World of Warcraft: Forever Beta Extended to 23 October

The beta test for World of Warcraft: Forever has been extended until Friday, 23 October 2026. Eurogamer reported the change on Wednesday, 21 October, after Clayton Stone, an associate production director on the game, announced it on X.

A beta is a pre-launch test where players try an unfinished version of a game and report problems. The test had been due to close on 21 October. Blizzard's original beta announcement, published on 17 September, set that end date when the beta opened.

The extra days give players at levels 1 to 30 more time to keep playing before the beta servers go down that weekend. The level cap, the highest level a character can reach, was raised from 20 to 30 during the beta, according to Blizzard's official Warcraft Facebook page.

Blizzard is also running a server stress test on 21 October. A stress test is a session with many players on at once, used to check that the servers hold up under load. The test is open to players who do not have beta access. Blizzard's forum post from 20 October said the beta would come offline on that date, and that the game would then open on the regional hardware it will run on at launch.

Players who want a particular character name will get a chance to reserve one. Reservations open the week after the beta servers go down, according to the extension report.

The full launch is scheduled for 4 November 2026. Wowhead, a fan site that tracks the game, also lists 23 October as the beta end date and 4 November as the expected release.

Hunters are one class players have been trying out. In its class deep dive for Hunter and Druid, published on 30 September, Blizzard lists three hunter specialisations: Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival. A specialisation is a branch of a class that changes how the character plays.

For anyone who has been waiting for a chance to try the game, the extension adds two days of beta play before the servers close. The launch date has not moved from 4 November.