Name Reservation
From Tuesday 27 October, 1:00 p.m. PDT you can create and keep up to three WoW: Forever characters — names included — until 3 November, the day before launch. Everything here is from Blizzard's own posts unless it is marked otherwise.
On this page 5 sections
Source tiers
- Official or client data
- Verbatim reporting, hands-on
- Provisional or placeholder
- Our analysis
At a glance Source tier A — official Blizzard or live client data: A
| What | Answer |
|---|---|
| Opens | Tuesday 27 October 2026 — 1:00 p.m. PDT (4:00 p.m. Eastern) in North America; 18:00 CET in Europe; Wednesday 28 October, 07:00, in Korea and Taiwan |
| Closes | 3 November. Blizzard has not given a closing time. |
| How many | Three characters in total, across all rulesets. Two on PvP leaves one for any other ruleset. The limit only applies during reservation. |
| Who can | Anyone who bought the Skyborne Heroic Pack, the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection — for the WoW account it was bought for, and only that one. |
| Guarantee | None. Names go first come, first served. |
| Launch | Wednesday 4 November, 3:00 p.m. PST. |
Step by step Source tier A — official Blizzard or live client data: A
Blizzard's own instructions:
- Update your graphics drivers.
- Install the Battle.net desktop app, open it, and let it update.
- Choose World of Warcraft.
- In the Game Version menu above the Play button, choose World of Warcraft: Forever, then Install.
- When it has installed, press Play and choose your ruleset.
- Create up to three characters with the names you want.
Choose the ruleset before the name Source tier A — official Blizzard or live client data: A
A character belongs to a ruleset for good: you cannot move it to another one later, only make a new character. The rulesets at launch are Normal, PvP, Roleplaying and Roleplay-PvP, which Blizzard added on 22 October. On the PvP ruleset an account is one faction only. Hardcore comes “sometime after launch” and is not part of reservation.
Blizzard said on 22 October it is “working hard to make it so” that Roleplay-PvP names can be reserved next week. That is a plan, not a promise: check the ruleset list when reservation opens before you rely on it.
More on what each ruleset changes: Systems › Rulesets and PvP › the PvP ruleset.
How names work Source tier A — official Blizzard or live client data: A
Every character has two names, a first and a last. The full name is unique in your region, but either half can be shared: Blizzard's own example is three characters all surnamed Brightvale. So a family, a guild or a duo can share a surname, and only the exact full name can be taken from you. The name filter reads both halves together, so splitting a blocked word across them does not get it through. Blizzard has not published a length limit per name.
Tips Source tier D — our analysis: D
- Write the exact full names down beforehand, with a backup for each. The window opens on a weekday afternoon in North America, and the names people want most go in the first minutes.
- Don't spend those minutes in the appearance editor. Barbershops are in every capital Source tier A — official Blizzard or live client data: A, so the look can change later; the name can't.
- Spend the three slots on the characters you will actually play first. The limit counts across all rulesets, and it ends at launch.
- The beta reserved nothing: none of its characters or names carry over Source tier B — verbatim reporting or hands-on testing: B.
Planning launch night itself: Launch Day and, for a pair, Day One for a Duo.
Sources: Blizzard's name-reservation post (quoted on Wowhead, 20 October 2026), the Pre-Purchase and “Create a Name of Your Own” articles, the Roleplay-PvP announcement (EU forums, 22 October) and the Ruleset article · knowledge base 400.50.3 and 400.10.3 · Last updated 23 October 2026