WoW Forever roadmap: raids, Hardcore and the next updates, with their dates

What is on the WoW Forever roadmap?

Blizzard's WoW Forever roadmap, shown at BlizzCon on September 12, 2026, has four seasons under the title "2026 | 2027": autumn for the launch, winter for the raids of December 9 and Hardcore, then "major updates" in spring and summer. Beyond the beta and the name reservation, already past, only the launch and December 9 carry a day. A line at the bottom warns: "Content and timing subject to change."

The image says only "Spring" and "Summer", in columns that follow winter under its "2026 | 2027" title: that is why we write spring 2027 and summer 2027. Blizzard's recap of September 12 sums the plan up in one sentence: after December 9 come "more raids, dungeons, PvP updates, world content, additional quests throughout the level 1–60 journey, Hardcore, a revamped iconic raid, and major updates". For what the launch itself contains, see our release guide.

When do raids open after the WoW Forever launch?

Raids are the first new content after launch: on December 9, 2026, five weeks later, the Barrow Deeps (10 players), Hyjal Summit (20) and Onyxia's Lair (40) open together for level 60 players, Blizzard's raid overview of October 20 says, "giving players time after launch to reach level 60". All three are "currently planned to reset each week". Blizzard's recap promises new tier sets and a legendary reward with them.

Blizzard has given no opening hour and no reset day. The 21 new bosses, the Drakefire Amulet that Onyxia's Lair requires and what is known of the loot are in our raids guide; the nine new dungeons of the launch, from level 13 to 60, are in our dungeons guide and on the dungeons pages.

When does Hardcore come to WoW Forever?

Blizzard has not dated Hardcore (mode Extrême in French). Its roadmap of September 12, 2026 puts the "Forever Hardcore" launch under winter, next to the raids of December 9. Its articles of October 28 and October 29 say "coming later" and "Additional details and timing will be shared later", without naming a season. Winter remains the only season Blizzard has given.

What is settled: Hardcore is not part of the launch, and it will have 12 Legacy challenges of its own from its first day. Its rules, what happens on death and the press's different readings of "winter" are in our Hardcore guide.

What comes to WoW Forever in spring 2027?

The spring column of Blizzard's WoW Forever roadmap is headed "major updates" and lists 2 new raids, one for 10 players and one for 20, 2 new dungeons, new quests and a playable area, a new legendary questline and a PvP season refresh. Blizzard names none of them and gives no month, and its recap of September 12 adds no detail.

• Raids: the third and fourth new raids of the plan, after the two of December 9. Our raids guide lists what is known of the first ones.
• Dungeons: 2 more, on top of the nine new ones of the launch. The developers quoted by MassivelyOP on October 13, 2026 said: "We promise to consistently add new leveling dungeons and new leveling zones."
• Zone: "new quests & playable area", with no place named. The zones of the launch are in our zones guide.
• PvP: a season refresh. Reward periods should roughly follow the raid releases, the developers said at PAX Australia, JudgeHype reported on October 13, 2026. See our PvP guide.

Icy Veins' roadmap article listed "2 new class and race combos" for spring 2027; Blizzard's image shows the new legendary questline instead, and no new combination. Blizzard's recap of September 13, 2026 says only that more are "planned for future updates", with no date.

What comes to WoW Forever in summer 2027?

Blizzard's WoW Forever roadmap fills summer 2027 with a "revamped iconic raid", a new raid, expanded world content, 2 new dungeons, a PvP season refresh and updates to professions and the Legacy system. The iconic raid is not named: Blizzard's recap repeats the same words without saying which raid it is. No month is given for any of it.

Molten Core, Blackwing Lair and the other Classic raids are not named anywhere on the roadmap, and we won't guess which one returns: see the section on Classic raids in our raids guide. The professions and Legacy updates carry no detail yet; today's versions are on our professions pages and in the Legacy challenges guide.

How often will WoW Forever get big updates?

About every four months, if the plan holds. Kris Zierhut, WoW Forever's principal game designer, told IGN on October 27, 2026 that the team is "fairly convinced the correct update] rate is something closer to once every four months or 17 weeks or three times a year". That is a developer quoted by the press, not a calendar from Blizzard. [Gamewave reported it in French on October 28.

• Content in between: "we do plan on making content that unlocks in between", with things that unlock "two or three months in or one month into that", Zierhut told IGN.
• Too fast: Season of Discovery's "eight week or 10 week schedule" "felt way, way, way too fast".
• Too slow: "going six or eight months without new stuff always feels bad".

IGN and Gamewave then name a month for the first major update. That is their own deduction from this rhythm and the roadmap: neither Zierhut's quotes nor Blizzard's image give a month, so we don't either. Blizzard's own word is "Spring".

What else has Blizzard promised beyond the roadmap?

Beyond the roadmap, Blizzard's Legacy article of September 23, 2026 plans new Legacy challenges "in every new content release", and its Skyborne update of October 7 puts standard definition Skyborne models and druid forms in "early 2027". The roadmap's footer also says more news will come and that features will evolve with player feedback. Two more Blizzard texts are listed below; the rest comes from developers quoted by the press.

• Legacy (Blizzard): over time, new challenges, new perks, more ways to spend points, higher spending caps, new columns and maybe new trees (Deep Dive, September 13, 2026), plus Hardcore challenges and perks. Details in our Legacy guide.
• Continents (press): the focus "especially in the first few years" is to keep adventures in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms (MassivelyOP, October 13, 2026); Holly Longdale said nothing is ruled out for Northrend or Pandaria (JudgeHype, October 12, 2026).
• Races (press): Blizzard "isn't (currently) planning" to add the other races of the modern game (MassivelyOP).
• Class tuning (Blizzard): apart from bugs and "serious outliers", no "big tuning changes between now and the opening of the raids next month", on December 9, then "a large tuning pass" once enough players level past 30, and classes that "will continue to evolve over the course of the months and years ahead" (notes of November 2, 2026).
• Seasons and consoles (press): no Seasons planned for now, a Season of Discovery style experience possible, no console version to announce (JudgeHype, October 13, 2026).

What has Blizzard not announced for WoW Forever?

As of November 1, 2026, Blizzard has given no date for Hardcore, no opening hour or reset day for the raids of December 9, no month for spring or summer 2027, and no name for any raid, dungeon or zone after December 9. It has not said which raid is the "revamped iconic raid", and its roadmap shows no new class, no new race and no expansion.

This page lists what Blizzard or its developers said, nothing else: game files can hold data that never ships, so we don't present it as coming. We update the table when Blizzard publishes more; our patch notes guide follows the changes as they arrive.