3. Zones
People often talk about vanilla Azeroth as though it’s a solved game, as though every mystery has been answered, every story has been told, every corner of the world explored. But when we look at Azeroht, we see something very different. We see potential. We see unfinished stories. We see unexplored places. We see regions players have been wondering about for decades.
The Gilneas, Mount Hyjal, Uldum, the mountains north of Angora. I wonder what’s up there. The spaces that exist between the familiar parts of the world. And the possibilities don’t stop there. Forgotten kingdoms, Titan mysteries, the Emerald Dream, The Caverns of Time. Countless adventures still waiting to be told in the vanilla world.
But every journey has to begin somewhere. And when we started planning WoW: Forever, we wanted to begin with places deeply rooted in the world players already know and love.
So let’s take a look at where our adventure begins. So today we’re introducing four new regions to Azeroth. Four new adventures built directly into the world of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, because Azeroth is not finished growing, and this is how that growth begins.
Mount Hyjal: Renewed
So let’s start with a place many of us have wondered about for more than 20 years, Mount Hyjal. We all know the story. We know the story of Archimonde’s defeat, but what happened afterwards? How did Hyjal recover? How are the forests healing from the corruption?
How are the wild gods affected by the events atop the mountain? And what dangers still remain? And Mount Hyjal is a new endgame leveling zone where players can finally journey through the Dark Whisper Gorge and explore one of Warcraft’s most important locations during a period of history that we’ve never really experienced before.
Now, you’ll encounter new stories, rewards, new reputations, and both solo and group content as you help shape the future of this recovering land. And for players seeking a greater challenge, Hyjal also serves as the home of one of our launch raids, Hyjal Summit. And it serves as one of three entrances into one of our other raids, the Barrow Deeps.
Because some of Azeroth’s greatest victories still have stories yet to tell. But not every adventure begins with a famous landmark. Some begin in places we’ve barely noticed at all. If you’ve ever flown between Mulgore and Desolace, you’ve probably seen a set of ancient ruins passing far below, a small detail in the world, a mystery hiding in plain sight.
Shen’dralas
Welcome to Shen’dralas. Here, you’ll meet Morden Evenshade and learn more about the Shen’dralar. The people whose history is deeply connected to Eldre’Thalas, Dire Maul, and Prince Tortheldrin himself.
Players will also continue storylines involving the Gelkis and the Magram centaur tribes, while discovering new reasons to visit dungeons like Maraudon and Razorfen Downs. That’s a great example of one of the things we love most about Azeroth. Even the smallest corner of the world can become a truly memorable adventure.
Riverglades
Now, one of our core beliefs is that the journey matters, and nowhere embodies that philosophy better than our new zone: the Riverglades. Located along the eastern coast of Eastern Kingdoms, between Redridge, Burning Steppes, the Badlands, and Swamp of Sorrows. This place is big.
The Riverglades is a major new leveling zone inspired by stories that stretch all the way back to the earliest Warcraft games. Years ago, human forces pursued retreating orcs to this region. And when help never came, many of those settlers were forced to remain behind and build lives of their own on the frontier.
Generations later, the descendants still endure. This is a rugged land of rivers, grasslands, trade routes, struggling communities, old grudges and new opportunities. Humans and Orcs, Ogres and gnolls, goblins and murlocs, all competing to survive in a region where no one has it easy.
And that’s what makes the Riverglades special. This isn’t a story about saving Azeroth. It’s a story about living in Azeroth. Spanning from the mid-30s to the mid-40s, Riverglades introduces more than a 150 new quests, content for both Horde and Alliance players, new reputations, new rewards, and entirely new ways to progress through your leveling journey.
The players will also discover a neutral goblin port that expands trade routes throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and beyond.
And for those of you looking for trouble, you’ll find Krol’dok Stronghold, an enormous outdoor dungeon where a powerful ogre civilization is conducting some very questionable business.
| BLIZZCON 2026 WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WHAT'S NEXT PANEL TRANSCRIPT | ||||
| 1. Intro | 2. Design Pillars | 3. New Zones | 4. Cultures | |
