THE STORIES BEHIND THE GAME
Good reads for your next queue.
Guides, big moments, and the people behind them.
World of Warcraft: Forever rebuilds every talent tree, drops realms, adds nine dungeons and a thousand quests, and keeps level 60. We went through every change against Classic, and we kept the collection we wrote before the reveal.
Blizzard started emailing WoW Forever Invite-A-Friend Launch Codes on October 20. Each code gives one friend free WoW Forever access from November 4 to November 11 with no subscription, but no Skyborne, no beta and no name reservation. How many codes each pack includes, where to find codes that never arrived by email, and the open questions.
The WoW Forever Stress Test ran on October 21 on launch hardware. Most players got in with no queue and reported smooth play, Australians confirmed local servers with single-digit ping, and the complaints were layering, an English-less language picker in Europe, flickering shadows and a slow first hour in Europe. The beta came back afterwards and closes for good at 10 a.m. PDT on Friday, October 23. Start and end times, what broke, and what Blizzard has said.
Blizzard said the WoW Forever beta would open after the September 17 Q&A. An hour later it has not. Here is what is happening, what the launcher shows, what people are reporting, and what to do while you wait. Live updates.