WoW: Forever Open Stress Test Moves to Wednesday, October 21: RUIN Musters at 2 PM PT

33 MINS AGO - By

The Gates Open Wednesday, October 21

Date change: Blizzard has moved the World of Warcraft: Forever open stress test to Wednesday, October 21. It was originally announced for Monday, October 19. If you told friends the 19th, correct the date now.

For a limited window, anyone with a World of Warcraft account can log into Forever. You don’t need a subscription, Game Time, an invite or beta access. That makes this the best recruiting opportunity before launch: every player who has been on the fence can try Forever for free, with us.

Official video: What is World of Warcraft: Forever? (World of Warcraft on YouTube)

Stress Test Details

  • North America: 2:00 PM PDT, Wednesday, October 21
  • Europe: 19:00 CEST, October 21
  • Korea / Taiwan: 06:00 KST / 05:00 CST, October 22
  • Duration: a few hours. Blizzard says the window may end early or run late as needed.
  • Hardware: Forever runs on the regional production hardware it will use at launch. The beta goes offline shortly before the test and returns after it.
  • Wipe: when the test ends, all stress test characters, names and guilds are deleted. It is a complete wipe, ahead of name reservation opening October 27.

How to Join

  1. Update your graphics drivers.
  2. Open the Battle.net desktop app and let it update.
  3. Select World of Warcraft. In the Game Version menu above the Play button, choose World of Warcraft: Forever Stress Test under In Development, then Install.
  4. When the test begins, select Play, choose an available test realm, create a character and get in.

RUIN Muster Orders

RUIN deploys to Forever on the Alliance, North America PvP ruleset. Treat Wednesday as a dress rehearsal for November 4:

  • Be in Discord before 2:00 PM PT. Log into the RUIN Discord, get into voice, and be patched and installed before the gates open.
  • Mirror the launch deployment. Roll Alliance and, where the test realms allow it, the PvP ruleset.
  • Bring a recruit. No subscription is required, so this is the easiest invitation you will ever send. Bring the friend who keeps saying “maybe at launch.”
  • Collect data. Blizzard is asking players to quest, trade, chat and group up to stress the servers. We will also be watching group movement, communications after layer shifts and how crowded areas hold up. Report what you see in Discord.

Our weekly General Meeting is Tuesday, October 20 at 6:00 PM PT on Discord, the night before the test. Final instructions go out there.

The Road to Launch

  • October 20: Invite-A-Friend Launch Codes begin arriving by email for qualifying pack purchases. They grant a friend access to Forever during launch week, November 4–11.
  • October 21: stress test, and the last full day of beta.
  • October 27 – November 3: Early Name Reservation for Skyborne Heroic Pack, Skyborne Epic Pack and Warcraft Forever Collection buyers, first-come, first-served.
  • November 4, 3:00 PM PST: World of Warcraft: Forever launches globally. Access is included with a WoW subscription or Game Time.

Read the full deployment plan on the RUIN WoW: Forever page, then enlist.

Enlist on Discord: discord.gg/ruin

Sources: Blizzard, Join the WoW: Forever Stress Test (updated Oct 16); Blizzard forums; Blizzard, Pre-Purchase WoW: Forever.

»