BlizzCon 2026: WoW Forever, Warcraft III's Forsaken Kingdom, and more

Blizzard used BlizzCon 2026's opening ceremony to announce a full roadmap for the Warcraft universe, capping it with the long-awaited Classic+ experience now officially named World of Warcraft: Forever, launching November 4, 2026. The show also covered modern WoW's expansion pipeline, a surprise Warcraft III story add-on, and updates for Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. Blizzard separately revealed Diablo V and a StarCraft open-world shooter at the same event.

WoW: Forever

WoW: Forever is the headline. It's the Classic+ concept players have debated for years — a version of vanilla World of Warcraft that evolves beyond the 2004 content without following the modern expansion track. The November 4 launch brings three new zones, more than 1,000 quests, two raids, nine dungeons, and a new playable race: the Skyborn Elves. A beta opens September 17.

For players already on modern WoW, two expansions were detailed. The Last Titan closes out the Worldsoul Saga in 2027 — game director Ion Hazzikostas called it "the culmination of over two decades of World of Warcraft history." Midnight gets a major content update called Eclipse, though no release date was given.

Warcraft III's surprise campaign

The bigger shock of the night was a shadow-drop: Warcraft III: Reforged — Forsaken Kingdom is available right now on Battle.net. The campaign covers the fall of Lordaeron and runs more than 30 hours. It adds a new graphics mode, a new neutral hero (the Forsaken Paladin), map editor improvements, and raises the unit selection cap to 24. The voiceover is English-only and not localized for other languages, per Battle.net. The base Reforged Definitive Edition patch is free; the Forsaken Kingdom campaign is paid DLC, though pricing was not disclosed at the event.

Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm

Hearthstone gets a large expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, on October 20, 2026. It takes players into Azeroth's past to fight the Old Gods, introduces a card-merging mechanic for powerful combinations, an updated story journal, and a 2v2 team mode. The Monk class joins the roster in March 2027.

Heroes of the Storm, the MOBA Blizzard has kept on life support for years, gets its first new hero in six years. Xal'atath joins the Nexus in late September — a small update, but notable given the game's long drought. The UK is home to Method, arguably the most decorated raid guild in WoW history, and competitive WoW engagement is currently at a four-year high, per Quantumrun — WoW: Forever is clearly aimed at pulling lapsed players back in.