The beta
Worth deciding
Ruleset before anything else
There are no realms to pick, but the ruleset is the same commitment in a different coat: Normal if you want PvP on your own terms, PvP if you want the world to be dangerous, Roleplaying if you want the servers where people type in character. Hardcore is not available at launch, and moving into it later is not possible — only out of it.
Faction, with the new pairs in mind
If the reason you play is a specific pairing — Undead Paladin, Dwarf Shaman — that decides the faction. The Skyborne are the only race that can go either way: you pick Horde or Alliance when you create the character, and that choice also sets the class list — Shaman only as a Horde Windshaper, Mage only as an Alliance High Order (Blizzard's Meet the New Skyborne post of 22 September 2026).
The pack question
Only if you want a Skyborne or an early claim on your names; the beta ended on 23 October. The game is in the subscription. See the editions page.
Reserve your names between 27 October and 3 November
Any pack, Heroic included, unlocks Early Name Reservation: from 27 October to 3 November you can create and customise up to three characters per account, across all rulesets, and names go first come, first served. It opens on the 27th at 1 PM Pacific in the Americas and at 18:00 CET in Europe. Without a pack you name yours on the 4th, in the queue with everyone else.
A controller is a real option
Native Xbox controller support, no addon. If you have wanted to play WoW from a couch, this is the version that officially lets you.
Clear the evening of the 4th
3 PM Pacific is midnight in central Europe. Expect launch-day queues on a game with no realms to spread them across; Blizzard's answer so far was a public stress test of the launch servers on 21 October.
What we'll add on launch day
- The dungeon pages with bosses and loot, once they can be run.
- The Skyborne starting quests on Zephras Isle; their classes and racials are already published.
- The Legacy trees in full, node by node.
- Whatever Blizzard says about Classic Era characters, the moment it says it.