WoW Forever Levels 1–20 Start Guide: Experience Presets, Rulesets, Camping and Early Dungeons
Start World of Warcraft: Forever through level 20: Classic vs Enhanced Experience Preset, then Rulesets, early Cooking for camping, zone choices, and Blizzard's Hall of Thanes and Ruins of Lordaeron. Researched November 6, 2026.
World of Warcraft: Forever went live globally on November 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST. It is Blizzard's permanent level 1–60 branch alongside modern WoW and Classic: original continents, new and reimagined zones, more than 1,000 new quests, and access with an active WoW subscription or Game Time.
This guide is a general levels 1–20 start plan — Experience Presets, rulesets, early Cooking for camping, zone choices and the first new dungeons. It is not a class talent tree. For Enhancement Shaman 1–60 combat and talents, see our Enhance Shaman leveling guide. For install and launch timing, see the Forever release article.
Character creation checklist
1. Experience Preset. On first login, Forever asks for Classic or Enhanced before you pick a Ruleset. Enhanced turns on higher-fidelity defaults such as quest points of interest / objective blobs and one-bag view. Blizzard's live notes say you can change the individual options later under Game Menu → Options — you are not locked into the preset forever.
2. Ruleset (not a classic realm list). After the preset, choose Normal, PvP, Roleplay, or Roleplay-PvP. Hardcore arrives later. Pick the PvP exposure you actually want.
3. Race and start. Familiar starting zones still apply. The new Skyborne race begins on Zephras Isle (levels 1–12); Skyborne access needs the Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher. New class combinations (for example Dwarf Shaman, Human Hunter) are available — confirm the combination on the creation screen.
Levels 1–5: clear the starter cleanly
- Take every nearby
!quest and batch objectives in the same pocket before running back. - Loot greys and sell them; early copper adds up.
- If a named mob is camped by a crowd during launch week, rotate to another quest and return later.
- Do not invent a speed route yet — finish the starter's natural chain.
Levels 5–10: Cooking and camping
- Learn Cooking early. Forever's Camping system turns the Cooking Basic Campfire into a shared campsite: nearby players can contribute up to three profession-crafted Camp Features (one each). Sit or craft at a camp for at least about a minute to gain those feature buffs. Blizzard notes the buffs are mutually exclusive with matching class buffs.
- For gold while questing, gathering pairs such as Skinning + Herbalism or Skinning + Mining work well because you already kill beasts and walk quest paths. Do not detour across a zone for a single node.
- Cap early AH weapon spending. Prefer trainer ranks, bags and profession tools over greens you will replace in two levels.
Levels 10–15: talents and next zones
Talent points start at level 10. Use Forever-specific talent advice for your class — vanilla Classic exports can be wrong for this branch.
After the starter, common early destinations:
| Faction | Early zones (examples) |
|---|---|
| Alliance | Westfall, Loch Modan, or Darkshore (Night Elves often favor Darkshore) |
| Horde | The Barrens or Silverpine Forest |
| Skyborne | Zephras Isle through ~1–12, then into the shared 1–20 band |
Stay where quest density and mob levels match you. Forever adds a large amount of new quest content, so old Classic-only routes are not automatically optimal. Grab flight paths at every new hub.
Levels 13–20: first new dungeons
Blizzard lists nine new dungeons across the 1–60 journey. Two open in the early band:
| Dungeon | Levels | Location | Access note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hall of Thanes | 13–18 | Beneath Ironforge, Dun Morogh | Convenient for Alliance |
| Ruins of Lordaeron | 15–20 | Ruins above the Undercity, Tirisfal Glades | Convenient for Horde; Alliance can still reach it |
Treat dungeons as a tool, not a full replacement for questing: pick up the dungeon quests first, clear several objectives in one run, then return to the open world. Classic early dungeons still exist alongside these.
Gear and money toward 20
- Keep weapons reasonably current (especially melee). Skip multi-hour farms for a piece you will replace before 25.
- Save gold for trainer ranks and bag space.
- Forever includes the Legacy System, an account-wide horizontal progression track.
Level 20 checklist
- You understand your early talent choices and combat loop.
- Cooking is started, and you have used a campsite at least once.
- You have a small gold buffer for trainer visits.
- Flight paths along your path are unlocked.
- You have run at least one dungeon with its quests if groups were available.
From here, push toward 30–60 with the same habits: batch quests, keep Cooking/camping in mind, and use Forever's new zones and dungeons instead of forcing a 2004 route.
Official overview: World of Warcraft: Forever Now Live · New dungeons list.