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WoW: Forever launch week — what to do before November 4

Reserve a name, work out which pack (if any) you actually need, and know the exact moment the servers open. Most of this has a deadline before launch day.

launchAccount-wide8 steps

Last verified September 20, 2026

Steps

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  1. 1

    Put the launch moment in your calendar — 4 November, 3:00 p.m. PST

    That is 23:00 UTC on 4 November. Blizzard states the time in Pacific and does not publish separate clock times for Europe, Korea or Taiwan, so anything you read for your own region is someone's arithmetic, not an announcement.

    Converted, 23:00 UTC is 23:00 GMT on the 4th in the UK and 00:00 CET on the 5th in most of Europe — worth noting if you booked the evening off.

    ~2 min
  2. 2

    Check whether you need to buy anything at all — you probably don't

    Forever needs an active WoW subscription or game time. There is no separate box purchase for the base game.

    The Skyborne packs are optional upgrades. If you do not care about playing a Skyborne character at launch and do not want to reserve a name in advance, you can ignore every one of them and simply log in on 4 November.

    ~3 min
  3. 3

    Decide which pack you need, if any — the tiers gate different things

    Two gates matter, and they are not the same gate:

    • Skyborne race and the Zephras Isle starting zone need the Heroic Pack or above. Without it you cannot roll a Skyborne character at all.
    • Early name reservation also needs the Heroic Pack or above.
    • Beta access needs the Epic Pack or above. The Heroic Pack does not include beta.

    Above that, the Warcraft Forever Collection adds Warcraft III: Reforged and its Forsaken Kingdom campaign, and the physical Collector's Edition includes a digital code for that Collection tier.

    Prices are widely reported as roughly $29.99 / $59.99 / $79.99 / $150, but the official article we can verify does not quote them, so treat the figures as reported rather than confirmed and check the shop.

    ~10 min
  4. 4

    If you want the Collector's Edition, know it includes the digital tier

    The physical Collector's Edition contains a 13-inch statue, a Zephras Isle mousepad, art prints, pins and a companion journal — plus a digital code for the Warcraft Forever Collection.

    So buying the Collection digitally and the Collector's Edition means paying for the same digital contents twice.

    ~3 min
  5. 5

    Reserve your name between 27 October and 3 November

    The early name reservation window runs 27 October – 3 November 2026, stated by Blizzard in Pacific time. Exact opening and closing hours are not published, so treat the 27th as "sometime that day" and do not leave it until the 3rd.

    You need the Heroic Pack or above to take part. Reporting says you may reserve first-and-last-name pairs for up to three characters, first come, first served, with no guarantee.

    ~15 min
  6. 6

    Pick a backup first-and-last pair before the window opens

    Full names are unique per region, so the name you want may simply be gone.

    Have two or three alternates ready before the window opens rather than inventing one under time pressure.

    ~10 min
  7. 7

    Install the Battle.net app and make room on disk

    You need a Battle.net account, the Battle.net desktop app and an internet connection.

    Reported system requirements are 8 GB RAM minimum (16 GB recommended) and 128 GB of available SSD space. No Forever-specific download size has been published.

    ~30 min
  8. 8

    Decide your ruleset before you are staring at the character screen

    You will choose between Normal, PvP and Roleplaying at creation. Hardcore is not available at launch.

    This choice is worth making in advance: cross-ruleset grouping is not supported, so picking differently from your friends means not playing with them.

    ~10 min
https://mrgl.cc/checklists/launch-week-preparation

Sources

Every step on this page is sourced. Check our work.