WoW Forever Stress Test: 21 October Dates, Times & Character Wipe
Blizzard will run a WoW Forever Stress Test on 21 October 2026. The test was first announced for 19 October, but Blizzard has since moved it two days later. The beta goes offline first, then the game opens on the regional hardware it will use at launch. Anyone with a WoW account can join, with no active subscription needed. Everything made during the test is deleted afterwards.
Start times
| Region | Start |
|---|---|
| EU | 19:00 CEST (18:00 UK time) on 21 October |
| Americas and Oceania | 2:00 p.m. PDT on 21 October |
| Taipei | 5:00 a.m. on 22 October |
| Korea | 6:00 a.m. on 22 October |
What happens
- The WoW Forever beta goes offline first.
- WoW Forever then opens on production realms for a few hours.
- When the test ends, Blizzard re-opens the beta.
Blizzard asks players to make a character, do a few quests, trade items, chat and group up, to help find problems that would otherwise appear on launch day.
Beta closes on 23 October
In a 20 October post, Blizzard said it plans to close the WoW Forever Beta at 10:00 a.m. PDT on Friday 23 October (18:00 UK time). The Stress Test shuts down first, then the beta reopens until that point.
Beta return delayed
After the Stress Test, Blizzard said it hit “a small snag” turning the beta back online and was working to restore it. It suggested fully exiting the Battle.net Desktop App to force the update manually. Blizzard still plans to end the beta on 23 October at 10:00 a.m. PDT, as of its 20 October post, so the window to play it again is short.
Everything is wiped
Blizzard states that all characters made during the Stress Test are deleted afterwards. In its words, this is a complete wipe: names and everything else are removed. Don’t spend time on a character you want to keep.
Why it matters
Launch is planned for 4 November 2026. This is the first public test on the hardware that will run the live game. See our release date and beta schedule and beta now live posts for the wider timeline.
Sources: WoW Forever Stress Test October 21, Heads Up: WoW Forever Stress Test on October 21 (Blizzard forums, 20 October 2026), Testing WoW Forever Today - October 21, Forever Beta Will Return Shortly (21-22 October 2026).
