WoW Forever opens its beta this Thursday: what we know and what still needs clearing up

The wait is over. According to Movistar eSports, the WoW Forever beta kicks off this Thursday, September 17, which is to say today. The starting gun won't go off all at once: first there will be a question-and-answer session scheduled for 19:00 and, once it wraps up, the doors to the testing phase will open. It's the classic Blizzard move of bundling community, transparency and early access into a single event.

Why does this matter to us at Underworld Lordz? Because a World of Warcraft beta, in any of its forms, is always an earthquake in the MMO community. It's the first real chance to get hands-on with the game, to measure its performance, to spot what works and what doesn't, and, for content creators, to be the first to show it off. With Europe and the Americas watching the same clock, this evening's window marks the start of a content season that could run for a very long time.

What you need to know

• Start date: the WoW Forever beta begins this Thursday, September 17.
• Agenda: before the doors open there will be a question-and-answer session starting at 19:00; the beta goes live once that session ends.
• Format: this is a beta, not a launch. There will be limitations and everything you see is subject to change.
• Source of the information: the confirmed details come from Movistar eSports, which will publish specifics on how to play and where to sign up.
• Our advice: don't wait until the last minute. If the beta requires prior registration, do it before the event starts.

What a beta means and what you can expect

It's worth bringing expectations down to a realistic level. A beta is a test in which Blizzard itself wants to stress the servers, gather data and listen to the community. That translates into disconnects, queues, bugs and systems that are there today and gone tomorrow. That's not a flaw in the game: it's exactly what a beta is for. Anyone going in expecting to play the final version is in for a disappointment; anyone going in with a tester's mindset will enjoy it a lot more.

The detail of the Q&A session beforehand is no small thing. Blizzard usually uses these sessions to set the framework for what's being tested, explain access limitations and clear up questions about progression, characters and how long the phase will last. If you really want to understand what WoW Forever is before jumping in, that 19:00 session is the must-see appointment of the day. And on top of that, whatever is said there will be the reference material for forums, videos and debates over the coming days.

Schedule: watch out for the time zone

The announced time is 19:00 according to Movistar eSports, which works on Spanish mainland time. For our community in the Americas, that means doing some math: the session lands mid-morning or early afternoon depending on the country. We recommend checking the conversion before organizing your stream or meeting up with your squad, because missing the Q&A means missing the most informative part of the event.

Our take

We like that Blizzard has put the Q&A session before opening the beta. Too many times we've seen a client go live, the community pile in blind, and then the explanation arrive once the damage is already done. Ordering the event this way is a sign that they want to control the narrative and make sure the first impression comes with context. It's a good practice that we hope becomes the industry standard.

That said, we're critical of the lack of concrete information that still surrounds access. Just hours before the start, many players still don't clearly know how to sign up or what limitations they'll face. For a competitive player who plans their time and their team, that uncertainty is a problem. For content creators it's even more so: preparing a stream or a video series without knowing whether you'll be able to get in is playing the lottery. Blizzard has the chance to clear up all those doubts this very evening, and we hope they take it.

Our advice for the team is simple: go in with an explorer's attitude, document everything, report the bugs you find and don't treat the beta as a race. Whoever reaches the final version with real knowledge of the game will have a huge advantage, whether in competitive play or in content creation. And if the beta crashes after two hours, remember that's valuable information too.

What do you think?

The WoW Forever beta is here and the whole Underworld Lordz community will be watching what happens this evening. Some will dive headfirst into the client and others will prefer to wait for a more stable version. Are you jumping in on day one, or do you think Blizzard betas are more of a show than a real test? Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord.