November 4 2026

Forever Beta and who actually gets in

Beta is not a free weekend and it is not included with Heroic. The pre-purchase news is the dated source: Forever Beta begins 17 September 2026 PST and runs through 21 October 2026 PST for Epic Pack and Collection buyers. If you only bought Heroic, you wait for 4 November like a subscriber.

That window is already the current version this wiki describes. BlizzCon on 12 September was the announcement. Beta is the playable present. Launch is the next hard date. Mixing those three is how people invent a “Forever Classic season” that Blizzard already rejected.

Gameplay trailer footage on this page is the official @Warcraft upload, not a creator recap. Use it to see combat silhouettes; use the editions compare when you need to know whether your receipt includes this beta at all. The hub remains the official Forever product page.

Epic and Collection buyers should treat 21 October as the last beta day, then use the late-October reservation window to lock a two-name pair before the 4 November 15:00 Pacific go-live. Heroic buyers skip beta and still show up for names and launch.

Early Name Reservation and Invite-A-Friend codes

Two-name identity needs a claim window because pairs are unique in a region. The hub’s German legalese dates Early Name Reservation from 27 October to 3 November, first-come, first-served. That sits after beta close and before the 4 November 15:00 Pacific launch, which is the only order that makes sense if you want names on live characters.

Invite-A-Friend Launch Codes are a pack inclusion, not a naming system. Heroic includes one code in the sealed list; Epic includes more. They are not a way to skip Heroic for Skyborne. They are not a Steam key. They are Battle.net invite codes attached to the upgrade SKUs.

If you care about a specific first-name-plus-surname pair, show up in that late-October window even if you skipped beta. Subscription players still need unique pairs. Pack buyers who already reserved during an earlier offer should still read the hub rules rather than assuming a beta name survives forever without the reservation step.

Platforms, China, and what is not on Steam

The official hub lists Windows and macOS. Steam search for World of Warcraft Forever does not return a Blizzard SKU. Battle.net is the storefront; unauthenticated product URLs 401 without a session. PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and mobile storefronts are not in the sealed platform list.

Mainland China is a separate clock. wowchina.com titles the game 《魔兽世界》：“无限” and lists a 6 October 2026 official beta with 天裔史诗礼包. That is not the US Epic Pack beta window. Do not mix the two dates when you tell a friend when they can play.

Collection’s 11 January 2027 cutoff is the last dated commercial event on this page. After that, the launch is already six weeks old and the December raids are already in the past. Keep Collection on your shopping list only if you still want Warcraft III: Reforged in the same bundle.

Put the dates in order and leave them there: 12 September announcement, 17 September beta open for Epic and Collection, 21 October beta close, late-October name reservation, 4 November 15:00 Pacific live. China runs a separate 6 October clock. Steam is not a storefront for this SKU. Windows and macOS on Battle.net are the platforms the hub lists.