WoW Forever New Zones: Hyjal, Riverglades, Shen'dralas, Zephras
Zephras Isle, the Riverglades, Shen'dralas and Mount Hyjal: what each new WoW Forever region is, who it is for, how you reach it and what Blizzard has not revealed yet.
The WoW Forever new zones are four regions added to the original Azeroth: Zephras Isle (levels 1–12, the Skyborne starting area), the Riverglades (mid-30s to mid-40s, Eastern Kingdoms), Shen'dralas (a hidden valley between Mulgore, Desolace and Feralas, level range not announced) and Mount Hyjal (the endgame zone that holds the first raids). Together with additions to the old zones they carry more than a thousand new quests. This guide collects what Blizzard has shown for each region, how to reach it, and where it fits on the road to 60.
Quick Facts
- Four new regions at launch on November 4, 2026, plus one more playable area announced for spring 2027.
- No flying mounts and no level scaling. Every zone keeps a fixed level range and is crossed on foot or on a ground mount.
- The Riverglades is roughly the size of Stranglethorn Vale and has content for both factions.
- Mount Hyjal is where Hyjal Summit (20 players) and one entrance to The Barrow Deeps (10 players) are found; both raids open on December 9.
- Only Zephras Isle costs extra: it belongs to the Skyborne race, which comes with the Heroic Pack. The other three regions need nothing beyond a subscription or Game Time.
- Old zones grow too: new quests in every starting area, more than 25 in the Wetlands, a centaur faction in Desolace, and three new ship routes.
WoW Forever New Zones at a Glance
| Zone | Levels | Where | Who it is for | Inside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zephras Isle | 1–12 | A sky island anchored in Skywall | Skyborne characters only | Self-contained starting story for both Skyborne factions |
| The Riverglades | Mid-30s to mid-40s | Eastern Kingdoms, reached from a new fork on the road from Redridge to the Burning Steppes | Horde and Alliance | More than 150 quests, new reputations, Powderfuse Port, Krol'dok Stronghold dungeon |
| Shen'dralas | Not announced | Kalimdor, between Mulgore, Desolace and Feralas; entered from southern Desolace | Horde and Alliance | Dozens of quests about Eldre'Thalas, the Shen'dralar and the centaur tribes |
| Mount Hyjal | 60 | Northern Kalimdor | Characters at the cap | Solo and group content, reputations, Hyjal Summit raid, a Barrow Deeps entrance |
The Rules Behind the New Regions
At BlizzCon the team described its promise as staying in the original Azeroth and revisiting places that existed on the map but never became adventures of their own. Three pillars came with it. The world should still feel like the classic game, which is why there are no flying mounts and no level scaling. The world is treated as the main character, so leveling content receives the same attention as the endgame. And the journey matters more than the destination: the team is not planning level cap increases that would make old zones obsolete.
The developers also placed Forever in its own continuity, a “time bubble” that tells new stories without rewriting the strategy-game lore or answering to the modern game. For the zones this means familiar names with unfamiliar history: a Hyjal that is healing instead of burning, and an elven people nobody had met before.
Zephras Isle: Levels 1–12 for the Skyborne
Zephras Isle is the starting area of the Skyborne, the new playable race. Blizzard describes it as an elemental, skybound experience that blends classic Warcraft looks with architecture inspired by Skywall: tall pines, pale stone towers with blue roofs, crystals and mist.
The backstory told on stage goes like this. Highborne rebels rose against Prince Tortheldrin of Eldre'Thalas, lost, and fled Kalimdor by sea. With his fleet behind them they struck a bargain with wind spirits, who lifted a large part of an undiscovered island into the sky and anchored it in Skywall. Thousands of years later the spirits have vanished and the island is failing. Two camps argue over what comes next: the Windshapers, shamanistic leaders who side with the Horde, and the High Order, heirs of the old magisters who side with the Alliance. A cult of Al'Akir has used the crisis to seize a large part of the island.
You pick the faction at character creation, and it decides one class: Horde Skyborne can be Shamans, Alliance Skyborne can be Mages, and both can be Warriors, Hunters, Rogues and Druids with their own druid forms. The developers called the isle self-contained; it is a place you leave, not one you return to each week. It is also the only new region behind a purchase, because the race is part of the Heroic Pack and the larger editions. If you own it and would rather skip the early levels, our WoW Forever Skyborne leveling boost starts on the isle and continues on the mainland.
The Riverglades: A Frontier for the Mid-30s to Mid-40s
The Riverglades fills a stretch of the eastern shore of the Eastern Kingdoms that was always on the map and never reachable. Players who know the Redridge Mountains will find a new fork on the road to the Burning Steppes; that fork leads into a zone the developers compared to Stranglethorn Vale in size.
The premise is deliberately small in scale. Human forces once chased retreating orcs into the region, help never arrived, and the people who stayed built lives of their own. Blizzard's summary is a rugged frontier of rivers, grasslands, trade routes, struggling communities and old grudges, with humans, orcs, ogres, gnolls, goblins and murlocs competing for the same land. One presenter put it this way: it is not a story about saving Azeroth, it is a story about living in it.
- Quests: the written recap says more than 150; on stage the designers spoke of nearly 200, with separate stories for Horde and Alliance.
- Starting points: Horde players set out from Rogmar, Alliance players from Farhold Keep, home of the Brotherhood of the Horse, a faction with roots in early Warcraft.
- Powderfuse Port: a neutral goblin harbor run by the Powderfuse goblins that extends trade routes through the Eastern Kingdoms.
- Threats: gnoll camps continue the stories of the neighboring zones, and the Twilight's Hammer is felt in places such as Sunnyglade.
- Rewards: new reputations and what the team called new ways to progress through the leveling journey; names and items are unpublished.
The zone also holds Krol'dok Stronghold, an enormous outdoor dungeon for levels 40 to 55 where an ogre civilization is up to something the locals do not like. Runs of it are listed under our Krol'dok Stronghold boost.
Shen'dralas: Hidden in Plain Sight
Anyone who has taken the flight between Mulgore and Desolace has seen ancient ruins pass far below. In WoW Forever those ruins become a zone. The stage map placed Shen'dralas between Desolace, Mulgore and Feralas, and the designers said players reach it from the south of Desolace through the Valley of Bones.
Blizzard calls it a long-hidden mystery tied to the Shen'dralar, Eldre'Thalas, Dire Maul and the centaur tribes. Players meet Mordent Evenshade there and learn the history of the people whose prince, Tortheldrin, also drove the Skyborne into exile, so the two new regions share one thread. The zone continues the stories of the Gelkis and Magram centaurs and, according to the team, gives new reasons to visit Maraudon and Razorfen Downs. Slides showed domed ruins overgrown in a dark green valley with a settlement at its center.
No level range was given. Its neighbors suggest a mid-level zone, but that is a guess, and we leave it out of any route until Blizzard says more. A note on the name: Blizzard's written recap spells it Shen'dralas, and you will also find “Shen'drala” on some sites.
Mount Hyjal: The Endgame Zone
The Hyjal slide read “Mount Hyjal, Renewed” and “Aftermath of Victory”. The zone is set after Archimonde's defeat and asks what happened next: how the mountain recovered, how its forests are healing from corruption, what became of the wild gods, and which dangers stayed behind. For the first time players can travel through Darkwhisper Gorge. The team promised new stories, rewards and reputations with both solo and group content, and said players help shape the future of the recovering land.
Hyjal is also the raid hub of launch. Hyjal Summit, a 20-player raid about someone draining power from the land around the summit, is located here, and the zone holds one of three entrances to The Barrow Deeps, a 10-player raid in a night elf prison complex whose tunnels also connect to Blackmaw Hold in Azshara. Both open on December 9, 2026, five weeks after launch, and a legendary quest was teased alongside them. Our WoW Forever raid boost page explains how runs of all three launch raids are booked now and played when the doors open.
New Content in the Old Zones
The new regions are only part of the thousand-plus quests. The designers said every original zone receives something:
- Starting areas: dozens of new quests, characters and stories, with new NPCs that offer quests, training, recipes and professions, whether you begin in the Valley of Trials or in Shadowglen.
- Wetlands: more than 25 new quests and new leveling paths, built on the characters already there.
- Desolace: new quests and rewards for a centaur faction the team did not name, and the road to Shen'dralas.
- Azshara: “a lot of new quests”, the gates of Blackmaw Hold, and a teased “crater-sized hole” the team may fill later.
- Tirisfal: a keep and an epic mount quest for Forsaken Paladins.
- Alterac: a freshly rebuilt Dalaran, which is also the setting of the City of Dalaran dungeon.
Two hints pointed further ahead: a much larger red dragon presence outside Grim Batol in the eastern Wetlands, and the roadmap entry for another playable area in spring 2027. Neither came with a date or a name. If you want standing with the new factions without the grind, the WoW Forever reputation boost category will list them as soon as Blizzard publishes their names.
Three New Ship Routes
Travel stays part of the journey, but three new ships shorten the worst trips:
- Stormwind Harbor to Auberdine, so humans, dwarves and gnomes can level with night elf friends without a corpse run across two continents.
- Menethil Harbor, Southshore, Auberdine, a three-stop route.
- Steamwheedle Port in Tanaris to “somewhere new”. A map slide traced a dotted line from Kalimdor's southeast coast to the east coast of the Eastern Kingdoms right before the Riverglades segment, which makes Powderfuse Port the obvious candidate, though the panel did not say so.
The panel did not mention faction or level limits for any of the routes.
Where the New Zones Fit on the Road to 60
| Levels | New zone content | New dungeon in the same band |
|---|---|---|
| 1–12 | Zephras Isle (Skyborne); new quests in every original starting area | – |
| 13–20 | Expanded early zones | Hall of Thanes 13–18, Ruins of Lordaeron 15–20 |
| 24–33 | Wetlands additions | Excavation Site 24–29, City of Dalaran 28–33 |
| Mid-30s to mid-40s | The Riverglades; Desolace additions | The Drowned City 35–40, Krol'dok Stronghold 40–55 |
| 48–60 | Azshara additions | Alcaz Island Prison 48–53, Blackmaw Hold 55–60, Shaper's Terrace 58–60 |
| 60 | Mount Hyjal | Raids from December 9 |
Shen'dralas is missing from the table on purpose, because its level range is unannounced. The practical reading is that the gaps of the old leveling path are being filled: the mid-30s to mid-40s stretch, where the original game ran thin, now has an entire region. If you prefer to arrive at 60 with the tour already done, a WoW Forever leveling boost can be ordered now for any range and starts on launch day.
Which New Zones Are in the Beta?
The beta opened on September 17 with all zones up to level 20, and Blizzard's post names Zephras Isle, Hall of Thanes and Ruins of Lordaeron as week-one content. The cap will rise to 30 later, and more zones, dungeons and the new battleground are promised as the test continues until October 21. The Riverglades and Mount Hyjal both sit above the announced cap, so do not expect to walk through them before November 4 unless Blizzard changes the plan.
What Blizzard Has Not Told Us Yet
- The level range of Shen'dralas.
- The names, rewards and rank requirements of the new reputations in the Riverglades and on Mount Hyjal.
- Where the Steamwheedle ship lands, and whether any new route is limited by faction.
- Whether there are new flight paths, and how players reach Mount Hyjal on foot.
- What the spring 2027 playable area is, and what the Grim Batol and Azshara hints lead to.
We update this page when any of that changes. Until then, everything written here about the WoW Forever new zones comes from Blizzard's own recaps and from what the developers said on stage.
WoW Forever New Zones: FAQ
How many new zones are in WoW Forever at launch?
Four at launch: Zephras Isle, the Riverglades, Shen'dralas and Mount Hyjal. Blizzard calls them new regions of Azeroth. The roadmap adds another playable area in spring 2027, and the original zones receive new quests as well, so the total of more than a thousand new quests is spread across the whole world, not only the four new maps.
What level is the Riverglades?
The Riverglades covers the mid-30s to the mid-40s. It lies in the Eastern Kingdoms, is about as large as Stranglethorn Vale and offers more than 150 quests with separate stories for Horde and Alliance. Its dungeon, Krol'dok Stronghold, has a wider range of 40 to 55, so the zone stays relevant a little longer than its quests.
How do you get to the Riverglades?
On foot, from the Redridge Mountains: the designers described a new fork on the road that leads to the Burning Steppes. Horde players start their stories from Rogmar, Alliance players from Farhold Keep. The zone also has a neutral goblin harbor, Powderfuse Port, and a new ship from Steamwheedle Port in Tanaris may land there, although that was only hinted at.
Where is Shen'dralas and what level is it?
Shen'dralas lies in Kalimdor between Mulgore, Desolace and Feralas, in the valley of ruins visible from the flight path. Players enter it from southern Desolace through the Valley of Bones. Blizzard has not announced a level range. The zone tells the history of Eldre'Thalas and the Shen'dralar and continues the centaur storylines of Desolace.
Is Mount Hyjal meant for leveling or for level 60 characters?
It is the endgame zone. The panel called it a new endgame leveling zone, meaning content for characters at the cap: stories, rewards and reputations for solo players and groups. It also contains the 20-player Hyjal Summit raid and one of three entrances to the 10-player Barrow Deeps, both opening on December 9, 2026.
Do I need to buy anything to enter the new zones?
Only for Zephras Isle. It is the starting area of the Skyborne race, which is part of the Heroic Pack, the Epic Pack and the Warcraft Forever Collection. The Riverglades, Shen'dralas and Mount Hyjal are open to every character with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, as is all the new content in the old zones.
Does WoW Forever have flying mounts or level scaling?
No. Both were ruled out at BlizzCon as part of the first design pillar: the world should still feel like the classic game. Zones keep fixed level ranges, travel happens on the ground, by flight path, boat and zeppelin, and three new ship routes were added to shorten the longest journeys between starting areas.
Can I see the new zones in the beta?
Partly. Week one of the beta includes Zephras Isle and every zone up to level 20, and the cap will rise to 30 before the test ends on October 21. The Riverglades and Mount Hyjal are above that cap, so they are unlikely to be playable before launch. Blizzard has also announced a Server Slam during which everyone can log in.
