How to get your early name reservation in World of Warcraft: Forever

While there is no early access period for World of Warcraft: Forever, one thing to put on your calendar besides the November 4 release is the early name reservation window, which starts on October 27… but the process for reserving your name isn’t straightforward, so  read on for all the details on how to lock in that perfect moniker for your character.

Forever will be realmless, meaning that there can only be one character of a given name for an entire region. The joy of coming up with the perfect name for your new alt followed by the crushing disappointment of the “character with that name already exists” message will be much more prevalent on this iteration of Azeroth. To relieve some of the pressure, characters will now have both a first and second name to identify themselves.

Even with the addition of a secondary name, you still may be nervous about claiming your character’s identity. If that is the case, then you may be interested in the early name reservation period that opens the week before Forever’s launch.

To get access to this feature, you’ll need to pre-purchase one of the Forever upgrade options. Those would be the Skyborne Heroic Pack, Skyborne Epic Pack, or Warcraft Forever Collection. While some of these upgrades include access to the beta test, it’s important to note that beta access does not guarantee early name reservation. If you opted into the beta and got an invite, you’ll need to purchase an upgrade to stake your name claim early or wait until launch day.

Early name reservation starts on October 27 at 1pm pacific / 4pm eastern, and runs through November 3.

To reserve your name you must pre-install the World of Warcraft: Forever client. Note that this is not the same as the beta client: look for WoW: Forever in the Battle.net launcher and be sure to install the live game client. If your install button is grayed out, make sure you have the correct account selected, as some players report the game defaulting to using a starter account. (And if you don’t see the account selection drop-down, try toggling the new launcher layout by toggling “try the new layout” at the top of the screen. Turning this off and back on seems to resolve the issue with the account selection box not appearing.)

When the appointed time arrives, you’ll be able to log into Forever, enter your name, and fully complete the customization options for up to three characters per account. The game still won’t be available for play until November 4, but you can get started with character creation now if you pre-purchased one of the Forever bundles.

Originally published October 7, 2026; updated October 27, 2026.