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Level cap 60 for good, no NA and EU play together, and the first raid bosses, says Blizzard's end-of-beta podcast
Blizzard's end-of-beta podcast: the level cap stays at 60, no NA and EU play together at launch, beta secrets switch on at launch, campfire damage gets another look, and the first raid bosses.
Oct 22, 2026Checked against build 1.60.1.704503 min read
Blizzard’s fifth podcast went out as the beta closed. Clay Stone, Associate Production Director of WoW Forever, sat with lead software engineer Ana Resendez, lead encounter designer Michael Nuthals and Aggrend, with host Josh Corbett and the guest Meeix. Here is what’s new, with a link to the moment each point is said.
The beta, and why launch is two weeks later
The beta stopped at level 30 on purpose: four of the nine new dungeons and no raids, so most of 30 to 60 was tested only inside Blizzard. ▶ 8:45 The two weeks between the beta’s end and the November 4 launch go to moving to the live hardware and setting up the rulesets; the beta ran on different machines. ▶ 11:32 The beta closes at 10:00 a.m. PDT on October 23, and every date to launch is on what’s new.
Owners of the Epic Edition reserve names from next week, the team repeated. ▶ 12:15 The start times by region are in WoW Forever name reservation.
It was one of the biggest betas Blizzard has run, Clay said, with no number. Stats may come out before launch.
▶ 1:04:54 ▶ 1:07:47Level cap 60, for good
“We’re keeping the level cap at level 60,” Clay said. New content comes through leveling and the endgame instead.
▶ 35:49The levels past 30 add quests where Classic had gaps, and the new dungeons. Our tour of them is leveling past 30: Riverglades and Mount Hyjal.
▶ 29:18Servers, regions and your language
There are still servers, and the region is the one hard line: no NA and EU play together at launch. A language setting places you with players of your language, but it isn’t a wall. The details are in WoW Forever realms explained.
▶ 49:15 ▶ 50:38A tech episode on servers and layering is coming, and it will cover the clip of players vanishing outside Orgrimmar. ▶ 1:38:25
Datamining and secrets
Clay addressed the items datamined in recent days: some of what turns up is “not intended for” WoW Forever, because the versions of WoW share code and assets. He didn’t name an item. ▶ 3:47 New items stay hidden until a player finds one, and the maps of dungeons and raids not yet open can’t be loaded.
▶ 18:54 ▶ 19:45That fits what we see: new Forever items are encrypted in the client.
Some secrets in levels 1 to 30 were switched off in the beta and arrive at launch. ▶ 15:16 Two named finds: a torch you get from someone in Duskwood, held back in the beta’s first week, and pants from the Deadmines that speed up smelting. ▶ 17:23 ▶ 18:54 The city guards who catch thieves now carry torches, at night only. ▶ 1:11:16
Campfires, controllers and the world
Campfires killed players in the beta, some of them placed on newcomers in the starting zones. Blizzard will look at how they hurt you, without making them harmless. Can campfires kill you?
▶ 1:01:16Controller play was built with help from the Diablo team and works for dungeons, tanking and healing: WoW Forever controller support. ▶ 57:10
Other players were the most common killer in the beta, by Blizzard’s death maps. ▶ 1:02:53 In the first week, creatures in the new areas noticed you from too short a distance; it was fixed the week after.
▶ 1:03:27Rain sounds different indoors now: you hear it on the roof of the Goldshire inn. ▶ 25:29
Raids and dungeons
Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20 and Onyxia’s Lair for 40 open on December 9 (the date is Blizzard’s Oct 20 post, not the podcast). Blizzard means to keep adding 10- and 20-player content patch after patch.
▶ 1:13:40The goal is fights a prepared group with its consumables can beat, and in the Classic style, a missed mechanic kills you, not the whole raid. ▶ 1:14:23 ▶ 1:29:56 There’s nothing new to say about Molten Core yet. ▶ 1:16:51
The encounter designer described three of the new fights. They’re in the spoiler fold of WoW Forever raids open December 9.
The Classic dungeons are as they were, apart from quest and objective changes. The new ones were built on the Classic Era client so they feel made in 2004, with doors a key, a Rogue or an explosive can open.
▶ 1:18:19 ▶ 1:19:34Every dungeon and its level is on WoW Forever dungeons.
A teaser
Homes, manors and instance portals hidden in the world hint at what comes later, Nuthals said. That’s a tease, not an announcement. ▶ 1:37:47
The BoF Guide, Bind on Forever’s free WoW Forever in-game leveling guide, takes every race from level 1 to 30 at launch.
Questions
Will WoW Forever raise the level cap above 60?
No. In the Oct 22 podcast Blizzard said it is keeping the level cap at 60 and will add content to leveling and the endgame instead.
Can NA and EU players play together in WoW Forever?
Not at launch. Blizzard said in the Oct 22 podcast that regions are the one hard line, and that cross-region play isn't how launch will work. It didn't rule it out for later.
When did the WoW Forever beta end?
On October 23, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. PDT, by Blizzard's post. The Oct 22 podcast went out in the beta's last hours. Launch is November 4.