WoW Forever's developers said in an interview with MrGM that the new raids would open worldwide on Wednesday, December 9, 2026, and that the game will never have flying mounts. Kris Zierhut and Josh Greenfield also explained the Black Market Auction House and how hard the raid bosses should be. These points come from Wowhead's summary of the interview, published on November 7.
Raids: one worldwide launch
- The developers set the raids' worldwide launch for December 9, at the same moment in every region, with no time announced. Blizzard's roadmap opens three: the new Barrow Deeps (10 players) and Hyjal Summit (20), and Onyxia's Lair (40). Our raids guide lists every boss, and our launch countdown follows the date.
- The difficulty they aim for is a typical Naxxramas boss: not The Four Horsemen, but harder than Molten Core. Fights should last long enough to use a cooldown several times.
- Barrow Deeps should feel "more like Karazhan" than Upper Blackrock Spire: after a few weeks or months, a pickup group should clear it.
- Every boss has a lower chance to drop rarer "chase items", perhaps ten across a raid, and a new legendary staff has been revealed.
- An item's data is not sent to the game until a player finds the item, and every new dungeon or raid will hide its drops this way.
- A test realm (PTR) is likely, for stability, but raids should not be on it.
The Black Market Auction House
The developers want somewhere for players' gold to go, against inflation. At launch the Black Market Auction House stays small: a few mounts and pets, and mostly items a boss keeps refusing to drop, such as a hat from Darkmaster Gandling. It also sells dungeon set pieces, which the quest chain of Lord Valthalak in Blackrock Spire needs. Rivendare's Deathcharger is no longer on it. Another vendor sells rare resources such as Black Lotus, to cap a reagent's price rather than spawn more of it.
