Everything Forever changes.
22 things worth knowing before 4 November, from the campfire you can light in the middle of nowhere to a world with no realms in it at all.
We mark where each one comes from. 3 are confirmed in the beta client we extracted ourselves; the rest come from Blizzard's announcements and panels and have not been re-checked against the beta yet. Nothing here is guessed.
The world
A level cap that stays put
Sixty, permanently. Everything added from here is more world rather than more levels: new zones, dungeons, raids and systems.
New and reworked zones
Mount Hyjal, Riverglades, Shen'dralas and Zephras Isle join expanded versions of the originals, and Dalaran has moved to the Alterac Mountains.
Have a look AnnouncedNine dungeons at launch
From Hall of Thanes at level 13 through to Shaper's Terrace at 60, with a new battleground on the Darkspear Islands.
Have a lookRaids open five weeks later
The Barrow Deeps for ten players and Hyjal Summit for twenty unlock on 9 December, not at launch. The first month belongs to levelling, dungeons and professions.
A thousand new quests
Over a thousand of them spread across the whole 1 to 60 journey, plus more than six hundred new profession recipes.
Rebuilt lighting and water
New global illumination, volumetric fog, water and shadows, with a toggle between the HD models and the originals if you prefer them.
Playing together
No realms at all
One world per region, divided into rulesets rather than servers. You are never on the wrong realm from your friends again.
Rulesets instead of server types
Normal, where PvP is by consent, plus PvP and Roleplay. Hardcore follows later in the winter.
The world remembers who you met
The system that decides who shares your world prefers your language and tries to put familiar faces in front of you again.
Two-part names
A first and a second name, unique across your whole region, and you can choose whether the second one shows in the world.
Hardcore deaths are not the end
A Hardcore character who dies can move to another ruleset and carry on. Progress does not flow back into Hardcore from elsewhere.
Your character
The Skyborne
A new race starting on Zephras Isle, in two kinds: High Order Skyborne and Windshaper Skyborne. Part of the paid packs rather than the base game.
Both appear in the beta client's own race table, which also settles the second name: Windshaper, not Windborne as early coverage reported.
Have a look In the beta clientNew race and class combinations
Undead Paladin, Orc Mage, Dwarf Shaman, Gnome Priest, Human Hunter and Troll Warlock are all playable.
Every one of these is in the beta client's CharBaseInfo table, the same table the game itself uses to decide what you may create.
Have a look In the beta clientRacials rebuilt
Every race gained new abilities. Will to Survive, Mace Specialization, Plainsrunning, Shatter Curse, Elune's Light, Touch of the Grave and more.
Read from the racial skill lines in the beta client, with their own descriptions and icons.
Have a lookTalent trees keep their shape
The Classic layout stays, with milestones at 11, 21 and 31 points and a new one at 16. Some raid buffs are now simply baseline.
The trees we can currently show are under review: the beta client's own tables suggest they are leftover Classic data. See any class page for the detail.
Stats that make sense
Spell, melee and ranged hit combined into one stat, crit likewise, and bonus healing now also carries a third of its value as damage.
Full controller support
Playable with a controller out of the box, on Windows and macOS.
Living in Azeroth
Camping
Light a campfire and it becomes a gathering point with vendors, repairs and profession workspaces, giving everyone nearby an hour of buffs.
Up to three crafted objects per camp, one per player per hour. Cooks can raise a campfire to hold five or ten. Blueprints drop from dungeon bosses.
Profession objects in camp
A blacksmith's sharpening wheel gives attack power, a tailor's banner gives spirit, and some advanced recipes need a workspace someone has set up.
The Legacy system
Account-wide points earned from challenges, spent per character across Professions, Adventure and Resourcefulness. Sixteen spendable at launch, sixty-five to earn.
Transmog you can switch off
Optional throughout, including a Classic Mode that shows everyone in the gear they are actually wearing.
Food worth cooking
Crafted food carries a small experience bonus alongside its stats, so the cook in your group is doing you a favour.