How to Get Into the WoW Forever Beta, Which Opens September 17

The WoW Forever beta opens Thursday, September 17 and runs to late October with a level cap of 30 (the full schedule to launch is here). If you want to be in it on the 17th, you buy the Skyborne Epic Pack, the $60 tier. That is the only way in that is a promise.

The paid way, which is the real way

The Skyborne Epic Pack includes beta access from September 17. So does the Warcraft Forever Collection, which contains the Epic Pack. Blizzard's pre-purchase post is explicit that guaranteed beta starts at the Epic tier. Buy it, and you play on Thursday.

The $29.99 Skyborne Heroic Pack does not include beta access. One Wowhead article said it did. Blizzard's post says otherwise, and Blizzard's post wins. If you buy the Heroic Pack expecting to play on the 17th, you will be disappointed.

What the Heroic Pack does get you, per Blizzard: the Skyborne race and the Zephras Isle starting experience, early name reservation from October 27, the Cerulean Prideclaw ground mount (riding skill still required), the Shen'dorei Skyseer's Garb, the Veteran Adventurer's Rucksack, the Shen'dorei Windwell toy, Skyborne housing decor for modern WoW, and one Invite-A-Friend launch code.

The Epic Pack adds the beta, 30 days of Game Time from November 4, more Veteran Adventurer cosmetics, tabards, pets, and three invite codes in total.

The free opt-in is a lottery ticket

There is a Beta Opt-In button on the World of Warcraft: Forever page on Battle.net. Blizzard's own wording is that it gives you "a chance at Beta access." A chance. Not a slot, not a date. If you opted in for Season of Discovery or Cataclysm Classic you know how this goes: a few people get in early, most get in late or never.

Press it anyway, it costs nothing. Do not plan Thursday around it.

What you can do in the beta

Level to 30. That is enough to play the Skyborne starting isle in full, run Hall of Thanes (13 to 18), the ruins of Lordaeron (15 to 20), and get into Dalaran (20 to 35). It is not enough to see any of the four 40-to-60 dungeons or any capstone talent, so temper the tier list arguments accordingly. Protection Paladin's new toolkit is the one headline change you can actually test at 30, which is why it leads our five specs to play first.

Two things people keep getting wrong

The beta is not the game. Anything datamined from the beta client is a beta value, and Blizzard has said talent detail will move before November 4.

And the end date is fuzzy. Blizzard's blog says October 21, Blizzard's roadmap graphic says October 22. Neither is worth arguing about. Treat the last week of October as the end.