WoW Forever Launch Checklist: Your First Day and Week

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1. 1Now

   Install Forever in the Battle.net app

   Game Version menu, World of Warcraft: Forever, Install.

2. 2Before your first character

   Pick a ruleset and a faction with your group

   Groups never cross rulesets or factions.

3. 3At character creation

   Pick a two-part name and backups

   Main name plus secondary name, unique as a pair in your region.

4. 4Until Nov 11

   Send your Invite-A-Friend codes

   Friends play until November 11 without a subscription.

5. 5Before your first login

   Install your starter addons

   Quests, bags, boss timers and a leveling route.

6. 6First login

   First login: language, look, first quest

   Set your language, then log out and back in.

7. 7First week

   Your first week

   First Aid, a gathering profession, your first dungeon.

Before your first character: install Forever and plan with your group

Three jobs to sort out before you create a character. Settle them with your group and your first evening is all about playing.

1Now

Install Forever in the Battle.net app

1. Battle.net app
2. World of Warcraft
3. Game Version
4. World of Warcraft: Forever
5. Install

Once it is installed, press Play, pick the Classic or Enhanced preset and choose your ruleset.

• Announced

  You play Forever with your WoW subscription or Game Time. The Skyborne Epic Pack and the Warcraft Forever Collection add 30 days of Game Time from November 4.

• Beta data

  The launch client is build 1.60.1.70790, listed on November 4.

Not published yet · checked Nov 5
Blizzard has not named the download size. We add it as soon as it does.

Source: Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever Now Live! (November 4)Source: Client data: Blizzard builds on wago.tools

2Before your first character

Pick a ruleset and a faction with your group

Settle this with your friends first. A ruleset and a faction decide who you can ever group with.

• Announced

  You choose Normal, PvP, Roleplaying or Roleplay-PvP, all four live since launch. Hardcore follows later, with no date yet.

• Announced

  Groups, dungeons and raids stay inside one ruleset, and Horde and Alliance never group. Battlegrounds mix every ruleset except Hardcore.

• Announced

  On PvP your account plays one faction, and Blizzard may pause new characters of one faction to keep the sides even.

• Announced

  Switching rulesets later means a new character, but your collections and Legacy Points count across rulesets.

Still torn on the race? The race tier list ranks the racials, the class tier list the classes.

Rulesets and world PvPNormal, PvP, Roleplaying, Roleplay-PvP and Hardcore side by side

Source: Blizzard: Choose Your Ruleset (September 21)

3At character creation

Pick a two-part name and backups

Pick your name before you open the character screen. Popular ones go in the first hours.

• Announced

  Every name has two parts, a main name and a secondary name. The full pair must be unique in your region, so one part on its own may repeat.

• Announced

  Blocked words count across both parts together, so a pair can fail even when each half is fine.

• Announced

  Names go first come first served and Blizzard guarantees none, so write down two or three backups per character.

• Announced

  The option My Secondary Name under Options, Nameplates hides your secondary name in the world. Chat still shows it.

Source: Blizzard: Create a Name of Your Own (September 21)Source: Blizzard: Claim Your World of Warcraft: Forever Character Names (October 20)

Every upgrade pack comes with launch codes for friends without a subscription. That is your shot at getting the old guild back together while launch week runs.

• 1codeSkyborne Heroic Pack
• 3codesSkyborne Epic Pack
• 3codesWarcraft Forever Collection

• Announced

  Blizzard sends the codes by email from October 20 (PST).

• Announced

  Your friend redeems the code on Battle.net and plays from November 4 to 11 (PST) without a subscription or Game Time. After that week they need one to keep playing.

• Announced

  The codes give no beta access, and packs bought as a gift come without codes.

• Confirmed

  A launch bug blocked code players from some chat channels, leveling past 10, guilds, groups and trading. A hotfix on November 5 fixed it, so log out and back in if it still happens.

Source: Blizzard: Pre-Purchase World of Warcraft: Forever UpgradesSource: Blizzard forums: Issues Resolved for Invite-a-Friend Players (Kaivax, November 5)

Set up the few addons you really need now, so you are not reading install guides while everyone else levels. One addon per job is plenty for the first week.

Status from our addon list, checked Nov 10.

• Confirmed

  Blizzard’s addon rules make every addon free. Never pay for one.

• Confirmed

  The game already brings a lot: Edit Mode for your layout, a Damage Meter, combined bags and the Cooldown Manager, which covers all nine classes since October 8. Try those before you add more.

• Player report

  WeakAuras is blocked by the addon rules of Forever, so do not plan your UI around it.

• Beta

  In the beta the addon folder was World of Warcraft\_classic_beta_\Interface\AddOns.

Install addonsFolder, addon apps and errorsBuilt-in UIWhat the game does without addonsAll addonsEvery addon with its Forever status

Source: Blizzard forums: UI Add-On Development Policy

Forever is live since November 4, 3 PM PST, 00:00 CET on November 5, in every region at once. Do these in order when you log in for the first time.

Launched in your time zone:Thursday, November 5, 00:00 CET in Central Europe

Launch time in every region

At your first login

1. 1

   Set your Preferred Online Language under Esc, Options, System, Languages and Social. It matches you with players who picked the same language, counts for your whole account and can change once every 24 hours. Check text and audio there too, then log out and back in.

   Announced
2. 2

   Pick a look. Before the ruleset the game asks once for a preset: the Classic one keeps SD models, no quest markers, separate bags, transmog off and the classic layout, Enhanced turns on HD models, quest markers, combined bags, transmog, strafe keys and the centered layout. You can change every setting later in the options, and each new character picks HD or SD models on its own.

   Announced
3. 3

   New to WoW? Play the tutorial. Forever adds a new tutorial for new players and updates the in-game tutorials.

   Confirmed
4. 4

   Then head for your class quest. Your start zone and the first quest of your class are right below.

Launch week fixes and a fresh start

• Confirmed

  Boats and zeppelins got lost for long stretches on launch night. Until the fix is in, portals near most docks and inside the zeppelin towers take you across.

• Announced

  Some areas feel emptier than they should, and Blizzard plans to tweak the numbers so they feel livelier.

• Announced

  The characters, names and guilds of the October 21 stress test were deleted.

• Player report

  Players report that beta characters did not carry over to launch either.

• Player report

  Beta players reported layer swaps in groups and in PvP. How realms and layers work.

Release and what is liveWhat is live, the first hotfixes and every date

Source: Blizzard forums: Language and Social Settings (Kaivax, November 4)Source: Blizzard: Choose Your Ruleset (September 21)Source: Blizzard forums: temporary portals while boats and zeppelins get lost (Aggrend, November 5)Source: Blizzard forums: areas that feel too empty (Aggrend, November 5)Source: Blizzard: Join the World of Warcraft: Forever Stress TestSource: Blizzard forums: What is going to be done about layering before launch? (player thread)

Your first hours by class

Your first class quest, the spec most players level with and one habit worth building early. Pick your class.

WarriorPaladinHunterRoguePriestShamanMageWarlockDruid

Warrior

TankDamage

Level as

Arms

First class quest

Level 10A Warrior's Training Alliance·Veteran Uzzek HordeBeta→ Defensive Stance

Tip

Swap in every better weapon you find, it carries most of your damage. You have no heals of your own, so carry food and rest between pulls.

Warrior guideTalent Path: Warrior

Paladin

TankHealerDamage

Level as

Retribution

First class quest

Level 12The Tome of Divinity Alliance·A Lesson in Divinity HordeBeta→ Redemption

Tip

Blessings last an hour now, so you buff yourself and your group once. At level 20 three new spells arrive at once, so plan a trainer visit.

Paladin guideTalent Path: Paladin

Hunter

Damage

Level as

Beast Mastery

First class quest

Level 10Taming the Beast Alliance·Taming the Beast HordeBeta→ Tame Beast and Beast Training

Tip

Until the pet quest at 10 you fight alone, so shoot while the mob runs in. Buy ammo in bulk and carry food your pet likes.

Hunter guideTalent Path: Hunter

Rogue

Damage

Level as

Combat

First class quest

Level 20Mathias and the Defias Alliance·The Shattered Salute HordeBeta→ Poisons

Tip

Upgrade your main-hand weapon first. Your strikes and auto attacks hit with it, and a slow sword, axe or mace speeds up every kill.

Rogue guideTalent Path: Rogue

Priest

HealerDamage

Level as

Shadow

First class quest

Level 5In Favor of the Light Alliance·In Favor of Darkness HordeClassic→ Priest robe: Friar's Robes of the Light or Acolyte's Sacrificial Robes

Tip

Finish mobs with a wand. It costs no mana and keeps your mana regeneration running between casts.

Priest guideTalent Path: Priest

Shaman

DamageHealer

Level as

Enhancement

First class quest

Level 4Call of Earth Alliance·Call of Earth HordeBeta→ Earth Totem and Stoneskin Totem

Tip

Never skip a totem quest. They come at 4, 10 and 20, and your totem spells need the totems they give.

Shaman guideTalent Path: Shaman

Mage

Damage

Level as

Frost

First class quest

Level 10Speak with BelannBeta→ Windbough Wand (Skyborne only)Every other race gets its first class quest at 30.

Tip

Get a wand early and finish mobs with it to save mana. Every second level, drag the new spell ranks onto your bars yourself.

Mage guideTalent Path: Mage

Warlock

Damage

Level as

Affliction

First class quest

Level 10Gakin's Summons Alliance·Gan'rul's Summons HordeClassic→ Summon Voidwalker

Tip

Your first demon comes with the class quest at 10. Send it in first and let it hold the mob while your spells tick.

Warlock guideTalent Path: Warlock

Druid

TankHealerDamage

Level as

Feral Combat

First class quest

Level 10Heeding the Call Alliance·Heeding the Call HordeBeta→ Bear Form

Tip

Until 10 you fight as a caster. Your forms from 10 and 20 hit with your weapon, so keep upgrading it.

Druid guideTalent Path: Druid

A plan for your first days, in the order you will need it.

1. 1

   Level 1 to 10 in your start zone and learn First Aid on the way. Bandages save you a lot of downtime.

2. 2

   Pick a gathering profession for gold, and try Camping, the new skill: its first objects come at skill 20. The profession tier list helps you choose.

3. 3

   Run your first dungeon at 13–18: Hall of Thanes or Ragefire Chasm, then Ruins of Lordaeron at 15–20. Tanks and healers find a group fastest, and the Dungeon Finder shows what fits your level.

4. 4

   Plan your Legacy perks in the Legacy Calculator before you spend your first points.

5. 5

   Heading for City of Dalaran at 28–33? It needs an attunement questline first, so pick that up on the way.

6. 6

   Watch four hours of WoW on Twitch by November 12 for the Pouch of Violet Dust. It stretches the benefits of a camp to two hours until early December.

7. 7

   Guild on Discord? Turn on Discord in the Social options and link your account. Officers connect the guild in the Guild Control settings, and only players with linked accounts show up in Discord.

8. 8

   The new raids open on December 9. The raid guides collect what is known so far.

The full route from 1 to 60, zone by zone, is in the leveling guide. That route takes many evenings. If you would rather spend your first week on dungeons and professions, a WoW Forever leveling boost plays those levels for you.

Source: Blizzard: Explore the New Dungeons (October 20)Source: Blizzard: Set Your Campfire Ablaze with the Pouch of Violet Dust! (November 5)Source: Blizzard: Stay Connected in World of Warcraft with DiscordSource: Blizzard: What’s Next Panel Recap