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Sam Hill is a news writer at Polygon covering gaming and entertainment. He's a Portland, Oregon–based journalist known for covering gaming, the outdoors, national parks, tech, food, and internet culture. He has written for a range of publications including Outside Magazine, Boston Magazine, Vice, the Seattle Times and Digital Trends.
Blizzard is letting everyone experience WoW: Forever for free today, but expect plenty of chaos
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The hype surrounding World of Warcraft: Forever is building ahead of its full launch next month, and Blizzard is giving everyone a chance to jump in for free. Just don't expect a smooth ride.
Blizzard is opening the gates to WoW: Forever for a limited-time server stress test starting Oct. 22, giving anyone with a World of Warcraft account a chance to try the highly anticipated MMO without an active subscription or a special edition purchase.
The catch? You might spend more time waiting for enemies to spawn than actually completing quests.
Get ready to fight for your XP
The stress test is designed to push Blizzard's servers ahead of launch day, meaning players should expect crowded starting zones, long queues, and plenty of competition for quest objectives. With hundreds of players potentially piling into the same areas, enemies could disappear almost as soon as they spawn, turning even the simplest tasks into a fight for experience points.
Everyone will start from scratch on the stress test server, so don't expect to make much progress before the event ends. Instead, consider it a preview of what launch day could look like — and an opportunity for Blizzard to identify server stability issues before the full release.
The regular beta servers will be offline during the test, but Blizzard plans to bring them back afterward, with normal beta access continuing until Friday.
World of Warcraft: Forever is scheduled to launch on November 4, and today's test could prove crucial in preventing the lengthy queues and server problems that have already plagued the beta.
World of Warcraft: Forever stress test times
The free stress test runs for a limited window on Oct. 22, with times varying by region:
- West Coast US: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. PDT
- East Coast US: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. EDT
- UK: 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. BST
- Europe: 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. CEST
- Australia: 8 a.m. to noon AEDT on Oct. 23
- New Zealand: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. NZDT on Oct. 23
You'll need a World of Warcraft account and access to the Battle.net launcher to join. Look for the WoW: Forever – Stress Test client when the event becomes available. If you're hoping to experience the nostalgic appeal of World of Warcraft without paying upfront, this is your chance.