If you have been staring bitterly at Battle.net while everybody else explores World of Warcraft: Forever, Blizzard has some good news. Eventually, the gates are going to open for everybody.
Blizzard has confirmed that the WoW Forever beta will temporarily become available to everyone during an upcoming event called a Server Slam. The servers will be opened for several hours, allowing players who did not receive a beta invitation and did not purchase one of the packages containing guaranteed beta access to jump into Forever before launch.
There is one important detail missing: Blizzard has not announced when the Server Slam will happen. The official Forever beta announcement simply says it will take place later during the testing period, with more details coming closer to the event.
So, naturally, now is the perfect time for the internet to invent seventeen dates and confidently repeat all of them.
Everyone Will Get a Chance to Play Forever
The Forever beta began on September 17 and runs through October 21. At the moment, access is primarily available through selected beta invitations or eligible paid Forever packages. As we covered when the WoW Forever beta opened with its initial level 20 cap, Blizzard deliberately started testing with a relatively narrow slice of the game rather than immediately throwing the entire redesigned Azeroth at players.
The Server Slam changes the access question completely, at least for a few hours. Blizzard specifically says that anyone will be able to access the beta during the window. That makes it the first guaranteed opportunity for players outside the current beta population to test Forever themselves.
It is also exactly what the name suggests. A Server Slam is not merely a generous free-preview afternoon. Blizzard wants a very large number of players arriving simultaneously so it can see what happens to the infrastructure when Azeroth suddenly develops a population problem.
The Beta Has Already Shown Why Blizzard Needs It
The need for that sort of test is not particularly theoretical. Forever's opening night produced heavy queues and connection problems as players rushed into the beta. Since Forever is also abandoning the traditional realm structure for large ruleset-based player ecosystems instead of ordinary servers, launch-day population management is going to matter enormously.
A controlled period where everybody is encouraged to hammer the login servers at once is therefore rather useful. Better to discover that something catches fire during a test specifically designed to make it catch fire than at launch on November 4.
More Forever Content Is Still Coming to the Beta
The current test is only the beginning. Blizzard says additional zones, dungeons and the new Battleground will gradually become available as the beta continues. The initial level cap of 20 is also scheduled to increase to 30 later in testing.
That means we do not yet know exactly what will be playable when the Server Slam arrives. Depending on when Blizzard schedules it, the public test could contain substantially more content than players can access today.
What we do know is that Forever is considerably more than another pristine Classic realm. New dungeons, redesigned loot, new professions, account-wide progression and major infrastructure changes are all being tested. Blizzard has even committed to launching without WoW Tokens or paid Character Boosts currently planned, reinforcing the idea that actually playing through Azeroth is supposed to matter again.
No Invite? Do Not Panic Yet
For players who opted into the beta but have not received an invitation, the Server Slam removes at least some of the fear of completely missing the test.
You may not get several weeks to dismantle talent trees, level professions and discover which mob has developed an unhealthy relationship with your respawn timer, but Blizzard has now promised a window where everyone can enter.
The Forever beta ends on October 21, with the full game launching on November 4.
Somewhere between those dates and today, Azeroth is going to open its doors and politely ask everybody on the internet to enter at once.
For once, the queue may actually be the point.
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