WoW Forever Endgame: Level 60 Progression, Raid Gear and the Soft Reset Question

The short answer

Blizzard plans to keep adding content to WoW Forever after launch.

Its official roadmap starts with new raids on December 9.

More raids, dungeons, world content and Hardcore follow later.

PvP (player versus player) updates are on the list too.

Every quest addition Blizzard lists is for the level 1–60 journey.

On October 8, 2026, two interviews with the developers went further.

They spoke with Inven in Korea and with 4Gamers in Taiwan.

To 4Gamers, they said the level will stay at 60.

They also said Forever will not move on to The Burning Crusade.

To Inven, Clay Stone said gear will still rise a little with each raid tier.

He also said it is too early to say whether gear gets a soft reset.

On October 11, Stone told Skill Up that Blizzard plans more endgame gold for regular play.

He also said crafted resistance gear is unlikely for the opening raid tier.

This page keeps Blizzard’s official posts and the interview statements apart.

Interview lines are paraphrased and labelled with the outlet and date.

What Blizzard has officially announced

Blizzard’s What’s Next panel recap is the official plan for after launch.

WoW Forever launches on November 4, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. PST, it says.

New raids unlock on December 9.

More raids, dungeons, PvP updates and world content come after that.

The list adds more quests throughout the level 1–60 journey.

It also names Hardcore, a revamped iconic raid and major updates.

Blizzard calls Forever an evergreen version of Azeroth that keeps expanding.

It says Forever is not a mode, a season or a new version of Classic.

The recap includes an official 2026–2027 roadmap graphic.

Its autumn columns show the beta from September 17 to October 22, up to level 30.

October 27 brings early name reservation and character creation.

Launch follows on November 4.

The December 9 column lists Barrow Deeps for 10 players and Hyjal Summit for 20.

Onyxia’s Lair, for 40 players, is in the same column.

Hardcore launches in winter, after that column.

Spring lists 2 new raids, for 10 and 20 players, and 2 new dungeons.

Spring also lists new quests and a playable area.

A new legendary questline and a PvP season refresh are in spring too.

Summer lists a revamped iconic raid, a new raid and expanded world content.

Summer also brings 2 more new dungeons and a PvP season refresh.

Profession and Legacy updates close the summer column.

The graphic gives no dates after December 9.

Its footnote says content and timing are subject to change.

It adds that features will evolve based on player feedback.

Level 60 stays the cap: what the developers said

The level cap answer comes from an interview, not from a Blizzard post.

4Gamers in Taiwan ran a written interview on October 8, 2026.

It was with Executive Producer Holly Longdale.

Associate Production Director Clay Stone answered too.

4Gamers published it in Chinese; the lines here are our translation.

In it, the developers described Forever as a time capsule.

They said the level will stay at 60 for good.

Forever will not go through the Dark Portal or into The Burning Crusade, they said.

Instead, it will grow sideways with more areas and content to explore.

4Gamers does not say which of the two gave this answer.

Inven’s interview of the same day also built a question on a level cap of 60.

Blizzard’s own posts do not state the cap in those words.

But every quest addition they list is for the level 1–60 journey.

What “horizontal progression” means to Blizzard

Inven interviewed Longdale and Stone online on October 8, 2026.

Both were in Australia for PAX Australia at the time.

Inven Global published an English translation the same day.

Inven asked how horizontal progression differs from simply getting better gear.

Stone said horizontal mainly means expanding the world itself.

That covers new zones, dungeons, raids and quests.

It also covers deeper professions and expanded profession trees.

He added that Legacy systems can keep being added over time.

So in Blizzard’s use, horizontal is about the world, not about flat gear.

Gear: a narrow climb between raid tiers

Stone told Inven that gear progression is not entirely horizontal.

Each new raid tier will bring some power increase over the last one.

Blizzard wants to keep that jump as narrow as possible, he said.

Some best-in-slot (BiS) items could come from an earlier raid tier.

Players might keep using those items for a long time.

He said they will still be replaced eventually.

The aim is to keep older raids and dungeons relevant as long as possible.

He noted that in original WoW and Classic, some early items stayed BiS for long.

He called this a starting point and said Blizzard will keep listening to feedback.

Stone told 4Gamers something similar about chasing gear.

He said it may be hard to fully finish every character and every gear set.

There will always be items worth chasing, which gives reasons to revisit old content.

Blizzard has not said how large the increase between raid tiers will be.

Late starters catching up is a recurring reader question.

In our October 12 report, an r/classicwow thread on catching up had 107 comments.

A Blizzard forum thread on gear making players too strong had 51 posts and 519 views.

None of the Blizzard posts we checked describes a gear catch-up system.

The closest official note is about Legacy, not gear.

Blizzard says the 16-point Legacy cap helps new players not feel too far behind.

We report these counts only; we do not quote players.

Soft reset: “too early to say”

Inven also asked whether gear progression will get a soft reset.

Stone said it is still too early to say whether there will be one.

He did not describe what a soft reset would involve.

Blizzard’s intent is that everything a player does should mean something, he said.

What players experience and the items they earn should all matter.

He admitted that keeping this 100% forever may be practically impossible.

He called it a core principle Blizzard wants to keep as long as possible.

Blizzard has made no announcement about a soft reset.

The interview itself says only that it is too early to say.

Raids after launch: 10, 20 and 40 players

On the roadmap, the December 9 raids come in three sizes: 10, 20 and 40 players.

Barrow Deeps is a 10-player raid and Hyjal Summit a 20-player raid.

Blizzard’s recap introduces the two together with new tier sets and one legendary reward.

It has not said which raid holds which tier set, or where the legendary reward comes from.

To 4Gamers, Stone said Blizzard commits to new 10-player or 20-player raids.

He said future raids will follow that pattern.

He said 40-player raids start with the Onyxia’s Lair type.

Those raids have a single boss and take less time than other raids.

They are meant to be easy to join, so no guild member is left out.

He said the 40-player size could change, depending on player feedback.

The roadmap’s spring column fits this: 2 new raids, for 10 and 20 players.

None of the Blizzard posts we checked mentions flexible raid sizes.

In our October 12 report, an r/classicwow thread asking for them had 207 comments.

On October 11, Stone said resistance gear is unlikely for the opening raid tier.

Molten Core will not be unlocked at the start, he added; see the interview section below.

Boss counts and unlock details are in our dungeons and raids guide.

What you can work on at level 60

Blizzard’s posts name several goals that do not depend on raid gear alone.

New tier sets and a legendary reward come with the raids that unlock on December 9.

The recap adds Legacy for players who love leveling and running alts.

Legacy Points are shared across your Battle.net account by all non-Hardcore characters.

Hardcore, which comes after launch, has its own rules.

Legacy challenges completed on other rulesets do not show up in Hardcore.

Challenges earned in Hardcore do count on all other rulesets, Blizzard says.

Each character spends them separately in its own Legacy Trees.

At launch, each character can spend up to 16 points.

You can keep completing challenges and earn up to 65 points at the start.

Blizzard expects to add new challenges, new perks and higher spending caps.

New columns in existing trees and possibly entirely new trees may follow.

The roadmap’s summer column lists profession and Legacy updates.

To 4Gamers, Stone said new experiences for all levels will come on a regular cadence.

He named new dungeons, raids, zones and quests, but gave no schedule.

He also said Blizzard wants rewards for re-leveling alts from 1 to 60.

He said players who skip endgame content will get other progression routes.

He did not say what those rewards or routes will be.

Camping lets you craft campfires that others can visit and add to with professions.

Advanced camp objects come from Blueprint recipes dropped by dungeon bosses.

To Inven, Stone said the team has begun discussing what more camping could do.

He said there is nothing concrete to announce yet.

For transmog, level limits on collected appearances lift at level 60.

For PvP, Darkspear Islands is a new 15 vs 15 battleground.

Gold, consumables and raid prep: the October 11 interview

On October 11, 2026, Skill Up’s podcast Friends Per Second (#106) aired an interview.

The guest was Clay Stone, introduced on the show as a producer on WoW Forever.

His answers on the economy and raid prep come at about 61:00–66:20 in the video.

Everything in this section is what Stone said in that interview.

None of it is a system Blizzard has shipped or described in an official post.

Stone said gold matters a lot at endgame, when players buy raid materials and consumables.

He said Blizzard has specific plans to make gold feel much more plentiful at endgame.

The idea is to pay gold for taking part in regular activities, roughly on a weekly basis.

Asked whether that means weekly quests, he said he hesitated to use the word weekly.

He described rewards for systems and activities that already exist in the game.

The cadence, and whether it will officially be called a weekly, is still undecided.

The goal is to cut much of the grind and pain points, but not the meaningful grind.

For managing the economy, he pointed to what the team learned in Season of Discovery.

He named two tools: higher gathering spawn rates and selling specific items on a vendor.

His WoW Forever example: Black Lotus on a vendor, which in effect sets a price cap.

Gathered Black Lotus should then not sell for more than the vendor price, he said.

He did not give that price in the interview.

He said Blizzard has a very strong stance on real-money trading (RMT) and will hold it.

Asked about an alchemy rework for endgame raiding, he said he has no answer yet.

He added that the team is discussing it a lot.

Will raids need crafted resistance gear? He said that is unlikely at the start.

He does not believe the opening raid tier needs it, but it could be revisited later.

He also said Molten Core will not be unlocked at the start and gave no date.

Blizzard’s roadmap does not name Molten Core.

In our October 13 report, an r/classicwow thread on this interview had 629 comments.

Its title presented the plan as repeatable gold quests.

Stone did not confirm repeatable quests; he spoke of gold for existing activities.

Same report: a Blizzard forum thread on daily and weekly quests had 42 posts, 257 views.

In GDKP runs, raid or dungeon loot is awarded in exchange for gold.

Our rules guide covers what Blizzard officially says about buying gold and GDKP.

What is not decided yet

As of October 13, 2026, Blizzard has not answered these points.

Whether gear progression will get a soft reset, and what one would involve.

How large the power increase between raid tiers will be.

How often new raid tiers will arrive; the roadmap names seasons, not dates.

The date of the second wave of raids; the roadmap only says spring.

Dates for anything after December 9, including Hardcore.

Whether a gear catch-up system or flexible raid sizes will come.

Which raid holds which tier set, and what the legendary reward is and where it drops.

Which iconic raid will be revamped, and the names of the spring and summer raids.

Whether 40-player single-boss raids keep that size; Stone said it depends on feedback.

What rewards re-leveling alts will get, and when Legacy caps will rise.

What more camping will do; Stone said nothing concrete is ready.

How the planned endgame gold rewards work, how often they come and what they are called.

Whether alchemy will be reworked for endgame; Stone said he has no answer yet.

Whether later raids will need resistance gear, and when Molten Core will unlock.

The level 60 cap and the Burning Crusade answer come from an interview.

We will update this page when Blizzard publishes any of these.

Before launch, our launch checklist covers name reservation and other dates.