Here comes the official word on the stress test coming on October 19th! Blizzard have posted the details for the open day where everyone can try it out, even without a subscription, any Game Time, or Beta access!
While we still don’t know exactly how long it will last other than “several hours“, we do now have the starting times for each region. Remember it’s still a stress test, so there might be some serious server instabilities and log in issues. The Beta itself will be offline during the stress test.
The gates are opening for the World of Warcraft: Forever Stress Test. For a limited time on October 19, all interested players can sign into World of Warcraft: Forever and help us put the servers through their paces. Anyone can take part and no subscription, Game Time, invitation, or beta access is required.
The Stress Test runs on October 19 at the following times locally:
- North America: 2:00 p.m. PDT
- Europe: 19:00 CEST
- Korea: 06:00 KST (October 20)
- Taiwan: 05:00 CST (October 20)
The beta will be taken offline shortly before the Stress Test begins and is expected to return shortly after it ends. The test window may end earlier or run later as needed.
How to Join
- Make sure your graphics drivers are up to date.
- Open the Battle.net desktop app and allow it to update if needed.
- Select World of Warcraft from the list of games.
- In the Game Version menu above the Play button, select World of Warcraft: Forever Stress Test under In Development, then select Install.
- Once installation is complete and the Stress Test begins, select Play and choose an available test realm.
- Create a new test character when available, enter the game, and join the test.
Bring your friends, rally your guild, and help us pack the server. At the end of the Stress Test, all created characters, names, and guilds will be wiped from the Stress Test servers in preparation for the beginning of Name Reservations opening on October 27.
As a reminder, October 21 is the last full day of beta testing as we prepare for the global launch on November 4!
Players who pre-purchase the Skyborne Heroic Pack, Skyborne Epic Pack, or limited-time Warcraft Forever Collection will have access to WoW®: Forever Early Name Reservation from October 27 through November 3. Character names will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, and desired names cannot be guaranteed.
We’ll see you in Azeroth!
Update:
A second, very similar post, has been added. It has one relevant detail, noting that the stress test will last “a few hours”.
Please join us for the WoW Forever Stress Test on October 19.
On that day, we will first take the WoW Forever Beta offline, and we will then open WoW Forever on the regional hardware that it will operate on when the game goes live.
On October 19, the Stress Test will begin at 19:00 CEST for players in the EU region, 2:00 p.m. PDT for players in the Americas+Oceania, and at 5:00 a.m. in Taipei and 6:00 a.m. in Korea on October 20.
Any player with a WoW account is eligible to participate. No active subscription is needed.
Once you’re in, make a character, do a few quests, trade some items, chat, and group up with others to really put the game through its paces. This is a highly valuable event, since you’ll participate in our discovering of issues that would have otherwise happened on launch day.
WoW Forever will be available on production realms for a few hours, and then when we shut down the Stress Test, all characters will be deleted* and we will re-open the Beta.
*This is a complete wipe; names and everything else will be completely removed.
Thank you very much for joining us. We’ll see you there!
