WoW Forever is live: what launch brings and what comes later

World of Warcraft: Forever is now live in all regions. Blizzard confirmed the launch in a post dated 4 November; in Central Europe the simultaneous release fell at midnight on 5 November. The game is set after Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core, and players level from 1 to 60 across the original continents.

Blizzard counts more than 1,000 new quests across those levels. New or reimagined destinations include Mount Hyjal, Shen'dralas between Mulgore and Desolace, Riverglades with more than 150 new quests aimed mostly at the mid-30s to mid-40s, and Zephras Isle, the starting zone for levels 1 to 12. There are also 9 new 5-player dungeons for levels 13 to 60 and a 15 vs 15 battleground, Battle for the Darkspear Islands.

The first login asks for an Experience Preset before anything else. Classic keeps the older models and interface and leaves quest markers off, while Enhanced turns on HD models, quest markers, the single bag and transmog. Blizzard suggests Enhanced if you are unsure, and every setting can be changed later in the options.

After that comes the choice of ruleset rather than a realm: Normal, PvP, Roleplay or Roleplay PvP. Hardcore is due sometime after launch, with no date yet. Raids also wait: on 9 December level 60 players can enter Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia's Lair.

The first minutes were not smooth. Players who got through the login queue reported that every gameplay ruleset was showing as unavailable, which stopped them going further. According to reports, anyone stuck on that screen needs to rejoin the queue. Blizzard had not commented on this when this article was written.