Three New Zones, Nine New Dungeons. What Blizzard Named at BlizzCon 2026.

Blizzard's own summary of the opening ceremony says World of Warcraft: Forever ships with "three new zones, over 1,000 new quests, nine new dungeons, two new raids, the new Skyborne race." Then the What's Next panel named four regions. The gap is Zephras Isle, which Blizzard counts as the Skyborne starting experience rather than one of the three. So: three new zones plus a starting isle, and the thousand quests run across the whole 1 to 60 game, not only inside the new areas.

The zones

Mount Hyjal is the endgame leveling zone, set after Archimonde's defeat, with his bones on the slopes in the cinematic. Solo and group content, new reputations, and it holds the Hyjal Summit raid plus one of the three entrances to Barrow Deeps.

Shen'dralas (Blizzard's spelling, with the s) picks up the night elves still in Dire Maul and the war between the centaur tribes, and gives you new reasons to run Maraudon and Razorfen Downs. Blizzard's Found Photos recap adds a Valley of Bones route into it.

The Riverglades is the big one. A mid-30s to mid-40s frontier of rivers, grasslands and trade routes, about the size of Stranglethorn Vale, built from a part of the Classic map you could never enter. Its neighbors are the Burning Steppes, Redridge, the Swamp of Sorrows and the Badlands. There is a neutral goblin port, Powderfuse Port, which is where the new Steamwheedle ship out of Tanaris lands, and one new dungeon. Blizzard's two recaps disagree on the quest count: the What's Next recap says "more than 150," the Found Photos recap says "nearly 200." Both are Blizzard. A number in the 170s satisfies both.

Zephras Isle is the Skyborne start, levels 1 to 12, an elemental island with architecture in the style of Skywall. The Skyborne are also called the shen'dorei, and their history begins with rebels who fled Eldre'Thalas after the War of the Ancients, which ties the new race straight back to Shen'dralas.

The nine dungeons

Level ranges are Blizzard's where given. Where Blizzard gave none, I say so.

• Hall of Thanes, 13 to 18, Alliance-led. Blizzard's line is that "Horde players may want to take some for themselves."
• The ruins of Lordaeron, 15 to 20, Horde-led, with lingering Scourge. "Alliance may find their way in too."
• Dalaran, 20 to 35. A city dungeon. The barrier is down after Warcraft III and the Kirin Tor "don't quite have the situation under control."
• Excavation Site in the Wetlands, an Explorers' League dig. No level range yet.
• The Drowned City, an ancient troll ruin off the Stranglethorn coast. This was the BlizzCon show-floor demo. No level range yet.
• Blackmaw Hold, the "great furbolg city." No level range yet.
• Alcaz Island Prison, 40 to 60.
• The Shaper's Terrace, 40 to 60.
• Krol'Dok Stronghold, 40 to 60.

The list comes from the What's Next panel and Blizzard's recap of it. Wowhead's Sep 12 article added the caveat that the names surfaced through a set of achievements and "may not be complete." Blizzard has said nine, twice. I am going with nine until a tenth appears.

The raids

Two new raids at launch is Blizzard's count: Barrow Deeps at 10 players, a night elf prison holding "one particularly infamous character we probably aren't prepared to deal with yet," and Hyjal Summit at 20 players, "being drained of power." Both open December 9 alongside 40-player Onyxia's Lair, five weeks after launch (see every date before launch). New legendary quests and new tier sets are confirmed with no names attached.

What is still open

Blackmaw Hold's level. The Excavation Site's level. The Drowned City's level. Whether "nearly 200" or "more than 150" is closer for the Riverglades. And whether Shen'dralas sits "between Mulgore and Desolace," as one Wowhead article had it, when Dire Maul is in Feralas. Blizzard's own recap did not place it on the map, so I am treating that as a question rather than a contradiction.