Azeroth in Year 25

Twenty-five years after the Dark Portal first opened, Azeroth is a world of survivors. The Alliance of Stormwind, Ironforge, the gnomes and the night elves faces a Horde of orcs, trolls, tauren and Forsaken, and neither side trusts the other. Old enemies wake at the edges of the map: servants of the Old God C'Thun in Silithus, priests of the blood god Hakkar in the troll ruins of the south, and the corruption of the Emerald Nightmare creeping into the dreams of druids.

World of Warcraft: Forever is set in exactly this moment. Blizzard keeps it there indefinitely, after Warcraft III: Reforged's 'Forsaken Kingdom' campaign and before The Burning Crusade, and says its story does not share retail World of Warcraft's continuity. Forever adds places the original game never had: the Riverglades east of the Badlands, where Farholde Keep holds out against the Twilight's Hammer; a Dalaran under restoration whose hiding barrier has fallen; and dungeons from the royal tombs of the Hall of Thanes to the titan facility of Shaper's Terrace.

Forever also opens a new people to players: the Skyborne of Zephras Isle, an island floating in Skywall, the Elemental Plane of Air. Its air elementals vanished centuries ago and the magic holding the island aloft is fading; its High Order serve the Alliance and its Windshapers the Horde. How these stories end is still being written. Blizzard has announced new raids, dungeons and a legendary questline for 2027, and the raids of Mount Hyjal open on December 9.