The short version
The WoW Forever beta is closed. It was set to end at 10:00 a.m. PDT on 23 October 2026 (Blizzard announcement (opens in a new tab)), and Blizzard's community manager thanked testers after five weeks (Blizzard post (opens in a new tab)). Early Name Reservation opens on 27 October and the game launches on 4 November. Blizzard has not published a statement on what happens to beta characters, so treat everything you build there as temporary.
What Blizzard confirmed
- The beta closes permanently on 23 October, 20:00 in Greece (Blizzard announcement (opens in a new tab)).
- Every character and name made in the 21 October Stress Test was wiped (Blizzard announcement (opens in a new tab)).
- Early Name Reservation is for players with a qualifying upgrade, on the WoW account the purchase was made for. It runs from 27 October to 3 November, up to three characters (Blizzard announcement (opens in a new tab)).
- Launch is on 4 November at 3:00 p.m. PST. Blizzard's closing post repeats 4 November and says the days until then go to priority issues and the game service (Blizzard post (opens in a new tab)).
- Character creation opens on Tuesday 27 October: you can pick a ruleset and a name before launch (Blizzard post (opens in a new tab)).
Not confirmed
We found no Blizzard post that says beta characters are deleted at launch, or that they carry over. Some outlets and players state a full wipe as fact, but without a Blizzard source, so we do not. We also found nothing saying that beta access alone reserves a name. Do not rely on a beta character or name surviving.
What to do now
- Plan your classes and dungeons, see leveling dungeons.
- Write down the name pairs you want, then see Early Name Reservation for start times and rules.
- Read our patch notes for the final beta build.