THE WOW FOREVER COLLECTION · DISPATCH · RESEARCH CHECKED OCTOBER 17, 2026
Short answer: the latest WoW Forever beta build had the models for three mounts, three pets, a toy and two transmog ensembles that look like they came straight out of the retail shop. Blizzard's Kaivax replied on October 16 that "these assets are not intended for this version of World of Warcraft." Blizzard did not say what they are for. So nothing here is coming to Forever as far as Blizzard is telling us, but the reply also doesn't answer the bigger question players are asking, which is whether Forever will have a cosmetic store at all.
What was found
The beta went down for the new build on the afternoon of October 15. A few hours later, at 01:09 UTC on October 16, the dataminer Stiven posted the first images on X: "WoW Forever Build just decrypted amazing looking Mounts: Spectral Wolf Pack! Verdant Sea Turtle, Crimson Rooster." That post passed 275,000 views. Wowhead followed with a spoiler-tagged write-up that afternoon, saying the models were found "through tactkeys that have appeared in Forever." Tactkeys are the encryption keys Blizzard ships to unlock content in the game files, and new ones showing up in a client usually means new assets just became readable.
Here is everything Wowhead listed, checked against Wowhead's Forever item database:
| Type | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mount | Spectral Wolf Pack | Epic, level 60, Journeyman Riding. "Up to two nearby party members may join in the pack when mounting" |
| Mount | Crimson Rooster | Model and mount entry only |
| Mount | Verdant Sea Turtle | Model and mount entry only |
| Pet | Blossoming Ancient | "This pet changes with the seasons", same as the retail version |
| Pet | Pinky and Gill'el | NPC entries only. Gill'el is the murloc players keep mentioning |
| Toy | Adventurer's Tent | Gives your Camp Tents a new look for 15 minutes |
| Transmog | Ensemble: Gilded Blademaster's Armor | Comes with the Gilded Blademaster's Greatsword |
| Transmog | Ensemble: Stillwater Fisher Attire | Binds to account |
| Back | Rugged Totemic Backpack | Not part of either ensemble |
The wolf pack is the one people are talking about. Every multi-seat mount in WoW so far has been one creature with passengers on its back. This one summons a wolf for each rider, so you and two friends run as a pack. It's a neat idea, and it's also very obviously not something a 2004 Barrens wolf would do.
What Blizzard said
Kaivax posted at 22:05 UTC on October 16, about two and a half hours after the Wowhead article:
A number of art assets were recently datamined in the latest Beta build of WoW Forever. While we appreciate the feedback and discussion online, please be advised that these assets are not intended for this version of World of Warcraft.
That's the whole post. Wowhead added a note to its original article and published a follow-up pointing out that tactkeys turning up in the wrong version of the game isn't new: "the recent Rexxar shop sets were first discovered on China's Titan Reforged servers." Wowhead says it doesn't know which version these are for. Icy Veins reported the same reply under the headline that the mounts "won't be coming to WoW Forever."
The two most likely homes are retail and the Chinese Classic realms, which have sold cosmetics that never came west. That's an educated guess from the pattern Wowhead describes. Blizzard hasn't confirmed either.
Why players reacted so fast
The datamine landed on a forum that was already nervous about two things.
The first is art direction. Before this, players had been arguing about the Skyborne models and the new zone art, and a three-wolf mount and a rooster with a retail-style shine fed straight into that. Valrysha, a WoW Community Council member, wrote in the blue thread that the concerns about art direction "are pretty valid."
The second is money. Several replies read "not intended" as "not intended yet." One poster called them "clearly item shop models." Another wrote that the files "existed in the live build and still do." A separate thread, "Is WoW Forever setup for failure?", argued that the mounts "look like they are from retail wow." Others pushed back, and one reply pointed out that turtles and roosters already exist as Classic TCG mounts.
The thread also turned up something that is real and already in the game. Players say the old TCG Riding Turtle has shown up on the Black Market Auction House in Riverglades with bids around 3,000 gold. That's a gold sink selling an existing Classic-era item. It has nothing to do with the datamined Verdant Sea Turtle, and it isn't a real-money purchase.
What Blizzard has said about a shop
Not much, and that's the gap the datamine fell into.
- Confirmed: in his September interview with Destin, associate production director Clay Stone said there are no plans for a WoW Token or character boosts. GamesRadar+ and Warcraft Tavern both reported it. "No plans" is a statement about launch, not a promise for the life of the game.
- Confirmed: Forever already sells cosmetics up front. The Skyborne Heroic Pack includes a mount, a garb set, a rucksack and a toy, and the Epic Pack adds more on top, which we break down in our pack comparison.
- Reported, unconfirmed: players have posted since BlizzCon that the Forever client has a shop button, with threads on the EU forums on September 16 and 17 and on the US forums on October 7. Nobody at Blizzard has answered any of them.
- Not news: a WoW Token item exists in the Forever database. It's also in Classic's data as a leftover, so on its own it means nothing.
Blizzard has been strict about money buying power in Forever. It banned GDKP, took gold off streamers and added economy holds to fight gold buying. A cosmetic shop wouldn't break any of those rules, which is exactly why players want a straight answer about it rather than a one-line reply about one batch of models.
What to make of it
Take Blizzard's reply at face value: these specific mounts, pets and sets aren't planned for Forever. It's a quick and clear denial, and Blizzard doesn't usually comment on datamines at all. What the reply doesn't do is rule out a store. If you care about that, watch the October 21 stress test. It runs on the launch hardware for anyone with a WoW account, so it's the next chance for a lot of players to see what the live client shows. The rest of the dates are on the Forever hub.
Sources: Stiven (@Stiven_SRB) on X (October 16, 2026, 01:09 UTC) and video post (October 16); Wowhead, Potential New Mounts, Pets, and Cosmetics Discovered in Latest WoW: Forever Build (October 16) and Blizzard Clarifies Recent Art Assets Discovered on the WoW: Forever Beta (October 16); Kaivax, Blizzard forums, Datamined in the Latest Beta Build (October 16, with player replies through October 17); Icy Veins, Recently Datamined Mounts Won't Be Coming to WoW Forever (October 16); Blizzard forums, The new datamined ghost wolf mount is beautiful (October 17), Is WoW Forever setup for failure? (October 16), No one has mentioned the shop button in game (October 7) and EU forums, The Forever in-game shop (September 16); GamesRadar+, WoW Forever devs have no plans to implement tokens or level boosts (September 2026); Wowhead, No WoW Token or Boosts: Destin interview with Blizzard (September 14); MMO-Champion, Black market auction house found in Riverglades (September 21, Riding Turtle report October 12); Wowhead Forever item database tooltips (checked October 17).