Which race and class are you rolling first when World of Warcraft: Forever launches?

We continue to inch closer to the November 4 release date of World of Warcraft: Forever, and I want to be as prepared as possible to jump right into this unique slice of Azeroth and hit the ground running. There’s a lot on my to-do list, but perhaps the highest priority question is: what will my first character be?

So much rides on the race and class that you choose that this is not a decision to be taken lightly. Modern WoW players who have been spoiled by continual unlocking of new race/class combinations need to remember that Tauren can’t be Rogues or Paladins in Forever along with many other restrictions. If you have already imagined your perfect first character, double check that it’s even a possibility.

A major consideration when throwing your time into leveling a character is the lack of cross-faction play in Forever. If you get a head start on your Human Warlock but your friends want to roll Horde characters once they get around to playing in January, you’ll be back at square one. If your guild is planning on dabbling in Forever but hasn’t had a discussion about which faction they’ll focus on, bring it up at your next Player Housing Neighborhood meetup.

I’ll be very interested to see how many folks decide to recreate their modern WoW main character in Forever or at least stick with the same class. As someone who has been a Mage for the entirety of a very long journey on Azeroth, I am going to do something else in Forever.

I do eventually want a Skyborne character, and I will almost certainly play through their starting zone within the first few weeks of Forever’s launch, but I won’t be maining a windy Elf at the outset. The nostalgia factor is different for everyone, but mine is on the higher end of the scale and I am looking forward to a very Classic-adjacent experience. That being said, I fully expect to be swarmed by a sea of Skyborne on each and every stroll through Stormwind and Orgrimmar after launch given that one out of every seven Midnight characters is a Blood Elf.

While there is plenty of opportunity for an army of alts to help conquer the world of Forever, they won’t be raised to max level within hours (or minutes) like some have been during recent events in modern WoW. The Legacy system and its account-wide progress encourages players to enjoy this iteration of Azeroth via many different characters. I’m sure I will eventually branch out and roll many other characters (if for no other reason than to experience the opening monologue goosebumps that haven’t gone away after two decades), but I’m looking to focus on one particular character for the first few weeks of Forever without too many false starts and second guesses.

Ultimately, I am leaning towards a Dwarf Shaman. The idea of starting my journey in Coldridge and continuing through Dun Morogh, Loch Modan, and the Wetlands sounds excellent. I can decide later if I am going to focus on healing or not, and the slight novelty of a class/race combo that didn’t exist in Classic seems like just the right “new spin” vibe that I’m going for. However, I am far from locked in on that decision, and I’m sure I’ll be wrestling with it right up until the November 4th launch.

So what race and class are you going to roll on opening night? Have you got it all figured out, or will you decide in the moment while in the presence of the magic of the character select screen? Character customization and name reservation opens on October 27, so get brainstorming.