World of Warcraft Forever Preload and Global Release Times Confirmed

World of Warcraft Forever is just a few days away, and Blizzard has confirmed the global release times and preload details.

WoW Forever launches on November 4, and has a global release scheduled, which means everyone will be able to start playing at the same time, no matter where they are. This is super important in an MMO like WoW, because it means that one region isn't able to get significantly further ahead than any other.

World of Warcraft Forever Global Release Times

Because World of Warcraft Forever has a global release, all you really have to do is look at its official release time of 3pm PST and convert that to your own timezone. However, because of the nature of a global release, depending on where you are in the world, the game will either be launching on November 4 or on November 5.

World of Warcraft Forever Preload Details

World of Warcraft Forever is available to preload now. Simply open or download the Battle.net launcher, then WoW Forever should show up in the 'Favorites' bar by default. If it doesn't, go to 'Games' and then search for 'World of Warcraft.' Then, click the WoW icon, go to 'game version' and ensure 'WoW Forever' is selected, and then hit the big blue 'Install' button.

Once it's downloaded you'll be good to log in when the servers go live on November 4 at 3pm PST.

How Much Space Will You Need For World of Warcraft Forever?

According to Blizzard's system requirements, World of Warcraft Forever will need at least 128GB of available space, but I'd actually reserve a bit extra. Just like any version of WoW, there are going to be hundreds of mods available from day one, and unless you're looking to play the game entirely with the default UI, you're going to want to make sure you have some space for add-ons. I'd recommend having at least 150GB reserved for Forever, just in case. Note, as well, that Blizzard specifically calls out an SSD, rather than a harddrive.

World of Warcraft Forever minimum PC requirements:

CPU: ' 4 cores, 3GHz processor (Intel Haswell or Ryzen Zen)' – think Intel Core i5 4460 / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X

GPU: 'DirectX 12 Capable 4GB GPU, GTX 10-series or RDNA 1' – Think Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 5600

World of Warcraft Forever recommended PC requirements:

CPU: '8 performance cores, 5.2GHz boost clock; Intel Core Ultra (series 2) or AMD Ryzen Zen 5' – think Intel Core Ultra 5 265K / AMD Ryzen 5 9600X

GPU: 'DirectX 12 capable 8GB GPU; Nvidia RTX 40 series/AMD RDNA 3/Intel Arc B-Series' – think Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 / AMD Radeon RX 7600 / Intel Arc B570

While you wait to play, be sure to check out our big interview with Blizzard on its plans for World of Warcraft: Forever post-launch, which include update frequency and new locations.

Jackie Thomas is the Senior Tech Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. She's been covering gaming hardware for more than a decade for IGN, TechRadar, Gizmodo, PC Gamer and more. You can follow her @Jackiecobra