The short answer
No. By Blizzard’s own early numbers, Forever is not faster than Classic Era from 1 to 20.
On the first official WoW: Forever Podcast, a developer gave the analytics team’s data.
Classic Era took 20.4 hours on average, and Forever took 20.5 hours.
The gap is 0.1 hours, about 6 minutes (our calculation).
It is an early beta average for levels 1–20 only, and the method was not published.
What changed most is where your experience comes from.
Forever moved much of it from monster kills to quests, including dungeon quests.
On October 1, dungeon quests lost 50% of their extra experience above normal quests.
The same build raised the beta level cap from 20 to 30.
Blizzard’s October 8 development notes raised dungeon kill experience by about 20%.
They also fixed a bug that tied group kill experience to the highest-level member.
Each player’s own level counts again, as in Classic Era.
Neither change reverses the October 1 cut to dungeon quest experience.
For drop quests, quest items are now split more evenly among group members.
We check each number against Blizzard’s podcasts, notes and news in three languages.
Is Forever leveling faster than Classic? The developer numbers
Blizzard released episode 1 of the WoW: Forever Podcast on September 24, 2026.
It went up on Blizzard’s official YouTube channel and news site.
Host Countdown to Classic spoke with two Blizzard designers and special guest Xaryu.
One was Senior Game Designer Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield.
The other was Lead Classic Designer Tim Jones.
At about 50:24, a developer said the analytics team had just sent a leveling report.
By that report, levels 1 to 20 took 20.4 hours on average in Classic Era.
In Forever, the same range took 20.5 hours.
Average hours from level 1 to 20
The developer added that Forever was actually a little slower.
The data was brand new on the day of recording, the developer said.
We checked the figures against the video’s automatic English captions.
Keep three limits in mind before you quote the number.
First, it is an early beta figure.
The beta opened with a level cap of 20, so it can only cover levels 1–20.
Second, Blizzard did not say how many characters were counted.
Nor did it say which classes they played or how exploring time was handled.
Third, no 1–60 average has been announced, for Forever or for Classic Era.
These averages date from September 24, before the October 1 and October 8 changes.
Blizzard has not published newer averages.
Where the experience comes from: quests and the October 1 dungeon quest cut
On the first podcast, the developers explained the original design.
Forever moved a large share of experience off monster kills and onto quests.
That includes the quests tied to dungeons.
The goal: keep players out in the world, with a reason to run each dungeon at least once.
Running one dungeon over and over stays possible, but by design it is not the fastest way.
Blizzard changed dungeon quest experience in its October 1 development notes.
Its October 8 notes then changed dungeon kill experience, covered in the next section.
The October 1 beta build raised the level cap from 20 to 30.
Its development notes say dungeon quests now give 50% less extra experience.
The cut applies to the experience they paid beyond normal quest values.
By that wording, the normal quest reward itself was not cut, only the bonus on top.
In a developers’ note, Blizzard thanks players for their feedback on leveling speed.
It says the cut came out of ongoing discussions about the beta.
The note adds that certain quest rewards were recalibrated, without listing them.
The October 1 build also sped up respawns of many creatures and objects in five zones.
They are Hillsbrad Foothills, Ashenvale, Wetlands, Duskwood and Thousand Needles.
Redridge Mountains and Stonetalon Mountains were adjusted in an earlier build.
Blizzard asks players to keep reporting areas where quests are hard to finish.
Earlier, the September 24 notes fixed a bug that let several dungeon quests be shared.
Sharing them had given the receiving player a quest item.
October 8: dungeon kill experience by your own level, plus a 20% increase
On October 8, 2026, Blizzard released episode 3 of the WoW: Forever Podcast.
The episode is about dungeon leveling, questing and more.
At about 11:04, a developer said experience gained from kills would rise by about 20%.
Later that day, Senior Game Designer Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield posted on the forums.
He said the team is also fixing a bug with experience in dungeons.
In earlier beta builds, kill experience followed the highest-level player in the group.
His example: four level 20s and one level 25 running the Deadmines.
In that group, each level 20 got extremely little experience per kill.
With the fix, you should get experience based on your own level relative to the monsters.
With the 20% increase to base kills in dungeons, the fix should make it feel more even.
Blizzard did not say what the 20% is measured against, and it gave no experience values.
He also wrote that experience will not go back to what it was in Classic Era.
Even so, he said, it should now feel significantly better.
With perfect play, he expects dungeon leveling to be very close to optimal questing.
In his words, it may even be equal to it.
He said making dungeon runs the best way to reach 60 does not fit the team’s core pillars.
He tied the balance to two of them.
They are “World is the Main Character” and “Nurture and Protect Social Experiences.”
If dungeons became the clear winner, he wrote, it would ripple through how everyone plays.
Blizzard took the beta down for maintenance on October 8 and released a new build.
Its development notes, posted later that day, confirm both dungeon changes.
Experience from killing creatures in dungeons rose by approximately 20%.
A bug was fixed that cut experience for players grouped with higher-level players.
It applied when the group killed lower-level enemies.
Until now, Forever based that penalty on the highest-level member of the party.
Classic Era adjusted it for each member separately, and Forever now does the same.
Blizzard expects the pair to dramatically increase most players’ dungeon experience.
As before, if one member far outlevels the enemy, no one in the party gets experience.
The notes do not say how large that level gap must be.
The same notes lowered various dungeon quest reward items from Rare to Uncommon.
Their stats were updated to match.
The notes, the post and the podcast all leave the October 1 dungeon quest cut in place.
As far as Blizzard has said, the 50% cut to that extra quest experience still applies.
| Change | What Blizzard says | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Dungeon quests | 50% less of the extra experience above normal quest values | October 1 notes; still in effect |
| Kill experience in a group | Based on each player’s own level, as in Classic Era, not the highest-level member | Bug fix, October 8 notes |
| Kills in dungeons | About 20% more experience | October 8 notes |
| Dungeon quest reward items | Various items lowered from Rare to Uncommon, stats updated | October 8 notes |
| Quest rewards | Certain rewards recalibrated (not listed) | October 1 notes |
From Blizzard’s beta development notes of October 1 and October 8, 2026, and a developer’s forum post of October 8, 2026.
Blizzard has not published experience values for dungeon quests, monsters or first clears.
Solo or group? Quest items are split more evenly among group members
On September 26, 2026, Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield described a change for drop quests.
He posted it on his personal X account.
This is a developer’s own post, not a Blizzard news article or patch note.
He said the system is still being tuned in the beta.
Asked whether Forever changes how quest drops work, he said the short answer is no.
By his account, the drops themselves stay as they were.
The new part only affects how dropped quest items are split among group members.
He gave no drop-rate numbers.
Blizzard added logic under the hood that hands out quest items more predictably in groups.
The goal: nobody is left far behind on a collection quest while the others are done.
In a reply the same day, he said it is not a strict rotation and some randomness remains.
It works more like bad luck protection.
It kicks in when you have not seen a drop for a while and others in the group pull ahead.
Drop quests will still take time, as in the original game.
In a group they should feel less feast-or-famine, and monsters die much faster.
His advice: if you avoid grouping for drop quests, give it a try in Forever.
He also mentioned a Recent Allies feature.
It should help you keep meeting people you grouped with in later play sessions.
Blizzard has not published an official description of Recent Allies, so we skip details.
Level ranges from 1 to 60: zones and dungeons
Blizzard says Forever adds more than a thousand new quests across levels 1–60.
There are no flying mounts and no level scaling.
The Skyborne start on Zephras Isle covers levels 1–12.
| Levels | Zone or dungeon | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1–12 | Zephras Isle | Skyborne starting zone |
| 13–18 | The Hall of Thanes | Dungeon |
| 15–20 | Ruins of Lordaeron | Dungeon |
| 26–31October 1 notes; was 24–29 | Excavation Site: Wetlands | Dungeon |
| 28–33 | City of Dalaran | Dungeon |
| 35–40 | The Drowned City | Dungeon |
| Mid-30s to mid-40sno exact numbers | Riverglades | New zone |
| 40–45 | Krol’dok Stronghold | Dungeon |
| 48–53 | Alcaz Prison | Dungeon |
| 55–60 | Blackmaw Hold | Dungeon |
| 58–60 | Shaper’s Terrace | Dungeon |
| Max levellevel 60 | Barrow Deeps (10 players) | Raid from December 9 |
Zone ranges from Blizzard’s What’s Next and Skyborne posts; dungeon ranges from Kaivax’s forum post of September 15, 2026, with Excavation Site: Wetlands from the October 1 beta notes.
Dungeon ranges follow the list community manager Kaivax posted on September 15, 2026.
Where newer beta notes differ, we use the newer value.
The Hall of Thanes covers levels 13–18, and Ruins of Lordaeron covers 15–20.
Both were in the first beta phase.
Excavation Site: Wetlands covers 26–31 in the October 1 beta notes.
The September 15 list had said 24–29.
City of Dalaran covers 28–33.
The Drowned City covers 35–40, and Krol’dok Stronghold covers 40–45.
The Riverglades is a new zone about the size of Stranglethorn Vale.
It covers much of the mid-30s to mid-40s.
Alcaz Prison covers 48–53, Blackmaw Hold 55–60 and Shaper’s Terrace 58–60.
Official level ranges with exact numbers
The Barrow Deeps is planned as a max-level 10-player raid.
Hyjal Summit brings 20-player raids.
New raids unlock on December 9 in the U.S. and Europe.
Blizzard has no Forever level table for the original Classic zones, so we skip old ranges.
Mount Hyjal and Shen’dralas also have no official level range yet.
Campfire buffs: how to get them after the September 24 update
Camping turns the old Cooking Fire into a Basic Campfire.
It creates a campsite in the open world.
A campsite offers rest, vendors, repairs, profession workspaces and one-hour buffs.
To receive those buffs, you need to sit by the campfire for a few moments.
Nearby players can add up to three special crafted objects to a Basic Campfire.
The first campsite objects are learned once a profession reaches skill 20.
You learn them from special nonplayer characters (NPCs) or from profession trainers.
Blizzard’s examples include a Sharpening Wheel for Attack Power.
A Faction Banner gives Spirit, and an Incense Candle gives Intellect.
These buffs are variants of class buffs and do not stack with them.
Cooks can learn upgraded campfires that hold five or 10 objects.
The September 24 beta development notes relaxed how you wait for the buff.
Sitting, sitting in a chair, sleeping, lying down and the kneeling emote all count now.
Players can also buff each other, cast spells and craft while they wait.
A bug that made you stand up when crafting or casting while waiting was fixed.
| Condition | What Blizzard says |
|---|---|
| How to get it | Sit by the campfire for a few moments |
| Poses that count |
|
| While waiting | You may buff others, cast and craft |
| Buff length | One hour |
| Objects per fire | Up to threefive or 10 with a Cook’s upgraded campfire |
| First objects | Profession skill 20 |
Rules from Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap and the September 24 beta development notes.
Rested experience, food and Legacy perks
None of the three campfire buffs Blizzard lists as examples is an experience bonus.
Blizzard does say crafted food is being adjusted to give a small experience bonus.
The same food change adds stat boosts.
The Legacy System adds more leveling help once it unlocks on your account.
Well Rested raises the rested experience cap and makes rested experience build faster.
Blizzard calls it especially useful for leveling alternate characters (alts).
In the same Adventure tree, Field Guide cuts the one-hour cooldown on camping features.
Permanence makes party, raid and camping buffs last longer.
The exact size of these Legacy effects has not been published.
What players are debating
This summary uses our daily report data; it is not a fact check.
September 26, 2026 data: the r/classicwow thread on the averages had 1,536 upvotes.
That thread also drew 666 comments.
A U.S. forum thread asking for shared monster tagging while leveling had 98 posts.
Many asked whether players exploring the new beta inflate the Forever average.
Others asked whether times will drop once players learn the new quest routes.
Blizzard has not answered either question, so treat both as open.
September 28, 2026 data: the top r/classicwow thread was about grouped quest drops.
It had 2,096 upvotes and 538 comments.
Readers asked if the protection covers dungeon quest items; the developer did not say.
October 3, 2026 data: the top U.S. Forever forum thread criticized the dungeon quest cut.
It had 1,507 likes and 764 posts.
Another thread against the change had 647 likes and 220 posts.
Other popular threads asked whether skipping low-level dungeons is now better.
October 9, 2026 data: the episode 3 podcast thread on the U.S. forums had 500 likes.
It had 121 posts, and the developer’s dungeon experience post is reply 20 there.
A U.S. forum thread debating dungeon leveling had 1,523 likes and 1,759 posts.
On r/classicwow, the episode 3 thread had 277 upvotes and 686 comments.
A common question was whether the 20% applies to the current rate or an earlier one.
Blizzard has not said, and it has published no experience values.
October 10, 2026 data: a U.S. thread said dungeon experience is still too low.
It had 585 likes and 473 posts.
On r/classicwow, a thread compared experience before and after the increase.
It had 289 upvotes and 611 comments.
Such comparisons rest on players’ own measurements; Blizzard has published no values.
These are player reactions; the only official changes are the ones Blizzard announced.
Not announced yet, and a leveling checklist
As of October 10, 2026, Blizzard has not published the following.
A 1–60 average for Forever or Classic Era.
Experience values for dungeons and quests, and first-clear rules.
Level ranges for the original Classic zones, Mount Hyjal and Shen’dralas.
Which quest rewards were recalibrated on October 1.
How large a level gap stops experience for the whole party.
A simple leveling rhythm
- Quest in the open worldBlizzard moved a lot of kill experience onto quests
- Collect dungeon questsPick them up before you go in
- Camp before the dungeonSit by the fire for one-hour buffs
- Run the dungeonFinish its quests while you are inside
① Still pick up dungeon quests; on October 1 only their extra experience was halved.
② Before a dungeon, sit at a campfire and pick up the one-hour buffs.
③ On alts, look at the Well Rested Legacy perk once your account unlocks the system.
④ Recheck this page after each new beta build, since experience tuning continues.
⑤ Try drop quests in a group: quest items are now split more evenly, still being tuned.