Blizzard Extends Wow Forever Beta, Opens Name Reservations Ahead of Launch

WHO:

TechRadar - Blizzard extended the World of Warcraft: Forever beta for players with access.

IGN - Blizzard announced the extension on X/Twitter; Blizzard developers said they were surprised by the number of people who joined the test.

IGN - Blizzard is responsible for enforcing rules on character names and cracking down on gold selling.

WHAT:

TechRadar - Blizzard extended the World of Warcraft: Forever beta, giving players additional time to play before launch.

IGN - Blizzard extended the beta by three days; it will end at 10am PT / 1pm ET.

IGN - Blizzard will open name reservations, allowing players to reserve names for three characters.

IGN - Players had created one million characters in the beta.

IGN - Beta progress will be deleted when the game launches.

IGN - The beta has avoided some modern quality-of-life features, including shared tagging, while including the “Kyle’s Gone Missing” quest in Mulgore.

IGN - The article reports gold selling, strict character-name enforcement, and players placing campfires at new-player spawn locations to make characters die before the intro cinematic ends.

WHERE:

IGN - “Kyle’s Gone Missing” takes place in Mulgore.

WHEN:

IGN - The beta ends October 23 at 10am PT / 1pm ET.

IGN - Name reservations open October 27.

IGN - The full game launches November 4.

WHY:

IGN - The beta extension gives players additional time before the full launch.

IGN - Blizzard has avoided some modern features to preserve the game’s classic feel.

HOW:

IGN - Players can access the full game with an active subscription or a friend code; the article says friend-code access is temporary.

IGN - Players can reserve names for three different characters.

IGN - Blizzard announced the beta extension on X/Twitter.

(UPDATED October 22, 2026 18:10 UTC)

Blizzard has extended the World of Warcraft: Forever beta by three days, giving players more time to try the game before its full launch on November 4. The beta will now end October 23 at 10am PT / 1pm ET. Blizzard developers said they were surprised by the number of people who joined, and players have created one million characters so far. Name reservations open October 27, letting players claim names for three characters. All beta progress will be erased when the game launches. The test keeps a classic feel by leaving out some modern conveniences, including shared tagging, while bringing back the “Kyle’s Gone Missing” quest in Mulgore. Blizzard is also enforcing character-name rules and cracking down on gold selling. Players have even placed campfires near new-character spawn points, causing some characters to die before their intro cinematic ends.