WoW Forever News
Official announcements and blue posts about World of Warcraft: Forever, summarized for players. Every article links its sources.
Sep 18, 2026
Ion Hazzikostas: WoW Forever's lighting was redone by hand, and it could come to retail
Talking to But Why Tho? at BlizzCon, Ion Hazzikostas said Forever's new lighting is not just an engine switch: environment artists relit every zone by hand. He is open to bringing that lighting, the new server infrastructure and even surnames to retail WoW, with no timeline. He also confirmed that Forever patches will roll out region by region at off-peak times, not worldwide at once.
Source: But Why Tho?
Sep 18, 2026
No flex raids, no scaling, no attunement at launch: how WoW Forever's new raids will work
In a BlizzCon interview with But Why Tho?, lead software engineer Ana Resendez and associate production director Clayton Stone said Forever's new raids start at 10 and 20 players with no plans for flex sizing. Difficulty is fixed and never scales to your level, so out-gearing a raid is how it gets easier. The launch raids need no attunement, and the team would not say whether later ones will.
Source: But Why Tho?
Sep 18, 2026
WoW Forever beta build 69913: 129 new items, a new legendary item and tidier raid sets
A day after the beta opened, WoW Forever received its first client update, build 1.60.1.69913. The datamine shows 129 new items that look like Ruins of Lordaeron loot, a new legendary quest item called Drained Vessel, a quest starter named Mulgore Expansion Plans, and cleaned-up raid tier sets that now list exactly six slots each. It also coincides with a batch of fixes Blizzard promised for the next build.
Source: Wowhead
Sep 18, 2026
WoW Forever has arenas: Hyjal Crater, a Mak'gora queue and perks for the Gurubashi ring
Original WoW never had rated arenas, and Blizzard has not announced any for Forever. The beta client disagrees at least in part: its PvP queue list includes two arena modes, Hyjal Crater and Mak'gora Arena, both for five players at levels 1–60 on a new Hyjal Crater map. A /makgora slash command sits beside Hardcore's Duel to the Death, and two Arena Master perks reduce damage taken in the Gurubashi Battle Ring and The Maul.
Source: Wowhead
Sep 18, 2026
What the WoW Forever beta breaks for addons: secret health values, dead secure snippets, new APIs
Blizzard said Forever would carry over Midnight's addon restrictions. Hands-on tests against beta build 1.60.1.69913 show what that means in practice. Unit health comes back as a secret value that addons cannot compare or calculate with, which breaks third-party raid frames. Secure snippets fail to compile, taking action bar paging and click-casting with them. The client reports itself as retail (WOW_PROJECT_ID 1), and GetItemInfo, GetSpellInfo and the old talent calls have moved into C_ namespaces.
Source: Wowhead
Sep 18, 2026
Vanilla's never-released gear shows up on the WoW Forever beta server, some of it with new stats
The latest WoW Forever datamine reports 88 items that the previous build listed as missing, now visible on the live beta server. The list includes some of original WoW's most famous never-released gear, such as Gloves of Holy Might, The Green Tower, Staff of Jordan, Julie's Dagger and Jaina's Firestarter. Fourteen of the 88 carry new Forever stats. Being on the server does not make an item obtainable, but it is the first real sign Blizzard is touching them.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment
Sep 18, 2026
1,795 new quests, six new flight points and a salvage system: what the Forever client says about the world
Beyond the tier sets and talent trees, the WoW Forever beta client describes a substantially rebuilt overworld. It carries 1,795 new quests, three named questlines, six new flight points across Riverglades, Mount Hyjal and Dun Morogh, four currencies that are new to original Azeroth, 46 zones of transmog appearance vendors, and a Waylaid Crate salvage system gated behind profession skill.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment
Sep 18, 2026
A legendary questline hides in the Forever client: six vessels and the Bough of the World Tree
Build 1.60.1.69876 of the WoW Forever beta client contains a small but unusually coherent set of legendary data: nine quest items, four tracking quests and four ritual spells. Read together they describe a collection chase that spans Moonglade's Barrow Dens, an Un'Goro pylon puzzle, a fel laboratory in Shen'dralas and a seed from Nordrassil, ending in a ritual that requires six vessels and a legendary weapon called the Bough of the World Tree.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment
Sep 18, 2026
GDKP banned, barbershops in, SoD class quests back: the Forever rules taking shape
The live Q&A and the first hours of the beta settled a batch of open questions about how WoW Forever will actually be played. GDKP runs are banned outright and Blizzard says it will be far harsher on gold buyers than it has been. Barbershops are in, Season of Discovery class quests are being carried over and expanded, Tarnished Undermine Reals return as a currency, and starting zones now hand out free bags.
Source: Wowhead, GamesRadar+
Sep 18, 2026
The WoW Forever beta is live: level 20 cap, two new dungeons and a GPU cut-off
The WoW Forever beta went live on September 17 and immediately drew queues long enough that players compared them to 2004. Week one caps characters at level 20 and opens the Skyborne starting zone plus two new dungeons, Hall of Thanes and Ruins of Lordaeron. Blizzard also published a hard GPU requirement that retires pre-2012 graphics architectures, and a known-issues list that already flags the barber chair and the Legacy panel.
Source: PC Gamer, Blizzard Entertainment, GamesRadar+, Wowhead
Sep 17, 2026
WoW Forever graphics: volumetric fog, real sun shadows and flowing water for original Azeroth
WoW Forever keeps the vanilla art style but rebuilds the rendering around it: volumetric fog with god rays and a longer draw distance, sun-accurate shadows and global illumination, and a new water shader with flow, foam and reflections. Blizzard says it runs even on minimum requirements.
Source: Wowhead
Sep 17, 2026
Every way to earn Legacy Points in WoW Forever, according to the beta client
The beta 1.60.1 client contains 65 Legacy challenges worth one point each. 27 come from leveling each class to 25, 45 and 60, 18 from crafting professions, and the rest from dungeons, raids, PvP and exploration. A character can spend up to 16 points at launch.
Source: Wowhead