World of Warcraft: Forever

Raids in WoW Forever

Updated 2026-09-17 · checked against Beta build 1.60.1.69893

Two raids at launch, three more six weeks later, and a roadmap that runs into summer 2027.

The 40-player version is the story

Forty-player raiding ended with vanilla. Every Classic re-release has kept it because it was already there; no new Classic-lineage content has shipped a 40-man since 2006.

That one line on the December roadmap says Forever is not just preserving 40-player raiding as a museum piece — it is building new content for it. For the audience this game is aimed at, that is a bigger signal than either launch raid, and it is being reported as a footnote about raid sizes.

It also raises the obvious question nobody has asked: if the December drop ships the same raids in 10, 20 and 40-player versions, is that three difficulty tiers of one instance, or genuinely three separate raids each with three versions? The roadmap wording carries both readings.

The two launch raids

The Barrow Deeps, 10-player. The former prison of Illidan Stormrage, night elf themed, with a corruption thread running through it. It connects to the world: Blackmaw Hold, the 55–60 dungeon in Azshara, has tunnels described as running toward the Barrow Deeps. A dungeon physically adjoining a raid is not something Classic has done before — see Dungeons.

Hyjal Summit, 20-player. Ancient elven ruins at the top of Mount Hyjal, the new level 60 zone. Expect demonic material given what happened there.

Neither is in the beta

The beta caps at level 30 and runs to 21 or 22 October. No raid is reachable, and the beta client’s map table does not carry either raid — consistent with content gated above the cap rather than absent from the game.

So everything on this page is from the announcement and the panel. When a raid appears in a build, this page changes.

Itemisation was reworked across the board

Blizzard’s line covers dungeons and raids together:

Every dungeon drop has been re-examined, memorable items remain memorable, less exciting items have been adjusted, and hundreds of new drops have been added.

One raid-specific detail is worth knowing before you plan a loot council: epic raid appearances unlock only for the player who receives and binds the item. Uncommon and Rare bind-on-pickup dungeon drops grant their appearance to every eligible looter the moment they drop. Raids do not work that way.

That asymmetry means dungeon runs pay everyone a collection reward regardless of loot luck and raids pay only the winner, which is a meaningful difference in how the two feel to lose a roll in.

What nobody knows yet

• Any boss name in either launch raid. The client holds boss lists for five new dungeons and nothing for raids.
• Whether the December three are three raids or one raid at three sizes.
• Attunements. Nothing published, for either launch raid.
• Lockout length and reset cadence, and whether 10 and 20-player versions share a lockout.
• What is in the spring 2027 drop beyond “more raids and a new zone”, or which iconic raid gets revamped in summer 2027.
• Whether 40-player content has its own reward track or feeds the same one.