WoW Forever beta opens today, September 17, right after Blizzard's live Q&A

The wait is shorter than expected. Blizzard announced on Reddit that the World of Warcraft: Forever beta opens right after today’s live Q&A, so servers should come up on Thursday, September 17, not at midnight.

When does the beta start?

Blizzard has not given an exact server time, only “after the Q&A”. The stream has two parts:

Segment	PDT	EDT	BST	CEST
Modern WoW	10:00 AM	1:00 PM	6:00 PM	7:00 PM
WoW: Forever	10:30 AM	1:30 PM	6:30 PM	7:30 PM

The Forever part is expected to last around 30 minutes, so the beta should open from about 11:00 AM PDT (8:00 PM CEST). You can watch the Q&A on Warcraft’s official Twitch and YouTube channels. The countdown on our homepage and the release date page show the times in your own time zone.

How to get into the beta

There are two ways in:

• Pre-order a premium edition. The Skyborne Epic Pack ($59.99) and the Warcraft Forever Collection ($79.99) both include beta access from day one.
• Opt in for free. Use the “Beta Opt-in” button on the official WoW: Forever site and hope for an invite.

To see if you are in, open the Battle.net launcher, pick World of Warcraft, and look for “World of Warcraft: Forever” in the version dropdown. Start the download early: a lot of players will be patching at the same time.

Level caps and length

The beta is split into two phases:

1. Phase 1 (from September 17): level cap 20.
2. Phase 2 (two weeks later): level cap raised to 30 until the end.

The beta closes on October 21. Every race and class is playable, and the new Skyborne elves are available to players who pre-ordered.

Plan your first 20 levels

A cap of 20 means starting zones, the first dungeons and your early talent points. Get ready with our talent builds, the leveling guides and the dungeon list, and check which addons already work. The full game launches on November 4 (November 5 in Europe).