WoW: Forever Adds Zones Classic Never Had. A new Blizzard video takes players from level 30 to 60 through the Riverglades, Mount Hyjal and a 10-player raid, two weeks before launch.

What Happened

Blizzard's new video is the first look at what WoW: Forever adds between level 30 and level 60: zones the original game never had.

• A new old game. Blizzard, the studio behind World of Warcraft, is making a new version called WoW: Forever, a game that keeps the classic-era feel and adds new content.
• Past the beta. The Forever beta caps characters at level 30.
• The first look. On October 19 Blizzard posted "Your Leveling Journey Past 30" on the official World of Warcraft YouTube channel, covering levels 30 to 60.
• Two new zones. The video shows the Riverglades and Mount Hyjal, a mountain zone held by druids, plus a raid inside Hyjal. None of it is playable in the beta yet.
• Blizzard's pitch. @Warcraft promoted it the same day: "Your journey from 30-60 will take you to parts of Azeroth previously unknown."
• Where it came from. Forever was announced at BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard's fan convention, and launches November 4.

Until now the beta has been the old world up to level 30, and the changes we covered were rule edits, like the cut to its dungeon quest XP bonus. This video is the first look at new places.

The Riverglades

The Riverglades gives each faction its own ally and puts both against the Twilight's Hammer.

• A war zone. The Riverglades is a new zone where, in the video's words, "the second war never truly ended."
• Knights for one side. Players in the Alliance, one of the game's two factions, meet the Brotherhood of the Horse, elite Stormwind knights who disobeyed orders and stayed to hunt the Horde, the other faction.
• Their stronghold. The Brotherhood has held Farholde Keep in the Riverglades for 20 years, still fighting the Horde's remnants.
• Ogres for the other. Horde players find the Boulderrock Ogres, a clan that broke away from the Twilight's Hammer, the cult that once commanded them.
• The common enemy. Both factions fight the Twilight's Hammer, which holds two fortresses in the zone; the video says its "true motivations" are unknown.
• Side content. Quests include wrecking a pirate operation and rescuing a horse, and the Bloodmasters' Ring is a fighting ring against the ogres' best brawlers.

The zone is built on the faction split. Each side gets its own ally with its own reason to be there, and both run into the same enemy.

Mount Hyjal and Barrow Deeps

Hyjal closes the climb to 60 and holds the new raid.

• The final zone. Mount Hyjal is what the video calls "the climax of your leveling journey."
• The road opens. In the fiction, the druids kept Hyjal sealed for five years; now "for the first time since the Third War the road into Hyjal has opened."
• Rebuilding work. Players help the Cenarion Circle, a druid order, heal the land and rebuild after a battle on the mountain.
• Faction tension. Horde and Alliance have lived there in an uneasy agreement, and the video says those tensions are "heating up once again."
• A 10-player raid. Barrow Deeps, a new 10-player raid inside Hyjal, is "a prison that once held Azeroth's most infamous betrayer."

Launch Dates

Name reservations open October 27 and Forever launches November 4.

• Nine new dungeons. On October 14 @Warcraft said: "At launch, you'll have nine new dungeons to add to your leveling journey alongside more quests for your Vanilla favorites."
• Beta extended. On October 20 Blizzard extended the beta to 10 AM PDT on October 23.
• Names first. From October 27, players can reserve the names of their first three characters.
• Launch day. WoW: Forever goes live on November 4.

What This Means for the Riot MMO

Forever is Blizzard's answer to the problem Merrill gave for the Riot MMO reset: give players new places without losing the classic feel.

• Same problem. Riot co-founder Marc Merrill reset the Riot MMO in March 2024 because "the initial vision just wasn't different enough from what you can play today."
• Blizzard's answer. Forever keeps the classic pace and adds places, allies, dungeons and a raid players have never seen.
• Factions still drive it. Both new zones are built around the Alliance and Horde split: separate allies in the Riverglades, shared tension on Hyjal.
• Small group content. Barrow Deeps is a 10-player raid placed in a leveling zone. Riot has said nothing about raid or group sizes.
• Riot's WoW veterans. Principal game designer Brian Holinka, senior producer Raymond Bartos and engineering manager Orlando Salvatore all came to the Riot MMO from WoW.
• Nothing revealed. Riot has not shown zones, factions or group content for its MMO, and its scope is unrevealed.

Our read. Forever is the closest live test of the bet Merrill described: players want something they can't already play, but they also want the feel they remember. Blizzard has already shown it will change old rules, cutting weapon racials in one patch. Now it is adding content on top. How players take these zones after November 4 is the bar Holinka and the other WoW veterans at Riot will be measured against.

What to Watch

Your Take

Reported from Blizzard Entertainment (YouTube and @Warcraft), Wowhead, MMOHuts, GameSpace, Massively OP and corroborating coverage. The MMO read is ours and clearly speculative. Analysis by RuneGrove.