WoW Forever Release Date: Name Reservation Checklist

The dates that decide what you do, by region

Blizzard publishes these dates per region, and they are not interchangeable. The U.S. and German news posts give Pacific time (PST) dates, while the Korean post gives Korea time (KST), which lands one calendar day later.

In PST the order is: Invite-A-Friend codes by email from October 20, the last beta day on October 21, Early Name Reservation from October 27 through November 3, and launch on November 4.

The Korean dates are October 21, October 22, October 28 to November 4, and November 5.

The European Battle.net Shop prints the reservation window as October 27 to November 3 without a time zone, and gives November 5 as the launch date. The German panel recap also puts launch on November 5 in Central European time.

Invited friends can play during launch week, November 4 to 11 (PST) or November 5 to 12 (KST); the European shop footnote says November 5 to 11. This page handles dates only.

For the time of day in your own zone, a countdown and a calendar file, use the launch times page.

Now, while the beta runs

Decide first whether you want Early Name Reservation.

Blizzard lists it as a benefit included with any upgrade purchase, and the Skyborne Heroic Pack is the cheapest upgrade; a subscription or game time is described as giving access from launch, not as including the reservation.

Check which WoW account the upgrade goes to. The Battle.net Shop states that the benefit applies only to the specific WoW account it was purchased for.

If you want to test before launch, beta access comes with the Skyborne Epic Pack and the Warcraft Forever Collection, not the Heroic Pack.

The beta is available through October 21, 2026 (PST), so the later you buy for the beta, the less testing time you get.

The three official shop pages still label the upgrades as pre-purchases, but publish no separate pre-purchase sales cutoff.

Do not treat the beta end as that deadline; if the beta is your reason to buy, October 21 (PST)—October 22 in Korea—is the practical last test day.

Invite-A-Friend codes do not include beta access. A friend who wants to try the beta needs a route of their own, such as the free sign-up covered in our beta guide.

Use the quiet weeks to compare your PC with the official system requirements, including free SSD space, so that launch week is not your first install attempt.

Before Early Name Reservation opens

Invite-A-Friend Launch Codes are emailed from October 20, 2026 (PST). The Heroic Pack comes with one code and the Epic Pack and Collection with three in total; gift purchases do not receive codes.

Send each code to the friend you invite. Eligible invitees redeem it through Battle.net and can play during launch week, November 4 to 11 (PST), without a subscription or game time.

Agree on a ruleset and faction with your group before you name anything.

Characters on different rulesets cannot group for dungeons or raids, Horde and Alliance cannot group, and moving to another ruleset means creating a new character there.

On the PvP ruleset one account can create characters for only one faction; Normal and Roleplaying allow both. Blizzard says Hardcore will be available sometime after launch, so it is not one of the launch rulesets.

Prepare names in two parts. Every character has two names, and only the full combination has to be unique within your region, so a first name someone else already uses can still work with a different second name.

Keep spare combinations ready. Restricted words are judged across both names together, and if the full name you want is taken or rejected, you choose another combination or use the random name generator.

During Early Name Reservation

The window runs from October 27 through November 3, 2026 in Blizzard’s PST dates, and from October 28 through November 4 on the Korean pages. Blizzard has given dates only; no opening time was published as of 2026-09-26.

You can create and customize up to three characters. Names are reserved first come, first served, and Blizzard states that desired names cannot be guaranteed.

If one name matters more than the others, create that character first, as early in the window as you can.

Blizzard’s beta announcement does not say that beta characters or names carry over to launch. Treat the reservation window, not the beta, as the place to secure a name.

Every name you reserve must follow Blizzard’s naming rules. The official name announcement says names must follow the in-game code of conduct for names.

Blizzard lists what can be restricted: certain names, words, spellings and repeated-character patterns, including names that cause confusion, impersonate Blizzard or the World of Warcraft team, or conflict with existing naming policies.

The beta shows these rules are enforced. On September 24, 2026 (PDT), a World of Warcraft developer posted on the official forums that the team was issuing forced name changes to beta characters that broke the naming policies.

The same post said some players whose names were far outside the Code of Conduct had their beta access removed.

Blizzard wrote that the development team reviewed each case individually and that Customer Service cannot assist with appeals.

The post also announced an automated system for enforcing naming standards, due to come online very shortly, and warned testers that “testing” it risks action and the loss of beta access.

A Blizzard Customer Support reply on the forums the same day said a removed beta should not block Early Name Reservation, because the licenses are different. That is a forum answer, not a published policy.

The topic drew large reactions: in the daily data we collected on 2026-09-26, one r/classicwow thread about the beta name actions had 4,591 upvotes and 723 comments.

Since these beta actions could not be appealed through Customer Service, treat the naming rules as a hard limit when you pick reservation names. The Code of Conduct Blizzard linked is in the sources at the end of this page.

If you later want only your first name shown in the world, open Options, then Nameplates, and clear “My Secondary Name”. The second name still appears in chat.

The day before launch and launch day

Access at launch comes from an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time. Check that yours is active the day before, not at the login screen.

The 30 days of game time in the Epic Pack and the Collection are added to your account starting November 4 (PST), or November 5 on the Korean page. Playing beyond those 30 days needs a subscription or additional game time.

In the official posts we checked on 2026-09-26, Blizzard had not announced a pre-download date for the launch client. Keep the Battle.net desktop app updated and watch it in the days before launch.

Blizzard’s beta install steps begin with current graphics drivers and an updated Battle.net app. The same two checks are worth doing the day before launch.

Look up the launch time for your zone on the launch times page. Friends with an Invite-A-Friend code can play from launch day until November 11 (PST), or November 12 in Korea.

Prices, bundle contents and refund conditions differ by region and are covered in our pricing guide, so check them there before a last-minute purchase.

Not announced yet, and the dates after launch

Two details are still missing as of 2026-09-26: the time when Early Name Reservation opens, and the date when the launch client can be downloaded. We will add them once Blizzard publishes them.

The Warcraft Forever Collection is sold through January 11, 2027 on the U.S. and European shops. The Korean shop page says January 12, 2027, while the Korean news post says January 11.

New raids unlock on December 9 (PST), which the Korean recap gives as December 10. Hardcore follows at a date Blizzard has not announced.

Each change to this checklist is listed in the change log at the end of the page and on the site-wide updates page.