WoW Forever beta errors and fixes

After the October 1 update, the level 30 one, Blizzard posted two notices about logging in to the beta. Neither asks you to do anything on your computer.

• October 2, US and EU: testers cannot get in. Blizzard said it is aware of an issue that appears to be preventing testers from logging in to the beta, and that it will keep working to fix it as swiftly as possible. That notice gave no further details and no time estimate. Our story · Blizzard's post
• October 1, players in Australia: social features locked dialog. With the new build, Australian players get a dialog when they log in telling them their social features are locked down. Blizzard says they are not: it is an unexpected bug in the build, and it will be fixed as soon as possible. Our story · Blizzard's post

Blizzard has not suggested any step you can take yourself: it says it is working on a fix. Check the server status page, which shows its latest beta notices, and the blue tracker, which lists every new Blizzard post. If you play from Australia, that dialog is wrong: according to Blizzard, your social features are not locked down.

If what happens is that the beta does not show up in the Battle.net app or will not install, see that section.

In the beta client, this is a login message: it shows up when you try to enter the game with a character you already had, not when you create one. In the beta, players saw it when they could not get back in with their character after a disconnection.

On September 22, in the busiest thread about this error, Blizzard asked affected players for the name of the locked character and, if possible, the exact time they last played it before being disconnected, to track the case down (post). Minutes later it said the team wanted to restart the beta realms that same day (post) and that it was gathering as much information as possible to be sure of its understanding of the issue and its fix. Our story · Blizzard's post

On the EU forums, about a character stuck loading the character list after a disconnection, Blizzard asked for the same: when it happened, the character's full name and where in the game it was. Our story · Blizzard's post

Blizzard has not published any step you can take yourself. What it asks is that you report it on the beta discussion forum (US · EU) with those details: when it happened, the character's full name and where it was. Also check the server status page for an announced maintenance or restart.

When you create a character, the message for a taken name is a different one: "That name is taken. Taken names can't be claimed (even if inactive)." In Forever every character has two names, and what has to be unique in your region is the full combination: if the one you want is taken, pick another (the same first name with a different second name, for example) or try the game's random name generator, as Blizzard explains in its article on names.

Two other character creation messages come from the rulesets: "You cannot have both a Horde and an Alliance character on the same PvP ruleset" (on PvP you can only have characters of one faction) and "This faction is currently unavailable on this ruleset due to population imbalance" (the temporary faction balance limit Blizzard announced for PvP). The rulesets article explains both.

And if you are forced to rename a beta character: on September 24, Blizzard said it was issuing forced name changes to characters that broke its naming policy. Our story · Blizzard's post

It is the first line of the login queue window: the game puts you on hold and shows your position and the estimated time.

On September 27, answering players who got the queue after a disconnection, Blizzard said it had found an issue that was causing the queue to fill, and that it had just fixed it. Our story · Blizzard's post

For launch, Blizzard has not said whether there will be queues. It has explained that the realmless rulesets are meant, among other things, to lessen the tradeoff between long queues and lasting communities (Deep Dive panel recap).

If the queue does not move, check the server status page for a maintenance, a restart or recent notices from Blizzard. If it happens again after a disconnection, report it on the beta discussion forum (US · EU).

It is the game's disconnection message. Blizzard has talked about disconnections in the beta several times:

• September 25, US and EU. Answering complaints about disconnects and lag, Blizzard said it was tracking server issues affecting some testers and that the fix would mean restarting the servers that day. Shortly after, it announced the restart to put in place stability fixes. Our story · Blizzard's post · Restart notice
• September 21, Europe. In the first days there were routing issues to the beta that affected moving, interacting with the world and, in some cases, staying connected. Blizzard rolled out improvements for the EU and warned that some problems may be out of its control: an issue with your Internet provider, a less direct route along the way, or firewall-type software on your computer, which can slow down or even block the connection. Our story · Blizzard's post
• September 18, two licenses on one account. In the thread about two WoW accounts with beta access under the same Battle.net account, where logging in with one disconnects the other, Blizzard suggested trying to create a PTR account from the Games & Subscriptions section of your Battle.net account, and asked whether that brought up the account selector. It did not confirm that it works. Our story · Blizzard's post

Its Connection Troubleshooting article starts by checking Blizzard's support account on X, @BlizzardCS, for a service interruption. Then it suggests:

• Restarting your router and modem and, on Wi-Fi, optimizing your wireless connection.
• Updating your drivers and operating system, and closing other programs.
• Checking your firewall, router settings, proxies and security programs, which can block the connection.
• In World of Warcraft: resetting your user interface and, in the game's network options, turning "Optimize Network for Speed" on with a fast connection or off with a slow one. The option's own in-game help adds that turning it off may help with certain disconnection issues.

It is a bug in the game itself: Blizzard put it on its known issues list the day the beta opened, September 17. It simply says that barber chairs cause a Lua error. It has given no workaround, and when we checked the list on October 1, 2026 it was still there. Our story · Blizzard's post

The October 1 notes added barbershops in Darnassus and Thunder Bluff and put barbers in all of them, but they say nothing about this error. Our story · Blizzard's post

The known issues list has another Lua error: opening the Legacy System with the "Y" key before level 25 causes errors on tabs 1 and 3. It only happens if you open it before that level.

If you get a different Lua error, Blizzard has said nothing about it: report it on the beta discussion forum (US · EU).

Blizzard has said nothing about mailboxes that will not open. There are several player threads on the official forums, but when we checked them on October 1, 2026 none had a reply from Blizzard, and the problem is not on its known issues lists.

The only mail-related thing Blizzard has published is a fix in the September 24 development notes: in-game mail could ignore surnames, that is, characters' second names. Our story · Blizzard's post

So there is no official fix we can give you. The way to go is to report it on the beta discussion forum (US · EU) and keep an eye on the blue tracker, which lists every new Blizzard post.

This is what Blizzard says about problems installing, launching the game or finding the beta:

According to the beta announcement, choose World of Warcraft: Forever Beta under "In Development" in the Game Version drop-down above the Play button. If you got access by buying a bundle, it may take up to 30 minutes to show up and you may need to restart the Battle.net app. To check that an invitation is genuine, Blizzard advises logging in to your Battle.net account and looking for the beta license under Your Game Accounts.

If you do not have access yet, our beta guide explains how to opt in, which packs include it and when it ends.

To a player who could not install because of that message, Blizzard pointed to its GPU requirements article: Forever needs a graphics card from the AMD GCN 1 (2012), NVIDIA Maxwell (2014) or Intel Skylake (2015) generations, or newer. Our requirements guide lists which models work and which do not. Our story · Blizzard's post

On its October 1 known issues list, Blizzard says the total installation of WoW Forever is larger than intended and that it is working to reduce it in a future beta update. It has not said how big it is now or how big it will be. Our story · Blizzard's post

For those, the beta announcement points to Blizzard's Common Technical Issues and Solutions thread, which gathers its guides on connection, installing and patching, crashes and performance. You can also ask on the technical support forums: US · EU.

Beta bugs that Blizzard has on its known issues lists or has fixed in its notes:

• Groups: creating or changing party composition may move you to a different world instance. Blizzard said it is working on improvements (September 24 list). The October 1 notes made adjustments to world instances: party leaders should no longer be transferred when creating or updating party composition.
• Parry and block from behind: enemies can parry and block your attacks from behind if you are close to them. Until it is fixed, Blizzard says you can avoid it by not standing too close (October 1 list).
• Threat: several debuffs, like Faerie Fire and Demoralizing Shout, do not cause threat (October 1 list).
• Chained casts: when you cast a spell right after another, the precast effects and sounds of the second one do not start until the first cast finishes (October 1 list).
• Gamepad: switching to or from Gamepad UI mode resets the active edit mode layout to the default preset (October 1 list).
• Classes and items: Eureka! does not affect every damaging or healing spell for some classes (fixed in a later build); mages who learn Research can be prevented from accessing it; Retribution Aura uses the target's spell power instead of the paladin's; and the Scroll of Liminal Passage does not work correctly (October 1 list).
• Dual Wield Specialization: the October 1 list said this warrior talent granted hit chance to both hands instead of only the off-hand. On October 2, Blizzard added to the notes of that same build that the bug was fixed. Our story · Blizzard's post
• Quests: the October 1 notes fixed players being unable to start escort quests with 25 or more quests in their log. According to that day's list, the Taillasher Eggs for "Break A Few Eggs" respawn more slowly than intended; it will be fixed in a later build.
• Graphics: the October 1 notes removed the Ray Traced Shadows option until it works properly (it will come back in a future update) and fixed the Night Watchman's Torch, which caused lag in certain situations and could not be cancelled.
• Friends: character friends are disabled in the beta (September 17 list).
• Minimap: it may sit partly off the screen, and the Stormwind one has display issues; the latter will be fixed in a later build.
• Guild charters: if you cannot get signatures, for now you can hand in a charter with none (September 17 list).
• Performance: the September 24 notes fixed a bug that made the game gradually slower for some players.
• Mac: on September 22, Blizzard said it had several analyses and possible fixes under way for the Mac graphics bugs. The September 23 client update fixed some display and stability issues on Macs, and the September 24 notes a water display issue and other visual artifacts.

Blizzard opened the beta with a known issues thread and keeps updating it. These are its posts, newest first.

The Blizzard announcements, posts and articles this page is based on. The in-game messages are the beta client's own texts (build 1.60.1.70124), checked on October 1, 2026.