by another account's earlier attempt.
Practically: pick three names you would genuinely accept, have a second tier ready, and check the spelling of anything from a language that does not use Latin script before you commit. Blizzard's post says character names are limited to first-come, first-served, and the cost of a bad choice is permanent for that character.
For the rest of the launch sequence, see the last fifteen days.
SOURCES: Blizzard's "Claim Your World of Warcraft: Forever Character Names" post dated 20 October 2026, read from the official news page on 21 October 2026. Region start times, the three-character-across-all-rulesets rule, the purchase requirement and account restriction, the first-come-first-served wording and the install checklist are the post's own.
UPDATED October 22 2026: the ruleset picture changed today. In Aggrend's forum post, a Roleplay-PvP ruleset was added for launch, and Blizzard is "working hard" to make it selectable for name reservation when the window opens on October 27. That is a commitment tied to the same window, not a shipped feature, so if you are reserving on an RP-PvP realm, verify the ruleset appears in the list before the hour matters, because names there will also be first come, first served.