TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 12,460
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
Get a taste of what it's like to compete with hundreds of other players to finish a quest.
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In anticipation of the full launch of World of Warcraft: Forever next month, Blizzard is throwing the gates wide open on the throwback MMO to stress test the servers.
Anyone with a World of Warcraft account will be able to play the 'WoW: Forever - Stress Test" client in the Battle.net launcher later today. You don't need an active subscription, nor do you need to have purchased any of the WoW: Forever special editions. All you need is some patience for what could be a bumpy few hours as people pile in.
The regular beta servers will be offline until the stress test is over, which means anyone who can't go that long without a hit of WoW: Forever will likely show up. I wouldn't be surprised if some Blizzard folks drop in with some surprises of their own, like spawning world bosses or something in the last hour or so (this happened during a recent PvP tournament).
Everyone will start fresh on the stress test server, so you won't have time to do much but the first couple of leveling zones. You will get a taste of what to expect on launch day: Crowds of players wandering around like ants, and quest enemies dying before you can even click on them. Get ready to fight for your XP.
Here are all the times for the WoW: Forever stress test:
Once everything wraps up, Blizzard is going to flip the switch back on for the regular beta servers until Friday.
I'm crossing my fingers that this stress test actually helps with stability on launch day. There will almost certainly be long queue times, but having to start and stop as servers go haywire will ruin any chance of actually enjoying the game that day. We already witnessed this with the launch of the beta, and that was only the people who paid for the game. On November 4, when WoW: Forever properly goes live, anyone out there with a subscription will be lining up.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
2026 games: All the upcoming gamesBest PC games: Our all-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together
Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.
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Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
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When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
In anticipation of the full launch of World of Warcraft: Forever next month, Blizzard is throwing the gates wide open on the throwback MMO to stress test the servers.
Anyone with a World of Warcraft account will be able to play the 'WoW: Forever - Stress Test" client in the Battle.net launcher later today. You don't need an active subscription, nor do you need to have purchased any of the WoW: Forever special editions. All you need is some patience for what could be a bumpy few hours as people pile in.
The regular beta servers will be offline until the stress test is over, which means anyone who can't go that long without a hit of WoW: Forever will likely show up. I wouldn't be surprised if some Blizzard folks drop in with some surprises of their own, like spawning world bosses or something in the last hour or so (this happened during a recent PvP tournament).
Everyone will start fresh on the stress test server, so you won't have time to do much but the first couple of leveling zones. You will get a taste of what to expect on launch day: Crowds of players wandering around like ants, and quest enemies dying before you can even click on them. Get ready to fight for your XP.
Here are all the times for the WoW: Forever stress test:
Once everything wraps up, Blizzard is going to flip the switch back on for the regular beta servers until Friday.
I'm crossing my fingers that this stress test actually helps with stability on launch day. There will almost certainly be long queue times, but having to start and stop as servers go haywire will ruin any chance of actually enjoying the game that day. We already witnessed this with the launch of the beta, and that was only the people who paid for the game. On November 4, when WoW: Forever properly goes live, anyone out there with a subscription will be lining up.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
2026 games: All the upcoming gamesBest PC games: Our all-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together
Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?