World of Warcraft: Forever's beta will be free for a limited time next week, giving players who want to check out the new version of Blizzard's old-school MMORPG but don't want to pay $60 for beta access a chance to see what all the hype is about.
Blizzard announced a WoW: Forever stress test will begin October 19 at 2 PM PT/ 5 PM ET, with no WoW subscription or beta access needed to play. The goal is to put the game's servers through their paces ahead of launch.
"This is a highly valuable event, since you'll participate in our discovering of issues that would have otherwise happened on launch day," Blizzard said in a post announcing the stress test.
To install the test, players will need the Battle.net launcher installed and an account. After selecting WoW: Forever from the list of games, players can select to install the stress test under the "Game Version" drop-down menu.
There is, however, a catch. The stress test will only run for a "few hours," according to Blizzard. Exactly how long the test will last is still unclear. Blizzard said the test window "may end earlier or run later as needed." During the time that the stress test is live, the game's closed beta will be offline, but will return following the conclusion of the test. All characters made during the stress test will be deleted once the test is over.
It's not much, but for those who wanted to at least dabble in WoW: Forever without having to buy the $60 Skyborne Epic Pack for a beta code, the stress test will at least let curious players dip their toes in.
Even the beta itself won't be around for much longer. It will run until October 21, after which it will shut down and characters will be deleted to make way for early name reservations for the full game on October 27. WoW: Forever launches the following week on November 4.
All indicators so far point towards WoW: Forever's beta being a massive success. Multiple Blizzard developers have commented on how the game's popularity has already broken records, signaling launch could be huge.
The beta hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows, however. Multiple controversies have riled up the WoW community over the course of the beta, revealing WoW: Forever has a streamer problem. Illicit gold-buying scandals in the beta have pushed Blizzard to crack down on the practice harder than ever before (going so far as to add new in-game restrictions and warnings). Meanwhile, one controversial streamer is looking to create the biggest WoW guild ever seen and dominate the game's sole PvP server, much to the annoyance of regular players.
In a recent interview with GameSpot, Blizzard shared more details about WoW: Forever's future, and how it's trying to "push the envelope" on what players expect.